Editor’s note: This letter was directed to the members of the Slate Valley Unified Union School District, which includes Orwell, and cc’d to the Independent.
I am writing to thank you for your service. I want to thank you for your countless hours of work, your missed family dinners, children’s performances, and sporting events. I want to thank you for your honest conversations, the debates where we agreed to disagree, and the time spent analyzing documents to be ready for a meeting. I want to thank you for touring every school building in our district to understand the unique needs of its students, staff, teachers and infrastructure.
I want to thank you for asking hard questions, talking about the things that no one wants to talk about, and working to move forward as a unified group. I want to thank you for caring about all of our students in all of our schools, for listening to our administrative team members and understanding the complex issues that our students bring to their classrooms each and every day.
Education has changed dramatically in the past 20 years, and I want to thank you for taking the time to learn about the changes, and challenges and how they are affecting our school district. I want to thank you for working hard to make a bold decision that will make our school district viable for the next century and beyond as together we navigate the future of education in Rutland and Addison counties.
Julie Finnegan
Board Chair of the SVUUSD
Castleton