When members of the Harwood Unified Union School District Board vote on a district redesign plan that will absolutely lead to the closure of Fayston Elementary School, they will be taking action to close a local school.
Their November 13, 2019, vote will be taken in advance of the July 1, 2021, date that the Act 46 Articles of Agreement identify as the date after which schools can be closed.
The Articles of Agreement state that the district shall not close any schools within its boundaries during the first four years it is fully operational … unless the town in which the school is located consents to closure. The district became operational on July 1, 2017.
The Articles of Agreement continue “thereafter, an affirmative vote of two-thirds of the board of directors shall be required to close a school. Prior to holding a vote on whether to close a school, the board shall hold at least three public hearings regarding the proposed school closure. At least one of the meetings shall be held in the community in which the school is located.”
Certainly it is possible to split some legal hairs – as the board’s attorney, Paul Giuliani, did at the board’s October 16 meeting when he said that the board’s ability to vote on a plan didn’t count as a decision on school closure as long as the school did not close before July 1, 2021.
In addition to the question of whether the board can vote on a plan that results in a school closure before July 1, 2021, and whether there must be three public hearings including one in the town whose school is targeted for closure, there is also the question of whether two-thirds of the board must vote affirmatively on November 13 for the redesign vote to pass.
To the board’s credit, it is seeking another legal opinion from an attorney not connected to Vermont’s education associations or Agency of Education on how to interpret the Articles of Agreement and their provision for school closure. The board expects this opinion to be available for its November 5 meeting. This is good governance and it adds a critical transparency to the process and its credibility.
