Board endorses middle school merger if bond passes; Duxbury rep likely stepping down
May 29, 2021 | By Lisa Scagliotti
Crossett Brook Middle School would become home to all of the Harwood Unified Union School District’s seventh- and eighth-graders under the merger plan endorsed by the school board this week. The process to expand CMBS ahead of that shift would likely mean bringing students together in the fall of 2023. File photo by Gordon Miller
The long-sought merger of Harwood Unified Union School District’s middle schools took several big steps forward this week as the school board voted nearly unanimously to combine Harwood Union Middle School’s seventh and eighth grades with those at Crossett Brook Middle School.
And for 13 of the 14 members of the board to back the decision, they agreed that the merger would be contingent on the voters in the district’s six communities approving a bond to pay for expanding Crossett Brook and renovating Harwood Union High School. That cost has yet to be nailed down but working estimates are in the $50-55 million range.
The board also stipulated that the expansion at Crossett Brook be a permanent addition of four or more rooms, what school principals have said was the bare minimum of new space needed to blend the students into one facility. The plan the board endorsed also will not rely on temporary classroom buildings as previously considered.
The decisions were made at Wednesday night’s school board meeting held via video conference. It can be viewed on the district’s YouTube channel.
The lone dissenting vote was cast by Moretown representative Kristen Rodgers. Moretown community and school board members have pushed back on middle school merger discussions as recently as early 2020 when plans called for shifting Moretown Elementary School’s fifth and sixth grades to Crossett.
Board Chair Torrey Smith of Duxbury at Wednesday night’s meeting emphasized that the current plan involves only Harwood’s grade 7 and 8 relocating. As a result, Harwood Middle School will close.
The board also voted unanimously to ask middle school principals to next work with architects to create a presentation that outlines the new facility plan that the merger would require.
Board compromise precedes community buy-in
Board leaders Smith and Tim Jones of Fayston combined multiple elements into the proposals that the board approved: grade configurations, location, a connection to the construction bond, and the promise of a permanent addition to Crossett Brook rather than temporary buildings.
“This motion offers a compromise where almost everyone on the Board is taking a step towards what has been, till now, an elusive middle ground. We think that while this motion has ‘something for everyone,’ it also actually asks for something from everyone,” the board leaders said in their report to the board ahead of the meeting.
Ultimately, the voters across the school district’s six towns will set things in motion by considering and approving a bond needed to finance the facility work ahead. The school board is aiming to put a bond question to voters in November. It would pay for long-delayed extensive renovations and updates to Harwood Union High School including replacing a failing roof, updating heating and ventilation systems, adding a gymnasium, and installing a modern running track. Built in 1965, Harwood last had updates in the late 1990s.
Laying out these interconnected steps, however, will slow the middle school merger by a year. The school board attempted to merge the middle schools in 2020, but voters rejected the budget tied to that step and the COVID-19 pandemic hit around the same time. The board pushed the merger into the future, eyeing fall 2022 instead.
The new schedule starting with a bond vote in November, however, will push that target to 2023, school officials said. Steps to finalize design plans, get needed permits, and seek bids from construction contractors, will mean that work to expand Crossett Brook would not likely begin before fall 2022.
Meanwhile, construction and renovations at Harwood might be pushed back several months until middle school students could be moved, but some phases could begin such as the gym addition and work on the track, school board leaders said.
So while the first step was getting the board itself to agree on a direction, the next step will be convincing voters to make the investment. “We know that the bond proposal will need the meaningful commitment to and support of our Board and its members to pass in the fall, and we as a Board are committing to make that effort with integrity and transparency,” the board leaders said.
Lessons from Burlington’s halted renovation
In November 2018, Burlington voters approved a $70 renovation bond to upgrade Burlington High School, built in 1964. Fast-forward to 2021 and Burlington High School is presently closed, its students attending classes in a former department store building in downtown Burlington. Environmental testing of the building and its surrounding grounds turned up unacceptable levels of polychlorinated biphenyls – known as PCBs – that have caused school officials to now begin a process to find a new location for a high school which will likely take years to complete.
