BRATTLEBORO-Incumbent Kimberly “Kim” Price is vying with Richard “Rich” Leavy for a three-year seat representing Brattleboro on the Windham Southeast School District (WSESD) school board, and newcomers Daniel Everlith and Paul Smith are competing for a three-year term representing Dummerston on the board.
Incumbent Putney representative Ruby McAdoo is running unopposed for another three-year term. She joined the board in 2023.
The election is Tuesday, March 3. Voters from all district member towns — Brattleboro, Dummerston, Guilford, and Putney — vote for all board directors from every town.
Voting takes place in Brattleboro at the American Legion Post 5, 32 Linden St., from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.; at Dummerston School, 52 School House Rd., from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m.; in Guilford, at the Broad Brook Community Center, 3940 Guilford Center Rd., from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.; and at Putney Central School, 182 Westminster Rd., from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Kimberly Price
Price grew up in Brattleboro then left for a number of years, returning to raise her two boys, who attended Academy School, Brattleboro Area Middle School, and Brattleboro Union High School. With her boys off on their own, the procurement supervisor on the buying team at C&S Wholesale Grocers says she’s now an empty nester.
She served as a director on the Brattleboro Town School Board before the merger in 2019 and currently serves as WSESD vice chair, sits on the Finance Committee, and is a voting member of the Windham Southeast Supervisory Union (WSESU) board.
During her past term, Price has served on two board subcommittees: for Personnel, Programmatic and Performance Equity (PPE), and Negotiations.
“Having worked on the Finance Committee, I feel we have worked hard with the administration to present strong budgets that support all our students as well as being fiscally responsible to the taxpayers,” Price says.
“During the time I worked on the PPE Committee, we started the conversation that there was a need to have more equitable food services across the district and that Putney Central School should be the model for how we do food service in the [rest of the] district. Our initial discussions were the initial steps to the district moving to a better program for all schools.”
Asked why she’s running again, Price says she wants to continue to work on the Finance Committee.
“We need to continue to work on the budget and be as fiscally responsible as possible whilst making sure we continue to offer the services our students require,” she says. “I know I have the time that is needed to follow what is happening at the state level and research all aspects of potential changes that will most impactful on our schools.”
Price believes the board’s and district’s greatest challenges is how Act 73, the education reform law enacted in 2025, will affect all school districts. Amid a number of changes, the act will consolidate Vermont school districts, creating fewer and larger entities serving 4,000 to 8,000 students when it goes into effect in 2028.
“We need to continue to monitor all the changes that will occur during this legislative session and how it could affect our control over our schools and our financial goals,” Price says. “We need to continue to support all our students.”
Richard “Rich” Leavy
Leavy studied at St. Lawrence University and holds degrees in philosophy and environmental studies. He was a commercial organic farmer in Connecticut for 15 years and in California for a decade. He also farmed in North Carolina, in Hawaii, and in the Hudson Valley in New York state.
In 2015, Leavy moved to Vermont and shifted his career path to construction of timber frame homes, founding Southern Vermont Home, LLC.
Leavy has two children who attend Brattleboro Area Middle School and Brattleboro Union High School, respectively.
The candidate narrowly lost his bid for a seat on the WSESD board in 2024. After a recount led to the same outcome, Leavy congratulated his opponents and pledged to stay connected to school matters.
For the past three years, he has served as Brattleboro Area Middle School (BAMS) Leadership Council Chair, and for two years he’s represented Brattleboro on the WSESD’s Independent Budget Review Committee (IRBC).
“I have very much stayed involved with the district over the past few years since I previously ran,” Leavy says. “This has allowed me to not only contribute in my own way, but also stay informed to broader district issues.”
He says he “always had the intention of running again at some point,” and, with Act 73’s changes looming, “it was time to make that choice.”
“I feel I can be a valuable voice during this transition period,” says Leavy, who believes the Act 73-mandated school district consolidation process is going to be “the main issue in coming years.”
