Windsor
The next step for Windsor and West Windsor is to begin writing articles of agreement for a single district and decide whether they should be brought to voters. But officials would first need the state to approve the articles.
If the state gives its approval, both towns would need to vote before Nov. 30, the merger deadline.
The committee also voted unanimously to have Hartland and Weathersfield officials begin discussing how they can make their case to the state that their communities should remain as standalone districts. That request would likely be presented to the state Agency of Education at the same time as the merger articles.
The combined “alternative structure” the supervisory union is proposing would be described as a 2x1x1: a Windsor and West Windsor district, and two individual districts of Hartland and Weathersfield. It is not one of the state’s two preferred structures for the supervisory union and therefore needs special approval.
A unified district with all students attending Windsor schools for grades K-12 or mergers of Windsor-West Windsor and Hartland-Weatherfield are “preferred.” Neither of those options had majority support on the committee.
The committee’s consultant, Peter Clarke, of Quechee, said revisions to the Act 46 law require Hartland and Weathersfield to explain why their position is in the best educational interest of school-age residents.
“You need to go beyond, our community doesn’t want it, to the reasons empirically why we don’t want to do it,” Clarke said.
Refusing to give up choice, which West Windsor will do if the merger is approved, is an example of an “empirical barrier” to merging, Clarke said. However, Hartland and Weathersfield would retain high school choice if they merged, he noted, so that point is moot. Clarke said the state does not need to show why a merger is beneficial.
“The burden of proof is on the district,” he said. “That is a more difficult standard to meet.”
The tipping point for West Windsor to support merger talks (in April it deadlocked 2-2 on the question) appears to be a curriculum idea presented by West Windsor School Board Chairwoman Elizabeth Burrows.
Burrows on Thursday night spoke about a new curriculum at the Albert Bridge School that West Windsor wants to be able to pursue in a merger.
Dubbed the “mountain-based curriculum,” it would teach the core subjects of math, science, social studies and English by integrating them with regular student visits to Mount Ascutney to learn about forestry, ecology, orienteering, culture and more.
Ideally, Burrows said, the curriculum would available to all students in the merged district.
Burrows said a straw poll of some voters at a meeting resulted in 48 of 70 supporting the merger, but about two-thirds of the support was contingent on the new curriculum being implemented.
Another 11 voted against a merger and 11 more wanted to merge with Reading — a town with which West Windsor also had held merger talks..
“A number of parties are ready to sign on to make this go,” Burrows said.
Windsor School Board member Amy McMullen said the curriculum idea fits in with Windsor support for a “community based experiential learning” that looks at culture, heritage and natural resources.
West Windsor is also expected to realize significant tax savings with a merger and some of those savings would go toward developing the curriculum, buying material and providing teacher training, Superintendent Dave Baker said.
“It would be a chance to revitalize not only the school but the mountain and the town,” Baker said.
Toward the end of the meeting, an issue came up suggesting consensus on the articles of agreement could prove difficult. Because it will be one district with one budget, there will only be one budget vote. Windsor votes by Australian ballot while West Windsor is fiercely proud of its annual town and school meetings, where residents discuss, debate and sometimes amend the warning articles before voting from the floor.
Whether those differences can be resolved will be part of the articles of agreement discussion.
Patrick O’Grady can be reached at pogclmt@gmail.com
