ACT 46 STUDY COMMITTEE
Representing the Brattleboro Town School District, Dummerston Town School District, Guilford Town School District, Putney Town School District, and the Vernon Town School District
http://www.wssu.k12.vt.us
NOTICE OF MEETING
The Act 46 Study Committee will meet at 6:00 p.m. on Wednesday, April 13, 2016 at the Oak Grove School.
AGENDA
I. CALL TO ORDER – 6:00 p.m. – Alice Laughlin, Committee Chair
II. REVIEW, PRIORITIZE AND ESTABLISH DESIRED OUTCOMES FOR MEETING BY CHAIRPERSON.
III. REVIEW COMMITTEE MEMBER ROLES AND PUBLIC COMMENTS BY CHAIRPERSON
IV. APPROVAL OF MINUTES – April 5, 2016
V. REVIEW STUDY COMMITTEE PROCESS BY CHAIRPERSON
VI. RECOGNITION OF GROUPS AND/OR INDIVIDUALS
VII. STUDY COMMITTEE WORK SESSION:
Review Articles, as Necessary
Tax Impact Update
Start to Discuss School Board Article Comments
Ballot Language
VIII. REVIEW PROPOSED TIMELINE
Report from Ron/Alice re: Meeting with Town Clerks
IX. PUBLIC INFORMATION CAMPAIGN – Identify Key Components Needed to Inform/Schedule Town Forums
X. FUTURE MEETINGS, DISCUSSIONS
XI. ADJOURNMENT
Note: In accordance with the following excerpt from WSESU Policy E-12 Electronic Communications Use and Retention
II. Use of E-Mail and Electronic Communications
The school board and administration will not use email as a substitute for discussion at board meetings, or for any business properly conducted at board meetings subject to the Vermont Open Meeting Law.
….
Brattleboro Town School District, Dummerston Town School District, Guilford Town School District, Putney Town School District and Vernon Town School District
Act 46 Study Committee
Work Session Agenda, Minutes & Action Items – Tuesday, April 5, 2016 6-8 PM Guilford Central School
Present
Brattleboro: Kim Price*, David Schoales**, Jill Stahl Tyler*, Mark Truhan*
BUHS/ BAMS/WRCC: Ricky Davidson*, Ian Torrey* * denotes voting member,
Dummerston: Kristina Naylor** ***, Amy Wall* – Clerk, Dan Normandeau ** denotes alternate voting member,
Guilford: Beth Bristol*, Alice Revis** *** denotes ex officio member
Putney: Richard Glejzer**, Alice Laughlin* – Chair
Vernon: Walter Breau*, Matt Coombs**
Also present
WSESU: Lyle Holiday – Curriculum & Assessment, Frank Rucker – Business Manager, Ron Stahley – Superintendent
Others: BCTV staff, members of the public including Erin Tacky, John Gagnon, Angela Johnson, Kelly Young, Michael McGill ion, Richard Virkstis, Norman Bartlett, Ines McGillion, Eric Feindel, Jody Normandeau, Paul Normandeau, Kelt Naylor, Robert Woodward, Joann Tyler
Committee Guidelines
1. Work sessions will start and end on time.
2. Work sessions will last 2 hours unless decided otherwise by the Committee.
3. Members will give and receive with good intentions.
4. Members will follow “3 before me” as a guideline so all members have the opportunity to speak.
5. Members will conduct Committee business in front of the group.
6. Members will understand that silence on the part of another member does not imply agreement.
7. Members will site sources of evidence during discussion.
8. All members will be included in conversation and no side conversations will be conducted during the work session.
9. Members will stay on topic during discussions and will request the Clerk make note of additional topic(s) for future discussion.
