MAY 24 GMUSD MEETING: REALITY ZOOM

Last night’s special meeting of the Green Mountain Unified School District was a lesson in chaos, bullying, Robert Rules gone awry, and at best some form of “reality zoom.” With only one board member appearing in person, Cavendish rep Steve Parini was continually in a position of having to stand in front of the large monitor in Cavendish Town Elementary School’s (CTES) arts room and wave his arms to be recognized.

With 20 members of the Cavendish community in attendance and 80+ on zoom, it was the complete opposite of the Cavendish Forum which took place the evening before. See The Dish for a report on that meeting.

Without a Zoom option, and not being dictated to by Robert’s Rules of Order, people queued and took turns speaking. The Forum achieved its stated purpose and people left feeling positive about the experience. Last evening, while those in attendance were pleased to see that two of the GMUSD representatives who had resigned, Kate Lamphere (Cavendish) and Kate Murphy (Chester) were able to be re-instated to the board, the process was painful to observe and, as various parents noted, not one they would want their children to observe.

Between the mishmash of Roberts Rules being applied, the board not bothering to attend in person, and the technical challenges of Zoom, including the 21st century equivalent of “the dog ate my homework,” – board chair Deb Brown said she didn’t receive Lamphere’s e-mail-it was a lesson in frustration. It definitely calls into question the use of hybrid meetings when important business needs to be conducted.

What was the warned purpose of the special meeting, a forum to meet the principal candidates for CTES followed by a board vote, was changed several times as one of the candidates dropped out on Tuesday and the replacement candidate on Wednesday morning. While the Principal Forum was cancelled, board chair Brown still wanted to hold the meeting, with the purpose of discussing next steps in filling the position. However, it became quickly apparent, as she proceeded to change the agenda, she was more concerned about the resignations.

 The lone candidate Amanda Tyrell, a Cavendish resident and current 5/6 th grade teacher at Chester Andover Elementary, was told to be there. That purpose was a mystery as they clearly weren’t going to interview her. However, Tyrell did address the GMUSD board stating that she was in the job for the kids and what had transpired to that point was not about them.

As far as next steps for hiring a principal, Tyrrell said she needed to know one way or another by Friday June 2. If they were unable to do so by then, she would have to drop out as well. Assurances were given that there would be a principal’s forum for the public, but the desire was to have two candidates.

The most telling comments of the evening came during the public comment period. CTES’s principal, Amy Bouhren, who has taken a new job with Vermont State University, addressed what she referred to as “the elephant in the living room.” Having attended every GMUSD meeting since she was hired, she noticed that the activities of the board had gone “south” with the change in leadership. She was not the only person that indicated a change in leadership was needed.

While the issue of the Chieftains name being retained by the board was mentioned by several members of the public, Sarah Devereux, a recent GMUHS alum pointed out that the meaning of the mascot wasn’t discussed all that much. However, she did perceive the school as having issues with racism, sexism, homophobia, and transphobia. These were concerning to her and should be to the GMUSD board.

The take home words of the evening for many were delivered by Proctorsville resident, CTES parent and Ludlow Elementary School teacher, Lisa Marks. Speaking with a choked voice, Marks explained how she had just spent the most amazing day with 6th graders at Keewaydin. She had come directly from the camp to CTES for the meeting. “I’ve only been here 15 minutes and you have totally sucked the joy out of my day.” She further elaborated that the kind of behavior demonstrated by the board was also sucking the joy out of teaching. Minutes later, one of the CTES teachers, who was zooming in from Keewaydin, confirmed Marks’ sentiment.

CAVENDISH COMMUNITY FORUM: SCHOOL RESTRUCTURING:

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  

Cavendish Update 5/19/22: Breaking News/School/News

READ THE CAVENDISH VT FACEBOOK PAGE FOR THE LATEST NEWS

 Breaking news: At last evening’s Green Mountain Unified School District (GMUSD) board meeting, two of Cavendish's three representatives-Dennis Reilly and Kate Lamphere- resigned from the board effective immediately. The board voted 5/5 to reinstate the GMUHS’s Mascot name Chieftains. The tie was broken by the board chair, Deb Brown, who voted in favor of the name. Both Reilly and Lamphere are state workers and as such, they cannot be part of a board that is violating state law (Act 152).  Before the meeting adjourned, Cavendish’s third representative, Steve Perani left the meeting.

