Colchester Sun
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FREE Vol. 18, No. 33 colchestersun.com
Thursday, August 15, 2019
Pickle for your thoughts By AVALON ASHLEY
A
lmost everyone I know who cans, pickles, or makes jam, learned from their mom. Laurie Bombard, the eldest daughter of Sam Mazza and a pillar of Sam Mazza’s Farm and Market, used to can tomatoes with her mother. Betsy Terry, a Colchester resident, uses recipes scrawled on notecards—matriarchal relics passed down through the years. Another local, Kathi Degree, remembers as a child opening the kitchen door to a flood of steam and humidity as her mother canned late into the night. The art of pickling dates back thousands of years, with notable
> See PICKLING on page 5
PHOTOS BY AVALON ASHLEY Colchester resident Lori Birch plucks off the stems of green beans in preparation for a day of canning dilly beans.
CHS educator named History Teacher of the Year
Judge finds facility in need of ‘systemic reform’
By AVALON ASHLEY
T
he Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History named Erin Brady, Colchester High School social studies teacher, the 2019 Vermont History Teacher of the Year. Brady’s civic-mindedness and passion for equity is clear in her classroom, where she does service and community work with her students and encourages open discussions that challenge and connect students’ ideas. “Real life kids are in front of you everyday,” said Brady, in characterizing the importance of the job. Originally from Minnesota, Brady began her career studying political science as an undergraduate. This drew her out of the midwest, to Washington D.C. where she began working in the U.S. Senate. While she has a passion for See policy, Brady said that she
Changes ordered at Woodside By MICHELLE MONROE
A COURTESY PHOTO Erin Brady, 2019 Vermont History Teacher of the Year was always interested in education. “A lot of people writing education policy haven’t worked in schools,” Brady said, motivating her further to pursue a career in education.
Back to School p. 16
federal judge has ordered changes to policies of seclusion and restraint at the Woodside Juvenile Rehabilitation Center in response to a lawsuit filed by Disability Rights Vermont (DRV). DRV has alleged that Woodside has violated the due process rights of youth, aged 10 to 18, incarcerated there. Woodside is the state’s only facility for residential treatment of juvenile offenders. In a preliminary injunction issued on Friday, Judge Geoffrey Crawford found that DRV is likely to succeed on the merits of its case, a legal requirement for the issuance of a preliminary injunction. The ruling requires Woodside to institute a change to its restraint
procedures as quickly as possible. Woodside had already agreed to adopt a nationally recognized standard in place of its current restraint procedures, which were developed by Woodside director Jay Simons, but said it would take five months to do so. Those procedures, as described by Crawford, require that youth be forced to the floor, their legs bent crossed at the ankles, and pushed back toward their buttocks, while their arms are raised high as possible behind their backs. “It is strongly directed towards physical confrontation and use of force,” Crawford wrote of Woodside’s restraint policy and procedures. Prior to issuing his decision,
> See WOODSIDE on page 11