NEWPORT CITY- The passage of the education reform bill H.454 by the Vermont House of Representatives has created a stir among the education community. The bill has been sent to the Senate Education Committee for review. At last week’s North Country Union High School board meeting, the subject was broached by North Country Supervisory Union Superintendent Elaine Collins.
Collins has testified at the State House in Montpelier, advocating for small schools and retaining supervisory union districts. She is concerned about the practicability to merge supervisory unions into larger regional districts.
Governor Phil Scott, through the Agency of Education, proposed a reform bill that would consolidate the supervisory unions into five geographic districts. Small population schools would be closed, and the way education is financed will be reformed.
The House version advocates for education finance, governance, and infrastructure reforms. H.454 outlines six policy reforms.
-Move to a foundation-funding model, which ties funding to the cost of educating a student.
-Establish a process to update school district boundaries.
-Set statewide class size minimums, create uniform school calendars, standardize data systems and shared resources between schools.
-Create clearer rules for the use of public tuition funds.
-Develop a comprehensive plan for long-term school construction investments.
-Consider reforms to the State Board of Education with the goal of ensuring transparency and accountability oversight.
A concern of Collins is the potential transition from the supervisory union (SU) model to a school district (SD) model. The biggest difference is, with an SU model, representatives to the school board are elected from each town in the district, in proportion to population. Each town is currently represented in NCSU, with Newport City and Derby having three school directors and the remaining towns one each.
Under the SD model, the school directors are chosen at large across the district, somewhat similar to the Orleans Central Supervisory Union’s (OCSU) elementary school district model. All voters in OCSU choose school directors, regardless of the candidate’s residency status. But the Agency of Education requires each town be represented by a resident of the town, unlike the proposed model.
“I want to keep the SU model which balances representation for all towns,” Collins said.
NCUHS school director Dwight Brunnette said an unnamed developer has approached the school with an interest in buying the bus parking lot on Derby Road. The school district will have to find a new location for the buses if the property is sold. The school board will be updated if the developer’s interest in acquiring the property moves forward.
With the potential for the presence of PCBs that leaked into the concrete walls and floor at B-wing, the high school board is considering their options, including building a new school.
There are several options the board can consider, including reusing what building’s they can.
-Build where the football field is located.
-Relocate the soccer field. Locate a new campus in Derby. -Acquire the American Legion property to allow more room for expansion.
“These are just concepts,” NCUHS Principal Chris Young said. He said the building committee is whittling nine plans down to three options.
At the March junior high school board meeting, Director of Facilities Stacy Atherton outlined a lengthy list of upgrades and maintenance projects he has documented that need to be addressed. Atherton was asked to return to the board with a prioritized list of projects. There remains $123,875 in the maintenance budget, and the junior high school is expected to end the fiscal year with a positive balance.
The most important project is mold mitigation, which has already started. The presence of mold was found behind a trophy case in the hallway. An odor was detected, and after investigating the issue, Atherton said mold was confirmed and is isolated to that one area of the school. The wall will be replaced and the area cleaned of mold. The work will be completed during spring break.
Among the projects identified are replacing circulation pumps, roof repair in the courtyard, a public address system, secure filing cabinets, a new information sign at the entrance to the school campus, water coolers, and wall padding for the gymnasium.
Atherton also asked for a closed trailer to hold mountain bikes, a pick-up truck, and upgrades to the greenhouse.
There were a number of projects that are part of the school’s five-year maintenance plan that have been set aside this year. Atherton said those projects wouldn’t be completed this year and will be deferred to fiscal year 2025/26.
“We have a substantial amount of money available,” school director Chris Royer said. “These are twenty-year projects; green light these.”
The estimated cost for these projects is $113,000. The upgrades were not listed as an action item, so a special meeting was scheduled to authorize Atherton to move forward with the projects.