Meeting Dec. 15 will review Harwood Union’s school choice program
Dec. 7, 2022 | By Lisa Scagliotti 
Crossett Brook Middle School is popular in the school district's Intradistrict Choice program. Photo by Lisa Scagliotti
Families interested in learning more about the Harwood Unified Union School District’s program for choosing to enroll children in any appropriate K-8 district school regardless of where they live can learn more at a meeting scheduled for Thursday, Dec. 15.
In announcing the meeting, Superintendent Mike Leichliter, who is in his first year as the district’s top administrator, said it is intended to be “an effort to both improve the clarity of our processes and effectively address Intradistrict Choice questions that families have.”
Intradistrict choice allows students in the K-8 grades to attend any of the district’s schools at their grade level regardless of which of the district’s six towns they may live in. It covers elementary schools in Waterbury, Moretown, Fayston, Waitsfield and Warren as well as Crossett Brook and Harwood Union middle schools.
The online application for intradistrict choice for the 2023-24 school year is open through Jan. 15. The Dec. 15 meeting will review the timeline and process that will be used this year for requests under the policy. It also will allow meeting participants to break into groups for either elementary or middle school level details.
Current use of Intradistrict Choice
HUUSD Enrollment Data as of Oct. 1, 2022 contains detail on Intradistrict Choice. The full report is in the Oct. 26 HUUSD School Board meeting packet. (Click to enlarge)
An enrollment report in the Oct. 26 HUUSD School Board meeting packet contains details on the numbers of students from each school in the district currently using the choice option. It shows 118 are attending their school under the policy, 36 of whom are new to the arrangement this school year.
For example, 8 Brookside Primary School students and 15 Crossett Brook Middle School students are attending different schools in the district. The largest category is 32 students who would attend Harwood Union Middle School but are attending Crossett Brook.
Families choose to enroll their children in schools other than the school in the town where they live for a variety of reasons such as moving and not wanting children to switch schools, family separations, or a desire for children to be in school with favorite peers. The enrollment report contains a chart listing the reasons that parents of the 36 children using the choice option this year gave for their application. The most popular reason – from parents of 17 of the children – was “middle school curriculum/building differences.”
Choice drove middle school merger push
That response points to a continuation of a trend in recent years for families with 7th and 8th graders who would otherwise attend Harwood Middle School to request their student attend Crossett Brook. That trend was a driving factor behind a districtwide debate in 2019 and 2020. The school board proposed in its 2020-21 budget to merge the two middle schools using temporary classrooms at Crossett Brook. The budget failed on Town Meeting Day in March 2020 and passed later that spring on a second vote when the merger proposal was removed.
The school board in 2021 decided to support merging the two middle schools contingent on construction happening to expand Crossett Brook Middle School. That was part of the work proposed in a nearly $60 million construction bond that also would have paid for major renovations to Harwood Union High School. Voters in November 2021, however, rejected the bond. Since then, plans to combine the district’s 7th and 8th grade classes have been suspended.
Meeting details
Ahead of the Dec. 15 meeting, school officials are preparing a “Frequently Asked Questions” document. Readers may submit a question to be considered for that by using this online form. The FAQ will be posted on the HUUSD.org homepage blog closer to the meeting date.
The meeting will be held in the Harwood Union High School Auditorium starting at 7 p.m. It will also be recorded and posted online for those interested but unable to attend.