Tim Maciel is a longtime teacher, a former college administrator, and an education consultant. He is also a member of the Windham Southeast School Board, but emphasizes that the opinions he expresses here "are entirely my own."
BRATTLEBORO-This Sept. 17 marks Constitution Day, the anniversary of the signing of our nation's foundational document. This year especially is a time to reflect not just on the wisdom of the Constitution's principles, but also on the responsibilities it entrusts to us as citizens to defend liberty, to engage in civil debate, and to ensure that our government remains accountable to all the people it serves at both national and local levels.
For me, as both a community member and a member of a school board, Constitution Day carries a special urgency.
Public education is one of the clearest expressions of our democratic values. It is where we prepare the next generation not only with academic knowledge, but with the civic skills needed to keep democracy alive.
Here in our district, Windham Southeast, our own Portrait of a Graduate - a community exercise that "articulates the collective hopes and dreams that a community has for its students; and the skills and attributes that all students need in order to be prepared for college, career and life" - envisions students who are critical thinkers, effective communicators, empathetic collaborators, and responsible citizens.
These are not merely abstract aspirations. They are the very qualities that a constitutional democracy demands of its people.
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At the heart of the Constitution is the guarantee of free speech. That right is easy to celebrate when it protects ideas we agree with. However, its true test comes when it requires us to listen to those we would rather ignore.
Democracy, like education, is not meant always to be comfortable. It obliges us to grapple with hard questions, to deliberate across differences, and to hear voices of the minority and the disenfranchised even when the majority holds power.
Effective school boards, in my mind, frequently practice this reality. They debate contentious issues in public, sometimes in conflict. Our obligation as board members is not to avoid these debates, but to conduct them with honesty, respect, transparency, and civility.
When we succeed, we model for students what democratic practice looks like in real time.
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It's apparent to many of us today that the principles of constitutional democracy are under fire. Nationally, we see threats to civil discourse, the erosion of voting rights, racial profiling, targeting of "woke" factions (however that is defined) and, tragically, political violence. We are seeing an erosion of public trust in our institutions - from public schools to the Supreme Court.
Here in Vermont, we face a quieter but no less important challenge.
Under Act 72, the Legislature may soon consider consolidating supervisory districts across the state. On paper, this may sound like an efficiency measure. In practice, it risks stripping local communities of their voice in the most consequential decisions a district can face: whether or not to close many of its small schools.
If those decisions are centralized far from the families and voters most affected, our communities will lose one of the most direct and meaningful expressions of democratic self-government.
This is not simply about educational funding and taxes. It is a fundamental question of whether Vermont communities will retain the authority to shape their schools' futures.
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For me, Constitution Day is a reminder that democracy works best when power remains close to the people. A constitutional democracy is not only about checks and balances in Washington, it is about preserving the right of small towns like Guilford, Putney, and Dummerston and many more across the state to determine the future of their own schools.
Constitution Day invites us to remember that democracy depends not only on elected officials, but on the daily contributions of ordinary people. Our teachers, paraeducators, principals, food nutrition staff, and bus drivers (!) all make it possible for children to access their constitutional right to a free public education, one of quality instruction for all students within safe and healthy school climates.
Their work, so often overlooked, is part of the quiet, everyday fulfillment of the promise of fairness, equity, and opportunity.
That is why Constitution Day should not be just another date on the calendar. It should be a reminder that our freedoms endure only when we practice them. This year, I hope our schools and communities will mark the day with both celebration and vigilance: student debates on free speech, classroom lessons centered on real-life events and constitutional rights, community forums on local democracy, and gratitude for all those who make public education possible.
The Constitution depends on us all of us to actively defend its principles when those principles are threatened, whether from the White House or the Vermont State House.
This Voices Viewpoint was submitted to The Commons.
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