FEATURES
By Dan Tutor
This is the third part in an ongoing series investigating the socioeconomic challenges facing islanders.
On the evening of October 20th, 2025, the Islesboro Central School (ICS) Committee hosted an all-hands-on-deck meeting in the Kinnicutt Center to discuss the dwindling student numbers at ICS. Enrollment has fallen precipitously at the K-12 school, from 102 students in 2001 to 55 in 2025. One hundred or so islanders, and a few mainlanders, attended the meeting in person, and another 45 or more participated on Zoom. Committee Vice Chair, parent, and ICS alumni Sky Purdy led the meeting, with help from fellow committee members: Chair Zach Conover, Jennifer Selendy, Lars Nelson, and Colleen Dove. School staff and administrators, including science teacher Haley Currie-Nelson, Principal Kate Legere and Superintendent Dr. Connie Brown were front and center fielding questions from the floor.
The issues at hand were clear: why is enrollment so low, and how do we attract and retain students and families in order to remedy the problem?
Administrators and committee members relayed that falling enrollment is a state wide trend. “[At] Augusta, when I was the superintendent there, that was a school system of about 3000 kids, and now they’re down to less than a thousand”, Dr. Brown explained. Principal Kate Legere elaborated:
“Student enrollment in Maine public schools has been declining for the past 10 years. Overall there are over 10,000 fewer Maine students than there were ten years ago.
Contributing factors include declining birth rates and the aging population. There are simply not as many families with school-aged children living on the island as there were 5, 10, 20 years ago. Rural communities such as Islesboro are impacted in particular.”
Indeed, statewide enrollment has fallen by 17% since 2000, and Maine’s median age has increased by almost 16%. Still, these trends pale in comparison to Islesboro, where enrollment has declined by 46%, and the median age has increased by almost 22%.
By Saskia Grisaru
…Fallen trees are a dime a dozen on Islesboro. This is not, by definition, a bad thing; dead trees are a normal component of any forest, healthy or not. Trees may die suddenly or slowly, due to a variety of factors that prevent them from delivering water and nutrients up and down their trunk. No longer supported by their weakened wood, most will fall, and in doing so, reenter the life cycle: as the dead wood decomposes on the forest floor, it provides wildlife habitat, cycles nutrients, improves soil composition, and more. Per the ecologist George Wuerthner, dead trees are arguably more important to forest systems than live ones.
That said, a high rate of tree blowdowns also merits further consideration. To that end, I spoke with Jack Taylor, recently-appointed Preserve and Trail Steward at Islesboro Islands Trust and holder of a Master’s degree in forest biology from the University of Georgia. Jack noted that while some of what’s happening on Islesboro is specific to the island, it’s also a question of “region-wide and natural community-specific dynamics.” He added: “The principal forest type that we have on Islesboro is Maritime Spruce-Fir. Our white spruce and other conifers can live up to 300 years, but in maritime environs where there are more frequent and severe disturbances from storms, and different soil types and rooting depths than inland spruce-fir communities, our trees grow much less old.”
COMMUNITY
Alice L. Pendleton Library located in Islesboro, Maine has been designated as a Certified Sustainable Library through the Sustainable Library Certification Program (SLCP).
The Islesboro Community Fund (ICF) is pleased to announce that we will be hosting three free dental clinics this year for Islesboro residents.
We live in cabins together, heated with wood stoves that we feed ourselves. We help to raise animals and harvest food on Chewonki’s farm, cook meals and wash dishes in the dining hall…
The goal is to record and photograph every island grave marker and provide accurate locational information for each cemetery and marker.
When you think of the people at Boardman Cottage, you might picture them idling away in rocking chairs.
Think again: they’re active rockhounds!
On the afternoon of September 21st, the Islesboro Energy Committee hosted a Community Energy! dinner and discussion at the ICC. Approximately 70 community members were in attendance. The event coincided with the national Sun Day, a day of action which saw communities across the U.S. celebrating the power of clean energy.
TOWN
Coming into the Holidays also means coming into the second “short session” of the legislature. This session is scheduled to begin on January 7th and, if all goes according to plan, it will end on April 15th.
Progress update on the Up Island Public Safety Garage build and Public Safety Offices renovation, with photos.
