Bellingham schools and district offices have phone and email service again, as of 8 a.m. Friday, Nov. 20.

The systems were damaged during a power outage Thursday, Nov. 19.

Bellingham School District offices and schools were still without phone or voicemail service Thursday evening, Nov. 19. Crews were working to restore email service around 5:30 p.m.

Schools have 911 and emergency phone service.

The outage is due to hardware damage from a power outage.

Whatcom Middle School student Roy Evans and his friends raised $1,880 last Saturday, Nov. 14 through a bake sale benefiting the WMS teachers.

That amount also includes a donation from Apple Yarns, the store his mom owns. Ten percent of all sales last Saturday went to the bake sale fund.

Way to go! There are still several fundraising opportunities out there to benefit the Whatcom Middle School teachers and students. Click here to see a list.

Western Washington University is offering a week-long course in Costa Rica this spring called “Tropical Eco-Farming and Sustainability in Costa Rica.”

The trip will be from March 20 through 29 and it’s open to the public. Participants will learn about reducing environmental impacts while producing enough food to keep up with demand.

Anyone interested in more information should attend one of the following information sessions:

Tuesday, Dec. 1, 6:30 p.m. in Communications Facility room 225.

Thursday, Dec. 3, 6:30 p.m. at 405 32nd St. room 360.

Saturday, Dec. 5, 6:30 p.m. in Communications Facility room 225.

For more information, email eesp@wwu.edu or call 650-3308. Course details can be found here.

The Washington Policy Blog recently had an interesting posting about school funding. Click here to see the group’s idea.

It’s parent-teacher conference time! Many, but not all, school districts will be starting parent-teacher conferences for elementary and middle school students next week.

Thanksgiving vacation for all school districts will be Thursday and Friday, Nov. 26 and 27.

Below is a look at conference dismissal times and dates.

• Bellingham: Wednesday, Nov. 18 through Wednesday, Nov. 25, elementary and middle school. Middle school dismissal 11:30 a.m. and elementary dismissal 12:30 p.m. Friday, Nov. 20 and Wednesday, Nov. 25 are early release days for all grades, including high school, which will have a 10:30 a.m. dismissal.

• Blaine: Thursday, Nov. 19 through Wednesday, Nov. 25, primary, elementary and middle school. Blaine Primary, Elementary and Middle schools will dismiss at 12:50 p.m. Blaine High School will dismiss at 12:50 p.m. as well on Wednesday, Nov. 25.

• Ferndale:  Thursday, Nov. 19 through Wednesday, Nov. 25, elementary only. All elementary schools, except Beach, will be dismissed at 1 p.m. Beach Elementary dismissal 11:50 a.m.

• Lynden: Conferences for grades K-8 are scheduled for December 7 - 11. Wednesday, Nov. 25 is an early release day for elementary and middle schools, with dismissal between noon and 1 p.m.

• Meridian: Thursday, Nov. 19 through Tuesday, Nov. 24, primary, elementary and middle school. Ten Mile Elementary and Irene Reither Primary schools will dismiss at 1:15 p.m. and Meridian Middle School will dismiss at noon. Thursday, Nov. 25 is an early release day for all grades.

• Mount Baker: Parent-teacher conferences are happening now for students in grades K-6. Conferences end Wednesday, Nov. 18.

• NV: Thursday, Nov. 19- Wednesday, Nov. 25, elementary only. All elementary schools will dismiss at 12:50 p.m.

People interested in the Western Washington Univesrity Master of Business Administration program is invited to an open house on Wednesday, Nov. 18.

Attendees will have a chance to learn about all three MBA programs – traditional, accelerated and evening – from professors, current students and alumni.

The open house starts at 6 p.m. in Parks Hall room 441 on WWU’s campus. For more information, email mba@wwu.edu or call 650-3898.

The Ferndale School District is seeking community members interested in serving on the district’s Budget Advisory Committee.

One of the Ferndale School Board’s goals this year is to establish an ongoing committee composed of a diverse group of district stakeholders. The committee will help district officials and the school board develop budget planning parameters and standards, review the draft budget and make recommendations for changes and discuss the budget with community members.

The school board and district officials will still have the responsibility for creating and approving budgets.

For more information, contact the Superintendent’s Office at 383-9207 or email tbengen@mail.fsd.k12.wa.us. To apply, click here. Applications are due by Friday, Dec. 4.

Parents wanting to know more about the state’s Guaranteed Education Tuition Program are invited to an information night on Monday, Nov. 16.

The GET program is a prepaid tuition plan. Parents purchase “units” to save and use in the future at almost any college in the country. One hundred units represents one year of tuition and state-mandated fees, no matter if the units are purchased now or in the future. The cost of a “unit” fluctuates as tuition changes.

The information meeting will be at the Bellingham Public Library, 210 Central Ave., from 7 to 8 p.m. To RSVP, or for more information, email GETOutreach@hecb.wa.gov or call 1-800-955-2318.

After Whatcom Middle School caught fire Thursday, Nov. 5, sixth-grade twins Rachel and Kim Dorr immediately wanted to do something to help the teachers replace classroom items.

So, with the help of their mom and friends, they raised more than $3,500, mostly by standing outside the Barkley Village Haggen. The first $92 came from their own piggy banks.

On Wednesday, Nov. 11, they delivered the money to the Whatcom Communtiy Foundation, which has been helping the Bellingham School District and the Bellingham Public Schools Foundation organize and track fundraising efforts.

“It’s a fantastic example that it doesn’t matter how old you are to make things happen,” said Mauri Ingram, president of the foundation, adding that another $1,000 had come in directly to the foundation.

Community response to the fire has been immense. Some of the larger offerings include Bellingham Cold Storage donating $1,000 for calculators, Whatcom Educational Credit Union and the Bellingham Education Asscoation donating a combined total of $300 to each teacher, representatives of Lummi Nation donating school and art supplies, Premiere Graphics offering to replace any lost student planners and Parkview Elementary PTA donating $3,000 to help replace books.

Numerous other community organizations, including the Bellingham Sportsplex, Whatcom Family YMCA, Haggen, Starbucks, Allied Arts of Whatcom County, Upfront Theatre and Costco, donated good or entertainment for students who were out of school.

And the receiving and tallying of donations isn’t over yet and doesn’t include gifts and other items being provided by individual school groups.

To find out how to help Whatcom Middle School student and staff, go to www.thebellinghamherald.com.