There have been many earnest state-led attempts to push consolidation and centralization of Vermont schools and school districts over the past 100 years.
All have failed.
That's mostly because of the opposition of towns loyal to the history and civic value of the small schools that have served their communities by educating small groups of students for generations.
But this year, as state government faces massive revenue shortfalls and local officials in Windham County pare budgets to the bone, small schools and the role of local control are undergoing a fundamental change as communities and state officials are looking hard at the costs and practicalities of funding public education.
Mike Glasder made his first trip to Harris Hill a memorable one on Sunday when he captured the 2011 Fred Harris Memorial Ski Jump Tournament. The Chicago native won the Senior division with 239.5 total points. He had the longest jump of the day on his first try, 97...
Vermont Country Store hosts fundraiser for farmers with collapsed barns WESTON – The Vermont Country Store is reaching out to support its neighboring farmers who have been affected by barn collapses by organizing a fundraising brunch on Sunday, Feb. 27, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., at the Bryant...
Devotees of Foursquare, a location-based city guide and social network, have new badges to unlock and locations to explore. Mount Snow Ski Resort has joined 14 other ski areas selected by foursquare. “Foursquare is part friend-finder, part city guide. We want to make cities more fun and interesting to explore,” said Jonathan Crowley, Foursquare's director of business development. According to Vinnie Lewis, Mount Snow communications director, the resort became the first ski resort in the country to launch a foursquare...
I'll always remember that late afternoon I spent sitting across from a bright and talented young man in a psychiatric hospital's group room. Half of his face was boyishly handsome. The other half was scarred from a car crash that no one called an accident. He politely answered my questions about music and books, but we both knew I was there to keep my eyes on him while his psychiatrist, therapist, and terrified parents discussed his requests behind closed doors.
Music • Open Mic Night in West Townshend: On Thursday, Feb. 24, at 7 p.m., there will be an open mic night at the old West Townshend Country Store on Route 30. Robert DuGrenier will be the master of ceremonies. All who wish to play or listen are invited, and any donations of refreshments are welcomed. For more information, contact DuGrenier at rd@dugrenier.com. • Dan Bern at the Hooker-Dunham: Frighteningly witty, thrillingly irreverent and monumentally insightful, Dan Bern is best...
The Vermont Sustainable Agriculture Council has selected Post Oil Solutions (POS) to be the 2010 recipient of its annual award. POS was honored at the Northeast Organic Farming Association of Vermont conference in Burlington on Feb. 13, and received at the Brattleboro Winter Farmers' Market last Saturday. The group was recognized for what the council called its “outstanding team effort to build sustainable, collaborative and socially just community-based food systems.” Vern Grubinger of UVM Extension, who nominated the group, said...
“I've always wanted to own this place,” said Sue Bouley of Charlestown, N.H. Bouley's dream has come true as she and Wayne Stone of Athens are now the new owners of the historic Miss Bellows Falls diner at 90 Rockingham St. Bouley had worked at the diner in the past, and she said she knew it was up for sale last spring when she met Stone for the first time while they were both working at Mack's Place Eatery in...
I read, with some surprise, Randy Holhut's piece on Tom Salmon, “Learning Experience,” in the Feb. 9 Commons. In the piece, Holhut writes, “Even though he was a prominent state official, Salmon sought no special treatment.” This strikes me as a questionable statement. Tom Salmon isn't a bad guy, but he is a political animal. My guess is that Holhut, whom I know to be an excellent reporter, was probably under a deadline and, in essence, rewriting a press release.
Obituaries Editor's note: The Commons will publish brief biographical information for citizens of Windham County and others, on request, as community news, free of charge. • Caroline Arletta Palmer Bailey, 84, of Brattleboro. Died Feb. 15 at Thompson House. Wife of the late Jackson Holbrook Bailey for 43 years. Mother of Jay and his wife, Janet, of Brattleboro; Christopher and his wife, Nadya Belianina, of Tucson, Ariz.; and Bruce and his wife, Lucy, of Hesperus, Colo., and Linda Bailey and...
A note of appreciation to Larrimore C. Crockett for his article on Blanche Moyse [“Blanche Moyse's life lessons: An appreciation,” The Commons, Feb. 16]. It was one of the most beautiful tributes I've ever read - so much so that I'm saving it to read again from time to time, to refresh my own habits and actions. Thank you so much, Mr. Crockett.
What's the only thing worse for a town meeting representative than spending more than 13 hours over two Saturdays debating changes to your town charter? Spending more than 13 hours debating changes to your town charter and seeing your work go for naught. It's bad enough that Representative Town Meeting members could only finish consideration of 15 of the 33 articles put forth by the town Charter Revision Commission on Jan. 22 before the meeting was adjourned to Feb. 5.
Michelle Rhee, the former chancellor of Washington, D.C.'s public schools, recently remarked, “There are many nations who have figured out what works in education. Look at Singapore.” Rhee, the CEO of StudentsFirst, a group working for educational reform, said that last summer, she heard the prime minister give a speech “in which he outlined the plan for making Singapore No. 1 in the world, financially. His economic plan was rooted in education. He knows that if the country can make...
Absentee voters to vote on referendums BRATTLEBORO- Voters will tick the boxes on two new referendums slated for the March 1 town ballot. Absentee voters, however, who cast their ballots before the referendums' supporters submitted their petitions on February 10, can expect to hear from the Town Clerk. Town Clerk Annette Cappy said she urges absentee voters to contact her office. She added she would also send a letter explaining the situation next week to the approximately 60 absentee voters.
