Author Archive for Shawn Cunningham
9% jump in GM District school budget proposed; elementary school restructuring plans firmed up
By Shawn Cunningham © 2025 Telegraph Publishing LLC Monday night’s special meeting of the board of the Green Mountain Unified School District had just two agenda items. The main reason for the meeting was to review the 2025-26 budget proposal ahead of the board’s regular meeting on Thursday, since the board needs to approve a […]
With legislature under way, Gov. Scott sets tone and Education Commission seeks path forward
By Shawn Cunningham © 2025 Telegraph Publishing LLC With its interim report submitted and the holidays in the rear view mirror, the commission tasked with looking at the future of Vermont’s education system was getting down to looking at the work ahead on Jan. 6. Then, Gov. Phil Scott and the Democratic majority leaders in […]
Police search Baltimore home where stolen truck was found; arrest owner Homeowner faces drug, stolen property charges
By Shawn Cunningham © 2025 Telegraph Publishing LLC Officers from several area, state and federal departments searched a Baltimore home at around 2:30 today, Wednesday, Jan. 8, looking for tools missing from a truck stolen more than a week ago in Chester. In addition to recovering about two thirds of the tools, they found a […]
Chester board OKs rural zoning changes; talks 2025 budget, water meter upgrades
By Shawn Cunningham © 2025 Telegraph Publishing LLC An amendment to Chester’s rural zoning regulations that’s been under consideration since July, with several hearings where it was criticized by residents and Select Board members alike, was finally adopted after one of its most controversial proposals was dropped. The 4 to 1 vote approving the at […]
One select board meeting, 3 contentious issues and a glitch
By Shawn Cunningham © 2024 Telegraph Publishing LLC The Chester Select Board had its hands full at its Wednesday, Dec. 18 meeting as it again took on controversial changes to rural zoning but put off a vote, handed down a determination in a long-standing Class 4 roads dispute and learned that sometimes delaying a decision […]
GM board discusses budgets, bonds and mascots
By Shawn Cunningham © 2024 Telegraph Publishing LLC The Green Mountain Unified School District Board continued last Thursday night discussing the 2025/26 budget with Superintendent Layne Millington and Business Manager Cheryl Hammond. The meeting was held in the Green Mountain High School Library. Millington outlined a number of actions that may be taken by the […]
Future of Ed panel wrestles over report to legislature
By Shawn Cunningham © 2024 Telegraph Publishing LLC We can only improve the lives of kids and taxpayers if we are all rowing in the same direction,” said Emilie Kornheiser, who chairs the Commission on the Future of Education’s finance subcommittee, at its Dec. 9 meeting. The topic was what form the upcoming report to […]
Chester building owner seeks driveway permit to stop neighbor ‘harassment’
By Shawn Cunningham © 2024 Telegraph Publishing LLC It’s unusual for a permit to put in a driveway to find its way to a select board for a decision, but in the case of 116 Main St. in Chester the situation itself is unusual. Also known as the Henry Office Building, the 1880s structure at […]
Preliminary Future of Ed report set to offer many options, but make no recommendations Rep. Conlon goes off script claiming 'strong policy proposals'; 5.9% tax increase predicted in Dec. 1 letter
By Shawn Cunningham © 2024 Telegraph Publishing LLC There were two takeaways from Monday’s meeting of the Commission on the Future of Public Education in Vermont. The commission was given the charge to look at the education system as a whole – including funding it – with a final report due in December 2025 and […]
Chester continues budgeting, hears Class 4 road complaint
By Shawn Cunningham © 2024 Telegraph Publishing LLC Every year, the Chester Snowmobile Club comes before the Chester Select Board to request the use of certain town roads to link together private properties and Class 4 roads to complete the trails used by its members and by other members of the statewide VAST trail system. […]
School restructuring options include modular classes at CAES, pre-school at CTES
