CAVENDISH COMMUNITY FORUM: SCHOOL RESTRUCTURING:
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At last night’s Cavendish Community Forum, organized by the Cavendish Town Elementary School’s (CTES) CPTG (Parent Teachers Group) a record was set for a CPTG meeting with approximately 40 people in attendance. With the three Cavendish representatives to the Green Mountain Unified School District (GMUSD) chairing the meeting, the tone was set on restructuring and not on recent events, where two of the representatives resigned due to the GMUSD board voting to keep the Chieftain name for Green Mountain Union High School (GMUHS).
In keeping with the privacy assured to those in attendance, no names will be given in this article and comments have been grouped into broad categories.
With every segment of the community represented-parents, grandparents, alumni, home school families, concerned citizens, teachers and staff, these were the major take home points from the meeting
• CTES has been and is important to the community and needs to remain open. Its closure would negatively impact the town.
• A change has occurred at the school, with it no longer playing the role it once did as the heart and soul of the community. The specifics were a bit vague, other than it didn’t have its “oomph” or “fizz.” While Covid could explain some of it, the declining enrollment could also be a factor.
The school was renovated and expanded in 2004 for 140 students (classrooms sized for 20 students) but this year’s enrollment was in the 70s and fall 2023 is projected to be in the 60s. Some thought that increasing the enrollment could bring some new energy to the school.
Nationally the birth rate has been in decline since the 1970s, with Vermont having the lowest birth rate in the country. With the decline rapidly speeding up from 2008-the “Great Recession”- to 2013, the birth rate has dropped faster and further. This has a direct impact on school utilization.
• Part of the change at CTES also stems from the Two Rivers Supervisory Union (TRSU) trying to “homogenize,” or create uniformity across all the schools. Aspects of CTES that helped to create happy teachers and staff, such as the half days on Tuesday for teacher collaborations, were eliminated by the TRSU. The school no longer has an after school program and has on-going difficulties with a bus driver.
• CTES has been known for decades for its academic performance plus it’s unique offerings to students and community. This continues to be whittled-away by the TRSU, which does the bidding of the state’s Agency of Education (AOE).
• While there was no formal vote of “no confidence” for GMUHS, a show of hands indicated that many parents want school choice for high school.
• Options for moving forward: A number of the options looked at a collaborative relationship with Ludlow, as Cavendish is more oriented to Ludlow than Chester. Suggestions made included the following:
- Expanding CTES to include Pre K. It was noted that Stepping Stones is in jeopardy as they need a new director and pre-school teacher.
- Offering new programming at CTES - Waldorf and Montessori were both mentioned-and become a magnet school for the region
- Combining programming with Ludlow so that Ludlow Elementary offered a middle school program.
- Withdrawing from the GMUSD and joining the Ludlow/Mt. Holly District
- Withdrawing from the TRSU altogether and become an independent school as some other towns have done since the supervisory unions were created per the directive of Act 46
- Cavendish town becomes a destination for emigrants, many of which have school age children
In order for CTES to remain open and retain its status within the community, it’s going to take a collaborative effort of community along with parents and teachers. To that end those in attendance who wanted to help with this issue by being on a sub-committee of the CPTG were asked to sign up. Many did.
Please note that tonight is the CTES Principal Candidates Open Forum. This takes place from 6-8 pm at the school. The Zoom link is https://trsu.zoom.us/j/85933410831