All Entries in the "Featured" Category
Meeting to discuss PCB levels at GMUHS Wednesday night State officials to be on hand to discuss test results
By Shawn Cunningham © 2023 Telegraph Publishing LLC The results of the State of Vermont’s testing of schools for PCBs has found that various parts of the Green Mountain High School building have elevated levels of the chemical, the school announced Monday. In response, the school will hold an information meeting regarding the problem and […]
CTES principal candidates meet the public
By Shawn Cunningham ©2023 Telegraph Publishing LLC On the face of it, the two candidates hoping to become the next principal of the Cavendish Town Elementary School couldn’t be more different. For one, it would be her first principal post, while the other has nearly 25 years of principal experience at several elementary schools. At […]
Two members returned to GM District Board Anger, confusion reigns in meeting attended by 100+
By Shawn Cunningham © 2023 Telegraph Publishing LLC By the end of an especially chaotic meeting on Wednesday night, the Green Mountain Unified School District Board did not interview candidates for principal of Cavendish Town Elementary nor did it appoint a new principal, as was on the agenda. Instead, it formally accepted the resignation of […]
After resignations, two former GMUSD members hope to return to posts
By Cynthia Prairie ©2023 Telegraph Publishing LLC Since Thursday night’s turmoil at the Green Mountain Unified School District board meeting — in which three board members and the supervisory union superintendent announced their resignations following a vote to uphold the school’s name ‘the Chieftains’ — two board members are seeking to get reinstated while another […]
GM board votes to keep Chieftain; Fierman, 3 members resign Board member cites confusing motion, spotty internet in vote that upheld name
By Shawn Cunningham and Cynthia Prairie 2023 Telegraph Publishing LLC The divisive issue of using the Chieftain name by Green Mountain High School came to a head at last night’s school district board meeting and, by the time it was over, the board in effect voted to keep the “Chieftains” name and three of its […]
GM board offers Bellows Falls principal contract
By Shawn Cunningham © 2023 Telegraph Publishing LLC After a public forum and an interview with two candidates on Monday night, the Green Mountain Unified School District board voted to offer Bellows Falls Union High Principal John Broadley the principal post at Green Mountain High when Keith Hill steps down at the end of June. […]
Tractor trailer rollover shuts down Rt.11 for nearly 12 hours
By Shawn Cunningham © 2023 Telegraph Publishing LLC For nearly 12 hours on Thursday, Route 11 at Elm Street in Chester was closed as emergency crews worked to recover a tractor trailer that rolled over while exiting Gold River Industrial Park. According to a Chester Police press release, Howard Hubert Jardine, 58, of Arlington Mass. […]
Chester Select Board suggests alterations to zoning proposals
By Shawn Cunningham © 2023 Telegraph Publishing LLC At its Wednesday, May 3 meeting, the Chester Select Board held a hearing to review a set of amendments to the town’s zoning regulations known as Unified Development Bylaws. And while they thanked the Planning Commission for its work, in the end they sent the amendments back […]
School restructuring panel begins discussing ‘right-sizing’ of Cavendish, Chester-Andover elementaries
By Shawn Cunningham © 2023 Telegraph Publishing LLC After a struggle in which the Cavendish members of the board of the Green Mountain Unified School District lobbied for more representation on the new school restructuring committee because the results would impact their elementary school the most, the first meeting of the committee as originally proposed […]
Cavendish school concerns rise to top at GM board meeting
By Shawn Cunningham © 2023 Telegraph Publishing LLC The agenda for last Thursday’s Green Mountain Unified School District board meeting looked pretty tame compared to recent meetings but, as it unfolded, the board’s discussion was described by some in terms of “animosity” and by others in terms of “intensity” and passion. The difference depended on […]
Chester board makes planning appointments, reduces cannabis commission
By Shawn Cunningham © 2023 Telegraph Publishing LLC The Chester Select Board’s April 19 meeting was pretty much an exercise in housekeeping with some interviews and appointments for town boards as well as routine approvals and updates on old business. After public comment and old business, the board appointed Deb Aldrich to the positions of […]
Merrill sentenced to 10 years in prison for possession of child porn
By Shawn Cunningham © 2023 Telegraph Publishing LLC Former Green Mountain middle school teacher Norman Merrill, a Chester resident who plead guilty to possession of child sexual abuse material, was sentenced on Monday afternoon to 10 years in federal prison by Judge Christina Reiss in Burlington. On May 19, 2022, a federal grand jury in […]
GM board hears complaints that Chieftain name violates policy
By Shawn Cunningham © 2023 Telegraph Publishing LLC On Tuesday night, Chester resident Matt Gorsky told the Green Mountain Unified School Board that the harm in using the Chieftain name is “in the inescapable connection between it and 50 years of a racist mascot depicting people this country has conducted cultural genocide against….” He was […]
Fierman to TRSU board: departures are for individual personal reasons
By Shawn Cunningham © 2023 Telegraph Publishing LLC At the regular monthly meeting of the Two Rivers Supervisory Union Board last Thursday, Superintendent Lauren Fierman briefed that body on the recent spate of administrators departing the system. “I know from the outside it looks like as though there must be something awful happening that all […]
Potash Brook residents list concerns about neighbor’s behavior
By Shawn Cunningham © 2023 Telegraph Publishing LLC Residents of the Potash Brook Road area brought a long list of complaints to the Chester Select Board last Wednesday concerning a neighbor they say has problems with mental illness that have manifested in break-ins, thefts and other criminal and nuisance behaviors. However, all who spoke said […]
Hill, Donohue departures from GM mark latest changes at TRSU 3 of 5 schools must find new principals; 1 coming on board
By Shawn Cunningham and Cynthia Prairie © 2023 Telegraph Publishing LLC Green Mountain High Principal Keith Hill has announced that he is leaving the school at the end of this school year, almost two years to the day that he was first appointed in April 2021. He announced to parents of students his decision in […]
5 chosen for Chester Police Advisory Committee
By Shawn Cunningham © 2023 Telegraph Publishing LLC At it’s March 22 meeting, the Chester Select Board chose five of the 10 residents interviewed to serve on a new committee to advise the town’s Police Department and communicate with their community. After the interviews, the board went into executive session to discuss the appointments, then […]
Residents near Julian quarries haul in truckload of complaints to Chester board
By Shawn Cunningham © 2023 Telegraph Publishing LLC Gassetts residents turned out in force for the Chester Select Board’s Wednesday, March 22 meeting to complain that quarry operations in their area is in violation of its permits and that the noise, traffic, unsafe blasting and pollution have become too much to bear. Listed on […]
Short-term rentals: Towns’ pace for regulation between snail and speedy State legislature, however, puts the onus on local jurisdictions
By Shawn Cunningham © 2023 Telegraph Publishing LLC While the growth in the number of homes in area towns that are being converted into short-term rentals — like Airbnb and VRBO — is concerning to many residents, state and local governments are moving at different paces to address the trend. The Vermont legislature has taken […]
Snow ‘dump’ sends a chill through s. Vermont, causes widespread power outages, car accidents
By Cynthia Prairie and Shawn Cunningham ©2023 Telegraph Publishing LLC For those in the southern Vermont region straddling Windham and Windsor counties, you know you got hit with snow – anywhere from 18 to more than 36 inches of it. Can’t open the front door snow; trees and power lines are down snow; don’t care […]
