MONTPELIER – Following the School Redistricting Task Force’s first meeting, Friday August 1, Caledonia County State Senator and Senate Minority Leader Scott Beck said, This is going to be really difficult and important work for the next four months.
Beck joined two senators, three representatives and five nonlegislative members on the task force.
At the meeting, Task Force member Dave Wolk passed out magnets to all, that read, “Keep Smiling,” which Beck called “good advice.”
Minutes of that first meeting indicate the committee brainstormed a long list of data they felt would be necessary to accomplish their work. They asked, “Why do some states provide a very good education at a lower price with fewer school districts in both public and private schools?” They looked for data on implementing a system with services shared across districts, as exists in other states; the distance of schools to kids; governance models; the status of facilities with ratings; the capacity of the Agency of Education (AOE); the state of hiring; what kinds of support are needed to implement changes; birth rates; population projection; projections of optimized school locations; career and technical education programs, what Districts send students to private schools; turnover data; and “how are student outcomes measured?”
More information can be found at tinyurl.com/School–Task–Force.
Future meetings of the task force are scheduled twice a month through November, from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., with the next scheduled for August 19, at the Waterbury State Office Complex.
Paul Fixx is editor of The Hardwick Gazette and lives in Hardwick.
