Book Club

September 4 @ 3:30pm The Wind Knows My Name by Isabel Allende

Vienna, 1938. Samuel Adler is five years old when his father disappears during Kristallnacht—the night his family loses everything. As her child’s safety becomes ever harder to guarantee, Samuel’s mother secures a spot for him on a Kindertransport train out of Nazi-occupied Austria to England. He boards alone, carrying nothing but a change of clothes and his violin.

Arizona, 2019. Eight decades later, Anita Díaz and her mother board another train, fleeing looming danger in El Salvador and seeking refuge in the United States. But their arrival coincides with the new family separation policy, and seven-year-old Anita finds herself alone at a camp in Nogales. She escapes her tenuous reality through her trips to Azabahar, a magical world of the imagination. Meanwhile, Selena Durán, a young social worker, enlists the help of a successful lawyer in hopes of tracking down Anita’s mother.

Intertwining past and present, The Wind Knows My Name tells the tale of these two unforgettable characters, both in search of family and home. It is both a testament to the sacrifices that parents make and a love letter to the children who survive.

August 7 @ 3:30pm The Violin Conspiracy by Brendan Slocumb

Growing up Black in rural North Carolina, Ray McMillian’s life is already mapped out. But Ray has a gift and a dream—he’s determined to become a world-class professional violinist, and nothing will stand in his way. Not his mother, who wants him to stop making such a racket; not the fact that he can’t afford a violin suitable to his talents; not even the racism inherent in the world of classical music. When he discovers that his beat-up, family fiddle is actually a priceless Stradivarius, all his dreams suddenly seem within reach, and together, Ray and his violin take the world by storm. But on the eve of the renowned and cutthroat Tchaikovsky Competition—the Olympics of classical music—the violin is stolen, a ransom note for five million dollars left in its place. Without it, Ray feels like he’s lost a piece of himself. As the competition approaches, Ray must not only reclaim his precious violin, but prove to himself—and the world—that no matter the outcome, there has always been a truly great musician within him.

June 5 @ 3:30pm The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store by James McBride

In 1972, when workers in Pottstown, Pennsylvania, were digging the foundations for a new development, the last thing they expected to find was a skeleton at the bottom of a well. Who the skeleton was and how it got there were two of the long-held secrets kept by the residents of Chicken Hill, the dilapidated neighborhood where immigrant Jews and African Americans lived side by side and shared ambitions and sorrows. Chicken Hill was where Moshe and Chona Ludlow lived when Moshe integrated his theater and where Chona ran the Heaven & Earth Grocery Store. When the state came looking for a deaf boy to institutionalize him, it was Chona and Nate Timblin, the Black janitor at Moshe’s theater and the unofficial leader of the Black community on Chicken Hill, who worked together to keep the boy safe.

As these characters’ stories overlap and deepen, it becomes clear how much the people who live on the margins of white, Christian America struggle and what they must do to survive. When the truth is finally revealed about what happened on Chicken Hill and the part the town’s white establishment played in it, McBride shows us that even in dark times, it is love and community—heaven and earth—that sustain us.

July 10 @ 3:30pm Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt

After Tova Sullivan’s husband died, she began working the night shift at the Sowell Bay Aquarium, mopping floors and tidying up. Keeping busy has always helped her cope, which she’s been doing since her eighteen-year-old son, Erik, mysteriously vanished on a boat in Puget Sound over thirty years ago. Tova becomes acquainted with curmudgeonly Marcellus, a giant Pacific octopus living at the aquarium. Marcellus knows more than anyone can imagine but wouldn’t dream of lifting one of his eight arms for his human captors—until he forms a remarkable friendship with Tova. Ever the detective, Marcellus deduces what happened the night Tova’s son disappeared. And now Marcellus must use every trick his old invertebrate body can muster to unearth the truth for her before it’s too late. Shelby Van Pelt’s debut novel is a gentle reminder that sometimes taking a hard look at the past can help uncover a future that once felt impossible.

Windham, VT Selectboard Meeting Agenda

Hybrid Meeting – In-person at the Meeting House & Online via Zoom

Monday, June 3, 2024 at 5:30 PM

To the Public:  If you want to join us via Zoom or by phone, an invitation with the link is included at the end of the agenda.  Please keep yourself muted while not speaking to minimize background noise.

Note: Action may be taken on any agenda item.

1. Start recording & call meeting to order
2. Additions/deletions and/or changes to the agenda
3. Announcements/reminders
4. Act on minutes from the 5/20/24 Selectboard Meeting
5. Public Comment – Limit of 3 minutes/comment. Limited to topics that are not on the agenda. Comments should be directed to the chair with order maintained. The selectboard cannot discuss items that are not on this agenda.
6. Correspondence – Limited to topics that are not on the agenda. There can be no public comments or selectboard discussion of correspondence at this meeting.
7. Payroll/Bills: Discussion/motions to approve check warrant report(s) (sign at the meeting)
8. Guest and Staff Reports with Discussion and Possible Decisions
   1. Road Foreman – Richard Paré (RFPs for plow truck, W. Windham stream erosion & Cobb Brook Rd, Town Garage property, Christmas Tree Rd, repaving White Rd., invasives on roadsides)
   2. Grant Strategist – Cathy Edgerly Fales (various grants, fire marshal update, town folks contact info)
   3. Treasurer – Kathy Scott (RFP for audit)
   4. Listers – Antje Rupert (grievances.)
   5. Town Clerk – Ellen McDuffie (misc. update, misc office maintenance items)
9. New Business
   1. Update on $9500 Grants In Aid award – Kord/Imme
   2. Updates to Open Meeting Law requirements – Cathy/Kord
   3. Regulations/Permit for utilities crossing a town road – Kord
   4. Decide who will write Selectboard Update for WN&N – Kord
10. Old Business
    1. Update on AV equipment purchases – George
    2. Discuss any SB requirements for June 8 town meeting re school budget – Michael
    3. Update on Hazard Mitigation Grant opportunity – application due June 21^st – Kord
    4. Update on US Talc and maintenance of their pond’s overflow on White Road – Kord
    5. Update on potential upgrades for phone & internet services with info on CCI and DVFiber – George
11. Executive Session re “pending or probable civil litigation or a prosecution to which the public body is or may be a party”
12. Adjourn regular meeting & stop recording.

