Westminster school board hires counsel as state directs its merger

By JEFF EPSTEIN
[email protected]
WESTMINSTER, Vt. ― As expected, Secretary of State Dan French and Vermont Board of Education chair Krista Huling have signed their names to directives to force the school boards of Westminster, Ashton and Grafton to cede their schools and power to a new merged school board for grades K-8 and then cease to exist.

In response, the current school board of Westminster has hired a lawyer to advise them about the situation.

The state directive, one of several issued as part of Act 46, requires that an organizational meeting for a new transition board occur no later than Jan. 29, 2019, with full implementation by July. The main directive, called the Articles of Agreement, has been in draft generic form since at least Nov. 15, when the board met in Barre. With the formal release of the Act 46 final report on Nov. 28, the state board is now sending filled-in live versions to the various school districts affected by forced mergers.

The Articles of Agreement require in each case the transition board be established, and the individual school boards (called “forming districts” in the document) turn over, or sell for one dollar, their schools and property to the new entity, and then dissolve once all transfers have been enacted.

In the opinion of David Clark, the chair of the existing Windham Northeast Supervisory Union school board, this means that as of Jan. 29, all actions previously taken by the individual school boards become null and void. Clark sent his opinion in emails forwarding copies of the state documents.

The Westminster school board voted to engage the services of attorney Larry Slason of the Salmon and Nostrand law firm in Bellows Falls, according to Clark. The board, in previous meetings, explored the possibility of legal action and solicited legal help.

On Nov. 28, after the Act 46 final report was voted on by the state board, WNESU held a meeting,  in which the member boards reportedly met with legal counsel in executive session. After returning from nonpublic session, Westminster school board chair David Major made the following statement, to explain his own personal position:

“For me, it is important to recognize who I am as a school board member. That helps me decide what to do in the event of the forced merger. I became a school board member because I was elected by the citizens of the town of Westminster to oversee the administration of the town school district. I was not elected by the citizens to dissolve the school district, or sell the school or cede to the creation of a multi-town school district. As I see it, I do not have the authority to do these things because my authority stems from the citizens of the town. So I will not because I can’t.”

WNESU, as currently comprised, includes the school board of Rockingham, which was not included by the state in the new union. It will continue as an independent school district under the new plan, and will no longer be affiliated with Westminster, Ashton and Grafton. The high school arm, Bellows Falls Unified High School, would also continue independently.

The other merger taking place in the region is between Windsor and West Windsor, but that change is voluntary and the transition board, known as the Mount Ascutney School District, has already been created.