Archive - 2010
January 14th
Pity the poor members of local school boards who have to put a budget before voters this March.
At least our schools’ administrators get paid to sort through the tangled mess that is Vermont school funding. But school board members go through this annual exercise in masochism out of their truly honorable sense of civic duty and doing what is right for our children.
With all due respect to my colleagues in sports writing, I’m not sure I trust our collective wisdom.
January 12th
This is the last post in a four-part series of cheese posts. The first was about making mozzarella cheese, and the second was about Orb Weaver Farm in New Haven, and the third was about Twig Farm in West Cornwall.
Sometimes authenticity and simplicity just don't mix.
January 11th
In his final State of the State address, Gov. Jim Douglas emphasized three familiar themes: promote job growth, cut taxes and reduce school spending. He’s been saying much the same thing for the previous few years to little success — a fact that he has too willingly blamed on his opponents.
In retrospect, he might have wondered if a more progressive agenda could have yielded better results.
Consider the state’s current plight and the possibility of a different approach.
VERGENNES — Visiting Middlebury outlasted an improving Vergennes Union High School girls’ basketball team, 37-32, on Friday in a defensive struggle that was ultimately decided on the foul line and in the turnover column.
On a night when neither team shot well, the Commodores committed more fouls in their man-to-man defense and full-court press than did the Tigers, who most of the time sat back in a zone. As a result, the Tigers went to the line 36 times, sinking 18 shots, while VUHS made seven of 12 attempts. And the Commodores lost the ball 32 times, compared to 22 turnovers for MUHS.
ADDISON — About three dozen Addison residents gathered on Thursday to hear Addison Central School officials explain that even with about $180,000 of proposed cuts to the school’s current budget of about $1.9 million, their tax rates will rise if that plan — and the proposed Vergennes Union High School budget — passes on Town Meeting Day.
ACS Principal Wayne Howe said the issues Addison faces are the same most small, rural schools are struggling with: meeting educational mandates with limited resources while working against the economy of scale brought on by declining enrollment.
MIDDLEBURY — The UD-3 school board will hold a special budget meeting this Tuesday, Jan. 12, to discuss new education funding information from the state that indicates the seven towns in the Addison Central Supervisory Union could be in store for even worse budget news than they had anticipated.
MIDDLEBURY — Middlebury Selectman Don Keeler will not run for re-election this March, citing a desire to at least temporarily take a break from town government activities and give someone else a chance to serve the community.
“I thought long and hard about it,” Keeler said during an interview last week. “I just think that with the six years I’ve served, along with the six years I served during the late 1970s and early 1980s, I’ve done my part. It’s time for some new blood.”
