The 18-member committee studying the proposed school governance merger (in compliance with state Act 46) between the Otter Valley and Barstow districts will meet tonight, Tuesday, Nov. 3, at 6 o'clock in the Otter Valley Union High School library. Public comment is welcome.
A public forum on Act 46 is scheduled for tomorrow, Nov. 4, at 6 p.m. at Cafe Provence in Brandon. A Nov. 7 public forum on the act is scheduled for Goshen Town Hall at 7 p.m. (potluck dinner at 5:30).
03 November 2015
23 October 2015
Plan for school governance consolidation
The Joint Sudbury/Whiting School Board held a community forum Oct. 21, 2015, at the Sudbury Meeting House to discuss the planned "side-by-side" operation of the Otter Valley and Barstow school districts within a single supervisory union.
Under the plan, the Pre K to Grade 12 Otter Valley Unified District (including the six towns of Brandon, Pittsford, Goshen, Leicester, Sudbury and Whiting) and the Pre K to Grade 8 Barstow District (Mendon and Chittenden-Barstow) would share centralized services, a single education budget and a single overseeing board.
A study committee of eighteen people, formed in June, is working on the specifics of the side-by-side model. It meets the first and third Tuesdays of each month through December at Otter Valley Union High School in Brandon. The committee is due to report its recommendations in December. Articles prepared by the study committee would be presented to member towns for vote on Town Meeting Day in March.
The merger is planned in order to meet goals set in Act 46 (see below), which provides tax incentives for standardizing and combining smaller school districts. According to planners, the Otter Valley region would experience a 5 percent or $.08 decrease in the homestead tax rate as a result of the planned merger. (Reduction of $80 on every $100,000 of homestead value.) The tax benefit would decrease $.02 each year through the first four years of the merger.
Act 46
The state government noted a number of problems contributing to escalating school tax burdens:
Under the plan, the Pre K to Grade 12 Otter Valley Unified District (including the six towns of Brandon, Pittsford, Goshen, Leicester, Sudbury and Whiting) and the Pre K to Grade 8 Barstow District (Mendon and Chittenden-Barstow) would share centralized services, a single education budget and a single overseeing board.
A study committee of eighteen people, formed in June, is working on the specifics of the side-by-side model. It meets the first and third Tuesdays of each month through December at Otter Valley Union High School in Brandon. The committee is due to report its recommendations in December. Articles prepared by the study committee would be presented to member towns for vote on Town Meeting Day in March.
The merger is planned in order to meet goals set in Act 46 (see below), which provides tax incentives for standardizing and combining smaller school districts. According to planners, the Otter Valley region would experience a 5 percent or $.08 decrease in the homestead tax rate as a result of the planned merger. (Reduction of $80 on every $100,000 of homestead value.) The tax benefit would decrease $.02 each year through the first four years of the merger.
Act 46
The state government noted a number of problems contributing to escalating school tax burdens:
- The grade K through 12 student population in Vermont has decreased by about 24 percent (from 103,000 to 78,300) from 1997 to 2015, and the number of school-employed personnel has not decreased in the same proportion.
- Most of state schools have lower student populations than the optimum level, as established by national educational literature. A significant number of schools have very low student populations. (Sixty-four of 300 public schools have total enrollments of 100 or less students. Sixteen of those have enrollments of 50 or less.)
- Vermont's numerous school districts include only four with enrollment over the 2,000 students deemed optimal in national educational literature.
- Vermont has thirteen different styles of school district governance structures, preventing them from achieving economies of scale and limiting their sharing of resources with other districts.
- A 1999 law designed to protect small school districts from abrupt changes in school enrollment resulted in artifically low tax rates in those communities.
22 July 2015
Fire Dept. Auction is July 25
Donated new and used merchandise will be offered. Sales benefit the Whiting Volunteer Fire Department.
