The Duxbury Select Board recommended Cindy Senning for the open seat on the Harwood Unified Union School District (HUUSD) recently vacated by Brian Dalla Mura with the caveat that both of the two candidates were strong options and should be interviewed, should the school board so choose. While the consensus among the select board was that either candidate would be a strong choice, some members leaned towards Senning, given her experience and longstanding involvement in local schools. The two Duxbury residents who applied for the position were Cindy Senning and Patrick Zachary.
Senning has been involved in district since 1982 when her eldest child entered kindergarten. She has served as principal at the Duxbury Primary School, as well as a school nurse and was on the school board responsible for forming the Waterbury-Duxbury School District and building Crossett Brook Middle School in 1997. She holds a bachelor’s degree in nursing from Cornell University, as well as a master’s and doctorate in education from the University of Vermont, where she completed a dissertation on school boards in Vermont. In her letter of interest, she wrote, “I have been a parent, teacher, nurse, administrator, school board member, taxpayer and now a grandparent. I have a strong commitment to education, students and this district and believe I have a lot to contribute.”
Zachary has been a resident of Duxbury for 15 years and serves on the Duxbury Development Review Board. He holds a BS in engineering from UVM and is a senior engineer at Global Foundries. He wrote, “My belief is that schools make a community. Schools are particularly important to the livelihood of any community and must be preserved equal to any other critical community service. As a requirement, we need work to ensure that school costs are affordable to the people who live in Duxbury.”
The person selected by the school board will serve until Town Meeting Day, March 1, 2022, at which point voters will elect a candidate to serve the remaining year of the term. Dalla Mura served on the board briefly before accepting a position at Thatcher Brook Primary School. State statute prohibits an employee of the school district from serving on the school board.
As The Valley Reporter goes to press on July 14, the HUUSD Board will be holding a special meeting to fill the vacant Duxbury seat. There is also an open position for the Waterbury seat, which will be filled later this month.