COMMUNITY CALENDAR
By appointment only, sign up to bring your cat or dog in for a wellness and weight check up, and updates on any vaccines or prescriptions needed. Call 734-8200 or email info@islesborocommunitycenter.org to schedule an appointment.
With Melody Mishkin
$25 per person
Classic House Salad with homemade croutons, Beef Stew over egg noodles, and Chocolate Mousse with berries
Saturday, January 17, 5:30pm & 7:00pm
Dine in or take out, please RSVP
https://www.islesborocommunitycenter.org/
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COLUMNS
As we advance further into The Holiday Season, there is a woefully inadequate public display of Holiday Decorating. Thus, we thought it wise to remind everyone of the unanimous vote at our last Town Meeting for establishing the annual “Joyously Enforced Holiday Spirit Act” (aka JEHSA)!
“Did you hear about the moose that went to Matinicus?”
That was literally the bystander chitchat after loading freight into the U-Haul on a recent ferry.
Butternut squash report…What to do with Squash…Red Iceberg and Crispino Lettuce….Deciding on the Seed Order
Where have our memories of people, places, and events gone? Printed photos have been replaced by digital images taken through the lens of a smart phone, stored in a folder on the phone or in the “cloud”, shared through a text, email, or social media post.
This autumn, Alice Pendleton Library (APL) will offer a groundbreaking 40-hour seminar for adults and teens called “Peace through Acronyms: Making Sense of our Social Media Language” (PTA;MSOUSML).
Artificial intelligence (AI) is becoming more prevalent, for both positive and negative uses. It is important to be aware of the fraudulent uses of this technology. AI can mimic the human voice, and this article will discuss the technology, how it is used, the risks, and strategies for protection.
SCHOOL NEWS
There’s a moment, just before the ferry reaches the dock at Islesboro, when the world seems to exhale. The mainland fades behind you, and ahead lies an island that moves to a rhythm all its own. Islesboro isn’t just a place, it’s a presence. Quiet, self-contained, and deeply human in its scale.
As the community within Islesboro Central School adjusts to the cold and gloom that comes with winter, we are staying busy and finding the light in the darkness that keeps us going.
Believe it or not, the Islesboro School Committee has already started its budget process, beginning with a Budget Workshop held on November 17th. The Budget Workshop is the first step in a multi-step budgeting process that the Committee adopted for the 2025-2026 School Year.
These past few months have been filled with growth, laughter, curiosity, and the kind of everyday magic that only early childhood can bring.
As September comes roaring in as it does every year, it can be hard to find time to stop and notice what is going on around you at school. ICS has been in session for just about a month an a half, and has gotten into the full routine of this 2025-2026 school year. With this milestone comes a moment to pause and reflect – not just on grades and due dates, but on how we are doing as a community, as people, and as students.
OP-ED
Janis Petzel
The weekend before Thanksgiving, four of us island women of a certain age joined forces to carpool to the mainland. Amanda had four tickets to the Strand in Rockland for the live-stream opera Arabella, given to her by another island friend, so we made a day of it. Anne knew the hidden gem bakeries along Rte 1. Sandy knew the cool restaurants, which were not open in the morning, thank goodness, because we hit The Place Bakery pretty hard and wanted to save room for popcorn at the Strand. Amanda led the Christmas shopping. Our groceries all fit in the back of the car. We had to watch the finale of the opera via You Tube on Anne’s phone in the ferry line because the opera was so long (the lovers reconciled – what a surprise), but we got on the ferry each way without having to wait long. The calm water and dramatic sky in the 5 p.m. dark were so beautiful on the way home. What a grand day, topped off by a boisterous wine tasting at the ICC.
LETTERS
Dylan Purington
I am not from here either. I am new. Having only been here 16 years and not all 16 of those winters. So take this with a bit of salt. I am, gulp, from away. And me even saying anything is going to anger more than zero locals and probably one or two of my new friends and neighbors. This isn’t about you, this is about us, and if it makes you mad, just come talk to me, I’m sure I can dig a much deeper hole in person. But, it’s almost winter and it gets dark at 4:30 so, enjoy.
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Sincerely,
Daniel Hatch Tutor
Editor/Publisher Islesboro Island News