MAUSD is weighing school closures

BRISTOL — After months of deliberation, a Mount Abraham Unified School District committee has narrowed down a wide range of building closure options and will soon make a formal recommendation to Superintendent Patrick Reen. Like many of its Vermont peers, the MAUSD has been struggling with declining enrollment, which reduces the Bristol-area district’s income from the state. It also faces increasing costs, especially those related to employee health care. Reen has projected that MAUSD annual budgets could e … (read more)

Editor’s note: The writers sent this letter to the Mount Abraham Unified School District board and cc’d the Independent. Dear MAUSD School Board Members, It has become painfully clear that our district schools are in a tough place financially. We hear you … (read more)

CORNWALL — Four of the Addison Central School District’s seven communities will hold March 3 votes on two petitioned referenda that the ACSD board declined to warn on its Town Meeting Day ballot. The questions ask residents if they want more of a say in t … (read more)

MIDDLEBURY — The Addison Central School District (ACSD) board has for many months been hearing a “don’t close our small schools” message from a coalition of Ripton and Weybridge residents organized under the banner of “Save Our Schools.” Now ACSD director … (read more)

When I was a little 15-year-old, the powers-that-be in my small town decided to consolidate our schools. It caused a lot of anguish for many parents, who were suddenly faced with seeing their children schooled in a different building in a different town. … (read more)

VERGENNES — Less than a month after voters in Addison and Ferrisburgh defeated a proposal by the Addison Northwest School District to close Addison Central School (ACS) and Ferrisburgh Central School (FCS), a citizens group has launched a campaign to amen … (read more)

VERGENNES — Some financial projections have changed in the Addison Northwest School District recently — in the district’s favor. For months, the ANWSD board and administrators anticipated that the district would need to cut $955,000 from next year’s budge … (read more)

Your editorial “Let small schools prove themselves” and the article written by Mr. Ross “Addison gears up for school closure fight” (both published in the Independent on Oct. 24) made me sick to my stomach, due to both the lack of investigative reporting … (read more)

ADDISON & FERRISBURGH — On Tuesday voters in Addison and Ferrisburgh, by large margins, rejected the Addison Northwest School District’s proposal to close Addison Central School (ACS) and Ferrisburgh Central School (FCS) on June 30, 2020. In Addison the t … (read more)

Closing a town’s elementary school was as tough as predicted: In the town of Addison, voters on Tuesday rejected the Addison Northwest School District’s suggestion to voluntarily close its school by a three-to-one margin: 373 opposed to 123 in favor. Ferr … (read more)

ADDISON — In a letter mailed to town residents on Oct. 31, the Addison selectboard has outlined a number of questions and concerns about the Addison Northwest School District’s proposal to close Addison Central School next year. “We believe the school dis … (read more)

We, the elected members of the Addison Northwest School District board, are parents, community members, and dedicated public servants. We are tasked with ensuring a rich and robust education for all district students in a way that is affordable to our com … (read more)

I recently received a mailer from the ANWSD with information for voters about the upcoming school closure vote on Nov. 5. From the text on the recent mailer sent to voters in the town of Ferrisburgh: “Savings to projected FY21 expenses by closing two buil … (read more)

I was disappointed by the somewhat inflammatory reporting on the ANWSD in the news section of the Oct. 24 Addison Independent. As a parent of two children in the school district, I’d like to thank our school board for their hard work in navigating these d … (read more)

What makes a school? That question, in various forms, has been asked by many of us over the past weeks. It calls into question our notions of education and the infrastructure in which education is provided. When I reflect on my children’s experiences at F … (read more)