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Tag Archives: school merger pawlet

Signs of a Town Divided

21 Tuesday Nov 2017

Posted by Eve Ogden Schaub in Pawlet Happenings

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defaced signs, merger vote today, pawlet rupert school merger, school merger pawlet, signs of conflict

In case you’ve been a hermit for the last few months, I’d like to let you know that our towns have a vote today. Simply put, the question is whether or not the voters of Pawlet and Rupert want to approve the school merger plan. The plan consolidates our school districts, does not designate any particular high school, and would keep us part of the BRSU (Bennington Rutland Supervisory Union.) Polls open at 10AM and close at 7PM. There will also be the opportunity to vote for members of the new merged school board.

If you harbor any doubt that our two towns are a bit -ah- conflicted about the school merger vote today, all you need to do is take a little sightseeing tour of the area. The signs are everywhere. Literally.

I have to give the “NO” signs points for better creativity and enthusiasm… you’ll notice many of the signs say “no” as many as six or eight times. 

The yes signs are out in abundance too, but most of them don’t even say “yes” on them… which I thought was a little weird.

And then there are the defaced signs. I ran across two prominent signs which had been spray painted with red cross-out symbols to forcibly transform them from “yes” to “no”…

See what I mean? Conflicted. I don’t know what the results of today’s vote will be, but can we all agree that this debate has gone on for far too long and been far too debilitating to the fabric of our community?

For my part, I now know that there are some folks in town who will never think I’m a “real” resident, for a variety of arbitrary reasons- I moved here, my whole family doesn’t live here, I don’t work in a local business- and I’m kind of sorry to know that. I liked my illusion better: that we all lived in one town and despite our differences, despite our debates, we could all agree on one thing: we are a community. And a damn good one at that.

So okay. I still love my town, even if every last inch of it might not love me back. I can live with that. No matter the results of today’s vote, there will still be kids in Pawlet, and Rupert too. They’ll still go to school, and we still care about them all.

The Most Important Thing

11 Friday Nov 2016

Posted by Eve Ogden Schaub in local event, Pawlet Happenings

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act 46, Pawlet and Rupert vote, school choice versus designation, school merger pawlet

On Tuesday, Pawlet and Rupert both voted to maintain designation to New York State high schools, and to reject school choice.

screen-shot-2016-11-11-at-10-37-33-amThis is going to sound weird, but as disappointed as I am about the results of the vote, I’m really proud of Pawlet and Rupert. Both town clerks reported an unheard of turnout for our two small towns.

You could say, “But they were coming to vote for president anyway!” and that’s true. But Election Day wasn’t the only time people have showed up on this issue. Since way back in July, when I started covering the (now-dissolved) Pawlet/Rupert/Wells Merger Committee and pimg_4643osting blogs about their progress I’ve watched the Act 46-related public meetings grow from audiences of one or two people, to well over a hundred. And these were not just ordinary meetings; these were long, three-plus-hour meetings, standing-room-only meetings, emotional and rancorous at times. Not just adults, but kids showed up and bravely made public statements on both sides of the issue. Heckimg_4642, kids from other towns were showing up, just to hear our version of the debate, to see what our town was going to do.

I think we’ve all come to know way, way more about educational law in Vermont than any one of us probably thought we would ever need to know.

So now, at long last, we have actual numbers as to the will of the townspeople. Although it wasn’t a landslide, it wasn’t exactly razor-close either: in Pawlet 413 voted for designation, 306 voted against. In Rupert, it was a similar margin: 235 in favor, 145 against.

img_4641 Clearly, the majority of people in our towns feel that school choice is a luxury we simply can’t afford. They believe it despite all the arguments that have been made to the contrary: even if designation means exploiting a loophole of New York State law, even if it means we have no say in how the educational system is run, and even if that means our Vermont kids can’t freely go to a Vermont school… public or private.

For a long time I thought that opponents of school choice in our area just must not have all the information. And so I made it my business to help get more information out there. And guess what? I was wrong. We still disagree.

