Search Results for 'Act 46'
GMUSD finance panel urges public participation
By Shawn Cunningham © 2019 Telegraph Publishing LLC If you live in the Green Mountain Unified School District, the Finance Committee of the Green Mountain District Board wants you. Noting that in past budget cycles, budget committees have recruited the public to become members and bring different perspectives to the table, committee chair Deb Brown […]
To the editor: A different point of view on Meg Powden
As a long time school board member in Chester, recent chair of both the Green Mountain Unified School District Board and the Two Rivers Supervisory Union Board, member of the Act 46 Study Committee, and chair of the Board Bargaining Council for several years, I have had the opportunity to observe Superintendent Meg Alison Powden […]
Editorial: A question of judgment
By Cynthia Prairie ©2019 Telegraph Publishing LLC Meg Powden took the reins of the Two Rivers Supervisory Union in 2016, when our schools were in the throes of Act 46 consolidations and all parties involved worked hard to make the transition smooth. At the time, Powden was an unknown entity, so we sat back and […]
TRSU boards apparently kept in dark about suits
By Shawn Cunningham © 2019 Telegraph Publishing LLC The overspending of a line item for legal expenses by nearly 500 percent led to the revelation by The Chester Telegraph Thursday night that the Two Rivers Supervisory Union is facing at least two lawsuits that virtually no board members of Green Mountain Unified School District nor […]
BRSU Superintendent to retire in mid-2020
B ennington-Rutland Supervisory Union Superintendent Jackie Wilson has announced her planned retirement for one year from now, on June 30, 2020. “After 27 years as a teacher, principal and superintendent,” said Wilson, “it’s time to start the process of moving on to the next chapter.” The supervisory union includes Flood Brook School in Londonderry. “Jackie […]
Editorial: If you want changes in the school system, drop Facebook, attend board meetings
By Cynthia Prairie ©2019 Telegraph Publishing LLC Since the fall of 2015, The Chester Telegraph has reported extensively on the Two Rivers Supervisory Union, the Act 46 merger plans and votes, the school budgets, new school districts, etc., publishing more than 95 articles about the system in less than four years. These have been highly […]
GMUSD board replaces Mahusky as chair
By Shawn Cunningham © Telegraph Publishing, LLC In a surprise move last Thursday night, March 21, the Green Mountain Unified School District board voted 5-3 to replace board chair Marilyn Mahusky of Chester with Joe Fromberger from Andover. The move came at the board’s reorganization session after Town Meeting Day in which newcomer Lois Perlah […]
GM School District budget OK’d by 70 votes CAES assistant principal funded in $13 million spending plan
By Shawn Cunningham © 2019 Telegraph Publishing, LLC The Green Mountain Unified School District budget was approved by the voters of Andover, Baltimore, Cavendish and Chester in Australian balloting on Tuesday. The count was 423 to 353 with a margin of victory of 70 votes or 9 percent. The budget gives Chester-Andover Elementary an assistant […]
Andover residents pass budget; elect full board following move of long-time member
By Cynthia Prairie © 2019 Telegraph Publishing LLC With the departure of long-time Andover Select Board member Red Johnson to the hinterlands of Virginia, the board has been one member short. That was remedied at Town Meeting on Saturday morning, March 2, when the board was reshuffled a bit and newcomer Jed LaPrise was elected […]
After rocky process, GM school budget goes to voters Assistant Principal for CAES was bone of contention
By Shawn Cunningham © 2019 Telegraph Publishing LLC On Tuesday, March 5, residents in Andover, Baltimore, Cavendish and Chester will go to the polls to vote on the Green Mountain Unified School District budget for the 2019/2020 school year. The $12,937,250 spending plan represents an increase of more than $405,000, or 3.23 percent over the […]
GM ‘better board’ training heavy on limitations Board association recommends 'hands off' posture toward administration
By Shawn Cunningham © 2019 Telegraph Publishing LLC The main event at last night’s Green Mountain Unified School District Board meeting was a training session for the board on being a board. Board chair Marilyn Mahusky told the meeting that she and Superintendent Meg Powden felt there was value in “bringing somebody in to help […]
Rep. Pajala on school merger, abortion bills
By Rep. Kelly Pajala This week’s legislative update is a tough one, as was the week itself. The first challenge was the vote on H.39, which was about delaying the forced mergers of school districts because of Act 46. I voted in favor of the amendment put forth by Rep. Scheuermann of Stowe because, in […]
TRSU floats policies to govern its boards Move comes in the wake of questions by board members
By Shawn Cunningham © 2019 Telegraph Publishing LLC In the wake of a number of recent meetings in which Two Rivers Supervisory Union and Green Mountain Unified School District board members have been skeptical and even critical of the decisions and priorities of administrators, the “senior management” of the supervisory union is proposing policies defining […]
Op-ed: Bipartisanship in Montpelier
By Sen. Dick McCormack Democrats, Independents and Republicans. In this bitter time in Washington, Montpelier is a light of hope simply because we get along with one another. Democrats and Progressives are a united team. Our Republican friends are true to their ideals, but they are not obstructionists. We negotiate agreements that all sides can […]
GM finance panel deadlocks, sends budget options to full board
By Shawn Cunningham © 2019 Telegraph Publishing, LLC On Monday night, the Two Rivers Supervisory Union board rejected the request of the Green Mountain Unified School District to reopen the SU budget and look for some cuts that would lower the district’s assessment for SU services. So on Tuesday night, the GM finance committee was […]
News Analysis: Oversight or overreach by TRSU board
By Shawn Cunningham © 2018 Telegraph Publishing LLC As the Two Rivers Supervisory Union prepares to return to its board on Thursday, Jan. 3 with a level funded budget for FY20, resistance to one item has cropped up over and over and that seems to be telling a larger story with larger questions. Namely, what […]
Required spending vexes GM finance panel Tasks administration with finding cuts, lowering increases
By Shawn Cunningham © 2018 Telegraph Publishing LLC After four meetings, the Green Mountain Unified School District’s Finance Committee elected to punt last Thursday night. Staring down a nearly 6 percent increase for the 2020 fiscal year (which begins on July 1, 2019) the board sent the budget back to the administration with the directive […]
Explainer: GMUSD FY20 budget process has begun
By Shawn Cunningham ©2018 Telegraph Publishing LLC On Thursday night, Nov. 29, the Finance Committee of the Green Mountain Unified School District will take up its 2019/2020 budget. At its last meeting, the committee called for representatives of the public to join in the work and added Jeannie Wade of Chester to the committee. The […]
To the editor: Vote out Clarkson, McCormack and Nitka
The taxpayers of Vermont and Windsor County can no longer afford to have Alison Clarkson(D), Dick McCormack (D) and Alice Nitka (D) represent us in Montpelier. Since 2013, state Rep. Clarkson, now a state senator, has voted to raise fees and taxes on Vermonters by the astronomical amount of $344.6 million. Vermonters are struggling mightily […]
GMUSD board talks CAES repairs, next year’s budget
By Shawn Cunningham © 2018 Telegraph Publishing LLC Bfore getting down to a long agenda at its Oct. 18 meeting, the Green Mountain Union School Board heard an update on the progress of repairing the damage done to Chester-Andover Elementary by two flooding incidents caused by plumbing system breaks. CAES Facilities Director Jim Spaulding told […]
