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WESTMINSTER â The chairman of the Windham Northeast Unified Union Elementary School Board told Westminster residents Tuesday night that the dissolution of the merged elementary school district was not without its potential legal problems.
Jack Bryar of Grafton, chairman of the merged elementary school district, said that because the state Board of Education forced Westminster, Grafton and Athens to merge back in 2018, itâs not clear that the section of state law that other town school districts are using applies.
The key, Bryar told a special informational meeting Tuesday night held via Zoom, is that the three towns did not vote to form the union, which was a condition of the older law.
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WESTMINSTER â Westminster voters who plan on requesting absentee ballots for the upcoming Jan. 5 vote on dismantling the union elementary school district have until today, or Wednesday at the latest, to ask for one to be sent to them by mail, according to the Westminster town clerkâs office.
Patty Mark, the assistant town clerk, said Monday that voters can request a ballot in person up until Monday at 5 p.m. She said the town set up a ballot deposit slot outside the town hall so people can drop off their ballots outside of normal business hours.
Newbury, Tunbridge among Vermont towns considering leaving school districts
Students at the Ripton Elementary School head to the bus at the end of the day on Tuesday, December 1, 2020. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDigger
Modified: 12/28/2020 8:45:38 PM
MONTPELIER At least five towns across Vermont will vote in the coming weeks on whether to secede from their unified school districts, a first wave of district breakups that could herald more.
For David Major, the former Westminster School Board chairman who helped organize a petition for his town to vote Jan. 5 on secession, it is fundamentally a question of local control. Westminster has already collaborated with its neighboring towns on such services as food service and special education, Major said, and has seen no added benefit to being forced to combine school boards with Athens and Grafton under Act 46.