Scene Heard: PIE doles out sweet cash for special projects

The check covered PIE’s latest cycle of grants for innovative special projects devised by educators.

By Elizabeth Shepherd • February 5, 2025 10:30 am
From left to right: Karen Boyle, PIE board president; Juniper Rogneby, Vashon School Board chair; Kathleen Lawrence, Chautauqua Elementary librarian and robotics teacher; Kate Dunagan, Vashon High Schooljewelry teacher; Kathleen Regovich, Vashon High School chemistry teacher; and Jenna Riggs, PIE board member, at a Jan. 23 school board meeting. Not pictured: award winner Sarah Filanoski, McMurray Middle School humanities teacher. (Courtesy photo)
From left to right: Karen Boyle, PIE board president; Juniper Rogneby, Vashon School Board chair; Kathleen Lawrence, Chautauqua Elementary librarian and robotics teacher; Kate Dunagan, Vashon High Schooljewelry teacher; Kathleen Regovich, Vashon High School chemistry teacher; and Jenna Riggs, PIE board member, at a Jan. 23 school board meeting. Not pictured: award winner Sarah Filanoski, McMurray Middle School humanities teacher. (Courtesy photo)

Representatives of Partners in Education (PIE), a beloved island nonprofit that for nearly 40 years has provided direct funding to local educators, presented a giant check to Vashon Island School District (VISD) for $68,762 at the district’s Jan. 23 board meeting.

The check covered PIE’s latest cycle of grants for 49 innovative special projects devised by educators.

Projects funded in the cycle will serve students in all of VISD’s schools and programs — from preschoolers through high school students, as well as students in VISD’s StudentLink and FamilyLink programs.

Following tradition, PIE board members also awarded home-baked pies to three of their favorite applications for grants, selected in a round of votes that Karen Boyle, board president of PIE, described as heated and “like picking the pope.”

Winners included Chautauqua Elementary librarian Kathleen Lawrence, who was awarded a grant to completely upgrade and expand the school’s robotics program.

McMurray Middle School teacher, Sarah Filinoski, also won a pie for her project — a mini-course for her students in making Chinese block print cards and other artworks to further their learning in her 6th-grade humanities class.

The third award went to Kate Dunagan, who teaches jewelry at Vashon High School (VHS) and Kathleen Regovich, a chemistry teacher at the school. The two collaborated on a grant to PIE, requesting funds for a joint project that would help students learn applied chemistry through jewelry making.

Dunagan’s and Regovich’s project, said Boyle, was a perfect fit for PIE, which focuses on innovation.

To find out more and donate to PIE, visit vashonpie.org.