WINDHAM-Parents in the Windham School District, who sought via a lawsuit to have the district pay tuition to send students elsewhere, have had a majority of their claims dismissed.
But Windham Superior Court Judge David Barra allowed a central part of the suit to continue - the allegation that Windham Elementary School, which last spring had fewer than 20 students, failed to meet the state's quality standards for education.
"The only claim that remains is [...] for deprivation of the constitutional right to an education under the Education Clause due to Defendants' failure to provide 'quality basic education' as defined by Vermont's Educational Quality Standards," Barra wrote in a filing last week.
He specified that the claim would advance only against the state. The Town of Windham and Windham Central Supervisory Union, which had been named as defendants in dismissed claims, were not deemed defendants in the remaining claim.
A former Twin Valley student, who is Black, has settled a complaint with the district that alleges school officials didn't do enough to address racist bullying she faced at the district's middle and high schools, according to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Vermont, which is representing her.
Robin Rieske arrived to town with five overdose emergency kits. The red metal boxes with a glass front resembled a square version of a small fire extinguisher cabinet. But rather than putting out flames, the tools inside could reverse an opioid overdose. Two hours later, Rieske had distributed the...
Robin Rieske arrived to town with five overdose emergency kits. The red metal boxes with a glass front resembled a square version of a small fire extinguisher cabinet. But rather than putting out flames, the tools inside could reverse an opioid overdose. Two hours later, Rieske had distributed the day's supply - a fraction of the 175 boxes she and colleagues have helped hand out in recent years to businesses and community groups across southeastern Vermont. Her work is part...
An estimated 15,000 gallons of heating oil spilled from a tank at the Soundview Paper Company mill on Nov. 2, much of it entering Sacketts Brook, which flows into the Connecticut River. Authorities have thus far recovered more than 12,000 gallons of the sludgy No. 2 heating oil, according to Mike Nucci, an environmental analyst with the Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation spill team. He said he expected authorities to discover more of the missing oil when they excavate the...
A judge has found Zaaina Asra Zakirrah Mahvish-Jammeh, charged with murdering their social worker at the Morningside House shelter last month, temporarily incompetent to stand trial. The state can request a new competency evaluation, according to an order regarding competency signed by Superior Court Judge Katherine Hayes. A status conference is set for Aug. 9. Mahvish-Jammeh is charged with first-degree murder, accused of killing Leah Rosin-Pritchard, the social worker and shelter coordinator at the Morningside House shelter at 81 Royal...
With two-thirds of Vermont towns requiring property value reappraisals, the House Ways and Means Committee is considering a moratorium on them and transitioning to a state-run reappraisal system. “This was not on my agenda coming into the session as, like, the project to take on,” Rep. Emilie Kornheiser, D-Brattleboro, the committee chair, said at a hearing on Feb. 2. “But it does seem like we're in a crisis. This is the moment to fix it if we're going to fix...
Brattleboro Memorial Hospital (BMH) is one of four rural health care providers in Vermont that will share in $2.72 million in federal funding through the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Emergency Rural Health Care (ERHC) grant program. The announcement was made on Sept. 15 at Springfield Hospital during a gathering of health care experts, funding recipients, and congressional representatives for a panel discussion on the state of health care in Vermont convened by USDA Rural Development's Vermont and New Hampshire office.