BRATTLEBORO — Regarding the Windham Southeast School District withdrawal articles on the town ballots, I would like to wait a few more years to see how this works out before we disrupt everything again and start over.
The COVID-19 pandemic makes it hard to compare anything, and so far the current board has been open, inclusive, effective, and progressive. As membership changes over time, the liabilities of a large board not closely tied to the local communities might be more clearly revealed.
The current WSESD board has pushed equity and anti-racism to the top of the list of priorities (after the obvious imperative of keeping everyone safe) and, despite the pandemic, real changes are happening.
Teacher leaders in every school support awareness and anti-racism. Councils in every school include teachers, parents, community members, the principal, and a board member to provide an opportunity for all voices to be heard.
On the other hand, a big institution is more susceptible to falling into the administrative state with the school board becoming a rubber stamp.
So I would like to see if the institutions this board created can be effective over time before we change again.
The board also created a separate Communications Council organized to get info out to voters. We put together informational flyers on this issue that can be found at bit.ly/601-wsesd-info.