Addison Independent, Thursday, February 25, 2016 — PAGE 7A
Letters to the Editor Police presence unwarranted at PSB proceeding I’m not sure how to even start this but I feel I need to let you know how I felt when I attended the Public Service Board hearing on Friday. I went to show my support for the Cuenos who are facing the challenge of eminent domain. I walked into the vestibule and was confronted by three armed policemen. It is a small space and they seemed intent on not letting me pass freely. They asked why I was there and they checked me over like bomb-sniffing dogs. I inquired what was going on because the tension was palpable. I received no answer. I took the elevator up and tried to control my angst over that brief encounter. When I opened the door to go to the hallway, I saw six sheriff’s department officers. I fearfully approached the end of the hall. There I was overwhelmed by the state police presence. The state police completely lined the wall that runs parallel to the hearing room. I took a deep breath and walked into the hearing room where the furniture had been arranged to form a blockade of tables between the public seating area and the hearing participants and board. There was a human wall of armed police on the other side of the tables facing me (in addition to several others elsewhere in the relatively small room) standing hands on
their weapon belts and at the ready ‌ as if they were expecting an assault from the public seating. I was so frightened and I asked what was going on. Maybe I was in the wrong place. I told them I was there for an eminent domain hearing. I have never seen such a show of force. I have attended countless hearings in that room and I have never witnessed anything that would give cause for this amount of firearms and intimidation. I kept asking for answers to my uncontrollably growing panic. Am I in the right place? What is going on? Why officers from Lamoille and Washington counties along with Montpelier police and an army of state police? Finally, an officer told me I was in the right room but he wouldn’t explain why they were all there. I sat down alone and shakily thought about leaving. With all the news about innocent people being shot by police, I felt my fears were justified. I told them all that I was not there to do any harm and asked that they not hurt me. No response. People started filling the room and I was relieved not to be alone anymore. Let me explain how great my fear was. I saw a paperclip on the floor under the table in front of me. My instinct was to pick it up but as soon as I shifted in my chair, I felt the
eyes of all these armed men on me. I left it there. I did not want to die for a paperclip. I can laugh now as I write this and I can see my tombstone now, “She died while saving a paperclip from being vacuumed up.� I will continue to attend these hearings. Their intimidation tactics will not stop me. These are public hearings after all. They should not be dominated by police. I do not understand what the point was if not to deter us from witnessing the unjust actions of the board. That was a terrible use/ waste of our resources and tax dollars. I thought I live in Vermont, not a fascist police state where the power is used to dominate and control citizens mentally and physically. They may scare the bejeezus out of me but that won’t stop me from attending. Thanks to them, I am getting stronger. Mary Martin Cornwall Editor’s note: The subject of the public hearing was an eminent domain easement for the Addison Natural Gas Project pipeline in Williston. The hearing was halted after more than 70 opponents of the pipeline sang for 30 minutes drowning out officials trying to carry out the business of the meeting. It was the fifth time an eminent domain hearing was halted in this way in the past two months.
ACSU unification process rushed, undemocratic In spite of many gung-ho statements by those involved in the process, I view the move to consolidation of our school district, Addison Central Supervisory Union, as a real decline in democracy. While none of the towns were interested in forming a “regional educational district� just a few years ago, we now have an essentially forced merger being put into effect. The significant monetary incentives push us to make it happen immediately with little opportunity for reflection. I was shocked, when attending an informational meeting in my town, to hear that there would be a vote this spring. The district committee had not even completed their proposal. Initially each town was to elect its representative(s) to the new consolidated board, but the state rejected that plan since Middlebury — the most populous town — did not have proportional representation. This seemed odd to me, as Vermont is similarly represented compared to other states in the U.S. Congress. However, the proposal was re-submitted so that all towns in the district would elect all of the representatives from the seven communities.
