To The Editor:
As the Harwood Union School Board enters its final year before formally transitioning to the new Harwood Union Unified School District (HUUSD) Board, we want to express our gratitude to the Waterbury and Mad River Valley communities for years of support for education at our middle/high school. Harwood is among Vermont’s best high schools. It is home to a diverse range of learners and innovative educators and has provided an excellent return on the investment that the community has made in it.
The six towns of the Harwood Union voted overwhelmingly last year to merge into one unified school district – a move that our board strongly endorsed. We believe this will deliver benefits to our students in the form of improved educational quality and equity between schools, and it will offer value to our taxpayers as our single district can work more efficiently. The HUUSD Board now has the challenge and opportunity to serve in the same way that our Harwood board has done for many years: to act as one board for one community, not for individual towns. We are confident that Harwood will be well served by this collaborative approach to educating all of our children in the years ahead.
This has been a challenging year at Harwood. Our hearts were broken in October when we lost Eli Brookens, Janie Chase Cozzi, Liam Hale, Mary Harris and Cyrus Zschau. Harwood has been transformed by this tragedy into a place of healing, as well as learning. Our students and staff are deeply grateful to our wonderful Waterbury and Mad River Valley communities – as well as to the countless schools and people around the region – for their outpouring of love. With your support, we continue travel the road to recovery together, with our five bright stars lighting the way.
Together, we are Harwood Strong.
Sincerely,
The Harwood Union School Board
Deb Hunter, chair; David Goodman, vice chair; Rosemarie White, Garett MacCurtain, Laura Caffry, Susan MacLean Daley, Maureen McCracken
