By Michael Bielawski
For the first time in the state’s history, a lawsuit by disgruntled parents may have caused at least a temporary school closure.
Windham Elementary School was voted to be temporarily closed on Thursday by their school board. The students will now attend Townsend Elementary School.
A lawsuit brought by parents led by Attorney Deborah Bucknam alleges the school is failing to provide basic educational services as required by the State Constitution. In an emailed message to VDC, Bucknam shared some more details about what transpired at the school board meeting.
“At the Board meeting, there were several references to our lawsuit as at least part of the reason for closing (I think it was the entire reason). So, for the first time in Vermont history, parents have held an entire school district to account,” she wrote.
She continued to suggest that it was largely the lawsuit that prompted this action.
“If my clients had not been there pushing the District, in my opinion, this school would still be open—and the teaching principal, Jenna Cramer, would likely still be employed. We shone the light on what was going on at Windham, and they were forced to make major changes,” she wrote.
“We shone the light on what was going on at Windham, and they were forced to make major changes.”
– Attorney Deb Bucknam
The message includes that this development may help school choice advocates. School choice is when a community is allowed to send its students to other schools of each family’s choice and their tuition money follows the students accordingly.
“The State will likely fight very hard to keep control, but I think this victory helps our school choice campaign,” she wrote. “If we get past the motion to dismiss–and I am hopeful that we will—we can engage in discovery which will force them to provide information to parents about the operation of the school—and that can be a template for other parents in other districts—which will shine the light on the sorry state of Vermont’s schools.”
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State trying to get the case dismissed
The state had argued to dismiss the lawsuit prompting Bucknam to write an argument to the Windham Superior Court last week stating why it should not be dismissed. In it, she describes some of the shortcomings regarding Cramer’s job performance.
It states, “Ms. Cramer and Mr. [Marco] Lazin did not prepare curriculum or lesson plans for the children. By the middle of October, they told the parents that they had not started teaching the children from a curriculum because they had not received all their ‘supplies.’”
It continues, “Ms. Cramer was frequently late for school, and the children, instead of learning lessons, spent their days watching animal and PG-13 music videos, including one where a llama used the f—word, and, as indicated above, included showing a violent video [including a decapitation and a person being lit on fire] shown to first and second graders.”
Cramer was fired in November leaving Lazin as the only teacher.
Also in Bucknam’s written argument, she notes earlier this month the school chose not to hire either of the two candidates that they had for teachers.
“At the December 5, 2023 meeting the Windham School Board decided not to hire any of the candidates, leaving the school to continue with one inexperienced teacher and unlicensed substitutes,” it states.
In conclusion, her argument states, “Plaintiffs have sufficiently plead both a violation of the Education Clause and the Common Benefits Clause of the Vermont Constitution, and have requested relief which this Court has the power and authority to grant. Thus the State’s motion to dismiss must be denied.”
In a phone call on Friday, she further emphasized that this case could provide a legal template for other communities in Vermont to force changes at their schools if they feel that their kids are also being denied that basic education rights.
The author is a reporter for the Vermont Daily Chronicle
Categories: Education
This is HUGE NEWS!!!!
It’s the road map to better education outcomes and lower costs.
But that the students will now attend Townsend Elementary School is a curious statement requiring further consideration.
“16 V.S.A. § 821 School district to maintain public elementary schools or pay tuition
(d) Notwithstanding subdivision (a)(1) of this section, the electorate of a school district that does not maintain an elementary school may grant general authority to the school board to pay tuition for an elementary student at an approved independent elementary school or an independent school meeting education quality standards pursuant to sections 823 and 828 of this chapter upon notice given by the student’s parent or legal guardian before April 15 for the next academic year.”
While the Townsend School may be a reasonable choice for some parents, other parents should know that alternative public and independent schools are now available to them.
The article was slightly misleading. I believe Windham will provide transportation to Townshend however, parents can request tuition be paid to other nearby districts per Brattleboro Reformer article. However, I did not see a single independent school listed as a nearby school…curious. The Reformer article also inferred that Townshend, NewBrook and Jamaica were in separate districts. They are all part of the West River District. Windham is part of that same district for grades 7-12.
As depicted here, it sounds like Windham Elementary with its 20 K-6 students was operating more like a daycare center than an educational institution. Moving them to Townshend Elementary where there are 98 students could make sense, but as Jay stated, it could create a hardship for some parents.
There are other small elementary school settings around the state. Is this part of the plan to force mergers? Should other small schools be concerned? Townshend likely can absorb these new students, though it will create a new school start-up feeling for both the students and teachers. Small towns tend to have a sense of community identity surrounding their schools. Windham’s sense of community may dissipate.
I’d say that the parents & guardians of the children in Bellows Falls need to follow suit. It’s pretty apparent that if your kid is a teen reading & writing at a first-grade level, THAT school isn’t following the Constitution either.
When Johnny & Mary graduate from Bellow Falls school district and attempt to become gainfully employed, writing “See Dick Run” ain’t (I mean “isn’t”) going to cut it.
Actually, for the BFUHS, being able to read and write at the ‘Dick and Jane’ level of proficiency would be an improvement. But no one has listened to the warnings for the last 20 years. Unfortunately, you can lead the horse to water. But you can’t make it drink.
OUTSTANDING!!!
Needs to happen to many more schools in this state and the country.
Hallelujah! Thank you Deb Attorney Bucknam and parents at Windham Elementary!!!
Pray for Vermont encourages all to add your appeals to God to see the needed protection of our Vermont children to have more victories like this – all across our state. All Vermont children deserve a well rounded educational foundation without impedances some feel are higher priorities.
