WOODSTOCK — Mountain Views Supervisory Union is calling for volunteers to help plan a new middle and high school.
The Regional Hub Build Working Group is largely aimed at promoting dialogue between community members and Mountain Views’ officials, according to an Aug. 3 memo written by Seth Webb, the chairman of the working group.
The working group will be made of up to 15 members, per the memo addressed to Mountain Views’ board and the working group itself.
Mountain Views aims to have at least one resident from each of the supervisory union’s eight towns in the working group. These towns include Woodstock, Barnard, Bridgewater, Killington, Pittsfield, Plymouth, Pomfret and Reading.
The new school is slated to be built on the Woodstock Union High School campus, as Mountain Views plans to make it a “regional hub,” according to Webb’s memo.
In addition to students from Mountain Views’ eight towns, officials hope the new school will accommodate students from 13 surrounding towns, according to a news release from Webb.
The Woodstock Union High School and Middle School building currently has around 450 students, and the new building could serve 1,000, according to Webb’s memo.
The working group is taking shape after voters’ rejection of a $99 million bond for a new Woodstock high school in March of 2024.
A 2022 assessment from the Vermont Agency of Education found Mountain Views’ facilities to be in the second worst condition across Vermont.
Woodstock’s existing school has issues with plumbing, HVAC, heating and electrical systems, which were largely installed in the late ’60s, according to a 2022 report from the Vermont Agency of Education.
The report also found the roof and fire alarm system to be unable to perform their designed services. The facility also has “major” issues meeting Americans with Disabilities Act standards.
The board hopes to take advantage of a new educational landscape following Vermont’s Education Reform Act, or Act 73. Enacted this year, the law seeks to restructure school funding and consolidate districts.
Vermont has not given any state funding to school construction since 2007, which has created a backlog of renovation and construction projects throughout the state.
Act 73 establishes a fund for “addressing high-cost, languishing physical school infrastructure” through a new state aid program for school construction. The Legislature has not yet allocated money to the fund.
The act states that the Vermont secretary of education may approve preliminary applications for new construction if the facilities have health or safety concerns, face general deterioration or are “inadequate to provide programs required by State or federal law or regulation.”
School districts that intend to construct or purchase a new school, or make extensive additions or alterations to existing schools, can apply for state school construction aid, according to Act 73.
The secretary of education may also approve applications if the project results in a consolidation of two or more schools that is more cost-effective than individual schools, per the law.
The working group is expected to work with Vermont’s new Redistricting Task Force to gain state support for the new construction as a “hub” school with a wide area of towns served, Webb’s release said.
The working group aims for a state funding match of at least 20%, according to Webb’s memo. This is Act 73’s baseline state assistance rate for approved projects.
Mountain Views plans to review and appoint members to its working group at its Sept. 8 board meeting, and the supervisory union aims to have a new proposal on the ballots in March 2026.
Those interested in joining the working group can express their interest by emailing Webb, at seth.webb@mtnviews.org, by Sept. 1 with a short explanation of their interest and qualifications.