Tuesday, Sept. 5, was the first day of school on Islesford. As parents, students, teachers and community members gathered in the school yard for the annual photographs, Denise McCormick told me, “This is my last first day of island school.” Her daughter, Melissa McCormick, is one of the three eighth grade students. Hannah Folsom and Paul Hewes complete the trio. Ben Stevens is in seventh grade, Sam Krasnow in sixth grade, Casey Gustafson and Abe Philbrook are in grade five, and Isaac Krasnow is in grade four. Meg Stevens, Joe Flores and Peter Philbrook are third-grade students and Isaac Philbrook is in first grade. Returning teachers are Lindsey Eysnogle, Jane Grover and Gail Grandgent. Angela Hardy, a former Islesford teacher, is the new school principal.
While there are no kindergarten students this year, six pre-K students will be participating in a half-day program on Tuesday mornings at the school: Nathan Philbrook, Oliver Blank, Louise Chaplin and Zach English from Islesford; Sofie Dowling and Matilda Allen from Great Cranberry.
Islesford is a small island, about 440 acres, so there is no need for a school bus. Most of the kids either walk or ride their bikes to school. The principal and the preschool children from Great Cranberry arrive by boat before their quarter-mile walk up the road. The older Islesford students have been able to compete in cross country and track events with other middle schools on Mount Desert Island, thanks to generous parents who provide transportation with lobster boats and a coach who commutes to the island to work every day.
When island students go off to high school they have a variety of options. This fall Frances and Gretchen Blank are attending MDI High School as freshmen, along with sophomore Heather Spurling. Both the Blank and Spurling families have chosen to rent a home off-island for the school year. Emily Thomas is a senior at Northfield Mount Hermon, a boarding school in western Massachusetts. Danielle McCormick lives with her grandmother in Lincoln, Maine, to attend her senior year Mattanawcook Academy. In 1995, Chuck Liebow ran the Island Queen at 6 a.m. so five island students could catch the school bus to MDI High School from Main Street in Northeast Harbor. The early boat was also taken by a number of people who had off-island jobs during the day. Currently there is no early morning commuter option, though there is a need.
For high school in the late 1960s Bruce Fernald attended Lee Academy as did others from the Cranberry Isles including Lyn Colby; David Bunker; Rick Alley; John and Glenn Palmer; Mark, Karen and Danny Fernald; Karla Wedge and Joy Sprague. With so many students from the islands going to one high school, parents were able to take turns with driving. Bruce recalls Richard Alley, Bob Palmer and Wilfred Bunker making some of the trips.
When it was Ann and Warren Fernald’s turn to get the kids back to school they took a different approach. Since they did not own a car and neither of them drove, Warren would hire a taxi from Southwest Harbor to return the kids to Lee. He figured that owning a car and missing a day of work was a lot more expensive that hiring a taxi a few times a year. In 1970, Ted and Cara Spurling drove Bruce, with his parents, to Bangor. He took a bus to Portland and flew to Chicago to begin his four-year career in the U.S. Navy. Bruce went on to see the world from the decks of a World War II destroyer, the Charles H Roan.
How to get from here to there is not a problem unique to islanders, but we do have the added considerations of boat schedules, tides and sea conditions. The school children from Islesford will be going to Monhegan Island for the inter-island event in September. This gathering of students from the outer islands dates back to 1988 when it was started by Cranberry Isles teachers Jo Aase and Shannon Shannon. This year is the first time Monhegan has hosted the event, and the first time it will be held in the fall. It is also the first time the Seacoast Mission boat, Sunbeam, will not be able to help transport students. Time and tide are uncooperative on the scheduled dates. Instead, the 12 Islesford students will meet in Somesville with the 13 Frenchboro students to take a chartered bus to Port Clyde. From there they will take the mailboat to Monhegan. There will also be students from Matinicus and Isle au Haut at the event — for an opportunity to have a great time and a chance to talk about the problems and the joys that are unique to island living.
Islesford
Sept. 19, 2006