03 June 2015
Whiting/Sudbury School survey results due
A Whiting/Sudbury Joint School Board meeting will be held tonight (May 3) at 6:30 in the Whiting Town Hall to present the findings of the Castleton poll on school consolidation. At the last school board joint meeting, April 13, it was noted that 140 survey responses had been collected. The deadline for responses was set for May 1.
28 February 2015
Otter boys to face Woodstock in semis
The Otters play next on the big stage of Barre Auditorium, Monday, March 2, at 8:15 p.m. Their opponent will be the undefeated Wasps of Woodstock.
Otters fans can purchase a limited number of tickets for the event. Fourteen balcony seats ($8 each) and 350 general admission seats ($7 adult, $4 students and seniors) are available. Tickets will be on sale at the activity director's office in Otter Valley Union High School in Brandon from noon to 2 p.m. Sunday (just before the final performances of Walking Stick Theatre One-Act Plays) and from 5:30 to 7 p.m. Tickets also will be available during the school day on Monday. Purchasers are asked to bring cash for their tickets.
The battle between Otter Valley and Vergennes began at 2 p.m. on Saturday in Brandon. OV Principal Jim Avery tweeted updates from the game. He noted that the Commodores were up by 19-14 at the half and by 29-28 with just six minutes left in the game. At 3:30 p.m., Principal Avery tweeted the come-from-behind Otter victory: "48-39 We are going to the Aud!!!! Great effort by both teams. So much to be proud of. #OVpride #classygamefrombothteams"
Otter Valley (16-6) last faced Woodstock (21-0) on Feb. 11. That game did not go well for the visiting Otters, who lost by a score 64-36, though it featured senior forward John Winslow's 1,000th career point.
27 February 2015
Annual Town Meeting is March 3
Town Meeting Day is March 3, 2015. Whiting's Annual School Meeting will open at 7:15 p.m. at the Whiting Town Hall, with the Annual Town Meeting following immediately afterward. Budget proposals for the school district and the town will be presented and voted on.
Meeting attendees also will elect a Select Board member, Lister, Auditor and Library Trustee for three-year terms, as well as a Collector of Delinquent Taxes, Road Commissioner, First and Second Constable, Town Juror and Town Agent.
The school meeting will consider a $664,735 spending plan for the Whiting Town School District. Voters approved $612,360 (including a floor amendment addition of $26,800 for a pre-kindergarten program) for the schools at the 2014 meeting. So the current plan would include a spending increase of $52,375 or 8.55%. This is the second-highest percentage jump for any town in the Rutland Northeast Supervisory Union. Only the Town of Goshen would see its spending increase by a greater percentage, 28.9%. (The average spending increase for union towns would be 1.48%.)
The resulting homestead education tax rate for Whiting would be 1.50, an increase of 12.9% over the current 1.3281. The owner of a homestead property valued at $200,000, for example, would see education taxes rise $343.80 this year, from a level of $2,656.20 to $3,000.00, under the proposed spending plan. No town in the union district would experience a higher percentage increase or a higher tax rate. (The Town of Pittsford's tax rate would also be 1.50, after a jump of just 5.24%.)
The town meeting will consider a $300,252 proposed spending plan for the town, of which $179,321 would come from taxes. Last year's meeting approved a $290,591 budget with $158,026.21 from taxes. The budget proposal contains a $9,661 or 3.32% spending increase and an increase of $21,294.79 or 13.47% in the amount to come from taxes.
Meeting attendees also will elect a Select Board member, Lister, Auditor and Library Trustee for three-year terms, as well as a Collector of Delinquent Taxes, Road Commissioner, First and Second Constable, Town Juror and Town Agent.
The resulting homestead education tax rate for Whiting would be 1.50, an increase of 12.9% over the current 1.3281. The owner of a homestead property valued at $200,000, for example, would see education taxes rise $343.80 this year, from a level of $2,656.20 to $3,000.00, under the proposed spending plan. No town in the union district would experience a higher percentage increase or a higher tax rate. (The Town of Pittsford's tax rate would also be 1.50, after a jump of just 5.24%.)