Chemical PCBs are now banned but were once common in manufacturing fluorescent lighting and some building materials such as sealants and caulking. Exposure to them can cause cancer and nerve damage. Traces of them still linger in old buildings. In 2019,the Associated Press reported on the prevalence of light fixtures containing PCBs in schools across the U.S. that were built before 1979. In Burlington, PCB contamination was measured in the air inside the high school and in soil on school grounds.
The Vermont Legislature recently put $4.5 million into the state budget for the coming fiscal year specifically for testing schools around the state that were built before 1980 for radon and PCB contamination. With the ink on that legislation barely dry, state officials say they will need to work out the details of how testing might proceed and how school districts would be reimbursed for those costs. Given the timeline for the Harwood project, the district could be among the first to participate in such evaluations.
State Rep. Theresa Wood, D-Waterbury, recently wrote to Waterbury’s school board representatives pointing out the “dramatic turn of events in Burlington” regarding its high school and noting the state funding dedicated for testing.
“It seems prudent to test the building for potential contaminants prior to making any bond decisions. As we saw in the Burlington High School situation, it has significantly impacted their decision regarding an already-approved renovation bond,” Wood wrote.
When asked about this Thursday, board leaders Smith and Jones said they are aware of the Burlington situation and that they plan to discuss it with the district’s facilities manager to determine how to proceed.
The middle school pendulum swings
The latest shifts in school configuration represent a pendulum swing over time. Prior to Crossett Brook’s opening in 1996, all seventh- and eighth-graders in the school district attended Harwood Union Middle School. Waterbury and Duxbury students left Harwood when the new middle school opened.
Now changes in enrollment due to population shifts, families opting for private schools, and a significant number of Mad River Valley students choosing to attend Crossett Brook, class sizes are trending large at Crossett and small at Harwood. The school board this spring came close to consolidating Harwood Middle School’s classes for next fall - first voting to cut four classroom teachers, but later reversing that action to keep them.
School officials have promoted the merger as a way to combine students earlier than ninth grade and make daily routines more uniform. The shift will also require staffing adjustments as Harwood middle school classes share some teachers with the high school.
Detailed cost figures have not been worked out yet to determine the impact on school expenses – and ultimately taxes – for the resulting operations.
Duxbury seat likely to open up
A new concern regarding Duxbury representative Brian Dalla Mura diverted the board’s discussions early in Wednesday’s meeting. Waterbury member Kelley Hackett requested an executive session and then an addition to the meeting agenda to address the question of whether Dalla Mura has taken a job with the Harwood Union School District.
Duxbury school board member Brian Dalla Mura
Hackett and other board members said they had heard that was the case, and that it should be addressed given that state statute prohibits school board members from being employed in the district where they serve in office.
Dalla Mura ran unopposed in March to fill the unexpired two years of a term for one of Duxbury’s two seats. Board Chair Smith is the town’s other representative.
The ensuing discussion revealed that Dalla Mura, who currently teaches in the Winooski School District, has indeed accepted a position at Thatcher Brook Primary School with a contract starting July 1.
The timeline was somewhat unclear during the meeting discussion. Board members raised concerns over whether this new role for Dalla Mura poses a conflict of interest.
In interviews with Waterbury Roundabout since Wednesday’s board meeting, both Dalla Mura and Smith addressed the matter.
Dalla Mura, who moved to Duxbury five years ago, said he has had interest in joining the school board and decided to run this year when former member Alec Adams announced he was stepping down in January. He also said he decided around that time to apply for positions in schools in Williston and at Thatcher Brook. He said he was reluctant, however, to bow out of the school board election given that there were no other candidates interested.
Smith, who was vice chair at the time, said she and then-chair Caitlin Hollister were aware of Dalla Mura’s dilemma but they encouraged him to run.
