Nearly all staff required to open school for the year are on contract. That's according to Dr. Steven B. John, Windham Central Supervisory Union superintendent, writing in his report for July.
He said a few part-time openings were still open, including driver's education and elementary physical education and music.
John's report details a variety of other items of interest to the community, including the success of summer camps, his takeaway on a recent education leadership institute conference, a ceremony to honor our two Vermont elementary school principals of the year, changes for teacher licensing, investments in professional development, and how the district can get a handle on policy duplication.
Across the WCSU, policy review, warning, adoption, and posting online “continues to consume an enormous amount of time. The duplicated effort is hard to justify, especially for the majority of policies that are mandated,” standing at 29, John said.
The School Board of Directors continues its effort to establish a reserve fund after learning that as of June 30 the year's budget is apparently overspent by $101,000. According to draft meeting minutes, posted at www.windhamcentralboard.org/school-boards/townshend, Windham Central Supervisory Union Chief Financial Officer Victor “Bud” DeBonis reported that special...
Interested in serving on the Development Review Board? The town seeks candidates toward an appointment of a new board member to serve out the remainder of Steve Jarosak's one-year alternate term, which expires in March 2015. To advance your name, send a letter of interest to [email protected] or Dummerston...
A municipal tax rate of $0.4427 is set for the town for fiscal year 2015, up over the current year's $0.4238 for homeowners, nonresidents, and businesses. The education tax rate, set by the state, is $1.4787 for residents, $1.4815 for nonresidents and businesses. The rates were announced at the top of two hours' worth of business that the Selectboard put in during their regular meeting on July 2. At that meeting, the Selectboard also heard an update on Lynch Bridge,
Pedestrians likely will return to historic Scott Covered Bridge as soon as early 2016. That's according to Agency of Transportation Project Manager Doug Bonneau, who told residents at an information meeting at the town offices Monday that the bridge project has the state's full attention and is in line for the agency's 2016 construction season. That's welcome news to many here who have wondered why the project appeared to languish in Montpelier. Moving forward, a full rehabilitation of the 144-year-old...
Selectboard members agreed May 5 to apply for a grant to kick off the next phase of work to improve drainage on Grafton Road near Acton Hill. According to Highway Foreman Kurt Bostrom, funds for an engineering study were raised in this year's budget. A motion was needed to request $194,568 in new state grant money for structural work, with Townshend responsible for an in-kind match of 10 percent, or $19,457. The work will be completed next fiscal year, perhaps...
The town is sitting on tens of thousands of new dollars in its miscellaneous revenue account, and officials seemed less giddy than the average homeowner might in deciding what to do with it. But they have some ideas. At their May 5 meeting, Selectboard members learned that the town has raised roughly $43,000 in timber sales since 2013, with final payments just coming in. No confetti fell from the rafters. Instead, officials dryly pondered, “how we're gonna allocate that general...
The Selectboard will suggest a few tweaks, but it apparently likes what it sees in tentative plans from AT&T to erect a cell tower on the hill behind the library. At their May 5 meeting, Selectboard members noted that the telecommunications giant was scheduled to conduct a tethered balloon test this week to gauge visibility of its hypothetical tower at 140 feet. The proposal is available at town offices in hard copy and on CD-ROM, and public comments will be...