Bridge StaffOur Responsibility is to Today’s Students
To the Editor:
Whatever one thinks of the merger process eight years ago, our responsibility now is to the students in our Washington Central Unified Union School District (WCUUSD) schools today. Asking them to bear the weight of old grievances will not improve their education.
We face declining enrollment and increasingly constrained resources. Meeting that reality requires us to think creatively and collectively about how our buildings are configured, how services are delivered, and how we provide every student with the strongest possible public education. Simply defending the status quo is not enough.
That was the purpose of the Aug. 11 WCUUSD vote: to ensure that major decisions about our shared school district are made collectively. The official districtwide result — 1,711 to 1,365 — was decisive. Because ballots from all five towns were commingled before counting, purported town-by-town vote totals are not official results and should not be presented as such.
The vote affirmed that we share a budget, a future, and a responsibility to educate our students as well as we possibly can. As a district parent, I look forward to doing that work alongside other parents and residents who care deeply about our students and their education.
Katie Marshall, Middlesex
Reach Out
To the Editor:
Who’s busier than the parents of young children?
Their day starts early and the last soccer game may be going strong when the sun starts to sink. And there’s still supper and maybe checking homework.
The midterm election is coming up Nov. 3, but some young parents may avoid voting because they feel they don’t have time to learn enough about the names on the ballot.
If you’re one of those boomers who have seen many midterms, you probably know that none may have been as important as this one.
Can you reach out to young parents and encourage them to put “Get ready to vote” on top of their long to-do lists. Think about meeting over coffee or even over the back fence.
Remind them to find out more about all the candidates, even those lesser known individuals who appear at the end of the ballot. Do young voters know what a high bailiff actually does? (Do any of us?) Encourage them to go to vote.vermont.gov and check out the Secretary of State’s Voter Guide at that site, and a physical copy will be mailed this month. To find out more about the office itself, simply google it, e.g., Vermont/high bailiff.
Reach out to your friends in other states. Remind them that their children are going to live in the world we’re now creating. No soccer game is as important.
Mary Cole Mello, Montpelier
Note: The author is a freelance writer for The Bridge.
Letters to the editor represent the opinions of the authors and do not reflect the opinions of The Bridge. Submit your letter by email to editor@montpelierbridge.com. Preference is given to submissions by those who live in central Vermont, should not exceed 300 words in length, and may be edited for brevity and accuracy.