Stamford needs to do the same. This spring they took 7th and 8th graders to Montpelier for a Trangender Awareness rally. The trip was approved at one of their board meetings as an agenda item added the same night as the meeting so no public knowledge of the decision was made until after the trip took place. Parents didn’t have an opportunity to object. We filed open meeting law Complaint but they denied wrongdoing. It got nowhere, and no lawyer would touch the effort to bring the Complaint to court. A lawsuit may be the next step.
Call it truth, call it tough love, or what ever you want, but facts are hard to deny. A lot of schools are raising a generation of idiots, and something had to hit the fan at some point. I can not imagine any parent wanting their children to be raised to be semi- functional idiots, with degrees in wokeism . One small step for parents, one large step (hopefully) for education in Vermont !
talking about idiots did you all wear the face diaper for at least two years/////
Nope, wore it to the grocery store and other places that were absolutely necessary. That thing was nothing but a feel good rigging….
This is great. Hope it works out and that the powers that be don’t block being able to sue in similar situations.
Keep at it!!
Would that the settlement could be that per-pupil costs go to parent to buy whatever teaching, curriculum and schooling services they want.
Knowing how per pupil costs are determined when a district tuitions its students is an important consideration. And it’s a bit complicated.
What the district pays in tuition depends on the school the parents choose. If the parents use the Townsend School exclusively (as the ‘designated’ school), the School Board negotiates the annual cost and pays up to the cost per student set by the school.
But if parents choose an independent school, the School Board uses the State’s Announced Average Tuition to pay the independent school. The 2023-2024 Average Announced Tuition for Elementary School is $16,756.
If, for example, Townsend Elementary School’s cost per student is over $20,000 per student per year (not an unreasonable assumption), the Windham board will pay that cost. If, however, the parent chooses an independent school, the district pays up to the Average Announced Tuition for Elementary Schools of $16,756. If the independent school charges more, the parents make up the difference.
As you can see, for every student attending an independent school, the district saves money.
In the case of using Townsend Elementary School, the difference may actually cost more than the Windham school’s previous costs. But maybe not. It depends on the cost per student at the Townsend Elementary School. One would think that the Townsend Elementary School’s costs will decline because it now has more efficiency of scale with more students. But Vermont’s public schools are notoriously inefficient, especially when they have a captive customer base.
Independent schools, on the other hand, have to compete. And if the Windham school board allows its students to choose between public schools and independent schools, then the public schools must compete too – putting further pressure on the public school to be more cost efficient.
And there’s nothing wrong with that.
H.J.Esh YES, just look at the complexity facing the citizen. Would the cut-to-the-chase simplicity be for the community to define its commitment to an “educated citizenry”, protolyze to a consensus to confiscate those resources from the citizenry, then turn over the per student proportion to families to educate their kids? Ok legislators…who’s gon’a put forth the simple law to overturn the public school monolith?
Great Job Deb!
Maybe some other folks you hang out with can get behind this……..it would be nice to see some more companionship from those who are sworn to up hold and defend that pesky piece of paper…some of us hold so dear.
God Speeed
Wonder is this news will make it to Vermont Digger or 7 DAys….lol
Thank you Deb!!
This should be the first of many lawsuits against schools pushing indoctrination instead of education……………….. hit them where it hurts, you may have to shut a few schools down, oh well !!
Wake up parents, you don’t want a moron living in your basement because they don’t have any skills after twelve years in a public school and all there woke-ness
It’s time to take it further still, pull your kids entirely and homeschool, if enough leave the school (any school) will be forced to close. Parents could form co-ops, let’s shut the indoctrination centers down. While there certainly are some good teachers out there, they are governed by a system that is completely broken and corrupt. It’s time to entirely dismantle the current public education model and break the NEA!
So. I noticed nothing about true “smarts”, just money. If that lawyer wants to win, get some of these kids to read or write or recite something that was “educational” they learned. No DEI does not count. Or, better yet, have them (the kids) spell some of the words they are trying to get kids to know. It is sad that the “state” has the power in these circumstances to actually request a dismissal, not due to hurt feeling but lack of performance.
Accountability is a requirement but is not pushed in this state. At what point do we stand up to the tyrants who are running things. We pay out a bunch of money to school tax and I have no faith in the entire school system in Vermont. More like day care for spoiled adults.
The lawyer may also wish to file a motion to quash the motion to dismiss due to “unclean hands “and get an expert to look at what is being done in relation to what is legally required. I bet they come up very short. I also see a conflict of interest with this due to the various statements by education officials doing everything they can to hide this behavior and lack of proper education by the school and the lack of action by that schoolboard. Signed affidavits should have been submitted so that the people who are in this can , before discovery, lay down factual evidence BEFORE a ruling on a motion to dismiss. But we know that lawyers really juts want to get paid but since most people do not know what to do, they rely on these people to do something that turns into nothing. I predict this becoming a great big nothing burger “here in Vermont”.
Notice how when we complain they just double down.
It is all about the children afterall. Set the case law in motion, raise the standard, set the standard – utilize lawfare warfare against the enemy – they opened the Pandora’s Box. It is up to the good people to slam that sucker shut and hurl into the abyss from which it came. Keep up the good fight!
School Choice will be greatly diminished if the state continues its pressure against private schools that don’t have the unlimited resources that the public, union run schools have.
There are no educational institutions in Vermont that I would trust my child to. If I still had a school age child they would be home-schooled and be ten times more educated than any public school inmate.