Kerrigan: Time to think outside the box

April 25, 2025  |  By John Kerrigan 

As I have been observing closely the reports and possible solutions to the Harwood Union Unified School enrollment and funding situation, my logical background as a science teacher kicks in. 

Let’s define the problem: School enrollment figures have decreased immensely in the last decade. Ironically, school expenses have increased. When I started teaching at Harwood in 1977, there were over 900 students. Today, there are fewer than 600. Also, the administrative, staff and faculty numbers, and real estate taxes have more than tripled since that time.  

Possible solutions being considered by the Harwood Unified Union School District School Board include consolidating the middle schools and consolidating and closing at least one or two of the elementary schools.

So, in other words, close schools, eliminate programs, and cut expenses. 

Just recently, Harwood citizens sent a clear message to their school board that they want all of their schools to remain open. How can we afford to do that?

Let’s explore another way to solve this problem. 

Let’s gather some information. But first, let’s ask what schools in Vermont are doing well financially?

Public/private schools that attract tuition-paying students are doing quite well. Many of these schools are accepting students from neighboring towns that do not have public schools of their own but offer school choice to their residents. 

Harwood families are selling their homes and moving to these towns! Schools such as St. Johnsbury Academy, Thetford Academy, Lyndon Institute and Burr and Burton have enrollments that are increasing not decreasing. Strictly private schools like Rice Memorial are also flourishing with increasing enrollments. Rice, a Catholic school located in South Burlington, attracts tuition-paying families from our area. Next year, Rice will be offering dormitory space to some students, therefore making the school even more attractive to out-of-town families. 

Tuition for these schools ranges from a low of $15,000 at Rice to a high of $47,500 at Lyndon Institute.

There is some question as to whether public funds can be used for private, religious schools. Like it or not, the present administration in Washington, D.C. is moving in that direction. With the abolishment of the Department of Education funding for special education and other programs may be lost entirely. How can we supplement the loss of these funds if we want to provide an education that provides for the needs of all students in our district?

Hypothesis: Increasing school enrollment and adding school revenue by attracting tuition-paying families will allow all schools to remain open.

Good Idea, but how do we increase enrollment and add revenue?

Make school curriculum more diverse

We need to advocate for the return of our honors programs and highly productive Industrial Arts Program. We should also add vocational programs. We have a beautiful campus containing 186 acres of both softwood and hardwood forests, ponds and two streams that feed into the Mad River. We arguably have the most beautiful public high school campus of anywhere in North America! We need to incorporate our campus resources into natural science, agricultural, logging and recreational educational opportunities. 

Since the elimination of honors programs, Harwood students’ standardized test scores have dropped drastically. For example, the 2015 graduating class (which was the last year of honors classes) had four of the eight National Merit Scholar finalists in Vermont that year. Since then, Harwood has had only one National Merit Scholar.

Presently, Harwood vocational students ride a bus for 90 minutes daily on their round trip to Barre. Local taxpayers cover their transportation and tuition. Harwood families are leaving by the dozens because of the lack of these programs. Let’s bring them back!  

Market the success of our alumni

Do you know that Harwood graduates include: 

Paul Wennberg - Cal Tech scientist, world-renowned expert on the Atmospheric Chemistry of Planets (yep, that includes CO2 emissions – the cause of global warming). 

Bill Parker – MIT Scientist, inventor of the plasma lamp. Bill was both a student and a teacher at Harwood Union High School.

Scott Tighe – Technical Director at the UVM Advanced Genomics Lab. Scott’s work was chosen for further experimentation on the International Space Station, and his research may someday lead to a cure for many types of cancer.  

Grace Potter – Singer, songwriter, actress, and multi-instrumental musician. 

Caitlin Compton Gregg – 2010 Olympic Nordic Skier (6th place in team relay), bronze medalist in World Cup Championships.

Shaina Taub – Actress, singer, musician, and creator of “Suffs,” a Tony Award-winning musical about the women’s suffrage movement. 

Stephen Groff – Warren native and former vice president of the Asian Development Bank; presently the governor of the National Development Fund of Saudi Arabia.

Other notable students who attended Harwood include Nolan Kasper, an Olympic alpine racer at the 2010 Whistler Olympics who tied for second in the World Cup Slalom in 2011, and Ilari Melart, a Finnish professional ice hockey player.

My dentist, medical doctors and nurses, lawyer and at least one of my college professors are Harwood graduates. So are my auto mechanics, plumbers, carpenters and electricians. Harwood graduates include successful engineers, veterinarians, artists, musicians, rocket scientists and other skilled tradespeople. They are, most of all, successful parents who have decided to raise their children here. 

Market the beauty and recreational opportunities of our area

Our school district is geographically located on the divide between the Winooski and Mad River valleys. Because of this location, we have wonderful recreational opportunities nearby: alpine and Nordic skiing, hiking on the Long Trail, bicycling, paddling (Mad River Canoe originated in Waitsfield), award-winning organic farms, sugarhouses and breweries. Residents of our school district live within a reasonable commuting distance to Vermont’s largest city and our state capital. 

Make it easier to move here 

The Harwood campus includes 186 acres of diverse and beautiful land. Six of these acres were a site for the DeLong homestead which would be ideal for dorms for international students or serve as a site for temporary housing for out-of-state families wishing to move to our area. Incentives can be given to local residents to take in international student boarders and others arriving from other parts of Vermont or from out of state.  

We can compete with any school district in the country. We have talented award award-winning teachers, small class sizes, and a diverse curriculum that allows art and music expression and opportunities to receive college credit. We have a great legacy of accomplished alumni. We have a beautiful campus with over four miles of trails. 

If school choice becomes an option in Vermont, Harwood would be the school of choice.  

I urge our school board directors to put together an exploratory committee to determine how best to attract international, in-state and out-of-state students and families to our piece of paradise.    

A larger diverse student body will help to enrich the lives and learning of our present students. But best of all, it would allow our excellent schools to remain open. 

We should not wait for the bureaucrats in Montpelier to decide how to solve the school funding dilemma. We need to go out on our own and create a solution that works for us. Citizens in Waterbury and the Mad River Valley areas have been innovative leaders in the arts, music, technology, sports and recreation. Using the creative thinking and guidance of our community members, Harwood Union School District will become a role model for other school districts across the state.

What I am suggesting is both innovative and controversial. It will need the support of our taxpayers.  

There will be many challenges, and it will be a rough road with a wall of inflexible bureaucrats in Montpelier staring us in the face. The parents, teachers and students of our district have never backed down from a challenge. 

We will need clever, imaginative and creative thinkers for support. We will need new spirit to breathe life into our community and all of Vermont. History can repeat itself, much like the families of inventors that occupied Prickly Mountain in Warren that burst on the scene during the early 70s! We need to bring this spirit of innovation and creativity back. 

Here is food for thought: Imagine as a taxpayer receiving a small dividend check each year instead of paying outlandish property taxes. 

John Kerrigan was a Harwood Union High School science teacher and coach at Harwood from 1977- 2023. He is the author of “Just Raise Your Left Hand.”