DOVER — The next regular meeting of the River Valleys Unified School District Board is Monday, Jan. 15, at 7 p.m., at the Dover Elementary School.
The first half-hour of this meeting is set aside specifically for providing public information about the 2018 Annual School Meeting scheduled for Tuesday, Feb. 13, at Dover Town Hall on the Dover Common, according to a news release.
Taxpayers in both Dover and Wardsboro can participate in any meeting of the RVUSD, as well as any of the following people: concerned citizens; parents of children currently enrolled in both schools; parents who will have children entering the school system in 2019; home-school parents who want to learn more about future opportunities in education in Dover and Wardsboro; members of the education community, teachers, and staff.
In the next few weeks, the RCUSD Board says that there are a number of important meetings pertaining to the planning process for the unification of school governance of the elementary schools in these two towns.
Two extra Public Information Sessions have been scheduled to discuss the details of the 2018 Annual Meeting. At these meetings, the RVUSD board will explain and review the Articles to be voted on and approved at the Annual Meeting.
These two special meetings are Tuesday, Jan. 30, at 7 p.m., at Dover Elementary School, and Tuesday, Feb. 6, at 7 p.m., at Wardsboro Elementary School.
At the regular RVUSD Meeting on Monday, Feb. 5, at 7 p.m., at Wardsboro Elementary School, the first half-hour of this meeting will be set aside specifically for public information about the upcoming 2018 Annual School Meeting.
The first official Annual School District meeting for the RVUSD school district involving both towns is Feb. 13. Registered voters in both Dover and Wardsboro will vote on the Articles.
At this meeting, there will be no vote taken on school budgets because the RVUSD does not assume governance of the unified school district until 2019. No directors will be elected as none of the terms of the current Board Members is up in 2018. It was previously decided that the RVUSD Annual School Meeting will meet in Wardsboro during odd-numbered years and in Dover on even-numbered years.
The Articles for the Annual Meeting on Feb. 13, include Articles 1 through 3, election of a moderator, clerk'€‹,'€‹ and treasurer. Article 4 is to set the compensation for the members of the board, and Article 5 sets the dates and locations of the RVUSD Annual School Meetings.
The last '€‹article, Article 6, broadly includes several topics, such as reviewing the work of the board to date, preliminary discussion on the S/Y 2019-20 budgets to be voted on at the Annual School Meeting in 2019, discussing the Board's work calendar for the next 16 months, and other concerns about the unification of school governance for Dover and Wardsboro.
A signed, legal copy of the Articles, which is the actual agenda for the Annual School Meeting is posted at www.rivervalleysschooldistrict.blogspot.com and is also available at the Town Clerk's office in Dover and Wardsboro.
The school budgets for the 2018-19 school year will be discussed and voted on at each town's regular annual school meeting. In Wardsboro, the regular school meeting is on March 5 at 7 p.m., which is on Monday night before the Annual Town Meeting on March 6.
In Dover, the regular annual school meeting is the same day as the Annual Town Meeting, which is on Tuesday, March 6.