 The next Regular Selectboard Meeting – Monday June 17 at 5:30 pm

 Kord Scott is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

Topic: Regular Selectboard Meeting

Time: Jun 3, 2024 05:30 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)

Join Zoom Meeting

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81825247711?pwd=enfZKB45EURODxf1ppmhuK9aSrcder.1

Meeting ID: 818 2524 7711

Passcode: 307638

Find your local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/kbNPNE07v5

Board of Directors Special Meeting
Informational Meeting
Windham School District
May 28, 2024 at 6:00 p.m.
Zoom Only

Join Zoom Meeting: Click Here to Join Directly

Meeting ID: 845 4577 7228
Passcode: 179560

Board Meetings on BCTV: https://www.brattleborotv.org/windham-elementary-school-board

Call to Order 6:00 pm

Public Comment
Policy (Limit 3 min per comment, directed to the school board chair, maintain order and decorum, use a zoom timer to countdown, one response per agenda item, preferred use camera when speaking – optional)

Changes to the Agenda

Correspondence
Building Requests

Old Business 6:30 pm
Article Discussion – Question and Answer Session
Article 1 – “Shall the voters of the Windham School District approve the closure of Windham Elementary School?”
Article 2 – “Shall the voters of the Windham School District approve the school board to expend $546,344, which is the amount the school board has determined to be necessary for the 2024 / 2025 fiscal year?”
Article 3 – “If Article 1 passes, shall the voters of Windham School District grant general authority to the school board to pay tuition for an elementary student at an approved independent elementary school in an amount not to exceed the average announced state-wide elementary school tuition? This authorization is in addition to the March 9th, 2024 electorate authorization for the board to pay tuition to public elementary schools.”

2. Adjourn 7:30 pm

Next Meetings:

Revote Day – Saturday, June 8th, 2024 at Windham Town Meeting House,

Regular Meeting – Thursday, June 13th, 2024 at Windham Elementary School & Zoom

Windham, VT Selectboard Meeting Agenda

Hybrid Meeting – In-person at the Meeting House & Online via Zoom

Monday, May 20, 2024 at 5:30 PM

 To the Public:  If you want to join us via Zoom or by phone, an invitation with the link is included at the end of the agenda.  Please keep yourself muted while not speaking to minimize background noise.

Note: Action may be taken on any agenda item.

1. Start recording & call meeting to order
2. Additions/deletions and/or changes to the agenda
3. Announcements/reminders (Meeting House tag sale)
4. Act on minutes from the 5/6/24 Selectboard Meeting
5. Public Comment – Limit of 3 minutes/comment. Limited to topics that are not on the agenda. Comments should be directed to the chair with order maintained. The selectboard cannot discuss items that are not on this agenda.
6. Correspondence – Limited to topics that are not on the agenda. There can be no public comments or selectboard discussion of correspondence at this meeting.
7. Payroll/Bills: Discussion/motions to approve check warrant report(s) (sign at the meeting)
8. Guest and Staff Reports with Discussion and Possible Decisions
   1. Jessica Savage (VT Council on Rural Development) re Community Needs Assessment
   2. Grant Strategist – Cathy Edgerly Fales (needs assessment & exhaust hood install sketch)
   3. Webmasters – Bea Eliastam (Curly Sprouts Creative’s contract & web info sharing)
   4. Road Foreman – Richard Paré (RFPs for plow truck, W. Windham Rd stream erosion & Cobb Brook Rd, update on paving project delay, Town Garage property, Christmas Tree Rd issue)
   5. Grant Administrator – Imme Maurath (FEMA, FHWA)
   6. Treasurer – Kathy Scott (RFP for audit, budget reports)
   7. Listers – Antje Rupert (grievances, etc.)
   8. Conservation Committee – Alison Trowbridge (Wildlife Refuge, etc.)
   9. Planning Commission – Bill Dunkel (Utilities crossing town roads)
   10. Meeting House Committee – Maureen Bell (possible removal of front row pew)
   11. Town Clerk – Ellen McDuffie (update on meeting relocations to meeting house)
9. New Business
   1. Discuss Hazard Mitigation Grant opportunity – application due June 21^st – Kord
   2. Discuss time limits on agenda items/reports – All
10. Old Business
    1. Discuss plans to meet with town officials for team building – All
    2. Discuss US Talc and maintenance of their pond’s overflow on White Road – Kord
    3. Discuss upgrades for phone and internet services with info on CCI and DVFiber – George
11. Adjourn regular meeting & stop recording.

 The next Regular Selectboard Meeting – Monday June 3rd at 5:30 pm

Kord Scott is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

Topic: Regular Selectboard Meeting

Time: May 20, 2024 05:30 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)

Join Zoom Meeting

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81236035896?pwd=WkVxVXZHRWNrQUQwdjVpZkdoYi9FUT09

Meeting ID: 812 3603 5896

Passcode: 528785

1. Find your local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/kri6Weob7