Click here to read the full 30-page Report & Articles of Agreement prepared by the Act 46 Elementary Study Committee for Dover, Marlboro and Wardsboro.
VOTING
At your town's polling places
March 7, 2017
10 am to 7 pm
Public Information Forum VideosVOTING
At your town's polling places
March 7, 2017
10 am to 7 pm
-for videos of the public information meetings - scroll down this page
The final public information session was held on Feb. 27th.
Voters and others seeking information that will help them decide how to vote on Tuesday, March 7, 2017 on the Act 46 Articles of Agreement may ask a question by clicking HERE.
See the bottom of this page for a letter to voters from the committee.
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This is a 17 page (PDF file, >18MB) of the slide presentation that is being used at the Public Information Meetings. During the meetings, various Committee Members talk about each and every line on each slide and answer all audience questions on each part in detail. CLICK HERE
Time to decide!
If you missed a meeting, watch it on BCTV online - here are the links to the videos of the Public Information Presentations by the Committee Members. Note - it takes a couple of days for the videos to be ready to post after each evening.
BCTV VIDEO OF PUBLIC INFORMATION PRESENTATIONS
Marlboro January 12, 2017 VIDEO (no printed minutes)
Printed Questions and Answers from January 12, 2017 (anyone can view, no sign in required)
Dover January 19, 2017 VIDEO (no printed minutes)
Printed Questions and Answers from January 19, 2017 (anyone can view, no sign in required)
Wardsboro January 23, 2017 VIDEO (no printed minutes)
Printed Questions and Answers from January 23, 2017 (anyone can view, no sign in required)
Wardsboro February 2, 2017 VIDEO (no printed minutes)
Printed Questions and Answers from February 2, 2017 (anyone can view, no sign in required)
Marlboro February 13, 2017 VIDEO (no printed minutes)
Dover February 27, 2017 VIDEO ( no printed minutes)
Community Letter (click here to read it or print it as pdf file)
Issued 2/15/2017
Dear Community Members,
On March 7th, Town Meeting Day,
there will be a ballot vote at your
town's designated polling place, with the two articles asking whether to
consolidate the three Districts into a single unified governance district and,
if consolidated, who will serve as Directors representing your town on the new
district board.
Recommended Articles of Agreement,
forming and governing the new proposed Unified District, were agreed upon by
the Dover, Marlboro, and Wardsboro Act 46 Study Committee at its duly warned
meeting of November 17, 2016. The Dover, Marlboro, and Wardsboro Act 46 Study
Committee recommends that the Articles of Agreement be voted on by the
electorates of each of the named school districts in order to create a Unified
Union School District to be named the River Valleys Unified School District
(RVUSD). The “Articles of Agreement” has received approval of the State Board
of Education.
Voting
“Yes” on the consolidation question means:
·
We will have one
single board with representation based on census population: Dover - 3,
Marlboro - 3, Wardsboro – 3
·
Day to day
operation of our schools will not change. They will continue to provide a high
quality education for our students.
·
All of our children
will be eligible to participate in the elementary school choice program of the
unified district and the existing secondary school choice program.
·
The unified
district will have a school-based school board that will take care of
individual school business until 2019 and it will also provide information to
the Unified Union School District—RVUSD.
·
Consolidation
will minimize fluctuating tax rates that result from year-to-year changes in a
town’s student population. If the new district were to have a change of 10-15
students, it will have a much smaller effect on the larger district than on our
current smaller districts.
·
The new district
will have $261,328 in small school grants that Dover, Marlboro and
Wardsboro currently receive continued as “merger grants.” Additionally, we
will receive up to $150,000 to help with the organizational costs of the new
district and we will receive decreasing annual tax breaks for four years
starting with 8 cents.
·
The voters of the
three districts will decide on Town Meeting Day 2017 whether to form this
Unified District or not. If Dover and Wardsboro both approve the merger
the unified district will be created. Marlboro's positive vote would
mean adding Marlboro to the unified district.
·
As
this is a side by side governance consolidation, it is contingent upon the
Leland & Grey vote.
·
In Marlboro, the
7 and 8 grade program will cease to exist and parents would have to choose a
middle school for their child to enroll in with the cost paid by the new
unified district.
A “No” vote means:
·
The proposed
unified District will not replace the three district system currently in
place. It will not mean that consolidation goes away. Act 46 mandates
consolidation by 2018 or the State Agency of Education has the authority to
consolidate us with whichever district they choose in 2019.
·
A “no” vote may
mean giving up our choice on how we consolidate governance.
·
With the Articles
of Agreement that will be voted upon on Town Meeting Day, there are significant
protections for each of our schools and towns against an unwanted school
closure. This will most likely not be the case if we are joined to another
district by the State Agency of Education.
·
A
no vote in Marlboro is different than a no vote in the other towns.
Marlboro voters can, at any time before March 31 2018, re-vote to enter into
the merger with Dover and Wardsboro.
Thank you,
The Act 46 Study Committee
Dover: Richard
Werner, Chairperson, Jonathan Vicary, Laura Sibilia, Randy Capitani
Wardsboro: Dwight
Boerem, Vice Chair, Mike Murphy, Jill Dean
Marlboro: Celena
Romo, Secretary, Lucy Gratwick, Dan MacArthur
Community
Informational Meetings have been scheduled for February. Please come to one and
ask your questions and we will answer them. The Articles of Agreement, can be
found on the windhamcentralboard.org website or wcsu-committee.blogspot.com
Please
mark your calendar: March 7th is Town Meeting Day and polling hours are 10AM to 7PM!
