Vermont Standard
By Katy Savage
Standard Staff
After considering several options, including closing schools, the Windsor Central Supervisory Union is putting forward a restructuring plan to comply with Act 46.
Under the new plan: Reading and Barnard would be pre-K-2 schools, Woodstock would absorb Reading’s 3-6 grade students and Prosper Valley would take Barnard’s 3-6 grade students. Killington would be a pre-K-6 school and Prosper Valley a K-6 school. Woodstock Union High School-Middle School would remain as is.
The change would cost an estimated $75,000 for new staff.
The study committee deemed this the most cost-effective way to provide an equitable education to all. There will be a full-time principal in each building “wherever educationally practicable and sustainable,” according to an Aug. 1 draft of the “Guiding Principals of Unification.”
Act 46 is the state law incentivizing small schools to merge by 2018. Windsor Central’s proposal could impact Reading and Barnard students in particular.
In June, Reading had 54 students according to an enrollment report that month — 36 were pre-K-2 students while Barnard had 71 students — 42 of which were pre-K-2.
Attempts to reach Barnard and Reading Act 46 study committee members weren’t successful.
Act 46 study committee chair Justin Shipman suggested adult continuing education classes, civic meeting rooms and creative spaces could take up the extra space in the Barnard and Reading buildings.
The board is “hoping some really creative ideas are put forth,” Shipman said in an email.
Peter Clarke, who was hired as an Act 46 study consultant, said closing a school “should really be a last resort.”
But that’s been discussed as well.
The study committee laid out how Woodstock would absorb Reading's 3-6 grade students and Prosper Valley would take Barnard's 3-6 grade students. a school would close in an Oct. 13 draft of its Articles of Agreement.
After four years of operating as a unified district, the draft document said the school board could vote to close a school. The board would hold at least three public hearings before voting to do so. The board would then seek approval by residents in every town. If approved, the unified school district would transfer ownership of the building to the town it resides in.
The draft articles of agreement also allows the school to determine a more appropriate configuration.
There would be intra-district school choice, to make this “a very attractive place to live and raise your children,” Clarke said.
The current study committee has high academic hopes for the district. By 2021, the school wants to become one of the best — competitive with the top 5 percent of schools in the state on test scores.
“I think that’s the most exciting thing about their proposal,” said Clarke.
Also by 2021, the committee wants a 12-student minimum in each class and a maximum of 20 students for grades K-3, 25 for grades 4-6, according to an August draft of its “Guiding Principals of Unification.”
The study committee is gathering feedback from residents in each town now and will seek voter approval of the proposal in March, around town meeting time. If voters reject the proposal, the study committee will be required to evaluate how to proceed by November 2017.
Comment: ????????? "The change would cost an estimated $75,000 for new staff." I thought Act 46 was supposed to money.
Vito
Strange, isn't it. They're thumbing their noses at the taxpayer.
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