By the Waitsfield School Board
As the new school year begins, the Waitsfield Elementary School (WES) Board would like to share our plans and work for the transitional year ahead. Following the yes vote for school board consolidation in June, our board, along with all individual school boards from Waterbury to Warren, will finish all business and eventually disband by the end of 2017. By July 1, 2017, the newly elected Harwood Unified Union School Board will be functioning in its place, overseeing the newly formed Harwood Unified Union School District (HUUSD).
On August 31, the HUUSD held its organizational meeting presided over by Vermont Secretary of Education Rebecca Holcombe. This meeting was largely a formality to swear in newly elected board members and elect district officers. Christine Sullivan and Rob Williams are the new Waitsfield representatives to the unified board. The first working meeting of the HUUSD board will take place September 13 and be held on the second and fourth Wednesday of each month thereafter. These meetings, like all school board meetings, are open to the public.
Although there will be one budget presented to voters for the entire HUUSD at Town Meeting next March, the WES Board will work to present a budget to the unified board during this time of transition to support budget development for the new district. We will also share the Waitsfield School capital improvement plan with the unified board to help them understand the direction and facility needs of Waitsfield School. We will be engaged with the unified board in identifying their priorities and ensuring that communication channels are open to convey community perspectives. To this end, the current Waitsfield School Board will work to establish a community council as laid out in the Act 46 Articles of Agreement, which will represent our community voice to the unified board.
Although there are great challenges in implementing Act 46 and school board consolidation, there is also great potential in streamlining our educational governance system. We hope and anticipate that it will lead to improved transparency in decision-making, streamlining certain services, identifying fiscal efficiencies and ultimately delivering a more cohesive educational framework for students from pre-K to 12th grade. The Waitsfield Elementary School Board would like to thank the community for all the support the school has received over the years. We hope that you will continue your involvement by attending unified board public meetings and continuing to support educational endeavors throughout the Washington West Supervisory community – from Waterbury Center to Warren. We will work hard to facilitate this transition over the coming year.
The Waitsfield School Board: Eve Frankel, Jonathon Goldhammer, Jeremy Gulley, Barclay Rappeport and Christine Sullivan.
