Author Archive for Shawn Cunningham
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 […]
Education finance panel brainstorms cost containment
By Shawn Cunningham © 2024 Telegraph Publishing LLC The Education Finance subcommittee of Vermont’s Commission on the Future of Public Education met for the second time on Monday. In the first two hours of a three and a half hour meeting, the committee received presentations by the Agency of Education and the Vermont Tax Department. […]
Future of Education panel narrows focus to engagement, short-term cost containment
By Shawn Cunningham © 2024 Telegraph Publishing LLC Two months into its work, the commission that’s charged with looking at the future of public education in Vermont is preparing to hold the first of a series of public sessions on Oct. 21, with a venue still to be identified. The sessions are intended to solicit […]
Derry goat farmer tests fenceless tech at Magic
By Shawn Cunningham © 2024 Telegraph Publishing LLC More than three quarters of the way up Magic Mountain on a sunny September afternoon, Aimee Braxmeier sets up a yell. From up one of the mountain’s steep ski trails – far enough to be out of sight – comes bleating of goats. After a couple more […]
Chester board reopens vicious dog hearing for new testimony; orders Beau euthanized Interim fire chief, two housing commission members named
By Shawn Cunningham © 2024 Telegraph Publishing LLC Last Wednesday, Sept. 4, the Chester Select Board reopened a vicious dog hearing from early August to take testimony from the dog’s owner, accept documents into evidence and consider an alternative to euthanasia, which the board had ordered. Terri Steele, the owner of Beau, a white dog […]
Kicking off the school year in style with music and circus
By Shawn Cunningham © 2024 Telegraph Publishing LLC On a picture perfect Thursday evening, the Two Rivers Supervisory Union kicked off the school year in style with the West Philadelphia Orchestra and the Cirque Kikasse troupe performing on the playing field of Chester-Andover Elementary School with everyone in the SU’s communities invited. Playing Fields is […]
Chester GOP holds event for State House candidate Tom Charlton
By Shawn Cunningham © 2024 Telegraph Publishing LLC Around 40 people turned out in front of the Fullerton Inn in Chester on a cool, blustery Sunday afternoon to hear Vermont House candidate Tom Charlton speak on a wide range of topics including infrastructure, education and the state’s “clean heat standard.” But the event’s main message […]
Chester native’s animated short tells of Romaine Tenney’s ‘Love of the Land’ Film to be presented by Van Alstyne at Springfield Cinema
By Shawn Cunningham © 2024 Telegraph Publishing LLC Sixty years ago, just before 3 a.m. on Sept. 12, 1964, Weathersfield volunteer firefighters were called out to the Tenney farm, where a multi-building blaze glowed brightly in the late night summer sky. Romaine Tenney, a 64-year-old farmer whose lifelong home was to be taken by the […]
State education commission members may not ‘fully represent Vermont,’ chair says Calls for 'good faith' efforts to bring other voices to the table
By Shawn Cunningham © 2024 Telegraph Publishing LLC While the second meeting of the full Commission on the Future of Public Education in Vermont covered agenda items in detail, one thread ran through the three-hour meeting: public representation, engagement and credibility. Even before the meeting’s agenda and previous meeting’s minutes were approved, commission chair Meagan […]
Pair attempt armed robbery at Rockingham cannabis shop Monday bank heists in Brattleboro, Bellows Falls may be connected
By Shawn Cunningham © 2024 Telegraph Publishing LLC A robbery was attempted at a cannabis shop in Rockingham Monday afternoon, Vermont State Police said, adding that the incident may be connected to bank robberies in Brattleboro and Bellows Falls earlier in the day. Police are looking for a man and a woman who they say […]
Truck takes down wires on Rt. 11 leaving hundreds without power
UPDATE: Route 11 is open to one lane as of 6:30 p.m. Please drive slowly By Shawn Cunningham © 2024 Telegraph Publishing LLC Lights flickered and internet service sputtered throughout Chester and Andover around 1:30 p.m. today as a truck carrying an oversized load snagged wires on Route 11 near Motel in the Meadow in […]
GMUSD board mulls finances, new bond effort, restructuring
By Shawn Cunningham ©2024 Telegraph Publishing LLC Late summer board meetings are often sparsely populated, with both members and the public on vacation, and light on topics to tackle. But while the former was true of the Thursday, Aug. 15 Green Mountain Unified School District board meeting, the latter was not. With just five members […]
No surprises in primary races for state Senate, House
By Shawn Cunningham © 2024 Telegraph Publishing LLC Yesterday’s primary election results, while predictable in many cases, set the ballot for state and local races in the Tuesday Nov. 5 election, which will include a much-contested presidential contest. In the race for three Senate seats representing Windsor County, Democrats tapped incumbents Rebecca White of Harford […]
Chester board OKs court action against Julian quarries, neighbors want more
By Shawn Cunningham © 2024 Telegraph Publishing LLC At last Wednesday’s meeting, the Chester Select Board authorized Zoning Administrator Preston Bristow to start enforcement actions in court against two of Julian Materials’ violations of the stipulation the company negotiated with the town this past spring. And, at the same meeting, neighbors of the Julian quarries […]
Biting dog to be put down after board hears complaint
By Shawn Cunningham © 2024 Telegraph Publishing LLC An aggressive dog that neighbors in the Andover Road and Potash Brook Road area have complained about will be put down after the Chester Select Board found it to be “vicious” following a hearing last Friday evening. At a meeting in April, Karen Orchitt told the board […]
Ed Commission creates group to fix school financing Hears public criticism of members' 'hidden agenda'
By Shawn Cunningham © 2024 Telegraph Publishing LLC At the third meeting out of 30 budgeted by the Vermont legislature, about half of the members of the Commission on the Future of Public Education in Vermont assembled as the “steering group” on Monday and got down to making some decisions on how their work will […]
The Future of Public Education in Vt. – a big lift on short time
By Shawn Cunningham © 2024 Telegraph Publishing LLC Toward the end of this year’s session, the Vermont legislature passed a bill – H-887, also known as the “yield bill” which made adjustments to rein in tax increase for this year by finding other sources of income. It also established a commission to recommend fixes problems […]
Chester planners hear objections to proposed rural zoning changes
By Shawn Cunningham © 2024 Telegraph Publishing LLC An a recent press release announcing a public hearing for a proposed zoning amendment, Chester Planning Commission chair Hugh Quinn wrote that the commission “encourages and welcomes all community feedback.” On Monday night, they indeed received some from several residents who attended in person or via Zoom. […]
‘Nobody is looking to close Cavendish’ – A tale of two meetings
By Shawn Cunningham © 2024 Telegraph Publishing Last week, two meetings looked at the same topic, but the tone of each could not have been more different. At issue is a proposal to move the 6th grades out of the elementary schools and create a grades 6 to 8 middle school. Currently, the middle school […]