5/19/23

1.    Fire District #2 Annual Meeting

2.    Cavendish Info

3.    Cavendish Forum School Restructuring

4.    Events

1. FIRE DISTRICT #2 (CAVENDISH) ANNUAL MEETING: At Tuesday night’s Annual meeting of Fire District #2 (Cavendish village), 27 people were in attendance. The budget of $164,450, which includes the one-time cost of $21,000 to insulate the fire house attic, was passed. Current officers of the Prudential Board will remain the same for the coming year: Abraham Gross (Moderator); Staci Bishop (Member 2025); Scott Ranney (member 2004); Stu Lindberg (member 2024); Diane McNamara (auditor 2024);  Maureen Savage (Treasurer 2024). 

CVFD has 40 hours of paid EMT time Monday-Friday from 8-4. Of the 97 calls responded to by CVFD-52 medical and 45 fire- this past year, only 26 occurred during the paid staff time. While it’s recognized that the staff has assigned tasks beyond responding to calls, such as being the distribution point for Covid test kits, people wanted to see more being done, such as offering blood pressure clinics, Stop the Bleed programs, writing of grants etc.

It was brought up that rumors have been circulating about responders not having proper equipment available at the scene. While Prudential member Stu Lindberg said it was of the utmost importance that these events do not occur, and if they do, he takes them seriously, member Staci Bishop voiced frustration about not having the proper equipment on a call she responded to. In addition, Bishop noted that she had requested that more programming be offered but that it had not occurred.

Yesterday, Cavendish Connects received a notice from CVFD that they will be offering weekly Blood Pressure clinics, and that people can stop by any time the EMT is there for a check. In addition, they will be offering other “citizen as first responder” training, such as CPR and basic first aid. They plan to have a schedule available in the next few weeks.

Issues were also raised about response times and having information about the impact paid staff has, the frequency of ambulances other than Ludlow responding to calls, and time from call to response. Bob Glidden, Fire Chief of District #1 and Cavendish Select Board (SB) chair, pointed out that since the SB signs the contract with Ludlow Ambulance, these type of questions need to be addressed by that board.

Since many people don’t know which fire district they belong to, it was suggested that the Annual Report be made available on-line and a post card about the Annual Meeting, including the web address/QR code for the report, be mailed in a timely manner before the meeting.

 2. CAVENDISH INFO

• GM board offers Bellows Falls principal contract: After a public forum and an interview with two candidates on Monday night, the Green Mountain Unified School District board voted to offer Bellows Falls Union High Principal John Broadley the principal post at Green Mountain High when Keith Hill steps down at the end of June. Broadley has been the principal at Bellows Falls for the past two years and assistant principal for 12 years before that. He has been at BFUHS since 2002, beginning as a special education teacher, then as a math teacher. Chester Telegraph

• Tick Check: Many people in town are saying this is the worst tick season ever. People are getting tick borne diseases so follow the recommendations for prevention, removal and what to do if you develop symptoms by going to the VT Dept. of Health website Be Tick Smart

• STOP the Bleed:  As we head into summer, and a lot more people are on the road, camping, cycling etc., it's good to know what to do if you come across someone badly bleeding. We’re all first responders until help arrives. Chester Ambulance is  providing a great opportunity for anyone who may come in contact with someone badly injured. A Stop the Bleed class will be held on May 31st at 6pm to 7pm. The FREE Class will be located at the Chester Public Safety building. You can save a seat by either messaging them on Facebook or calling (802) 875-2160. Walk-ins will be accepted as well. If you can't make this workshop, check out the Stop the Bleed video. Free handouts and posters are available on-line. 

3. CAVENDISH FORUM ON SCHOOL RESTRUCTING 5/23: Cavendish Town Elementary School (CTES), which was expanded/renovated in 2004 to accommodate 140 students (20 students per grade) is anticipating an enrollment of approximately 67 students in the fall. At the same time, Chester Andover Elementary School (CAES) has approximately 225 students and is cramped for space.

The per pupil cost (PPC) at CTES is $29,000 versus the PPC for CAES of $21,000 and $23,000 for GMUHS’s 328 students. Given the projected low enrollment at CTES, the coming year’s PPC is projected to be over $35,000. While the PPC does reflect enrollment and personnel costs, it also includes district wide costs.

A school restructuring committee (has been formed by the Green Mountain Unified School District (GMUSD) board to address what type of changes can be made to bring numbers up at CTES while providing much needed space at CAES.  

A first meeting to discuss this issue was held on May 8 [read The Chester Telegraph’s report ]. While a variety of suggestions were made, and another meeting scheduled for Monday, June 5, at 6 pm at GMUHS library, the Cavendish representatives to the GMUSD board are looking to the Cavendish community to understand what residents believe is in the best educational interest of Cavendish’s children as well as the school’s role in our community. Note: Even though two of the representatives have resigned, all three will be at the meeting.

