Martha’s Vineyard Community Notes

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Open heart, open mind

Tsoknyi Rinpoche, a noted teacher of Tibetan Buddhism who teaches worldwide, will speak at the Martha’s Vineyard Hebrew Center in Vineyard Haven this Sunday, Nov. 4, at 7:30 pm. His talk is entitled “Open Heart, Open Mind: Awakening the Power of Essence Love.'” This is also the title of his most recent book, which he will be signing at the event.

Here on the Vineyard leading a month-long meditation retreat for some 110 students from around the world, Tsoknyi Rinpoche is based in Nepal, and oversees nunneries in Tibet and Nepal along with teaching widely. For more information on his background and programs, visit pundarika.org. The lecture is free and all are welcome.

Benefit for Tim Fullin

Friends of Tim Fullin will sponsor a benefit chicken dinner, auction and raffle for Tim on Saturday, November 3 at the PA Club in Oak Bluffs. There will be plenty of music and fun.

The dinner is from 4:30 pm to 7 pm. The auction follows. A $15 donation is requested.

Scarecrows return to Mansion House

A seasonal tradition returns to Mansion House on November 1 when more than a dozen scarecrows will gather on the Inn’s porch, offering a perfect portrait of Island creativity.

This year’s scarecrow festival boasts a literary theme with a diverse cast of characters from favorite books and stories. Each scarecrow is sponsored by an Island business. Proceeds benefit the Martha’s Vineyard Charter School.

Campaign news

The Martha’s Vineyard Democrats will open a political headquarters office at noon on Thursday at the Mansion House library in Vineyard Haven. The office will function from noon to eight pm daily through the election, according to a press release.

The headquarters will be used for phone banking, canvass operations and distribution of political materials for President Obama, Elizabeth Warren for Senate, and Bill Keating for Congress. Call 508-645-6111 for further information or to sign up for shifts.

State officials will make a school visit

State Department of Elementary and Secondary Education officials will conduct a coordinated program review of Island schools this school year. Department staff will visit the district during the week of December 3. “Such visits are routinely conducted by the department to satisfy federal and state requirements for the periodic review of specific education programs and services in schools throughout the Commonwealth,” according to a press release.

The program review will address special education, English language learners and civil rights. “A department team will make its onsite visit, during which it will review individual student records, interview administrators, teachers and paraprofessional staff, survey parents and observe instructional spaces. After the onsite visit it will prepare a report for the superintendent and school committee, with detailed findings for each program,” according to a press release.

“Any member of the public may request to be interviewed by telephone by a member of the Department’s visiting team. Those wishing to be interviewed should call the superintendent’s office at 508-693-2007 no later than November 22 to leave their name and phone number, or they may call the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education at 781-338-3722.

Edgartown Board of Trade elects officers

The Edgartown Board of Trade elected officers at its annual meeting held on October 16 at the Harbor View Hotel.

The membership elected the following new board members and officers: Stephanie Burke, MV Seacoast Properties; Christina Cook, The Christina Gallery; Annie Cooke-Ennis, Backwater Trading Company; Patrick Courtney, Backwater Trading Company; Delos Lander, Edgartown National Bank; Sydney Mullen, The Boathouse; Melanie Rankow Prescott, Colonial Reproductions; and Elizabeth Rothwell, Harbor View Hotel.

The board appointed the following officers: Christina Cook, president; Annie Cooke-Ennis, vice president; Melanie Rankow Prescott, treasurer; Erin Broadhurst Ready, administrator.