By PATRICK ADRIAN
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WINDSOR, Vt. – Residents in Windsor and West Windsor have approved a plan to create a unified school district.
The merger will create a district of 648 students by combining 123 students in West Windsor with 525 students in Windsor. While a smaller district than initially targeted by the Windsor Act 46 Study Committee — which sought to include the towns of Hartland and Weathersfield in the unified district — committee members say that combining districts and class sizes will allow the schools to create new educational programs and opportunities that might attract new districts to join later.
At the Annual Town Meeting on Tuesday, Windsor residents passed the proposed merger with 65 percent of the total vote, with 347 in favor, 153 opposed and 30 non-votes, according to ballot results. In a separate vote by West Windsor residents, the merger proposal passed 243-138.
The towns will continue as separate school districts through the 2018-19 school year. Effective July 1, 2019, the current school districts and boards will dissolve and the unified district will go into effect.
Under the unified district plan, Windsor and West Windsor will share costs to operate the two existing schools, Albert Bridge Elementary in West Windsor (K-6, 58 students) and The Windsor School (Pre-K, K-12, 525 students in K-12). However, West Windsor students currently in grades six through 12, a total of 73 students, will retain school choice for grades seven through 12 and may elect to attend schools outside the unified district.
West Windsor’s school choice will be phased out in entirety by July 1, 2024, and all students thereafter will attend The Windsor School for grades 7-12.
In other decisions from the Windsor town meeting, residents passed a municipal general budget of $3,512,776 and a school budget of $8,613,224 for fiscal year 2018. Both articles received at least 65 percent of the vote, according to a report from Town Manager Tom Marsh.
In election results, residents elected Chris Gamjost (three-year term) and Beth Carter (two-year term) to the school board, and Heather Prebish (three-year term) and Michael McNaughton (two-year term) to the town selectboard. Residents also elected Kate Williams for town and school moderator, Sandra Micka for town clerk, Debra Oulette for treasurer.
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