To that end, a Cavendish Forum has been scheduled for Cavendish residents, parents and teachers on May 23 (Tuesday) at 6 pm at the CTES auditorium. This meeting is not opened to the media and Zoom will not be an option. 

In preparation for this meeting, it is important to recognize that nationally the birth rate has been in decline since the 1970s with an even steeper decline in response to the 2008 recession. Vermont has the lowest birth rate in the country. This is a variable that has considerable impact, but one we have no control over.

4. EVENTS

MAY 23 (TUESDAY): 6 pm at CTES Auditorium, Cavendish Forum on school restructuring-see item 3 above.

MAY 26 (FRIDAY): Cavendish Historical Society (CHS) plant sale 5:30-7:00 in front of the CHS Museum.

MAY 27 (SATURDAY): CHS Plant sale 9-noon

MAY 29 (MONDAY): Memorial Day. Town Office closed.

MAY 30 (TUESDAY): Cavendish Memorial Day program. 10 am at CTES, immediately followed by a parade to Hillcrest Cemetery. Free and open to the public.

JUNE 5 (MONDAY): E Tools Workshop at the 6:00 p.m., at the Cavendish town office to demonstrate battery-operated tools for the yard and garden. Free and open to the public. Light refreshments. FMI: CavendishCommunityConservation@gmail.com.

JULY 29 (SATURDAY): Cavendish Town Wide Tag Sale

    IF YOU READ THIS PLEASE HELP SUPPORT CAVENDISH CONNECTS

Cavendish Update 5/12/23: SB Mtg/Request/News/Activities

READ THE CAVENDISH VT FACEBOOK PAGE FOR THE LATEST NEWS 

5/12/23

1.    Cavendish Select Board Meeting 5/8/23

2.    Cavendish Info

3.    CTES Principal Request

4.    Events

1. CAVENDISH SELECT BOARD MEETING 5/8/23: Cavendish Select Board (SB) meetings are videoed by Okemo Valley TV and posted to their website. In addition, unapproved minutes from Monday’s meeting will be posted at the Cavendish Municipal Website and the VT Journal and Chester Telegraph   provide coverage.

Items Discussed/Action Taken

Approved by the SB: Rick Chambers as the new Cavendish Town Manager. A local resident, Chambers comes with 25 years of experience in water and sewer. He was the Superintendent for Water and Waste Water for Springfield.

• Signing an “Amended Resolution for Municipal Planning Grant: The amount is $17,280, requiring a 10% match.

• Liquor License for Grafton Village Cheese Company, which will be located in the old Black River Produce building on route 103.

• The appointment of Rick Chambers as the representative and Stephen Plunkard as the alternate to the Solid Waste Management District

• The appointment of John Saydeck to MARC VTrans Town Advisory Committee

• The Annual Financial Plan for Town Highways and Certificate of Compliance for Town Road and Bridge Standards and Network Inventory.

• Use of the Proctorsville Green for the June 24 Streetscapes fundraiser

• Use of the Hillcrest Cemetery for Memorial Day program on May 30 (Tuesday)

Denied: The SB denied an outdoor liquor permit to Outer Limits Brewery, whose outside dinning is on town property and were only given a temporary license due to Covid.

Town Water: Once again the issue was tabled, with the reason being that the head of the water dept. was not a good public speaker.

2. CAVENDISH INFO

• ARPA (American Rescue Plan Act) MINUTES MAY 2, 2023: According to the results of the survey about how Cavendish should spend their ARPA funds, the top 3 recommendations were to improve public infrastructure, improve outdoor recreation spaces and parks and the capital investments in public facilities. Many of the comments suggested fixing the water/sewer systems. The survey was sent to CTES families last week. Minutes of the meeting are available at the Town website.

• School restructuring panel begins discussing ‘right-sizing’ of Cavendish, Chester-Andover elementaries: The job of the restricting committee is to come up with all of the possibilities scenarios for “right sizing” the schools to best use the district’s buildings along with the pros and cons of each and present its findings to the GM board. One of the statistics discussed at the meeting was per pupil cost (PPC). With the 79 students, the PPC for the 2022-23 budget year at Cavendish Town Elementary is about $29,000 while Chester-Andover Elementary spends around $21,000 for each of its 225 students and the Green Mountain High School’s 328 students cost about $23,000 each. Elected chair of the committee, Adrienne Williams came to the conclusion that ‘we don’t even know what we don’t know. Jump forward to the 2023-24 budget and while GM and CAES are holding at their pupil count, Cavendish is projected to lose nearly 18 percent (or 14) of its students, bringing the cost per student to over $35,000. That’s a $6,000 per student increase while the other two schools see increases of about $2,000 per student. Various ideas were explored such as splitting up grades, busing students from Northern Chester and Baltimore to CTES. Chester Telegraph

• Clean Up from Oil Spill: This past week the contaminated dirt piled up from the diesel fuel spill from April 2-located at the former town garage- has been removed. Other mitigation activities in the wetlands are still underway.

