BRATTLEBORO — I encourage Brattleboro voters to vote for Andy Davis for the Brattleboro Town School Board.
Andy is extremely well-qualified to be on the school board because he brings the perspectives both of a teacher for 25 years and of a parent who had two children who went through the Brattleboro schools.
Also, as a Town Meeting representative for many years, he has participated in numerous meetings and discussions about school programs and budgets.
I have attended many public meetings at which Andy has spoken, and I have always been impressed by his thoughtfulness, his respect for different opinions, and his knowledge of the issues. Over the years, I also have appreciated his articulate Letters to the Editor on many different topics.
In addition, Andy has closely followed the unfolding of Act 46 over the past two years. Although he strongly supports the goals of the law, he has often expressed his deep concerns about how a merger would affect our children and our local schools.
It is not clear now what will happen about a merger as there is a court case appealing the forced merger decision of the Board of Education. Regardless of what happens, Andy will immediately be able to dive into the board's challenges.
Last year, the majority of voters in Brattleboro voted against a merger. However, the Town School Board ignored the decision of the voters and continued to push for the merger with the State Board of Education, effectively disenfranchising the voters. I believe if the School Board had instead supported the alternative governance structure, we would not be faced now with a forced merger.
Wouldn't Brattleboro be better served by a school board that stops creating divisiveness and instead sees its mission as being one of collaboration with the community? I believe that Andy Davis is the person who can help move the board in this direction.