Harwood Bond #2: Will history repeat itself?

January 12, 2024  |  By John Kerrigan

The HUUSD School Board will likely be asking voters to approve an expensive bond for renovations and new construction to the Harwood Union High School in South Duxbury. The current estimates for the list of possible work is just over $92 million. The package will be brought to voters in November 2024. 

This will be the second push for updating the 57-year-old high school in the past three years. A special vote on a $59.5 million bond in November 2021 was crushed by the voters.

I have directly witnessed the need for repairs. The science labs that were once the place of origin for the development of the creative minds of award winning scientists Paul Wennberg and Bill Parker are antiquated and need updating. After heavy rains my students and I captured water from the leaking roof. There were constant plumbing and ventilation issues. New and updated science labs are necessary.

The track surface upgrade is on the bond’s must do list.  With 15 Vermont state titles, Track has been the second most successful sports program at Harwood behind Cross Country with 27 titles. It is unsafe and embarrassing to host meets on the poor surface. In 1982 Russ Foregger and volunteer excavators built the Harwood track with no expense to the taxpayers! The efforts of Russ and the volunteer excavators (Clyde Morse, Fred Viens, Cedric Reagan, Leonard Robinson, Carlos Nelson, Doug Andrews, Eugene Grandfield and others) should be recognized (most posthumously) with an updated facility and a memorial plaque.

Moving the superintendent’s office from a high rent space to a building on Dowsville Road we own is smart. This building was built by Fred Collins and the former Harwood Construction Tech program. Construction Tech was axed by the Board in the 90s.  

There have been disturbing articles in the news media.  These articles have more to do with the school function rather than building structure. For example, in 2022 we learned there has been violence and vaping in the school bathrooms. The mother of the assaulted presented her case to the board. Her plea for justice was denied. 

Our poor standing in the press has forced many to seek educational alternatives. Some are attending private schools or neighboring public schools. 

Will bringing more natural light into the school, adding a wellness room and a second gym keep families here? If you build it, will they come or at least stay? 

There have been a number of posts on social media that indicate voters are unhappy with the school’s curriculum more than the physical structure. 

In a post from the Waterbury Roundabout Facebook page:  Jim Casey states “Not saying 92 million is the right budget, but losing kids to other schools because ours is derelict is more harmful in the long run.” On the same Facebook post, Laura Monroe Schaller states, “We left Harwood and it had nothing to do with the building. Until the curriculum is addressed families will look elsewhere.” 

Nine years ago, Harwood gradually eliminated Honors courses. The wishes of the majority of the community —illustrated in this letter to the editor to the Valley Reporter by parent Laura Caffry at the time — fell on deaf ears. Turns out that Marc Lanser’s Op-Ed published in the Valley Reporter February 8, 2014 was prophetic. Lanser wrote: “In addition to harming high-ability students, elimination of honors classes would have the unintended consequence of declining academic quality at Harwood.”

When I spoke at the 2015 commencement, I remarked that there were eight National Merit Scholarship finalists in the state of Vermont. Four of those were Harwood students graduating that day! The class of 2015 was the last Harwood graduating class eligible to enroll in honors classes all four years. To my knowledge there has not been a National Merit finalist at Harwood since 2019 when Brendan Magill received this award. This was the final year of a gradual elimination of honors classes. 

Harwood’s test scores also have slipped. In the 2023 report from U.S. News and World Report – best schools in Vermont, only 23% of our students meet the Math proficiency. This is one of the lowest in the state. This is surprising when one considers the fact that we have one of the lowest student to student/teacher ratios in the state of Vermont (9:1). CVU and Mt. Mansfield high schools with ratios of 14:1 and 12:1 respectively are rated #1 and #2 in Vermont. 

In addition to one of the lowest student/teacher ratios in the state, Harwood appears top heavy when it comes to administration. There are two co-principals, an interventionist coordinator, a personal learning plan coordinator, a director of student support, and a dean of students.   

Test scores may not the best way to evaluate a school. However, it is what many families use to decide where to live. Factor in the high price of real estate in the Valley and Waterbury compared to neighboring districts and it is astounding that any families would want to move here.   

In the spring of 2021, over 1,300 voters signed a petition seeking an independent investigation to look into the firing of ice hockey coach, Jacob Grout. The board decided not to investigate. Later that year, the Harwood $59 million construction bond failed by nearly 3:1.  What may have happened if the 1300 petitioners came away satisfied with the Grout case?  

The board needs a new approach. Making changes to the building alone is not enough. You would not do expensive body work on your vehicle if its engine was misfiring and its internal electronics were failing. If you create a diverse curriculum that includes honors and vocational courses in a well-managed safe school, you will be creating something everyone needs and wants and voters may approve the bond.  

When the current forums end later this month, the school board should schedule several more forums that address curriculum and instruction. The board can no longer ignore the needs of the voters. If they do, I am afraid that history will repeat itself. 

“Those that fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” - Winston Churchill 

Duxbury resident John Kerrigan is a retired Harwood science teacher and coach (1977-2015)