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Exhilarating AND Challenging! HUUSD Consolidation Year #1 (Summer 2017)

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A conversation with HUUSD board communications working group chairman Rob Williams and HUUSD Superintendent Brigid Nease Q. The HUUSD board is responsible for overseeing the work of a single employee - YOU - as superintendent of our supervisory union (SU). I think we can all agree it has been both an exhilarating and challenging year. As our superintendent for eight years, how would you describe this past year as our first under the Act 46 unified school program, which was overwhelming approved by voters in all six of our towns - Waterbury, Duxbury, Fayston, Moretown, Waitsfield, and Warren? A. You said it well - exhilarating and challenging. The exhilarating part was and will continue to be, imagining with my administrative team, what could be possible now that the old financial barriers have been lifted so that we can share resources and grow collectively together. I have felt since the beginning eight years ago that the WWSU had considerable untapped capacity. Ho
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Our HUUSD’s “Aggrieved Minority” - Clarifying The Public Record

PUBLISHED in the mid-April 2018 Valley Reporter and on Front Porch Forum. To The Editor: I write to clarify the public record re: my IN MY VIEW Op/Ed re: HUUSD school redesign published here two weeks ago, given recent public statements misrepresenting my use of the term “aggrieved minority” in my Op/Ed. To be clear (part 1) - my use of the term “aggrieved minority” was in reference to two specific individuals in our six town community who have carried out a months-long campaign accusing our HUUSD board and administrative team of negligence, incompetence, financial malfeasance, and criminal behavior, allegations recently dismissed by both the Vermont state attorney general’s office and state auditor’s office because said allegations were based on a “lack of evidence” and “conjecture.” To keep it civil (not “disparaging,” as alleged), I chose to use the term “aggrieved minority” in my Op/Ed, rather than to publicly name these two individuals, and I was careful to use their own lang
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“The Only Way Out Is Forward” – Moving Ahead With HUUSD School Redesign (OP/ED)

PUBLISHED as an IN MY VIEW in the VALLEY REPORTER and WATERBURY RECORD -  EARLY APRIL 2018 “The Only Way Out Is Forward” - Moving Ahead With HUUSD School Redesign (OP/ED) There are currently two stories circulating in our central Vermont communities about the ongoing work of our HUUSD school board and administrative team. The first is the story I am intimately familiar with, as 1) a parent of two children who have a combined 22 years of experience in our local public schools, 2) a school board member for 15 years, and 3) a taxpaying citizen in our town of Waitsfield. This story involves the challenging (and rewarding!) work of meeting together as a board several times monthly around a table with neighbors elected by our towns, all of us sharing a common purpose – to supervise and work with our capable administrative team (led by our superintendent Brigid Nease and finance director Michelle Baker) as we co-create the best possible educational opportunities for our K-12 st
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Front Porch Forum (FPF): My Response To Mr. Henry’s FPF/HUUSD Remarks - April 2018

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PHOTO: Aerial view of downtown Waitsfield. 2018. Dear Mr. Henry, My deepest apologies for not responding to your FPF posting of one week ago any sooner than today. I confess that I have had a busy week, what with raising kids, working twelve hour days in Burlington, attending our HUUSD board meeting on Wednesday night, attending to regular board correspondence from my Waitsfield town constituents, preparing our YakItToMe! Mobile BBQ food wagon for summer farmer’s market work etc. You know, Life and all that. And forgive me for using Blogger here to post my responses to your FPF comments of last week. Alas, Front Porch Forum's word count is very strict, so I created this blog, in an effort to faithfully represent our discussion. Secondly, congratulations on the FPF news your wife Heidi shared re: you and your family’s adventure to the Heartlands of Guatemala. Sounds like an exciting and meaningful trip!  So – to business. I read your FPF from last week with m
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