News

The (second to) last Windsor School Board meeting ever

By BILL CHAISSON
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WINDSOR, Vt. — Soon you will only be able to watch a Windsor School Board meeting on Windsor On Air (WOA) Community Television. As a result of an Act 46 merger, West Windsor and Windsor school districts are merging into the new Mount Ascutney school district on July 1.

There will be a party on June 3 at 6 p.m. to mark the “sunsetting” of the district at the “outdoor classroom” of the Windsor School. The current board will be inviting past board members to the event.

June 3 is officially also the date of the last board meeting, but Superintendent David Baker told the board that there was really nothing for them to do. He had checked with state officials and it was not necessary for the Windsor School Board to pass a resolution that would end their existence. 

“Everything sunsets automatically,” Baker said. “Around August or September the board will have to reconvene in order to look at the audit report, but everything else simply proceeds according to the law.” 

It was Baker who noted that the board had been in existence for over a century and a half; the approaching high school graduation will be the 151st one.

There will be an all-board meeting for the Windsor Southeast Supervisory Union on May 20, but the members of the new Mount Ascutney board will attend it because it is focussed on planning for the future. That meeting will be held in Weathersfield.

The party for the final board meeting will kick of a couple of weeks of events in the Windsor school district.

On the morning of June 3 there will be an awards ceremony for grades 7 through 11. Scholarships for rising seniors will also be announced at this event.

June 4 is “Mountain Day,” which is now in its sixth year. Windsor students will be climbing five different mountains — Tom, Ascutney, Moosilauke, Kearsarge, and Cardigan — with younger taking on Mount Tom and older students taking on progressively bigger climbs.

The awards ceremony for seniors will be held on  the evening of June 4. 

The high school commencement ceremony in Windsor is on June 7 this year. There are 50 seniors in class of 2019.

June 12 is Field Day for grades K through 6 and is also date of “Eighth Grade Passages.”

June 13 is the last day of school for students and they will be released at 11:30 a.m.

• • •

Most of the final real meeting on May 6 was taken up with announcements from Principal Tiffany Cassano about retirements in the district and the process going forward to replace departing staff.

Third grade teacher Deb White is retiring after 34 years in the classroom. Interviews for her successor are underway.

Music teacher Carol Cronce is retiring after five years at Windsor, but a total of 40 years of teaching.  Cassano said the committee was pleased with the number of applications that they got.

First grade teacher Louise Wall is retiring after 28 years. Ashley Moorhouse, who is presently a kindergarten teacher will take Wall’s place next year.

Moorhouse and Amber Bennett will be looping partners. Moorhouse will advance to first grade with her current kindergarten class. She will return to kindergarten the following year as Bennett advances to first grade with her kindergarten class.

Guidance counselor Terri Herzog is also retiring. 

The final membership of the Windsor School board included Amy McMullen, Carl Malinowski, Kris Garnjost, Sherrie Greeley, and Beth Carter. Carter and McMullen will serve on the Mount Ascutney board after June 30.

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