ORWELL — Orwell residents will get another chance to weigh in on their town’s possible participation in a Slate Valley Unified Union School District, as a result of a citizens’ petition received by the Orwell Town Clerk on Friday, May 6.
Orwell residents back on April 12 voted 211 to 121 against joining five Rutland County communities in forming a unified school district that would be governed by a single board presiding over a global education budget for all of the schools in the new union. The vote came in response to Act 46, a law that prompted new unified school districts in the towns around Vergennes, Middlebury and Brandon.
Orwell was the lone dissenting community from among the six Addison Rutland Supervisory Union towns that voted on unification. Communities that voted in favor were Castleton, West Haven, Hubbardton, Benson and Fair Haven. The new district would be governed by an 18-member board presiding over an education budget for its five elementary schools and Fair Haven Union High School.
The Independent, in its May 12 issue, will provide a more detailed overview of the petition drive and the possible timing of a revote.