Since our school districts unified into one and became the Mount Abraham Unified School District (MAUSD), members of the school board have been talking about the need to stay connected to the citizens of each of our five towns. We recognize that offering a few minutes at a board meeting for public comment is an inadequate way to get input from our community. Education in our towns, and across the state, is changing rapidly and facing great challenges. It is more critical than ever that all of the people in our communities have a way to express their voice and provide input as we figure out how to move forward.

The Community Engagement committee of the MAUSD school board is hosting a workshop on Saturday, March 16. This workshop will be led by Sue McCormack, who is an experienced facilitator and has worked across Vermont and nationwide to bring communities together to discuss important issues. At this workshop, Sue will teach us about effective engagement strategies, we will look at the many assets already in place in our amazing Five Town community, and prioritize the issues we would like to discuss. We'll talk about the best ways to reach as many diverse voices as possible, and then we'll develop a plan to do this work over the course of the next 6-9 months. Participants can decide how involved they want to stay with this work, and our goal is to create a framework that will bring forth as much input as possible to the school board and administration, before they contemplate big decisions about education in our district.

This workshop will run from 9am-3:30pm at the Bristol Elementary School cafeteria. We'll be providing lunch to all attendees and free childcare and transportation to anyone who needs it. Please consider joining us and sharing your voice! RSVP to Krista Siringo at krista.siringo@mausd.org.

Nov 19, 2024, 5:30 to 6:30 PM

Nov 19, 2024, 7 to 8:15 PM

Nov 21, 2024, 6 to 7:30 PM