I thought, “Well, they better set up lots of public forums in all the towns so people will have an idea of who they are voting for. How am I supposed to be aware of the educational views of people I have never met or even heard of?� Nothing like that ever transpired; just glossy brochures about how wonderful things will be and yard signs promoting unification. Then I saw the reason: Of the 13 positions representing all seven towns to oversee the education of our students, only two races are contested — one in my town of Ripton, one in Bridport. Even here, there have been no candidate forums, letters or other communications as to these three candidates’ views. If that hasn’t even been presented to this small, local community, how does the wider population have the information needed to cast their votes? One might say that elections to local school boards are frequently uncontested, but at least locally one can fairly easily keep track of positions, discussions, policies, etc. How easy will that be with this new board? Further, if people in one community feel they are NOT well represented, how do they project their voice when
they do not even have any say over who is on the board from their community? I believe that the Legislature did a great disservice to our citizens by putting so many financial incentives into place to push communities to accomplish consolidation this year. I want to know who I am voting for. It is not merely a question of whether they will support my town and my town’s school. All over this country there have been situations where school board members wreaked havoc with community values, educational goals and even civil rights. When we lose the opportunity not only for choice but even for information, we put our whole system of democracy in jeopardy. Maybe it is time to value that more than we value money. Maybe we need to leave some of those financial incentives on the table and take the time to do this thing properly, if we have to do it eventually. Maybe we need to vote “No� now, until a system is in place that will allow us to know what and who we are voting for. Laurie Cox Ripton
Language is misleading on school budget ballots This year (at the voting booth in the Addison Northwest Supervisory Union) “More is Less.� That means, even though per pupil spending is calculated as being MORE, the property tax rates are actually LESS than last year. Act 46 now requires all schools to add additional language to the ballot that was not there in the past, which will be confusing to read. Specifically, the Vergennes Union High School (VUHS) budget ballot will show this added language: “education spending of $18,290.68 per equalized pupil. This projected spending per equalized pupil is 10.7 percent higher than spending for the current year.� Reporting a 10.7 percent increase may make voters think a “yes� vote will create a property tax rate increase. Not the case this year. More is Less this year. The property tax calculation has changed and ANwSU is estimating that a 10.7 percent increase in “per equalized pupil spending� will nevertheless produce an average reduction in homestead property taxes for the towns in ANwSU. Please see anwsu.org (scroll down on the first page) for the estimated homestead tax rate comparison
for each town. The driving force behind the percentage increase is a significant loss of equalized pupils. Despite VUHS’ significant staff and other budget reductions over the last three years, our cost per equalized pupil has increased because of the reduction of students. Here’s a simple example (as simple as can be) that may help. Let’s say our total budget for running the school is $100 for the year and there are five students in the school. That means our “per equalized pupil spending� is $20 per student (100 divided by 5). If we lose two students (and now only have three students) and our budget is reduced by 10 percent of $100 (to $90), then our “per equalized pupil spending� is now $30 per student (90 divided by 3). So, in this simple example, even with the budget reduced by 10 percent, the “per equalized pupil spending� increased by $10 per pupil. This would then allow the state to say, “This projected spending per equalized pupil is 50 percent higher than spending for the current year.� So, even if the tax rate declines for the year, there is per pupil increase. However, over time, even the
“per equalized pupil� statistic can be improved. In particular, if the unification being considered by voters on Town Meeting Day passes it will give us more ability to manage costs and education programming. Unification is essentially being mandated by Act 46. If we don’t pass unification by voting “yes,� the state will come in and do it for us; and we will not benefit from the significant tax rate reduction available had we voted to implement it ourselves. I know this can be confusing. If the school directors had their druthers it would not be communicated this way. But, we must deal with what we have. So, when you are in the voting booth and considering the school budget vote, please remember that More is Less this year in ANwSU. Vote YES for your school budgets. Vote YES for the unification. If you need more information contact your school board representative or join your annual school meeting. The students, staff, administrators and the school boards thank you for your time and consideration. Please vote on March 1. Laurie Childers Addison
Dennis (Continued from Page 4A) far from being the problem, are the answer. They are modeling creative solutions, expanding efficiencies, building green, developing energy. These are public goods, but also good for the bottom line. “We have a great story to tell. In an age of climate change, when all carbon emissions will be scrutinized, and all creativity mitigating climate change rewarded, Vermont has the skills and the people to compete successfully. The best way to do that is to lead in practice and lead in brand reputation.� But if Vermont is to go beyond the brand reputation of what one attendee called “apples, maple syrup,
cows� — how do we do it? The council headed by Judge Sessions recommended seven key steps. Probably the most controversial (and the most effective) would be to put a specific new price on carbon emissions. Other recommendations include new ways to fund the revitalization of our picturesque, villagescale downtowns and to market the state nationally as a “climate economy leader.� Matt Dunne, who’s running for governor this year, is promoting several similar ideas as part of his campaign. He’s gaining attention for just the kind of innovative thinking that dominated Monday’s conference. So good was the vibe by day’s
end, in fact, that Casella executive Joe Fusco compared it to the warm feeling in “the kitten room at the humane shelter.� Of course there’s a lot of hard work to be done if we are to truly become a national leader on climate issues. For now, though, the Vermont Council on Rural Development, along with 500 Vermonters gathered on one big day this week, has given us all reasons for hope. Gregory Dennis’s column appears here every other Thursday and is archived on his blog at www.gregdennis.wordpress.com. Email: gregdennisvt@yahoo.com. Twitter: @ greengregdennis.