Dalla Mura said that in between stepping up to run for office and the end of March, he applied, interviewed, and was offered a position that he accepted. The board’s first meeting post-election was March 10.
Dalla Mura is a special education teacher who specializes in working with elementary students with emotional disabilities. Positions to teach in that niche are rare in Vermont, he said. “This is my dream job,” he said of the Thatcher Brook opportunity as a behavioral support educator. “It was a once-in-a-career opportunity in my own community, in a school district I love. I was not going to pass it up.”
Smith said that Dalla Mura was “completely transparent” with board leadership regarding his employment status, yet the information was not conveyed to the full board, or to the public. “I just didn’t pass along the information,” Smith said, explaining that board leaders, herself included, didn’t consider there to be an issue until Dalla Mura would be a district employee, at which point he would be bound to step down from the school board.
Moretown board member Kristen Rodgers during the meeting discussion asked why board members weren’t told of Dalla Mura’s situation directly as it unfolded, rather than hear it first from the community in late May.
Dalla Mura said he “felt caught off guard” by the meeting discussion about his role and the steps he should have taken in this situation. “I’m brand-new to this school board thing. If I could go back in time, I guess I’d say something sooner,” he said.
“I really feel like this was my gaffe,” Smith said. “I need to learn from that. I’m really regretful because I think that put him in an awkward position and it clearly made some other people uncomfortable as well.”
Looking ahead, Dalla Mura said he plans to step down after June board meetings end and ahead of his new job contract starting. He also said concerns over whether his job status puts him in a position of having conflicts of interest in the meantime are unfounded. “I think any criticism of me is unfair,” he said.
Being new to the community, he said he doesn’t have relationships with school administrators to feel he has conflicts of interest. “I’m just a teacher doing something good, volunteering my time,” he explained, pointing out that there were no other candidates on the March ballot for the Duxbury seat.
The school board takes a summer recess and returns to regular meetings as the new academic year starts. Smith said the board would seek applicants from Duxbury to fill the position later this summer through March 2022 when it would be filled in the Town Meeting Day election.
Dalla Mura said the concerns and questions surrounding the matter were frustrating because he had not heard directly from board members and only one community member had emailed him. The attention, he said, feels unfair. “I have had my character questioned over this,” he said. “This is going to be people’s first impression of me.”
Coach discipline issue remains unresolved
The debate over how the school board should address a termination appeal by the former Harwood Union boys hockey coach continued Wednesday. The board several weeks ago voted to hire an outside investigator to review how the matter was handled in February when Harwood administrators fired Jacob Grout after he sent an electronic message to players that contained profanities. A parent complained to school officials about the conduct.
The district has a policy whereby individuals may appeal decisions by the administration to the school board and Grout did so in March. The board opted to agree to hire an investigator to gather information impartially from those involved and to do so outside of a public hearing.
Since then, however, 14 district administrators called on the board to let the decision made by the high school principals stand. They cited the authority of administrators to supervise and discipline employees and the potential cost of an investigation. An inquiry last year into how the superintendent handled a racial bullying incident cost close to $30,000, according to school officials.
After some discussion Wednesday night, the board decided to schedule at a future date an executive session to hear just from administrations about the matter and to reconsider whether an investigation will occur. So far, no one has been hired to begin any inquiry, according to board chair Smith.
In their report to the board ahead of the meeting, board leaders Smith and Jones – who previously urged the board to consider the matter closed – suggested this approach and advised that if members felt strongly about having the independent investigation, they should vote against the meeting with administrators. The vote for the closed session was 7 in favor, 5 against; Jones abstained and Smith did not cast a vote. Voting against were: Hackett, Rodgers, Lisa Mason of Moretown, Theresa Membrino of Fayston, and Jonathan Young of Warren.
Ahead of that vote, Membrino questioned whether Dalla Mura intended to participate in that decision given that it involved administrators who would be his supervisors soon. Dalla Mura brushed off any concern. He voted with the majority in favor of the executive session.
