DUMMERSTON — I'm writing to clarify some issues in the school board article in the latest Views of Dummerston.
The vote at Town Meeting will not be to dissolve the new unified school district, as written in the headline, and referred to in the story.
Article 14 on the upcoming Town Meeting agenda is a vote on whether to authorize the town to withdraw from the new unified school district. Article 15 then asks if town voters would conditionally approve of the withdrawal of any other town from the district if it votes to leave.
Thus, the vote in each town is not to dissolve the new school district, but to withdraw from the new school district.
The article also made reference to information meetings. As of today, two information meetings have been scheduled. The Dummerston pre-town meeting information meeting on Feb. 24 was chaired by the town moderator, and included time for Dummerston WSESD representatives to present information and answer questions about Articles 14 and 15. The WSESD board also added time to discuss these two articles at their budget information meeting on Feb. 23.
Meanwhile, the WSESD Communication Committee has created and distributed an information pamphlet about the vote, and a more extensive document will soon be available. The Dummerston teachers have written a statement about the vote which they have posted on Facebook and Front Porch Forum, and published in the Reformer and The Commons.
A large group of community members from throughout the WSESD has also written an opinion piece which has been printed in the Reformer and The Commons, and various individual opinion pieces are also available on all these sites.
I regret any confusion our article in the Views may have caused about the specific issue of the vote, and I encourage everybody to familiarize themselves with the implications for a vote to withdraw from the WSESD.
This is not a vote to simply go back to the way things were when we had our local school board, but a much more complex question, requiring careful consideration.