The town meeting will consider a $300,252 proposed spending plan for the town, of which $179,321 would come from taxes. Last year's meeting approved a $290,591 budget with $158,026.21 from taxes. The budget proposal contains a $9,661 or 3.32% spending increase and an increase of $21,294.79 or 13.47% in the amount to come from taxes.
Also on the agenda for the town meeting is a proposal for the town to appropriate funds for the creation of a wall or plaque acknowledging the military veterans of Whiting.
24 February 2015
Otters basketball enters postseason
The fourth-ranked Otter Valley High School boys basketball team (14-6) hosts the No. 13 Harwood Union High School Highlanders (4-16) in a Division II postseason "playdown" tonight. Doors open for the event at 6:20 p.m. Admission is $5 for adults and $4 for students and senior citizens.
The Otters are led by senior forward John Winslow (2014 Addison Independent Player of the Year), who has surpassed the 1,000-point mark in his high school hoops career.
The Otters-Highlanders winner will likely move on to face No. 5 Vergennes (13-7), expected victor of a playdown against 6-14 Hartford.
The division's top regular season team, 20-0 Woodstock, seems likely to advance at least to the semifinals at Barre Auditorium on March 2. The Otters may meet the Woodstock Wasps there, if they can manage two postseason wins.
UPDATE (Feb. 26, 2015): MOVING ON - The Otters defeated Harwood in the play-down game by a score of 45-27 and advance to face Vergennes in a quarterfinal game at 2 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 28. Vergennes came out on top, 68-53, in its play-down against Hartford.
The winner of the Otter Valley-Vergennes matchup will move on to a March 2 semifinal game at Barre Auditorium. The opponent will be the winner of Friday's quarterfinal game between top-ranked Woodstock (20-0) and eighth-ranked Mill River (10-11). Mill River advanced to the quarterfinal round after a 62-55 play-down win against Milton.
Otter Valley and Vergennes did not play each other this season. Otter Valley faced Woodstock on Feb. 11. The game did not go well for the visiting Otters, who lost by a score 64-36, though it featured John Winslow's 1,000th career point.
 |
| John Winslow (Addison Independent 2014) |
The Otters are led by senior forward John Winslow (2014 Addison Independent Player of the Year), who has surpassed the 1,000-point mark in his high school hoops career.
The Otters-Highlanders winner will likely move on to face No. 5 Vergennes (13-7), expected victor of a playdown against 6-14 Hartford.
The division's top regular season team, 20-0 Woodstock, seems likely to advance at least to the semifinals at Barre Auditorium on March 2. The Otters may meet the Woodstock Wasps there, if they can manage two postseason wins.
UPDATE (Feb. 26, 2015): MOVING ON - The Otters defeated Harwood in the play-down game by a score of 45-27 and advance to face Vergennes in a quarterfinal game at 2 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 28. Vergennes came out on top, 68-53, in its play-down against Hartford.
The winner of the Otter Valley-Vergennes matchup will move on to a March 2 semifinal game at Barre Auditorium. The opponent will be the winner of Friday's quarterfinal game between top-ranked Woodstock (20-0) and eighth-ranked Mill River (10-11). Mill River advanced to the quarterfinal round after a 62-55 play-down win against Milton.
Otter Valley and Vergennes did not play each other this season. Otter Valley faced Woodstock on Feb. 11. The game did not go well for the visiting Otters, who lost by a score 64-36, though it featured John Winslow's 1,000th career point.
23 February 2015
OVUHS presents one-act plays
Otter Valley Union High School's Walking Stick Theatre, 2997 Franklin Street, Brandon, VT, will present a collection of five one-act plays on Feb. 27 and 28 (7 p.m.) and March 1 (2 p.m.), 2015. Admission at the door is $7 for adults and $6 for students and seniors.
01 February 2015
Column of light
A column of sunlight rises over the Green Mountains at dawn on Feb. 1, 2015. Viewed from Whiting.
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