By Shawn Cunningham © 2024 Telegraph Publishing LLC At last Thursday’s meeting of the board of the Green Mountain Unified School District, Superintendent Layne Millington unveiled an “Advisory Restructuring Report” that put forward three recommendations for making progress on the issues of under-utilization of Cavendish Town Elementary and over-crowding of Chester-Andover Elementary. Last year, the […]
Update on the Future: No silver bullets to cutting costs
By Shawn Cunningham © 2024 Telegraph Publishing LLC As school districts are working on their 2025-26 budgets, the deadline for the preliminary report from the state Commission on the Future of Public Education’s — including short term cost containment strategies — is fast approaching. The message from recent subcommittee meetings is that it’s complicated and […]
Chester board says ‘no’ to new zoning idea, asks for tweaks to the rest of the plan Emails, in-person contacts influence the decision
By Shawn Cunningham © 2024 Telegraph Publishing LLC If you have ever thought that talking to or writing your local officials is not effective, the Chester Select Board meeting of Nov. 6 might change your mind. Over the course of a couple of meetings, the board has been looking at something called “density-based zoning,” which […]
No one injured as Sunday morning fire destroys Chester home
By Shawn Cunningham © 2024 Telegraph Publishing LLC A fire Sunday morning on Jewett Road in Chester destroyed a home and an outbuilding, but no one was injured as the homeowner escaped the building amid black smoke. According to Chester Police Chief Tom Williams, around 9:15 a.m. this morning, a motorist spotted smoke coming from […]
Local Republican Senate candidates make strong showing against north county Democrats Incumbents Clarkson and White, newcomer Major take Windsor Senate seats
By Shawn Cunningham © 2024 Telegraph Publishing LLC Republicans from Cavendish, Ludlow and Weathersfield showed electoral strength on Tuesday running for seats in the Windsor County Senate delegation against a slate of Democrats from the northern part of the county. And while they lost overall, their campaigns were a clear challenge to a longstanding majority […]
Republicans victorious in two of three local State House seats In Chester, incumbent Chase loses to newcomer Charlton
By Shawn Cunningham © 2024 Telegraph Publishing LLC Republican candidates found enough traction Tuesday to flip two local State House seats held by Democrats, while a Democratic candidate was victorious in a district that has been held by independents for a decade. Anger over higher school and property taxes — and a perceived dysfunction in […]
GM board votes to preview restructuring plan, overriding superintendent’s schedule
By Shawn Cunningham © 2024 Telegraph Publishing LLC In a bid to moderate reaction to an administration-generated restructuring plan for the three schools within the Green Mountain Unified School District, TRSU Superintendent Layne Millington said he would not reveal the plan until the next GM board meeting, on Thursday Nov. 21. But, following board member […]
Ed finance panel delays internal deadline for cost-containment suggestions Kornheiser calls commission timeline 'impossible'
By Shawn Cunningham © 2024 Telegraph Publishing LLC Anyone who watched the Sept. 30 meeting of the Education Finance subcommittee of Vermont’s Commission on the Future of Public Education might well have expected that this Monday’s session would see members hammering out a list of short-term cost containment ideas to present to the full commission […]
Future of Education panel sets first public input session for Oct. 21 Commenter asks to make education jargon understandable
By Shawn Cunningham © 2024 Telegraph Publishing LLC The Commission on the Future of Public Education in Vermont will hold its first in-person public feedback session from 5 to 7 p.m. on Monday, Oct. 21 at the Randolph High School/Technical & Career Center, 17 Forest St. in Randolph. It will be preceded by a full […]
First a lockdown drill, then a real lockdown at GMUHS as Chester Police investigate threat
By Cynthia Prairie and Shawn Cunningham ©2024 Telegraph Publishing LLC A report of a person with a gun threatening to hurt people at Green Mountain Union High School may have been a hoax perpetrated by a group that has conducted similar swatting calls around the country, but the Chester Police weren’t taking any chances. “We […]
