Top Ten 2022: ANWSD/MAUSD merger defeated

Despite their optimistic findings, the committee’s drafted articles of agreement sparked concerns from many community members, particularly regarding how potential school closures and consolidations would be handled in a merged district.

Perhaps an even bigger surprise came at the beginning of the Nov. 16 Board of Education meeting when the panel accepted Oliver Olsen’s resignation.

While we may disagree on solutions, we acknowledge our school districts face many difficult problems that are not easy to fix. 

Voters in the nine towns making up the Addison Northwest and Mount Abraham Unified school districts on Tuesday voted 4,282-1,886 to oppose the merger of the two entities as a way to combat declining enrollment and rising overhead costs.

Merging with Mount Abe offers a pathway to new conversations and new opportunities to address our stubbornly chronic condition.

Three years ago, I joined the Community Engagement Committee of the MAUSD school board as a volunteer because I knew the big challenges we faced as a district and I was confident our five-town community would come together to find creative solutions to th … (read more)

The MAUSD Board and Merger Committee assert our Nov. 8 vote will be on the Articles of Agreement ONLY, not whether to combine schools or move students.

This hysteria is being created by a group in Starksboro that is hyper focused on the perceived closure of Robinson Elementary School and nothing else.

Placing merger decisions in the hands of a 13-member board across nine schools and eight towns is not in the best interest of students or taxpayers.

Whether we’d save money if the merger happens is questionable at best. But there is certainly much we’d lose if it were to pass.

On Nov. 8, residents of Addison County will cast votes that determine how our young people, K-12, will move toward adulthood.

As some in the community may know, a bus to the Vergennes Elementary and Vergennes High School ran an hour late in both the morning and the afternoon during the week of Oct. 10. This was due to a severe bus driver shortage.

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.