Choosing which candidate to vote for is always a risk. Once elected, your candidate might disappoint you, so I never endorse a candidate, because that would be urging others to join in my gamble. With that understood, I shall discuss my choices for the two one-year Brattleboro Selectboard seats. My choices are guided by the idea that improving the way the Selectboard functions is more important than whether I am likely to agree with the candidates' positions on particular issues.
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Bravo! Great editorial [“Entergy to Vermont: See you in court,” The Commons, Feb. 16]. Very clear and concise. It's exactly what we need to understand about Entergy's duplicity. It clarifies how solid Vermont's case is against allowing continued operation beyond March 21, 2012. Thanks.
In her column “High Noon in the OK Corral” [The Commons, Feb. 16], Elayne Clift quite rightly takes our society to task for the ease with which one can buy a vast assortment of weapons. However, in her plea to end the kind of violence that took place in Tucson this past January, she demonizes those who are among the most likely targets of violence themselves: people with serious mental illness. In decrying the movement toward deinstitutionalization, Clift writes: “The...
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Brattleboro shed its winter coat on Friday as it enjoyed an afternoon where the temperatures approached 60 degrees. It was a happy break from a long and snowy winter. Perhaps the biggest sigh of relief came from the Brattleboro Area Drop In Center's staff. They know that cold, hunger, and homelessness are a life-threatening combination. “People come in hungry. Hungry and cold,” Drop In Center executive director Melinda Bussino told Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin. Shumlin toured the Drop In Center...
Last June, Health Care and Rehabilitation Services (HCRS) initiated an important innovation in mental health crisis treatment when they opened Vermont's first Crisis Care Center in Springfield. Typically, when a person is experiencing a mental health crisis, he or she must go to the local hospital's emergency room and a crisis screener is called in for an evaluation. Unfortunately, most ERs are overburdened with medical emergencies resulting in lengthy waits for mental health treatment, which adds a layer of additional...
State Sen. Peter Galbraith, D-Windham, announced last week that the Senate Committee on Economic Development, General and Military Affairs will hold a hearing in Brattleboro on Feb. 23 on the future of the Windham County economy after Vermont Yankee. The hearing will be held from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. at the Brattleboro Retreat Education Center, 75 Linden St. “While the future of Vermont Yankee has been a divisive issue, I think we can all agree that Windham County needs to...
Last week, the pedestrian crossing button for the Malfunction Junction traffic light that's closest to the Riverview Cafe was visibly falling apart and didn't work. Today, I saw that someone had tried to fix it with tape, but it still didn't work. Seeing as the state bought this button just a few months ago, hopefully the state can get the company that made the button to fix it for free.
In the late 1960s, a young teacher from Rutland was working on his master's degree in education at Antioch College's Putney campus. As part of his course work, he was assigned to the old Leland & Gray Seminary in Townshend. Tom Connor, a graduate of Mount St. Joseph and the University of Vermont, already had a couple of years of teaching experience under his belt at Newbury High School in the Northeast Kingdom. But once he got to Townshend, he...
With the days ticking down to the March 1 town election, the eight Selectboard candidates answered questions from the public at last week's WTSA candidate's forum. Competing for the one three-year seat are Spoon Agave and Kenneth Schneck. The six candidates competing for two one-year seats - Joe Bushey, Christopher G. Chapman, Hilary Cooke, David Gartenstein, Kathryn Turnas II, and John Wilmerding - also made their cases for serving on the board. The winners will fill the seats being vacated...
Since the recent hoo-hah about Evasion Junction and the new traffic plan in town, absolutely nothing has happened! Except that in the Reformer, pedestrians have been admonished to not jaywalk downtown, and in your car it now takes 10 minutes to get through Evasion Junction if the train comes in as it does on no fixed schedule twice a day. I recently wrote an editorial for Vermont Views, repeated in The Commons [“Transportation evasions at Malfunction Junction,” Feb. 2], but...
Forums arranged and moderated by local resident Pat Fowler have given candidates for the Trustees of Rockingham Free Public Library, the Rockingham and Bellows Falls Union High School board, and the Selectboard a chance to go before the public with their election platforms. One forum was held Saturday. A second forum will be held Feb. 23 at 5:30 p.m. at Falls Area Community Television studios at One Hospital Court for candidates who did not attend the first one. In the...
The Westminster West School is one of the smallest in the state. It has one full-time teacher, and there are only 18 students enrolled at the school this year. Its projected enrollment for the 2011-12 school year is 14. Westminster's other elementary school, Center School, has 200 students and can easily accommodate the Westminster West kids. School officials have said that the Westminster West School needs a minimum of 30 students to be cost-effective. Economic sense should dictate that the...
Before audiences see opera at the Latchis Theater, Jim Anderson thinks it a good idea that they be taught how to sing it. In one of his talks before a showing of an The Met: Opera Live in High Definition, he told everyone to open his or her mouth wide, “like making a big yawn, and produce some nice round sounds,” which many did, laughing as they sang and getting a taste of what it might be like to perform...
The details of a $10.5 million renovation plan for the Bellows Falls Middle School were presented to residents at a public meeting last Thursday at the school. Following a vote at the 2010 Town Meeting to allocate $20,000 for a study, the Rockingham School Board Renovation Committee and Black River Design, a Montpelier-based consulting firm, spent a year coming up with a plan for the future of the 1926 school building. Committee chair Michel Harty led the meeting and, along...