The State Board of Education has issued its final plan for consolidated school governance requiring the five towns in the Washington Central Supervisory Union to form a single merged district by July 1, 2019 with one board, one budget, and shared assets and debt. To comply with this timetable, each local elementary school board has designated two of its members to be members of a Transitional Board which will do preparatory work prior to the initiation of the new district which will formally begin on July 1, 2019.
On January 9, 2019 there will be a public hearing on the proposed new Articles of Agreement which specify in detail what the WCUUSD is and how it will function including board representation, processes for changing school class configurations, and real estate transactions. These Articles require a positive vote of the public to take effect. That vote will take place in mid-February – most likely on February 19.
At the moment we have 4 proposed new Articles in addition to the draft Articles of Agreement by the AOE. We are having a meeting tonight Monday January 7th at Berlin Elementary at 7pm to make some final reviews.
All townspeople of Berlin, Calais, East Montpelier, Middlesex and Worcester are encouraged to attend the first organizational meeting of the newly merged Washington Central Unified Union School District (WCUUSD) on January 14, 2019 at 6 p.m. at the U-32 auditorium. The designated Transitional Board members will be sworn in and will hold their first formal meeting directly following the organizational meeting. There is a significant list of required actions to be taken at this organizational meeting, all related to deciding how the merged district will operate (Australian balloting vs on the floor, Robert's Rules or other rules of order, etc.) including the election of the district officers of moderator, clerk, and treasurer. The agenda and more information are available at www.WCSU32.org. The site will be kept up-to-date as new information becomes available.
On Town Meeting Day, March 5, 2019, initial members of the merged district board will be elected—two from each town elected by the combined votes from all towns—and take over and continue the work of the Transition Board. At Town Meeting, each local school district will also re-elect members of its local elementary and high school boards who remain responsible for the education of the students under its authority until July 1, 2019. Members of the local and the merged boards will work together to effect the transition to the new governance structure without adversely impacting the education of all our children. The work of the local boards will effectively be transferred to the WCUUSD board as of July 1, 2019, and those boards and the local districts they represent will cease to exist as of December 2019.
Information is available on the WCSU website at www.wcsu32.org.
Your school board members can help with questions.
Some of our School Districts have joined a second legal challenge to the forced mergers under Act 46. Parallel to that process all 5 District Boards are participating in Articles of Agreement and next steps for the Transitional Board to make sure we are complying with the law. Please participate in these important meetings.
Flor Diaz Smith
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