March 21, 2016

Page 1

MONDAY EDITION

ADDISON COUNTY

INDEPENDENT

Vol. 27 No. 50

Monkton firm makes 1st film • Meet the makers of a new movie when they screen their picture in Middlebury. See Page 14.

Middlebury, Vermont

Brodie to take charge at Ferrisburgh school By ANDY KIRKALDY FERRISBURGH — The Ferrisburgh Central School board on Thursday chose to offer a principal’s contract to a current Burlington middle-school language teacher who has three years of experience as an assistant middle school principal and seven years of experience as an elementary school board member. Edmunds Middle School French and Spanish teacher Beth Brodie

and Addison Northwest Supervisory Union Superintendent JoAn Canning began discussing contract details immediately for Brodie to take over as the new educational leader at Ferrisburgh Central this summer. Current principal JoAnne TaftBlakely will retire at the end of the school year after nine years at FCS. Canning on Friday morning said Brodie had accepted the job. Al(See Principal, Page 21)

Monday, March 21, 2016

36 Pages

75¢

Vermont Green Line tests move to Middlebury site By JOHN FLOWERS MIDDLEBURY — A group planning to bring hydro and wind power from upstate New York via cable under Lake Champlain and into the New England grid are sizing up Middlebury’s industrial park as a potential site for a highvoltage converter station in case a site in New Haven falls through. Anbaric Transmission and National Grid are jointly proposing

the Vermont Green Line project, which would include 60 miles of buried, direct current cable from Beekmantown, N.Y., to Kingsland Bay in Ferrisburgh, then under roads to Route 7. The developers’ current plan calls for the cable to lead to a 400MW converter station at one of two possible locations in the town of New Haven: One just west of the (See Green Line, Page 20)

St. Mary’s School to close its doors • Church leaders cite declining enrollment as main factor behind decision. See Page 3.

Panther women take shot at crown • Middlebury skated into Plattsburgh hoping for an NCAA championship. See Sports, Pages 18 and 19.

JOALLEN VINCENT, THE food service director at Vergennes Union High School, chats with students lined up for the school’s popular afterschool meal service. Independent photo/Trent Campbell

Trio to premiere a Vermont work • Arioso will perform a program of music with animal titles or themes. See Arts Beat on Page 10.

VUHS pioneers afterschool food service Free, healthy meals offered to all students By JOHN FLOWERS VERGENNES — Vergennes Union High School is hosting what is being touted as the county’s first after-school meal program, providing free, nutritious food to children right after the final bell sounds for

the day. Addison Northwest Supervisory Union officials proposed the program, which received support through the U.S. Department of Agriculture-funded Child and Adult Care Food Program. Officials

picked VUHS as the site for the program, which provides children of all ages — regardless of financial background — access to foods like sandwiches, vegetables and fruit from around 2:46 to 3:15 p.m. Martha Kenfield, food service coordinator at VUHS, recently gave the Hunger Council of Addison

County an update on the progress of the nascent program, which has been quickly catching on with kids in the Vergennes area since it was launched late last month. “We all know that to create a pattern that becomes a habit … the more often you do it continually, the (See VUHS, Page 24)


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