Community Forum: SVUUSD budget deserves support

Members of the school board have tried to gather information as to why this budget proposal, with an increase of less than one percent in spending per weighted pupil, and an equalized tax rate decrease of less than one percent, was unacceptable to 59% of our voters.

Community Forum: Government transparency is vital

Open government mattered to all of us during the height of the COVID pandemic.

Community Forum: Vermont needs paid family leave

As we strive to build a state that works for everyone, it’s a harsh reality that almost 75% of Vermont workers lack access to paid family and medical leave.

Community Forum: Act 127 has sustainability issue

Vermont’s very well-intentioned attempt to make education funding more equitable has created confusion for school boards, school officials and taxpayers.

Community Forum: Actionable steps for mental health

Our community faces a multifaceted crisis where these issues not only strain our resources but also impact the safety and well-being of our most vulnerable residents.

Community Forum: Schools penalized in budget battle

While the implementation of Act 127 has been challenging, I feel it has highlighted a larger issue facing Vermont, which is that our current system for education is unaffordable and unsustainable.

Community Forum: Act 127 fuels school funding woes

I am here to provide testimony on behalf of the Addison Northwest School District regarding the implications of ACT 127 on the FY25 budgeting process.

Community Forum: Government must problem solve

The heart of effective governance lies in the intricate task of problem-solving, an inherent aspect of policymaking, legislating, and governing in our democratic society. Regardless of our roles — whether on school boards, in the legislature, or as the el … (read more)

Community Forum: Time for a regional high school

It’s time for us to have a conversation about a single high school/tech center for all of Addison County!

Community forum: All must stand united for the Earth

For years, my generation has been defined as the “climate generation,” the generation that will fix all of the damage done to global health and climate change post-Industrial Revolution.

Community Forum: Markers remind us of human race

What happens to us when we die? There are two ways to look at this. One is philosophical, religious, the other is earthlier.

Community Forum: It’s time for ‘Optimization 3.0’

Finally responding to years of mounting debt within the Vermont State Colleges System, the Vermont Legislature in 2020 convened the Select Committee on the Future of Public Higher Education in Vermont, charging it to deliver a set of recommendations to cr … (read more)

Community forum: A troubled world, and the yearning to heal

At Middlebury College, students in my courses “Writing to Heal” and “The Rhetorics of Death” grapple with a profound incredulity: we couldn’t have anticipated the world’s swift descent into such darkness.

Community forum: Hospital boards advancing wrong priorities

I have grave ethical concerns about the behavior, governance, and board leadership at the UVM Health Network and its network of Vermont hospitals (Porter, Central VT, and UVM Medical Center).

Community forum: Can we disagree like adults?

As the Vermont Department of Fish and Wildlife’s social media leads, Joshua Morse and I get a front row seat to the good, the bad and the ugly emotions that the department’s work brings to Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

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