SHOREHAM — What would it mean if Shoreham residents voted to join in with other towns in the Addison Central Supervisory Union in a unified school district as proscribed by Act 46?
Shoreham residents are invited to come find out and ask questions this Thursday morning at an event called “Shoreham Community Forum: School District Unification Act 46.”
The forum will take place at Platt Memorial Library beginning at 10:30 a.m. on Thursday, Feb. 4.
The Vermont Agency of Education in December gave its seal of approval to the ACSU governance consolidation plans.
The Dec. 15 decision paves the way for residents in the seven ACSU communities to decide on March 1 whether their schools should be governed by a single board and funded through a single budget. On Town Meeting Day, residents will also be asked to elect the 13 members of a new Addison Central School District board that would supplant the eight separate school boards that currently provide leadership in the ACSU.
Based on population counts Shoreham would have one representative on the board.
All 13 members will be elected at-large, as opposed to each community only electing its own delegate(s). It is hoped this would somewhat soften the impact of population-dominant Middlebury’s large majority on the new district board.
Members of the Shoreham School Board are expected to be on hand at Thursday’s forum.