Rusty Dewees
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Keith Lockhart
Read Rusty’s take on National Mentoring Month: They win, you win.
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National conductor coming to Town Hall Theater Jan. 7 to talk theatre.
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Serving Addison and Chittenden Counties
January 8, 2011
ANESU contract negotiations at an impasse
The Yankee
Sportsman’s Classic
Both Sides Working to Resolve Issues By Alice Dubenetsky newmarketpress@denpubs.com BRISTOL — Several unresolved issues are preventing the Addison Northeast Supervisory Union and the teachers union from reaching a contract agreement. If the school boards, representing the five town elementary schools and Mt. Abraham Union Middle/High School do not restart the stalled negotiations, the boards could decide to impose a contract on the teachers, the teachers will then have to decide whether to accept the boards offer or strike. At the heart of the matter are three major issues: automatic “step” increases for teachers, salary increases and health insurance contributions. Currently, most Vermont school districts pay teachers on a salary schedule that sets increases based on a teacher ’s years of experience, called “step” increases. Teachers move up one step for each year of experience until reaching the top of the schedule. ANESU currently pays increases of $1,606, which represents 2.5 percent of total salaries. The fact that these increases are automatic, and must be paid even without a new contract, concerns the boards , who believe the amount is too high in light of current economic realities and whose members must present budgets to financially strained and tax weary citizens at their Town Meetings in March. The boards have proposed to make the step increases part of the process of negotiating compensation rather than automatic. The union, on the other hand, wants teachers to
See CONTRACT, page 10
Celebrities Pat Reeve and Nicole Jones will share their world hunting adventures during the upcoming Yankee Sportsman’s Classic Jan. 14-16.
Celebrate Vermont’s hunting and fishing heritage Jan 14–16 ESSEX JUNCTION — The 19th Annual Yankee Sportsman's Classic Show will be held Jan. 14-16 at the Robert E. Miller Expo Center in Essex Junction. The three-day, 100,000-square-foot event brings together 15,000 sportsmen, women and their families from all over to celebrate Vermont’s hunting and fishing heritage. During this long weekend, visitors can enjoy free seminars, check out the latest gear, take advantage of show specials, talk with wildlife and fisheries experts, and book a hunting or fishing adventure of a lifetime. The kids can hold a hawk,
owl or falcon as part of the Talons Birds of Prey experience, try their luck at the catch-and-release trout pond, take part in the kids’ archery shoot, BB gun shoot and casting competition or climb the 20-foot rock wall and practice on the shooting simulator. With nearly 175 exhibitors, people can feel the shock and awe of the Muzzy 200 Club Display, learn to fly fish, or demo equipment at the indoor fly casting pond. The Roots School will be teaching wilderness survival, primitive hunting and tool-making techniques With more than 45 free seminars, everyone gets answers to their questions. Whitetail hunting will be presented by nationally acclaimed hunters such as the Benoit’s, Scott Kirkpatrick, Ken Hammel, Joe DiNitto and Jim Massett.
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Puccini’s rare “La Fanciulla del West” Met Opera broadcast at Town Hall Theater MIDDLEBURY — The Metropolitan Opera’s first world premiere, which took place exactly 100 years ago, was based on an unlikely source: a spaghetti western — “The Girl of the Golden West” — that composer Giacomo Puccini happened to see in New York in 1907. Puccini was fascinated by the play, which concerns the trials of Minnie, the gun-toting owner of the Polka Saloon. He fashioned it into an opera titled “La Fanciulla del West,” which was a big hit when it debuted at the Met in 1910. The cast was called out for multiple curtain calls after the first act, and the conductor himself was called on stage to take a bow. The opera’s success was short-lived. Puccini’s other masterworks became staples of the operatic repertoire, but “Fanciulla” quickly slid into operatic oblivion. The Met’s new production has a powerhouse cast. Deborah Voigt stars as the independent Minnie, with tenor Marcello Giordani playing Dick Johnson. The reviews have been ecstatic. The Wall Street Journal wrote that “Puccini would be proud” and called the production “thrilling.” Voigt, one
of the world’s greatest sopranos, has drawn universal praise for her shining voice and gutsy interpretation of the role. Those who would like to learn more about this obscure opera can visit the Town Hall Theater the night before the broadcast, Thursday, Jan. 7, to hear Maestro Keith Lockhart analyze the piece. Maestro Lockhart is the world-renowned conductor of the Boston Pops Orchestra. For information about this event, contact the THT Box office. The live Jan. 8 broadcast of “La Fanciulla del West” begins at 1 p.m. Tickets are $22. An encore presentation will be shown the next day, Jan. 9. Tickets are $22, with a $10 ticket for students. Buy tickets online at www.townhalltheater.org., by calling (802) 382-9222, or at the THT Box Office.
At right: Deborah Voigt stars in the Met Opera broadcast of Puccini’s “La Fanciulla del West,” at Middlebury’s Town Hall Theater on Saturday, Jan. 8, 1 p.m., with an encore performance on Sunday, Jan. 9, at 3 p.m. Tickets: online at www.townhalltheater.org., by phone at (802) 382-9222, or at the THT Box Office.
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