Local schools voted to merge into the Harwood Unified Union School District (HUUSD) because they had to. Shortly after, the superintendent launched a redesign document that closed schools and spread shock and awe across the district. So much so that the board had to hold a public flogging at Harwood. The superintendent apologized and acknowledged that it was not unveiled to the public well.
Then the school board had some internal struggle around the need and desire for community engagement in the process. The Community Engagement subcommittee of the board wanted to hire a consultant to undergo a community engagement process. That was met with resistance by the full board and it evolved into hiring a consultant to help the board lead community engagement initiatives.
Several meetings later this evolved into a process to engage the community around the vision for HUUSD. The vision is now complete. While the community was being led to work on the vision, the board and staff continued work on the redesign. Like train tracks, the two never met. So now, the redesign proposal comes out again and there is still no community voice.
Does it matter? It turns out that we have incredibly talented and committed people who live in these seven towns. They hold collective wisdom well beyond the board of 14. We could have used this process to dream and build something amazing. But it has been held hostage by a few who, undoubtedly, think they are showing great character by forging through and making hard choices. Throughout the next few weeks there will be community outcry, some about school closures but mostly about process, decisions being made with minimal information, lack of clarity around savings and the politics that lead to disenfranchisement.
I ask the board to please consider showing some vulnerability by changing the timeline and creating a process of real community engagement, so that we may move forward together. None of the current work would be wasted; it is all information. If this happens and closing schools is an agreed upon outcome, there will be support to pass budgets and bond votes. But right now, the community has not been included, the savings are minimal, the real costs are not understood and an exercise around unintended consequences of closing community nodes has not even been considered.
Until the school board determines that they want to legitimately include the community and draw from its collective wisdom, there is no trusting the process, because the board is not trusting the community.
Baruzzi is a Fayston, Vermont resident and Moretown parent.
