To the editor: Voters should participate in new school district meeting

On May 2, 2017 the citizens of Andover, Baltimore, Cavendish and Chester voted to approve the Act 46 merger plan to form one school district with one budget, one tax rate and one board of directors. At the same time the members of the new board were elected. That vote has since been certified by the state and the new consolidated district can become operational.

On Sept. 12, 2017, at 6 p.m. Vermont Secretary of Education Rebecca Holcombe will convene the first assembly of the voters of all four towns, meeting in the Green Mountain Union High School Library, to officially open and organize the new district. The voters then present will elect an interim chairperson, a moderator, a clerk and a treasurer. Also, the members of the new 11-seat Green Mountain Unified School District Board, will be sworn in at this meeting.

In this transition year, current town and union school boards will continue to serve while the new merged board assumes more and more responsibilities. By July 2018, the Green Mountain Unified School District will be fully operational.

It is my hope that voters in all the towns will attend this important meeting of the new Green Mountain Unified School District and will be prepared to volunteer to devote their time, energy and talent to ensure that the new district will succeed.

This may be the first and only opportunity for a floor vote for this district’s important decisions. In the future, Australian ballot voting will make decisions about budgets and other issues, as approved in the May 2017 vote.

Joseph Fromberger

Joseph Fromberger is a member of the Green Mountain Union High School board and a member of the newly formed Green Mountain Unified School District board. He represents Andover.