By Guy Page
Any school district closing a local school should involve affected communities in the decision-making process for one to 18 months prior, members of the Commission on the Future of Public Education in Vermont agreed at its August 18 meeting.
The Commission was created by the Legislature this year to develop a detailed plan for public school funding and district operation and organization, including possibly school closing and consolidation. The Legislature also created the School District Redistricting Task Force to recommend new school district boundaries.
According to published minutes, commission members at the August 18 virtual meeting included Jay Nichols, Chair; Jennifer Deck Samuelson, State Board of Education (SBE); Oliver Olsen, Vermont Independent Schools Association; JohnCastle, Vermont Rural Education Collaborative; Elizabeth Jennings, Vermont Association of School Business Officials; Colin Robinson, representing Jeff Fannon, VT-National Education Association; Chelsea Myers, Vermont Superintendents Association (VSA); Herbert Ogden, Vermont School Boards Association (VSBA); Education Secretary Zoie Saunders (joined at 9:05 a.m.): Suzanne Sprague, Rose Neddo, Toren Ballard, Jill Briggs Campbell, Maureen Gaidys.
Others present included Ken Fredette, Friends of Vermont Public Education; David S.; Rep. Elizabeth Burrows, a former school board chair from Windsor County; Bud Myers; Dr. Mary Gannon; and, Jeanne Albert.
The discussion reflected a consensus on the need to proactively involve communities one to eighteen months in advance of any potential closure decisions, rather than engaging after a board has already made up its mind.
One skeptic about small, rural school closures is John Castle, former Orleans County superintendent and head of the Vermont Rural Education Collaborative. He emphasized that school closure is “too big a decision to be left to a small group of people” and advocated for multiple community forums with diverse access points.
“We need to bring in community voice early, before there is a push. Too often, boards have made a decision and then enlisted the community,” Castle said.
Secretary Saunders outlined key principles for the process:
• Keeping decisions student-centered.
• Informing communities with early engagement.
• Ensuring a transparent process.
• Avoiding making these decisions in a state of emergency.
Several commission members echoed the sentiment against crisis-driven decisions, with Colin Robinson noting the importance of “prework of community outreach” to prevent the legislature from imposing a surprising process on impacted communities.
While Chair Nichols agreed on early public discourse, he cautioned against “tying the hands of a board going forward” for the final decision. However, Jennifer Deck Samuelson suggested considering a multi-layered vote at both town and district levels, potentially with different thresholds for closure.
The next meeting of the Commission is scheduled for September 8, at Folsom School in South Hero, where a presentation on equitable budgeting, focusing on the role of the electorate and school boards, is expected to inform future recommendations to the General Assembly.