So that, as they say, is that.

img_4681Who knows what will happen next? Nobody. Maybe another merger committee will be attempted, but I doubt it, since we’re surrounded on all sides by communities who have opted for school choice. Maybe we’ll just keep going along with things as they are, unchanged, until the day that someone comes along and tells us we can’t anymore. If that ever happens.

But my biggest hope now is for our community to heal. The school issue has been so divisive along so many lines, that at times it has felt like Act 46 was tearing our town limb from limb… pitting young versus old, “born-here”s versus newbies, those who are struggling to make ends meet versus those who are not. I think the key to moving forward is rooted in being proud of the fact that we all participated, and not just a little, but a lot.

I mean, did you see all those signs out there on Election Day? If you were in our area you could hardly have missed them. Printed ones, hand-lettered ones, sheets, banners… they were everywhere.

“Yes”!

“No”!

“YES“!!!

“NO“!!!

Outsiders driving through must’ve thought the entire town was having a schizophrenic seizure or something. I kind of loved it. It was evidence of a thriving democracy, in which each person really does feel like their opinion matters. And in our town, it really does.

img_4644No matter what, you can’t say we suffer from apathy around here. I’m glad that we are a community who doesn’t leave our important decisions- no matter how painful they may be to make- up to someone else. We can all be proud that on last Tuesday we did the most important thing of all: we showed up.

So, What’s Up with the School Merger?

25 Monday Jul 2016

Posted by Eve Ogden Schaub in Pawlet Happenings

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Tags

act 46, school choice VT, school merger pawlet

 

photo (2)

School Merger Committee meeting, 7/13/16

If you’ve heard of Act 46, then you know the state of Vermont is requiring school districts to merge into larger units. Everyone agrees it’s complicated, but you can read an excellent plain-English summary of the law here: http://vtdigger.org/2015/11/10/decoding-act-46-what-it-means-how-it-works/

To this end, the town of Pawlet, along with neighboring Rupert and Wells are conducting a merger study right now. Are you wondering what’s happening with the Pawlet/Rupert/Wells Merger Study? I was. Some friends mentioned there was a meeting the other night, (7/13/16) so I went. The meeting lasted about two hours, but lucky for you! I have condensed it all for you here. This, in a nutshell, is what I found out:

-The committee has hired former BRSU Superintendent Dan French as an advisor.

–Currently the committee is in the “study” phase. Their job is to determine if a merger is desirable. If not, they will disband and the process begins again with a different committee, merger proposal and study.

-If this merger is found desirable by the committee, they will compile a report arguing to that effect and present it to the public.

– There will be a public hearing, in late August or early September at which both written and verbal testimony will be taken from the public.

– The goal is to have the merger proposal complete in November.

-If accepted by the state board in December, the plan then goes to the voters. Ideally, this vote would take place by March, 2017. In order to be accepted, all three towns have to vote in favor of it.

-In order to achieve certain tax incentives, the deadline for a merger to be accepted is one year from now: July 2017.

-According to advisor French, the three key merger issues are:

  1. The size/ composition of the new school board
  2. The assets versus the liabilities of such a new set-up
  3. Designation versus choice- ie: will the high school be designated or not?

-Members of the committee include: Sue Ceglowski, Arlene Bentley, Sue Hostley, John Malcolm, Diane Mach, William Meyer, Sue Burke, Rico Balzano, Courtney Bishop

As you can see, the timeline is key, and has many pieces. So, just to recap, here is what the committee is shooting for:

  •             July/August: Merger Committee Study Phase
  •             August/September: Public Hearing
  •             November: Merger Study complete and submitted to state
  •             March 2017, or before: Merger Proposal Vote

Don’t believe me? Think I have gotten all the facts horribly wrong? Come to one of the next meetings, and decide for yourself! Here is the current schedule:

  • Thursday July 28                  6:30-8:30pm             Mettawee School
  • Monday August 8                  7pm                            TBA
  • Monday August 22               3:30-8:30pm            Wells Village School
  • Thursday September 1        6:30-8:30pm             Mettawee School

School merger summary number 1

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