As Enrollments Drop, Schools Ask Why; High Cost of Housing Cited in Chilmark

By CHRIS BURRELL

Faced with steadily declining enrollments, the Vineyard's two regional school district committees have decided it's time to investigate what's causing the drain of kids from their classrooms.

They are examining birth rates and planning to conduct exit interviews with families and students who left their schools, trying to figure out whether the downward spiral is part of a national trend or more of a Vineyard anomaly.

Boats Here Plucked from Water as Isabel Moves to Mainland

By CHRIS BURRELL

Spillover from Hurricane Isabel was forecast to hit the Island today with 10-foot seas and wind gusts up to 45 miles per hour.

And while landfall came yesterday on the North Carolina coast, many Vineyarders who own boats took no chances: They hauled out.

Boatyards worked overtime this week, but if you were expecting the exodus to dry land to spell the end of the boating season, think again.

Questions Over Schools' Action

Superintendent Cash's Failure to Support Principal on Koines Subject at Regional Meeting; Audit Critical of Lapses

By CHRIS BURRELL

Regional high school committee meetings don't typically turn feisty, but with fallout from the Peter J. Koines case still hanging in the air, Tisbury officials showed up to this week's meeting to blast committee members and the schools superintendent for mishandling the affair.

His team of Harvard scientists collected 5,000 dog ticks and trapped 35 skunks and raccoons on the Vineyard this summer.

Parish Center Bid Is Called a Long Shot

By CHRIS BURRELL

They escaped a town hall that was making Oak Bluffs employees sick, but their new quarters on School street are so cramped for meeting space that selectmen are attempting a far-fetched solution - buying back or swapping the old school building sold to the Catholic church six years ago.

Library Plans Need to Be Scaled Back

By CHRIS BURRELL

Construction bids to build the Island's newest and biggest public library in Oak Bluffs came in way over budget last week, forcing library trustees to send their architect back to the drafting table with orders to reduce the project's scale.

All four bids opened last week topped the $4 million mark, exceeding the $3.5 million budgeted for construction of a nearly 15,000-square-foot library on Pacific avenue. Highest of the four bids was $4.5 million.