Tangled weave SWAMP GRASS COLLAPSES under the weight of freezing rain in Middlebury recently. Independent photo/Trent Campbell
ACSU merger offers flexibility for all types of learners Recently, I have been working alongside fellow school board members, administrators and members of our community to wrestle with all of the various aspects of unifying the governance of our elementary schools. This work has been grueling, challenging, invigorating and tedious. But it also represents an exciting opportunity to re-envision how we educate our kids. Some of you, who may remain unconvinced that this is the right path, the right moment, the right place, may already be skeptical of what I have to say. Please, stay with me. Because, really, I hear you. In each of the towns that make up our supervisory union, there are passionate folks who have worked tirelessly to create wonderful learning environments for our children. Each community cherishes its school. And, each community has to tackle the increasingly difficult task of figuring out how to pay for the schooling we want for our kids. At each elementary school, you can see how the community expresses its own priorities, values and pride through its school. Some of you might say, “Wouldn’t it be tragic for that identity to be lost by moving to one board?� Or, “We love our small schools, we don’t want them to close!� I hear you. I grew up in a small, central Vermont mountain town, in a school with fewer than 100 students. It was the idyllic small, community school. I know what a small school means for its students and the com-
munity that supports it. More than that, I love the sentiment behind that concern. It’s an expression of deep commitment to great education. Except that it’s the wrong concern. Here’s why ‌ The real tragedy, the one that is already impacting our kids, is our persistent inability, working alone, to deliver the kind of education we really want for our children. Our schools work hard to provide the best education they can for our students. But with the limited resources each community has, that still means compromises every hour of every day. Our small communities may have great schools, but even the most generously funded still has to apply small community resources to teach each of its students. For some students, the compromises we make might work really well. For others, it may be the least effective learning environment. What then, for those students? Is private school the best and only option? It’s time to think bigger, and better. Together, we can leverage our shared resources to creatively re-imagine how we deliver education to our kids. We can have the flexibility not only to keep all our schools operating, but to provide a true system of education that can support excellence for every type of learner. Some children may thrive in a 20-student classroom. Some may need more experiential learning. Some might be yearning to develop a particular talent. In our current system of loosely
connected, separately funded schools, we do what we can with what we have and that means those options are limited or nonexistent. Instead of spending so much time, energy and money figuring out how to make each student fit into the boxes we can afford separately, we can, together, offer opportunities that work for different learners. This is not to say that we will no longer have to compromise, or that our resources will be unlimited. But working together will surely make us stronger. Do I have concerns? Of course I do. Making this kind of bold change actually work will require energy, leadership, dedication and thoughtfulness. I’ve had the good fortune of working with the current slate of community leaders who are stepping up to this task, and I am comforted that the leadership is there, ready and willing. Is this the moment we might have chosen, on our own, absent the push from Montpelier? I don’t know. But it’s the moment we have. We can choose to use it to aspire to something better, or we can watch it pass us by and continue to struggle through an increasingly difficult fiscal environment. On Town Meeting Day, you will decide what path you think is best. For me, that choice is for opportunity. I hope you can join me. Jason Duquette-Hoffman ID-4 (Mary Hogan School) Board
rounded by clumps of cashmere spaghetti that are good for nothing but making a soft and luxurious lining for the trash can.
Frankly, to this tightwad homebody, that still sounds like more fun than bowling.
Raymond (Continued from Page 4A) And, unlike with clothes shopping, where the remorse starts when you leave the mall and the joy ends after the first wearing of the new item, for me the fun hasn’t even begun yet. Soon I will gather my implements — a seam ripper, a pair of strong reading glasses and a bright light — and get to work on the first sweater. With any luck, I will pull a thread and the whole thing will unravel in cartoon style until I have a giant ball of cashmere yarn at a fraction of what it would have cost in a shop. Eventually I will knit it into a soft and luxurious scarf or shawl, and when I get compliments, I will brag about all the work it took and how much money I saved (because that’s what we cheapskates do). There is a slight chance, however, that I will run into knots, and that the yarn will come apart in short, unusable segments. After an hour, I will find myself jabbing away at the sweater with the seam ripper, sur-
Letters can be found on Pages 4A, 5A, 7A & 19A. Progress and principles – Working together for Middlebury VOTE FOR
NICK ARTIM HHHHHH Reelect Nick for a 3 year term on the Middlebury Selectboard. – Paid for by Nick Artim –
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