WSESD Policy & Amendment Committee Meeting Minutes 3/12/25

F8 Student Medication
Invited Attendee: Rebecca Olmstead, Nurse Leader

Since the last meeting, RO met with the district doctor regarding this policy, and the doctor approved the draft brought to the committee today. The committee read the new draft aloud, and in consultation with RO, made a number of edits for clarity, consistency, and accuracy. The last two paragraphs (non-prescriptions medications and the concluding paragraph) were reviewed after RO had to leave the meeting, and these will need to be reviewed again. The procedures section was not reviewed.


Guilford WSESD Seat Recount Results

Official recount results are in, for the Guilford seat on the Board of Directors of the Windham Southeast School District: There has been no change to the number of votes for each candidate from Guilford. Jocelyn Fritts has been duly elected to the Board of Directors.


WSESD Recount of 3 Year Seat Scheduled for March 11

The Town Clerks of Brattleboro, Dummerston, Guilford and Putney have confirmed that they and members of their Boards of Civil Authority will come together in each town for a recount of the contested Guilford 3-year seat on the Board of the WSESD.

Candidates and members of the public are welcome to observe the recount. Time and locations for the re-count: 


Windham Southeast School District Recount

The Windham Southeast School District announces that a recount has been requested in the election results for the three-year Guilford seat on the WSESD Board of Directors. Candidates were Jocelyn Fritts, having received 1128 votes and Kelly Young, having received 1100 votes.

The total vote tallies are reported in a “commingled” manner, as per 16 V.S.A. § 741(3). “The articles of agreement as initially approved by the voters on or before July 1, 2019 explicitly provide that the board of civil authority of each town within the unified union school district shall count Australian ballots cast in that town and report that town’s results to the district clerk, who shall calculate total votes cast within the unified union school district and report the result of the vote to the public.”


WSESD Board Meeting Minutes Feb 25, 2025

Summary
● The Board debriefed two important Summits held in the past two weeks, 2/12/25 with the three School Boards and 2/24/25 with local legislators.
● The Board accepted, with regret, the resignation of Christopher Brewer, Dean of Students at BUHS.
● Three policies (D1, F16, F28) were presented to the Board for a first reading.
● The Board entered Executive Session under 1VSA §313 (a)(1)(A) Contracts.


WSESD Independent Budget Review Committee Minutes – Feb 2, 2025

On a Motion by Elie and seconded by Maggie the committee unanimously approved the draft for publication pending any comments from Frank Rucker, WSESD business manager.

Kristina referred the committee to the motion from the past meeting authorizing Maggie and Kristina to incorporate edits before releasing the report if Frank has minor changes. The committee agreed to let the motion stand, and Kristina agreed to hold an emergency meeting if any issues arise in the next few days which would require substantive rewrites.


Windham Southeast School District Board Windham & Southeast School Union Board Special Board Meeting Minutes

IV. Overview of Governor Scott’s “Education Transformation Proposal: a proposed reform of Vermont’s current system of education and funding.”

Dan McArthur Rural School Alliance gave an overview of the Governor’s proposal for educational reforms and gave remarks on behalf of the rural school alliance.

Emilie Kornheiser also gave remarks regarding educational reform proposal and various funding mechanisms


Windham Southeast School District (WSESD) Policy and Amendment Committee Meeting Minutes Feb 12, 2025

The committee discussed the question of whether a policy in support of immigrant students should be developed, a topic that was also under discussion at the board meeting on 2/11/25. MS cautioned that Pietro has advised to stay away from a new policy, and instead to focus on law and procedure. A vision statement would be fine and would be a way to send a message to the community.


WSESD Board Appointment

At a special meeting on January 21st, the WSESD Board appointed Dummerston resident Jessica Everlith to temporarily fill a vacancy on the board. Ms. Everlith will fill this seat until such time as a candidate can be elected to fill the remaining year of the vacancy created by a recent resignation. On the March 4th Town Meeting Day, registered voters of Brattleboro, Dummerston, Guilford and Putney will be able to vote for the candidate of their choice to fill this Dummerston seat on the board.