Vermont Standard
11/14/19
By Allan Stein
Standard Staff
At Tuesday’s meeting, some members of the Windsor Central Modified Unified Union School District School Board said that the circumstances couldn’t be better to move forward with a middle-high school building feasibility study.
Flush with more than $200,000 in private donations, and with letters of support from community members, the only thing lacking are definitive project numbers.
Woodstock board member Ben Ford, in his first report of the New Building Committee on Tuesday, proposed that $50,000 be set aside to begin the scoping study, whose total projected cost is $400,000.
As the study moves along, the district would continue raising private funds to cover the balance, he said.
“We have a pretty incredible amount of support from the community tonight,” Ford said.
Ford said one community member pitched in with
a $200,000 matching grant, while another donor pledged $25,000.
Woodstock board member Clare Drebitko, a member of the board’s Community Engagement Committee, said there appears to be broad community support for a new middlehigh school.
“It feels really good to have this kind of district-wide support of the process we’re going through,” she said.
Several other board members, however, said they were not prepared to vote on the scoping study without first knowing whether a financial feasibility study is complete or not.
“You people are nuts. Just follow the vote (process).”
— Killington Board Member James Haff
Barnard board member Pamela Fraser she was not ready to support the scoping study “even if it is private money.”
She added, “there seems to be a desire to move forward without concrete numbers.”
Preliminary figures place the cost of new middle-high
school construction at $68 million. Ford said the scoping study will supply more exact, and possibly lower numbers.
“This stage will give us clarity. It will be incredibly valuable,” he said.
Ford said that private funding is critical to having “all the pieces in place” before going to the taxpayers with a project proposal.
Killington board member James Haff, however, said it would be “premature to approve the use of $50,000 until we have the full funds. I don’t know what $50,000 is going to get” the district, he said.
“I don’t know why we are moving on this. We’re supposed to do this right,” Haff said.
Haff said board action would be improper since Ford’s motion was not on Tuesday’s agenda for a vote.
Fraser confirmed, based on the Vermont Secretary of State website, that to vote on an unwarned motion would be a violation of the state’s open meeting law.
“It’s pretty clear we’re not supposed to vote,” she said.
As opposition to the motion mounted, Drebitko made an impassioned plea in support of the scoping study.
She said a new facility would replace the existing one which she described as “failing” to meet the needs of students.
“This facility is failing them. It is not allowing them to reach their full potential,” she said.
At that point, Haff got up and left the meeting, saying, “You people are nuts. Just follow the vote (process).”
During the heated discussion, WSCU Superintendent Mary Beth Banios noted that district funds may be available to help fund the scoping study.
This would include $35,000 left over during school consolidation, and $340,000 in nearly unrestricted building reserve funds, she said.
Bridgewater board member Matthew Hough said that while he supports the scoping study, “process matters.”
He suggested that the vote be postponed for two weeks to get a better handle on funding for the study.
“We have to respect the process of the board,” he said.
The board tabled Ford’s motion until Nov. 25.
At Tuesday’s meeting, some members of the Windsor Central Modified Unified Union School District School Board said that the circumstances couldn’t be better to move forward with a middle-high school building feasibility study.
Flush with more than $200,000 in private donations, and with letters of support from community members, the only thing lacking are definitive project numbers.
Woodstock board member Ben Ford, in his first report of the New Building Committee on Tuesday, proposed that $50,000 be set aside to begin the scoping study, whose total projected cost is $400,000.
As the study moves along, the district would continue raising private funds to cover the balance, he said.
“We have a pretty incredible amount of support from the community tonight,” Ford said.
Ford said one community member pitched in with
a $200,000 matching grant, while another donor pledged $25,000.
Woodstock board member Clare Drebitko, a member of the board’s Community Engagement Committee, said there appears to be broad community support for a new middlehigh school.
“It feels really good to have this kind of district-wide support of the process we’re going through,” she said.
Several other board members, however, said they were not prepared to vote on the scoping study without first knowing whether a financial feasibility study is complete or not.
“You people are nuts. Just follow the vote (process).”
— Killington Board Member James Haff
Barnard board member Pamela Fraser she was not ready to support the scoping study “even if it is private money.”
She added, “there seems to be a desire to move forward without concrete numbers.”
Preliminary figures place the cost of new middle-high
school construction at $68 million. Ford said the scoping study will supply more exact, and possibly lower numbers.
“This stage will give us clarity. It will be incredibly valuable,” he said.
Ford said that private funding is critical to having “all the pieces in place” before going to the taxpayers with a project proposal.
Killington board member James Haff, however, said it would be “premature to approve the use of $50,000 until we have the full funds. I don’t know what $50,000 is going to get” the district, he said.
“I don’t know why we are moving on this. We’re supposed to do this right,” Haff said.
Haff said board action would be improper since Ford’s motion was not on Tuesday’s agenda for a vote.
Fraser confirmed, based on the Vermont Secretary of State website, that to vote on an unwarned motion would be a violation of the state’s open meeting law.
“It’s pretty clear we’re not supposed to vote,” she said.
As opposition to the motion mounted, Drebitko made an impassioned plea in support of the scoping study.
She said a new facility would replace the existing one which she described as “failing” to meet the needs of students.
“This facility is failing them. It is not allowing them to reach their full potential,” she said.
At that point, Haff got up and left the meeting, saying, “You people are nuts. Just follow the vote (process).”
During the heated discussion, WSCU Superintendent Mary Beth Banios noted that district funds may be available to help fund the scoping study.
This would include $35,000 left over during school consolidation, and $340,000 in nearly unrestricted building reserve funds, she said.
Bridgewater board member Matthew Hough said that while he supports the scoping study, “process matters.”
He suggested that the vote be postponed for two weeks to get a better handle on funding for the study.
“We have to respect the process of the board,” he said.
The board tabled Ford’s motion until Nov. 25.
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