Editorial: A fast-moving news week

Published 10:30 am Tuesday, November 18, 2025

Sometimes, news breaks fast and hard on Vashon.

This week, we expected to cover the Vashon school board’s ongoing search to hire a new superintendent as well as its decision at a Nov. 13 meeting to ask voters to approve a four-year renewal of its four-year Educational Programs and Operations levy on a February 2026 ballot.

But those stories will need to wait until next week, because at the board meeting, other news took precedence as the school board took the rare step of formally reprimanding one of its members. The censure came after Jessica Adams — a board appointee who has just won election to her seat for the next four years — harshly criticized the district’s director of student services on her personal Facebook page.

The content of that criticism is not the subject of our story, nor should it be. Rather, our coverage is centered on the board’s response to Adams’ conduct based on strong and clear policies that school board members are required to follow — rules that school board members and other elected officials promise to abide by when they are sworn into office.

We also hope our story prompts readers to reflect on their own use of speech and social media in times of conflict and disagreement, even if they they do not hold public office. We agree with Interim Superintendent Jo Moccia, who this week told us, “It’s never a good idea to bring your complaints to Facebook — it’s not where you get things settled.”

And speaking of elected officials, this week’s paper also includes former Beachcomber editor Leslie Brown’s coverage of a visit from Vashon’s state legislators, who at a forum on Nov. 13 discussed their priorities and challenges in serving our island community.

We thank the organizers of the forum, Islanders for Ferry Action, as well as the legislators, for their tireless work for our small community.

We also wrap up our Nov. 4 election coverage this week, reporting more fully on two extremely close races for seats on the Vashon Health Care District board. These elections — not covered in any other media — matter on Vashon.

We congratulate the winners and look forward to covering their contributions to our community.