10. Members will engage in the work at hand and administration will provide the space and support as needed to do so.
Agenda Items Led by
– Call to order Alice Laughlin
– Review, prioritize and establish desired outcomes for meeting Alice
– Approve of minutes of previous work session – March 22 Alice
– Review Study Committee process by Chairperson Alice
– Recognition of groups and/or individuals Alice
– Study Committee Work Session Alice, Ron Stahley, Frank Rucker
– Executive Summary
– Choice Language
– Article 1: Discuss MUUSD Option Allowing Electorate Option to Unify (15 & 16)
– Article 2: Consider Language Grandfathering Vernon 7-12 School Choice for 10 years
– Article 8: Consider 8 Member At Large Board Voting representation
– Article 11: Consider Rotating Meeting Location language
– Article 12: Consider New Language for Leadership Councils
– Article 13: Consider Article Language for School Boundaries
– Article 14: Consider Article Language for Community Use of Schools and School Property
– Review Proposed Timeline
– Public Information Campaign – Identify Key components needed to inform Alice
and schedule town forums
– Future meetings, Discussions Alice
– Adjournment
Work Session Minutes:
Chair Alice Laughlin called the work session to order at 6:00 pm with a review of the agenda. She welcomed the public present and the Committee agreed to provide the time for public input as noted on the agenda. On a motion made by Ricky Davidson, seconded by Alice Revis and so voted, the minutes of the March 22 were accepted as written. Alice provided an overview of the process of the Study Committee’s work to date from its formation as a 706b Study Committee to the present. Amy Wall provided information on VT Open Meeting Law and how that relates to email communications. Links with information from the VT Attorney General’s office and FAQs from the VT League of Cities and Towns were emailed to all Committee members by Central Office. Ron Stahley stated that under Robert’s Rules, a quorum for the Study Committee is 5 members. He shared that Committee information – agendas, minutes, handouts – is up to date on the WSESU website
Ron Stahley provided information on the Freedom of Information request by Representative Mike Hebert on March 23, 2016. Ron discussed this request with Mike Hebert on March 28, 2015 and consulted with the legal counsel Chris Leopold. Each Study Committee member must provide to Central Office hard copy of all communications re: Study Committee related work since the Committee’s formation and/or prior to this if involved in the pre-planning process (since 8/28/15). Handwritten notes are excluded according to legal counsel. This information should be provided as soon as possible to fulfill this FOI request.
Alice opened the work session to public comment. Thoughts, comments and/or concerns touched upon the following:
– the 3/28/6 Vernon Act 46 forum,
– the FOI request and the possibility of the requester modify the request,
– the merger incentives are paid from the Education fund by all Vermonters,
– the use of the single vote instead of the dual vote wording for the Warning Article,
– the Act 46 process as written,
– the need for more involvement by our communities, and
– appreciation for the work and good faith efforts of the Committee and Central Office administration.
Alice and Ron led a review of the Articles of Agreement (working draft March 31, 2016) as noted on the agenda. Alice noted that this document can be used for various merger configurations – not just the Accelerated option.
Article 1 discussion by the Committee included:
– the concern that the dual vote wording takes away options from the electorate,
– the need to identify which districts were “necessary” and which were “advisable”,
– in all cases, it appears that Brattleboro would be “necessary”,
– under present wording, if 3 towns vote no, then no accelerated, conventional or MUUSD is possible,
– the Vernon school board prefers additional time to study because of choice issue,
– the discussion needs to shift from Act 46 law to the actual Articles and how we can come together,
– the need to revisit the information gathered on the options available since only a few are possible (no configuration is
possible without Brattleboro, no other town can partner with Vernon, no inequitable structure is allowed)
– the need to engage the public and inform our communities, and
– the reality that Guilford is facing – needs a merger to provide equity to their students and remain viable.
Article 2 discussion by the Committee included:
– the legal implications of including the new language to grandfather Vernon students for 10 years,
– the need to understand the financial implications of these students and $ leaving the union district,
– appreciation of Vernon for the generous language,
– the concern that one child in a family would have school choice but a younger sibling would not, and
– the need to change the wording from 10 years to a child’s age/grade in 10 years to be more specific.
Article 8 discussion by the Committee included:
– the need to add wording “as an alternative to directly proportional representation…”
– the need for wording to document the Committee’s process of getting to this voting representation.
Article 11 discussion by the Committee included:
– the general consensus that meetings should rotate throughout a unified district.
