To the Editor:

Boar’s Head Provisions : “we’re proud to say our standards have never wavered” (Company Website, About section, 10/11/2025). 2024 listeria outbreak that killed 10 people: traced to improperly maintained Boar’s Head factory.

As a former competitive strategist in a big American company, the Boar’s Head’s stumble could have offered an opportunity for a better managed deli meat firm to enter or displace Boar’s Head. After all, the brand is tainted. There’s a feud going on at the top – a distraction, no less. 

I puzzle every day when I see Boar’s Head signage still featured in Stop and Shop. Maybe no other company has made a move on this market.

The listeria outbreak remains meaningful to me. It probably remains meaningful to at least some consumers. If ever there was a time to run a campaign against a brand that clearly emphasizes marketing over quality, that opportunity emerged last year. The opportunity is fading. 

Why does Boar’s Head own the deli meat advertising real estate in stores? I wonder if it’s because Boar’s Head was founded by brash New Yorkers (now decamped to Florida).  I have to admit, I am rooting for an underdog to displace that signage. I like to buy Vermont brands. Is this something that Vermont businesspeople can do? Yes. I think so. It’s worth trying.

-Susan Cournoyer, Fall River, MA

Letter to school board:

I’ve spoken before, and I’ve told you that many parents share my concerns.  To be honest, parents are tired of the empty rhetoric and gaslighting that we’ve received from this school administration.

Parents are tired of the OUTRIGHT promotion of gender ideology in our schools.  We’re tired of Critical Race Theory, we’re tired of Anti-Racist policies, which is just racism by a different name, and we’re tired of the ever-changing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion initiatives. These initiatives are actively promoted by the leadership in this school district.  

I think that you will say that you are just following guidelines from the VT Agency of Education.  However, just because you have the right to do something, does not mean that you are right in doing it.

To borrow a term from you, Parents are tired of being marginalized.  But most importantly, the educational needs of our children are not being met.  

You admitted that our children continue to be well below proficiency. Children are struggling with reading, math, and science.  

But do you know what they are not struggling with?  

Knowing about climate change.  Identifying victims and oppressors.  Blaming everything on white supremacy or the patriarchy.  Being activists.  And they definitely are not struggling with knowing what pronoun to use.

We hear from parents that have sent their kids to college, and they quickly realize how woefully unprepared they are.  And despite all this, every year we hear the same thing.  If we just had more money, we could hire more staff, we could offer more programs, we could be more equitable.  Children’s education would be better.  

We have heard the same things for over 30 years, and the only thing that we’ve seen, is an education system that has grown larger and more expensive, and educational results, despite good intentions, that have gotten worse.

We’ve heard from many of you here that systemic racism is a problem in our schools.  That is not true.  But what is a problem is the systemic bureaucracy in the public education system that continually gets rewarded with more of our tax dollars despite producing dismal results.  

This comes at a significant cost both financially, and to the future of our community.

-Jarrod Vaillancourt