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School Board Update 4/26

Message from School Board Re: Special Meeting on 4/26
Hello everyone, 

Since our last special meeting, conversations I’ve had with people along with correspondence the board has received/answered prompted me to meet with our legal to review the current warned articles for ReVote day. Mark will be available with us to offer any clarity on intention, and legality towards the issues at hand. 

At the top of the agenda is an executive session to immediately fill in the other board members on that above discussion and review / revise the articles if necessary. Unlike our prior special meeting, I expect this executive session to be timely and faster. Why is it before any public comment or other agenda items? And why not be public about that discussion? The intention is to have the rest of the board fully informed about the above conversation before addressing everyone else. The heart of the issue is not about transparency but, unfortunately, about risk and liability to the district, to everyone. We as representatives must ensure that we advocate for minimizing any potential risk or liability for the entire district. I do not take this lightly. We have received threats of legal action, not to mention an activist campaign to Montpelier, concerning the articles we prepared and motioned approval at the last special meeting. I fully support seeking counsel and activism, but also view this as a last resort. My desire is for there to be steps between a concern and resolution through litigation. The district has been in contact with those with concerns and their legal. We also do not take lightly any feedback – if our articles as presented are a cause for concern, we want to know. This goes for legal interpretation but also any work we need to do in clarifying our position. 

So after any changes to agenda and public comment, we have set the rest of the agenda for updates on our approved budget to acknowledge developments in rental opportunities, and then review / approve the revised articles with everyone, if any. Additionally we have recently received our final FY23 Audit Report which needs to be acknowledged and approved for any proposed spending of surplus capital in the next coming year.

Please join us if you can, see the attached for details, and enjoy the nice sunny day today!

Daniel Roth
Vice Chair
Windham School Board

School Board Update 4/17

Hello again,

It’s your friendly, neighborhood school board!

We had one heck of a 4-hour meeting last Thursday with a lot of community support and feedback. There was a clerical error on our last agenda that assumed a 3-hour public comment period. While the meeting did last that long, in the future we do not intend to keep ourselves away from our families for quite that long!! The next posted agenda will correct the meeting length and we will soon detail changes to promote concise, civil discourse in an effort to condense the agenda and open the floor to underrepresented voices that feel their words cannot find space to vocalize their opinions.

We encourage those that could not make it to show up for our next regular meeting on Thursday, May 9th. We welcome all who can spare the time to attend, even our sisters and brothers in our neighboring towns. The more inclusion and diversity of ideas we have at these meetings, the more ability our community has to reach mutual understanding and shared goals. As we face uncertain times within our world, nation, state, and town it is imperative that our community(s) can grow and be able to work with one another.

Board’s Current Plans

Here is a posted agenda for a special meeting to address some of the later agenda items we had.  These include (Re-)Vote Day, articles to vote on, and the wording of these articles.  We want to minimize the district’s (and thus our town’s) risk while reaching out to our families who choose independent schools and do not benefit from tuition payments. These articles are extremely important to carefully wordsmith, because, if voted in, they will have long-term effects.  Because of this importance, we are taking the time to meet with our attorney. The Town of Stratton has struggled with this very issue regarding their residency policy.

We anticipate that this meeting will mostly be in Executive Session to fully understand the warnings, and the implications to our district.  Once again, it is vital that we consult with these professionals because of their past experience with and knowledge of these issues.  They know the ins and outs of liability and can steer us to be absolutely correct on our wording.  Please know that the intention is not to narrowly focus warnings such as tuition to approved independent schools with Educational Quality Standards (EQS), but to apply the broadest terminology we can, while minimizing potential risk.

Here is a link to a clip courtesy of BCTV from that meeting with local resident, Nancy Tipps, arguing the legality of the article warning as presented:

BCTV Clip

In the face of uncertainty, as you see in the clip, we advocate for our legal minds to weigh in and guide us to the best legal conclusions. Their availability necessitated a special meeting as soon as they were available. If we thought that the discussion at 7:30 pm would get this cleared, then we would have pushed for another hour. In no way did discussing the building use, the budget, and other issues at length take away from that discussion. 

What’s Next? 

We will be providing another board update detailing key points of the 4-11-24 meeting as well as the special meeting guidance. We will be working with the town to set a date for ReVote Day and will offer more details on our stances as we alluded to in the previous updates – surplus use, this/next year’s taxes, and the arguments we’ve heard on (and off) the meeting floor.

If you would like to receive these updates via email, please send an email to droth@windhamcentralboard.org with the subject “Add School Board Updates“. 

Thanks,
Daniel Roth
Board Vice-Chair
Windham Central Elementary School

Childcare Available for Town Meeting

Town Meeting has always welcomed children.  However, people have recognized that the length of the meeting may be challenging for some kids.  Windham families that wish to participate in child care can utilize support from local volunteers available at Windham Elementary School on town meeting day.

Drop-off is available anytime after 9:45am. Children should come with a packed lunch and outdoor clothing. To help give the providers an estimate of group size, please let Abby Pelton know if you plan to have children attend.  Sally Newton will be at the school with the students and other volunteers.  

This will be a fun day for kids and is being provided as an option for Windham families on Town Meeting Day.  This service is volunteer run and will allow for the children in the community to have fun and interact in a non-school setting.  WES has a new building use policy which includes a waiver when using the building.  Please ensure that the below forms are completed and emailed to Abby Pelton (apelton@windhamcentralboard.org) or be given to volunteers when dropping off your child/children at the school. 

A donation basket to support the providers for their generosity will be setup at the Meeting House.

FORMS TO COMPLETE:

Windham_FACILITIES_USE_WAIVER.DOCX.docxDownload
Emergency Contact formDownload