Article 12 discussion by the Committee included:
– the need to clean up the new language in bold and on the first paragraph of page 10 and
– the need to clearly identify that the chair of the Leadership council is a union district member.
Article 13 discussion by the Committee included:
– the use of existing language from school transfer policy,
– the removal of “5%” and base it on capacity, and
– the need to reorder Articles and change Article 16 to Article 14
– the concern of the impact on transient families in our communities,
– the need for a date/deadline for applying to request a change for those families not just moving into the area, and
– the recognition that a merger provides more options to students and families.
Article 14 discussion by the Committee included:
– the need to cite current use of facilities policy and
– the acknowledgement that communities will be allowed to use schools as they currently do now.
Alice reviewed the following steps needed in the proposed timeline:
– after tonight’s work session, make minor changes to the Articles of Agreement working draft 3/31/16
and provide to local boards
– at the next Committee work session on 4/13/16, hold vote to release report to local school boards for official commentary (to do so, decision on Dummerston’s Study Committee representation must be resolved),
– future work sessions would review input from local boards, and
– submit for State Board of Education review on May 17.
Alice stated that she and Ron will meet with Town Clerks in the coming weeks to discuss the potential voting and petitioning processes.
Frank Rucker reviewed a handout containing financial data based on the recently completed auditor’s report for all WSESU member districts. During the brief discussion of this information, it was noted that dedicated capital fund balances from each district would be applied to that building(s) in a merger. It was noted that auditor’s reports have not included with Study Committee reports seen to date.
A point of clarifications was made re: voting rights. For example, if Brattleboro, Guilford and Putney merged K-12, Dummerston and Vernon (K-8) can send students to BUHS and will have voting rights on all matters related to Grade 9-12 and retain ownership of assets/debt. An actual example is Huntington who operates a K-5 school and serves on the 6-12 board. On the union board, it has voting rights for all 6-12 matters but not K-5 because it operates its own K-5.
Upcoming meeting schedule with other important target dates is:
– 4/6/16 Brattleboro Act 46 forum at 6 pm at Academy School
– 4/13/16 Work session from 6-8:30 pm at Oak Grove School
– 4/27/16 Work session from 6-8:30 pm at BUHS (Cusick Room) to consider local board comments
– 5/3/16 Work session from 6-8:30 pm at Vernon, final draft to AOE
– 5/6/16 Vote is posted, draft is distributed to State Board of Education
– 5/17/16 Meeting with State Board of Education
– 5/18 to 6/27/16 Town forums with local boards
– 6/28/16 Electorate vote.
Agenda items for next meeting on 4/5/16 include:
– Review of Articles of Agreement
– Local Board feedback, if available
– Discussion of format and information for the public and possible town forums
– Other related matters, as needed.
Agenda items for future meetings:
– Continue review of financial model data – Accelerated Merger
– Continue work on the Worksheet, Executive Summary and Articles of Agreement
– Continue review of school data by grade (including preK) – class size, student to teacher ratios, etc.
– Review proposed time line – continued work, possible action, report completion, coordinated public forums and
community vote
– Discuss public information campaign and identify key components needed to inform voters and address issues/concerns
– Other related topics, as needed
On a motion made by Jill Stahl Tyler, seconded by Beth Bristol and so voted, the work session ended at 8:17 pm.
Action Items before next meeting and Responsible party
– Forward financial and legal questions to Alice at alicelaughlin@rocketmail.com All
– Forward items to attach to report to Amy Wall at amhbeg@gmail.com All
– Verify that info is posted on Act 46 Study committee page on WSESU website Jill, Barb Nowakowski
– Provide financial data Frank
– Determine revised Article 2 wording from 10 years to child’s age/grade Ron
– Continue review of Executive Summary with Articles of Agreement and Worksheet All
Respectfully submitted, Amy Wall – Committee Clerk
FOI Request
You don’t see a Freedom of Information Request very often in the minutes:
“Each Study Committee member must provide to Central Office hard copy of all communications re: Study Committee related work since the Committee’s formation and/or prior to this if involved in the pre-planning process (since 8/28/15).”
I wonder what information Mr. Hebert is looking for?