CRAFTSBURY – A community forum will be held on Wednesday, May 15, in the Craftsbury Academy Gymnasium to continue the Craftsbury Schools Vision Process.
The mission of the process is to determine the best way to educate the students of Craftsbury given the present opportunities, challenges, resources and constraints.
This forum has been planned to achieve four goals. First, to increase public understanding of the issues related to the future of Craftsbury Academy; second to prioritize the interests of the school-community and consider immediate and long-range opportunities & challenges; third, to foster a commitment to a high quality education for all students and fourth, to promote openness, transparency, unity, and long-term vision for the school.
A core team has been appointed to guide the process by providing organizational and logistic support, communicating with the public and being liaisons with the full school board and central office
The core team consists of John Castle, a consultant and executive director of the Vermont Rural Education Collaborative; and school board members Cedar Hannan and Anna Schulz.
Responses to the Craftsbury Schools Vision Process survey show strong support for maintaining a Pre K – 12 delivery system in the town.
In addition to the core team members, the vision committee includes two school staff members: Will Decherd, middle school science teacher, and Mitch Hunt, work-based learning coordinator; four community members: Maddie Calderwood, Jessica Bolduc, Tim Fritz and Kristy LaMare;
An administrative team charged with supporting the process includes Principal Matt Foster, Assistant Principal Melinda Mascolino and OSSU Superintendent Dr. David Baker.
The larger vision committee is intended to represent a broad range of perspectives and concerns. They have been responsible for determining exactly what questions the process seeks to address.
The community forum will serve to gather additional feedback that will be combined with information gleaned from the community survey and ultimately lead to developing recommendations for next steps that will be presented to the school board.
Breakout sessions at the forum will allow participants to share their thoughts on a range of school concerns from curricular programs to facilities.
Results of the community survey are available at the Craftsbury Schools’ web site at: https://craftsbury.ossu.org/en-US.
Paul Fixx is editor of The Hardwick Gazette and lives in Hardwick.
