NEWFANE-What an interesting juxtaposition on the front page.
A woman in her 90s who grew up during the Depression when "everybody was poor, but we didn't know it [...] we were all the same" ["'They were tough times, but we made the best of it,'" News, Aug. 28].
She attended a one-room schoolhouse - which probably meant a one-employee schoolhouse - with one teacher who managed successfully to instruct all the children in all the subjects in grades 1–8.
The mothers made a casserole for all the kids to share for lunch; except for the Coleman kids who lived close enough to walk home and back for their own lunch. Because they lived the closest, she had to get up early during her final year of elementary school and start the fire; a duty for which she was paid $7 over the course of the year.
And just below that inspiring article about hard work, neighbors helping one another during a horrible economy, getting by with what you could afford and not getting what you couldn't afford (even including electricity and running water) and parents being responsible for their children's well-being and food, there's an article about the new free school breakfast and lunch program ["'The right thing for Vermont kids,'" News, Aug. 28].
The Windham Northeast Supervisory Union, which comprises six schools in three towns, has a "team of 12 cooks" and a director of food service, which adds up to 13 employees (if my old-fashioned reading and math skills are correct).
The director notes that "it's important to introduce kids to different cuisines" and that they do "the best from-scratch cooking they can with local ingredients" and that universal school meals "reduce the stigma for lower-income students."
During the Depression, the Coleman kids (a blended family of seven children) helped in the garden, put food by, and ate what seemed like the same modest homemade lunch at home every day.
The WNESU food service director seems to be suggesting that Vermont taxpayers aren't footing the bill for the universal school meals program because it's "91% federally funded." One of the things I learned back in school in the 20th century is that the federal government is funded by taxes paid by American workers. So we are certainly paying for the many employees, as well as the ingredients - local or otherwise - for meals for everyone in school.
The state Legislature's Joint Fiscal Office estimated the cost of this program to be $29 million in 2024 and states in a May 2023 report: "The more students that qualify for free and reduced lunch, the more federal funding available to support the universal school meals program. The more students that eat school meals, the higher the cost of the universal school meals program."
We are paying for this program through our federal taxes along with our ever-increasing Vermont taxes. What must the Coleman's tax bill have been like back in the 1930s when property taxes set by the town paid for the building and grounds, some coal for the stove (and $7 for a kid to come and light it), books, and the teacher in a budget approved by and understandable to the town citizens?
What are the emissions impact of trucking in all that food, refrigerating it, and cooking it?
The modern schoolhouses seem to be riddled with toxic chemicals, the water is often undrinkable, and there's a shortage of school bus drivers.
Who (other than school employees and the supermajority in the Legislature) thinks that Vermont's property taxes are affordable or reasonable? Maybe all this costly "progress" would be worth it if we had the best scholars in the country, but that is not the case.
Let's reconsider how we run and fund our schools.
Erica Walch
Newfane
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