Labor negotiations continue
The board received a brief update on labor contract negotiations with school district teachers and staff. Agreements end June 30, one with teachers and another with support staff.
Board member Christine Sullivan of Waitsfield, who is part of the contract negotiating team for the district, said a tentative agreement has been reached with the support staff. The employee group first must ratify it, then it would go to the school board for approval.
A key issue to be addressed in the teacher contract is wage disparity among teachers at different grade levels. Superintendent Brigid Nease acknowledged to the board that high school teachers have historically been paid higher salaries than elementary-level teachers. Contracts in recent years since the district’s merger have aimed to bring compensation levels closer but a gap remains, she said.
During public comment at the start of the board meeting Wednesday, nine speakers – several teachers and parents – addressed the stalled contract talks with short statements requesting the school board support a “fair and equitable” contract for all teaching staff across the district.
Parent Greg Cisz of Duxbury urged a resolution to the negotiations saying that teachers are deserving of a contract that improves compensation. He pointed to their response this year to teaching in a pandemic as “nothing short of exemplary.”
Negotiations for the teacher contract have been at an impasse for two months. Sullivan said a session with a mediator is scheduled for June 3. “We’re hoping that it’s productive,” she said.
Approximately 40 teachers from the Harwood Union district attended the school board’s May 19 in-person meeting in the gazebo at Harwood Union High School. The meeting was the second part of the district’s annual meeting to conduct housekeeping business typically done in March but postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Photo courtesy the Harwood Union Education Association.
Other business
The board spent just several minutes discussing comments to a rough draft of a flag policy for the district that it will continue to refine.
After receiving several requests in the past year regarding flying the Black Lives Matter flag at schools, the board decided it should create an overall flag policy first. The draft pulls from elements of flag policies from other school districts including Colchester, Milton, Essex-Westford and Champlain Valley.
The board’s consent agenda which collects items of routine business not slated for discussion contained several one-time expenses that were approved including:
● Spending $27,000 from the Maintenance Reserve Fund to help pay for a new generator for Warren Elementary School at the request of town officials there. The school serves as a community emergency shelter and the aging generator there needs to be replaced. Some grant funding is possible for the purchase which would lower the amount spent by the school district and the town.
● A flooring replacement bid of $30,490 with Future Floors for projects at Moretown Elementary, Warren Elementary and Fayston Elementary in the amount of $30,490; the funds would come from the Maintenance Reserve Fund.
● A flooring replacement bid of $105,615 with New England Floors for projects at Crossett Brook, Harwood Union and Thatcher Brook.
● A bid of $123,390 from New England Air Systems to replace coils in the heating system; also from the Maintenance Reserve Fund although some federal funding may be available for this work.
Lastly, on May 19, the school board met in person outside at Harwood Union High School for just nine minutes to conduct several housekeeping items of business typically done at an in-person meeting near Town Meeting Day in March. That meeting did not occur this year due to the pandemic.
Although this is a public meeting where members of the public are able to participate, no members of the public attended to participate, according to the meeting minutes. However, approximately 40 teachers from Harwood Union’s schools were in attendance wearing red clothing as a symbol to support education. They held signs referring to ongoing contract negotiations and referencing the wage disparity issues they hope the next contract will change.
Two board members also were absent, Michael Frank from Waterbury and Jonathan Young from Warren.
The board named several individuals to serve for the next year in district roles: Brian Shupe as moderator, Alexia Venafra as board secretary and Nancy Myrto as treasurer. The board approved hiring an accountant to review the district’s financial accounts at the end of June and it approved the district’s practice of borrowing funds in anticipation of taxes and other revenue.
The board also set compensation for district officers for the next year through June 2022: $950 for the board chair and vice-chair, $750 for each board member, $250 for the district clerk for the annual meeting minutes and $50 per hour for additional voting or petitions, $100 for the moderator; $1,000 for the treasurer, according to the meeting minutes.
CORRECTION: This story was updated to correct information on classroom teachers at Harwood Middle School for next fall.