Inside

Borderite ReportTHE Brought To You By The Blaine School District Point Roberts Primary 2050 Benson Rd, P.O. Box 910 Point Roberts, WA 98281 945-ABCD (2223)

TEACHER’S CORNER by Jessie Hettinga M.S.Ed.

As we have welcomed a new year, we have also welcomed back much needed routine. Our daily school routine includes time for English Language Arts (reading and writing) and Math. As a teacher, I am blessed to have access to engaging curricula that gives students in each grade hands-on experiences that combine reading, writing and art or math and art.

In the month of January, we have learned through many different hands-on experiences. In our folktale unit, our first, second and third graders recreated story illustrations using watercolors and colored pencils that were inspired by story cloths made by the Hmong people. They then wrote story summaries to accompany their art. Our Kindergartners have become writers and artists as they are learning to write personal narrative stories about their own experiences. As they are learning to draw they are learning to include shapes into their drawings just as artists do. First grade has been working on a hands-on geometry unit. In one lesson, they created their own mini quilt blocks and then assembled them into a larger block taking into consideration if and how the image changed when the smaller blocks were rotated. I loved seeing their creativity as each block was then given a special name which represented its image. Our second and third graders graphed their own individually packaged bags of M&M’s for math. While doing this special project they had to estimate, count, organize and graph data. We have had so much fun learning through exploration!

We are thankful for the opportunity to have students learning in our building and we are especially thankful for all of the ways we can safely explore learning together while socially distanced. Please continue to do your part to keep our special Point Roberts community safe and healthy by following county and state health guidelines. The best way to keep our kids in school is to remember these safety measures: frequent hand washing, staying home when ill, maintaining 6 feet of distance and wearing a face mask when you are around others.

Wishing you well,

Jessie Hettinga M.S.Ed.

K-3Teacher, Principal Intern

Alice DeHaan, Grade 2 Jermemiah Hen, Kindergarten

JAPANESE QUILT Naève Vaughan-Zack, Grade 1 William Le, Grade 3

Riley Foster, Grade 2

Inclement weather...

Damian Moir, Grade 1

It’s not unheard of for us to have snow in February and March, so now seems like a good time to review our plan for inclement weather. If it is determined the safety of students and staff would be best served by staying off the roadways and not traveling to campus, the district will call for a remote learning day for all students. This means your students would engage with learning the way they did when we started the school year, with all students working remotely. In an effort to assist with planning we will make every attempt to make the decision by 9 pm the evening before. Please follow the district’s social media, subscribe to Pt. Roberts Primary School through our app or listen for an announcement on the local radio.

Blaine School District is now delivering meals to students in the Point Roberts area. Meals are delivered to homes along the bus routes, from 4 - 5:30 pm on Wednesdays, for families who have signed up in advance.

Please be ready to greet the school bus when it arrives to claim your children’s meals. To RSVP, send your name, residence address and the number of children in your household to Amber Porter at aporter@blainesd.org.

ChurCh news

B y g I na g audet

Well, if it isn’t one thing, it is another. It has been one difficult year for many people, and their churches.

Our little church has had to close its doors; half of our beloved congregation is unable to enter the United States from Canada. There have been no concerts, no summer camp, no community gatherings.

And now we have learned that our beautiful and historic sanctuary is need of major repair and restoration. This comes as a result of its age, and the nature of the ground on which it is built. These things happen. And eventually they need to be fixed.

The Apostle Paul was one dedicated servant of the Lord. Having had a radical vision of Jesus which converted him from a rabid persecutor of early Christians to one of their most prodigious missionaries and theologians, he referred to himself as an Apostle, rounding out the ‘Twelve,’ which was reduced by Judas’ tragic betrayal and subsequent suicide.

Paul was passionate for the Gospel and was tireless in his travels to various communities throughout Greece and Asia Minor, establishing communities and churches. He also collected donations from these churches to aid the troubled early church in Jerusalem. Furthermore, in several of Paul’s letters to the various churches he ministered to throughout the Roman Empire, he encourages these fledgling churches to support one another through prayer, hosting traveling disciples and sending financial support with these travelers between the churches.

So we reside in the great, extended history of the church in the world. Trinity has, through our Canadian financial account “Daily Bread,” supported church ministry and missions throughout the world. Now we will be on the receiving end of this equation, so that our presence, our gifts of word, sacrament, music, healing and support, celebration, food, and community service, can continue into the future.

In future issues of the All Point Bulletin, we will be communicating our history, our celebrations, programs, our joyful presence and our hopes for our future.

In brief, this renovation will be a twopart endeavor: First we will have to build external supports to the sanctuary building to “keep it standing” and usable until we can fund the major work, which will install a more substantial permanent foundation and rebuild parts of walls that have been affected. So I invite you to keep an ear to the ground, soggy as it is, and think of ways you can be part of our history and our future as the faithful Church of Point Roberts!

2020

year in REVIEW

A LOOK BACK

PORT OF BELLINGHAM

B y M I c H ael H O gan Covid-19 pandemic have increased the difficulty of securing an exemption to nation-

The Port of Bellingham has been offer- al Canadian policy, local officials remain ing emergency ferry service from Point committed to meeting the essential transRoberts to mainland Whatcom County portation needs of Point Roberts. since August to help address the unique Whatcom County recently allocated a transportation challenges in Point Roberts portion of its federal CARES Act funding caused by the ongoing closure of the U.S./ to reimburse the port for the cost of proCanada border to non-essential travel. viding the ferry service from August to

The port’s three elected commissioners October and the Port is very appreciative have directed staff to provide emergency to Whatcom County for recognizing the ferry service until the border is re-opened importance of this issue given the many or until Canada offers an exemption to financial needs related to the coronavirus help Whatcom County residents living public health emergency. in Point Roberts access critical goods and Whatcom Transportation Authority services. (WTA) has been a terrific partner in help-

The two-hour ferry ride is offered free ing Point Roberts residents travel from the of charge on San Juan Cruises’ 100-foot ferry landing to destinations throughout vessel Salish Express from Point Roberts Whatcom County. to the Bellingham Cruise Terminal. More From the Bellingham Cruise Terminal, information about this ferry service in- transit connections are available nearby at cluding the schedule and how to make Fairhaven Station where WTA Route 1 seradvance reservations can be found on the vices Fairhaven Station (Fairhaven Transport’s website at www.portofbellingham. portation Center) at 0:21 and 0:51 past com/pointrobertsferry. each hour. For WTA transit schedules and The port has also been coordinating route information, please visit http://www. with a U.S./Canada cross-border task force ridewta.com/ along with local, state and federal officials Face masks are required on both ferry to advocate for a border solution in Point and WTA connections, and the number of Roberts. While concerns about the global passengers is being limited.

The PRCAC had more than usual change in membership in 2020 at the same time that meetings were cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic and then resumed as Zoom-hosted events.

Just before the pandemic, newly elected Whatcom County Executive Satpal Sidhu met with the PRCAC to express the hope that the PRCAC would continue discerning the consensus of Point Roberts residents and property owners and represent-

2020

year in REVIEW

A LOOK BACK

POINT ROBERTS

Community Advisory Cmte.

ing that position to county government.

In late 2020, the PRCAC’s proposed changes to WCC 20.72 regarding some aspects of zoning in Point Roberts were adopted by Whatcom County Council. The PRCAC decided to present a popular opinion among some Point Roberts residents by asking county council to reduce the basic service level from one 32-gallon (See next page)