Letter to the editor: Don’t further dilute local control; vote ‘no’ on merger

With twice the number of towns in a new district and diluted representation from each town, we should expect any hopes of local decisions and community engagement regarding our schools to diminish significantly. 

At its recent “Q & A” meetings in Bristol and Vergennes, the MAUSD-ANWSD Merger Study Committee claimed that the upcoming merger vote is “only” about merging governance.

Potential school closures and consolidations were among the concerns voiced by attendees of a merger study committee meeting held at Mount Abraham Union High School earlier this week.

There are better ways to improve education for all of our students and to prudently manage taxpayer dollars.

Despite the Starksboro Save our School committee’s publication of our analysis that the likely tax increase was closer to 3%, the damage had been done.

This merger will affect families in both districts and we deserve to better understand both the benefits and the costs of merging before we agree to this change. 

Voters should be deeply skeptical of any claims for financial benefits from the proposed merger.

The board ultimately voted in favor, 6-5, of adopting the resolution, with board chair Dawn Griswold supplying the tie-breaking vote. 

The Article of Agreements represent your community members working toward the following priorities.

It is possible the Mount Abraham Unified School District board at a Sept. 27 executive session also attended by Mount Abraham Union High School and district administrators violated Vermont’s Open Meeting Law.

The school board has erred egregiously by refusing to publicly explain its reasoning, and by snubbing Coach LaRose’s request to have a public airing of the board’s decision, which is within her rights to ask.

If we are serious about equity — providing all children what they need to develop to their full academic potential — we need to defeat the proposed merger on Nov. 8.

Now, it is the community’s turn. Your voice is important.

After attending the Merger Study Committee meeting on Sept. 20, we came away quite disturbed.

Merging would mean moving school governance even farther away from the students and their schools and communities.