• Memorial Day: After a three year absence due to Covid, Cavendish will once again hold a public Memorial Day celebration on May 30 (Tuesday). Activities get under way at 10 am with a program at the Cavendish Town Elementary School (CTES), which will be followed by a parade to Hillcrest Cemetery.

• Cavendish Historical Society News: Thanks to the clean-up at the old town garage site, the CHS plant sale will go ahead as planned at the Museum on May 26 (Friday) from 5:30-7:00 and May 27 (Saturday) 9-noon. Learn more about the sale and other upcoming activities at the CHS spring newsletter.

• Martha K. Quinlan A devoted member of Holy Name of Mary parish in Proctorsville and Annunciation Church in Ludlow, Marty was known for her Wednesday night concert parties at her home adjacent to the Proctorsville Green. Marty died on April 28 at age 93. A Mass of Christian burial will take place on Wednesday, May 17 at 1 p.m., at Holy Name of Mary Catholic Church in Proctorsville, with burial to follow at Pleasant View Cemetery in Ludlow and luncheon to follow. 

• Thousands more than expected died in Vermont during the pandemic. Vermont reported almost 3,000 more deaths from 2020 to 2023 than would have been expected were it not for the Covid-19 pandemic, according to data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — but less than one-third of those deaths have been directly attributed to the virus. The increased mortality points to a rising tide of challenges Vermonters experienced during lockdown: delayed access to health care, isolation and a worsening of the state’s decades long opioid crisis. But 2020 was only the beginning of Vermont’s struggles with the virus, according to CDC data. The number of excess deaths ticked up throughout 2021 and reached a peak in January 2022 during the height of the Omicron variant wave.  Even as the state recovered and reopened in 2022, there continued to be more deaths than would have been expected, according to the CDC. The state’s death toll that year rose to 22% above the expected estimate. VT Digger

3. REQUEST FROM CTES PRINCIPAL: HI parents and community members, I am very excited to tell you that our new school playground is going to be awesome!  We have curvy slides, zip lines, four person seesaws, and much more coming our way this summer! 

BUT, I need your help!  I need AT LEAST 25 hard working people each day on August 17th, 18th, and 19th who are willing to be here at CTES at 8am on one or all of these days.  What will you be doing?  You will be working on a team of between 5 and 10 other hard-working volunteers to put together pieces of the playground to get installed, spreading wood chips, working the food tables, or entertaining the children of our hard working volunteers.  If we don't get enough volunteers, we will not be able to get this done before school starts.  Please help me make this playground dream become a reality!   Here is the sign up: Playground SIGN UP Thank you! Amy Bohren 802-578-7758

4. EVENTS

MAY 12 (FRIDAY)-13 (SATURDAY): Black River Good Neighbor’s semi-annual rummage sale will take place at Fletcher Farm off of 103 from 10-4.

MAY 13 (SATURDAY): Clean-up of the Proctorsville Green from 9-noon. Bring rakes and other tools.

MAY 15 (MONDAY): 4th quarter property taxes due

MAY 16 (TUESDAY): The Annual Meeting of Cavendish Fire District 2 will be held at Cavendish Fire Station, 2154 Main Street, Cavendish, VT 05142, at 6pm. Copies of the board’s annual report will be available beforehand from the Town Office. The Warning notice is available online.

MAY 26 (FRIDAY): Cavendish Historical Society (CHS) plant sale 5:30-7:00 in front of the CHS Museum.

MAY 27 (SATURDAY): CHS Plant sale 9-noon

MAY 29 (MONDAY): Memorial Day. Town Office closed.

MAY 30 (TUESDAY): Cavendish Memorial Day program. 10 am at CTES, immediately followed by a parade to Hillcrest Cemetery.

JUNE 5 (MONDAY): E Tools Workshop at the 6:00 p.m., at the Cavendish town office to demonstrate battery-operated tools for the yard and garden. Free and open to the public. Light refreshments. FMI: CavendishCommunityConservation@gmail.com.

JULY 29 (SATURDAY): Cavendish Town Wide Tag Sale

    IF YOU READ THIS PLEASE HELP SUPPORT CAVENDISH CONNECTS