Sue Thibault Explains Vote Against School District Merger
Commentary by Sue Thibault,
November 17, 2011, page 2.....

“Do you feel lucky…..?”
These are the words that were going through my head as we came down to the vote on whether or not to recommend that our schools form an RED [at the November 8, 2011, meeting of the CSSU Consolidation and Merger Committee].
While I am a very trusting person, I don’t particularly like to gamble. So with Dirty Harry’s question running through my thoughts, I voted “no” for the merger.
That night was the final meeting of one of the most time consuming, intellectually engaging and emotionally draining committees I have had the pleasure of being on.
We covered every detail of an RED, the good the bad and the ugly. In the end, it came down to how trusting I was, and what I believed in.
Do I trust that the State of Vermont will follow through with its promise to give us a discounted tax rate (up to 5%), which would result in Charlotte taxpayers sending a total of $3 million LESS to the Education Fund over the next five years?
Do I trust that my three Charlotte representatives on an 18-member RED board would be able to advocate effectively for what our small town values and deems necessary for our school?
Do I trust that the co-mingled votes from our five towns will approve a budget that would allow CCS to continue to provide the outstanding education that we are currently achieving?
Do I trust that our five towns will support future bonds, renovations or programmatic changes across the five schools and still be able to distribute the funds to CCS in ways that we are able to continue to raise the bar for increased student achievement?... Maybe
Do I believe that our students should have school choice within our district?
Do I believe that our district should be allowed to be flexible with staffing assignments within our five schools?
Do I believe that we should have a more focused approach to student learning opportunities and academic achievement outcomes?
Do I think that we should make every effort to invest leadership to student achievement, and we would be better able to accomplish this with improved governance?
Do I believe that we can and should continue to work on being more efficient as a Supervisory Union?
Do I believe that this will be coming back around again?
...Yes.
With the dawn of a new day and the merger-committee vote behind me, I have a different answer to Dirty Harry’s question today.
“Yes, I do feel lucky.”
I feel lucky to live in a town that supports an amazing school. CCS is a wonderful place, with dedicated teachers and staff, fantastic administrators, tireless parent volunteers, enthusiastic students and dedicated board members who will never be happy with the status quo and will continue to strive for and demand excellence.
We have much work ahead of us, but if we continue to believe in our school, trust our educators and work together to the best of our abilities, we may just be able to accomplish all the things that we wish for.

Sue Thibault
CCS Board Representative to the CSSU Consolidation and Merger Committee