“My work in the school systems has been focused on community development and engagement within BAMS and also the financial working of the district with the IRBC,” he says. “These are both critical focal points in the school consolidation process.”
Leavy says he’d also pursue discussing “ways to engage our teachers more at the district level” if elected.
“I think there is going to be a learning process to understand how the current system functions, but then hopefully be able to discuss ideas on how we can improve it,” he says.
“I know that this is an important issue for our school staff — which, again, has the potential to become an even more prescient issue if there is any consolidation that happens,” Leavy says.
“I look forward to the opportunity ahead and building solid relationships to help our schools be the best possible experience for our kids,” he adds.
Daniel Everlith
Everlith moved here in 2022 from Connecticut with his wife, Jessica, and two young children who attend Dummerston School.
With a background in marriage and family therapy, he has worked with children in the school system for many years. He previously worked at Yale University supporting children at risk of being placed out of district for emotional and behavioral health challenges. And he’s worked with students on juvenile probation for truancy.
The candidate has been a member of the Family Involvement Team at Dummerston School and a volunteer there. He previously worked with Vermont Learning Collaborative, operating within the school system to provide behavioral health support for students in an alternative classroom setting.
Jessica Everlith was elected to serve the remainder of a three-year term in Dummerston ending in 2026 after briefly being appointed to fill a vacancy. She has since stepped down from the board.
Daniel Everlith says he is running because “I have spent a significant portion of my career working with students directly in a one-to-one setting and would like to try and make a positive impact on a macro level and, hopefully, with a larger scope.”
For him, the greatest challenges facing the district are “ensuring that the wonderful teachers and support staff we have are taken care of and feel heard, and the potential consolidation of schools and districts and the proposed impact on local communities.”
“To address these issues, I think what needs to happen first is a reflection of our values as a community,” says Everlith.
“I would like to see our schools and education as a priority worth investing into. That includes the children and the staff,” he continues. “We need a combination of action, data collection, and review that may be repeated until we have a system that works for our community as a whole.”
Everlith says having two children who attend a WSESD school “presents me with a unique perspective which I think is a benefit to the position I am campaigning for. My children are directly impacted by any changes that may occur in our district.”
“I have the opportunity to observe how district policies may affect the students and teachers in real time,” he continues. “Furthermore, my background in behavioral health has shown me that academic achievement and emotional well-being are not separate goals.”
He pledges to “advocate for policies that provide the appropriate mental health resources, ensuring our students are regulated and ready to learn when they walk into the classroom.”
Paul Smith
Smith has lived in Dummerston since 2003. His child has gone through the public school system here, first at Dummerston School and then at Brattleboro Union High School.
Smith was employed by the Windham Southeast Supervisory Union for 33 years, first as a middle school science teacher in Guilford and then as a curriculum coordinator in the WSESU Central Office.
The candidate believes his “extensive experience with the school system” puts him in a “favorable position to be of service” on the WSESD board.
“I am thoroughly committed to maintaining the excellence that is exhibited by our schools and to ongoing school improvement,” Smith says. “I am also committed to effective community governance.”
The candidate says that boards such as this one play a critical role in serving the interests of community “by providing oversight, support, and advocacy for the students and families that the system serves.”
“While I feel that my deep familiarity with the operation of the school district will help in this endeavor, I do not believe that it is the role of the board to direct how the system is operated,” he says.
The candidate finds the greatest challenge for the board to be “responding to increased societal expectations for what schools should provide, falling enrollments, and the fiscal stress that those two trends place on school budgets and the community that supports our schools.”
When asked what a solution might be, Smith answered, “There is no quick fix here. The best way the school board can respond to the challenge is to inform the public about those competing trends, support budgets that meet students’ needs efficiently and effectively, and help the public understand what the school system is striving for.”
Smith remains “firmly in the camp of those who see the role of the school board as ‘making sure that the schools are well run, but not trying to run them.’”
“I am hopeful that I will be allowed to pursue that role,” he says.
This News item by Virginia Ray was written for The Commons.