Ripton readies for new educational future

Ripton school officials said they’ll try to make the best of what they believe was an incorrect decision by the Vermont State Board of Education on Jan. 19 to designate the town its own supervisory district.

“Here’s the good news,” educational consultant Nate Levenson told the Mount Abraham Unified School District board Tuesday night. “You have a number of very good options to think about…”

Ripton’s Molly Witters is right on target; State Board of Education Chair Oliver Olsen is not. 

The Vermont State Board of Education (VSBE) on Wednesday morning officially granted Ripton’s wish to become independent from the Addison Central School District. Now comes the hard part.

Watching the MAUSD/ANWSD Merger Study Committee (MSC) right now is like watching people evacuate a ship into rickety lifeboats without confirming that the ship is indeed sinking.

Lincoln and Ripton, which voted last year to withdraw from their school districts, have begun exploring the idea of creating a new supervisory union to handle the administrative services they might not be able to afford individually.

Dissatisfied with the pace and effectiveness of talks toward a possible compromise with the Addison Central School District, the Ripton School Board is exploring a public education union with the town of Lincoln.

School consolidation and closure continued to dominate local public education discussions this past year, as districts searched for solutions to the long-term problems of declining enrollment and rising education costs.

Many of us have wondered why the Mt. Abraham Unified School District (MAUSD) would be considering closing elementary schools, and MAUSD would support consolidating middle and high schools with Addison Northwest (the Vergennes area) and becoming one large … (read more)

I am writing to provide context to the quote attributed to me in the Dec. 16, 2021 article, “ACSD Board cool to Ripton rule changes,” and am doing so because I believe these are important details for the ACSD community to contemplate in this broad convers … (read more)

A majority of the board on Monday reiterated its opposition to amending the ACSD’s charter in a manner that would give member-communities more power in electing their board representatives and a final say on whether their own elementary schools should clo … (read more)

I want to make it perfectly clear that I am writing this letter as a tax paying citizen of Ferrisburgh and in no way as a member of the school board.

After nearly a year of debate over the issue of whether “repurposing” schools is tantamount to “closing” them, the Mount Abraham Unified School District board approved a measure Monday night to bring some clarity to the issue.

A group is restarting its work on a plan that will help the Addison Central School District prioritize which of its buildings it should keep and upgrade and which it shouldn’t, in light of declining enrollment and rising education costs.

The ANWSD/MAUSD Merger Study Committee invites the public to attend a virtual community meeting on Tuesday, Nov. 16, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.