Committee Moves Closer Merger
by Rowan Beck,
October 6, 2011, page 7.....

The CSSU Consolidation and Merger Study Committee met on September 22, hoping to vote on whether or not to recommend forming a Regional Education District (RED) that would merge the Chittenden South school districts into one district and school boards into one consolidated board. After a somewhat lengthy meeting the committee was not ready to make a final decision. However, members did vote unanimously “that the committee acknowledges the support of the formation of a RED and has further decided to investigate several elements of a RED prior to taking final action as a committee. The areas include: student/outcomes and governance/leadership including local control/local voice.”

During the meeting, members discussed the views of their local boards, voiced concerns, and asked questions. For the most part the boards of Hinesburg, Williston, Shelburne and Champlain Valley Union all had varied responses. According to the minutes of the meeting, it was reported by Charlotte’s representative, Sue Thibault, that, “Some members (of the CCS Board) shared no input as they don’t feel they know enough about it or have enough information on the subject. One member strongly had concerns about the loss of local control that they feel would come by forming a RED. One member would not support a RED as individual feels there is no clear evidence of positive benefits or outcomes resulting for kids.” This topic has been under discussion and researched for approximately nine months.

At the September 20 CCS School Board meeting, Edorah Frazer said that she really needed more information. She wanted to know what the membership of the RED board would look like, “Would it be like CVU?” By law the board would have to be proportional, and each entity would get at least one voting member. The discussion of how the RED board would look is still in question. According to Elaine Pinckney, CSSU Superintendent, “They could go with 1 St. George, 3 Hinesburg and Charlotte, 4 Shelburne, and 5 Williston, for example.”

Clyde Baldwin was vehemently opposed and questioned how anything would get done. He also voiced concerns about lack of local control and what it would do to the students. He said that “individual towns will derive absolutely no academic benefit from such a merger and will only make the process of governing their schools finally completely inaccessible in any meaningful sense.” He said that his fear is, “It puts the Superintendent in control of everything both actually and in practice.”

He is not alone in his concern for how this merger will benefit the students. The study committee decided that before taking final action it needed to focus on areas of governance and leadership structure and the “importance of the benefits to students as a driving factor of a RED formation.” They also felt that it was important to have a mechanism for local voice and involvement of local community members. Working groups were established to explore these concerns and should have answers at the next meeting, scheduled for October 13 at 5 p.m. in the Shelburne Town Offices conference room.

Elaine Pinckney says, “This has been a very informative and illuminating process. The committee members have a much greater understanding of how the work is done across the Supervisory Union and at the SU.” Hopefully, at the next meeting the members will make a recommendation and then bring it to the towns or shelve the idea. According to Baldwin, the merger idea has been swirling around for more than a decade. He says, “If you think there is trouble now making a decision and getting things done, just wait.”

For more information on the merger visit ccsu.org and click on school boards. There one will find minutes and agendas for all the merger and consolidation meetings.