LETTER: Board member sees school district moving forward
May 26, 2024 | Bobbi RoodTo the Community:
Folks, we are Harwood Strong. We will weather this storm like we have done with other troubling times and events and will get through it together. Hopefully we will pass the school budget now and move on to discussions about reorganizing the Harwood Unified Union School District and building a new, strong, and even better-consolidated union district.
As a HUUSD School Board member, I can guarantee that we have heard you, but this will take more time. The board Finance Committee will be meeting all summer to research the options. We intend to continue the great work that this dialogue is leading us to. The public is invited to attend these meetings on Zoom and when possible, in person.
Please consider supporting our budget and no matter what, Vote! Duxbury had the highest turnout the last time -- let’s all try to best them.
Wearing my civilian hat, I will be voting for it because I know we will be able to meet the challenges we have ahead of us. Will there be disappointments and will emotions ebb and flow? Of course! But this is what getting to “yes” means. We may all need to make compromises.
As a school rep, I pledge to work hard at developing future budgets we can feel we all own as well as reducing per-pupil expenditures.
Look at the list below that I photographed in the Harwood Union High School lobby, albeit incomplete, of colleges where members of the class of 2024 are headed after graduation and tell me our kids aren’t doing well. They are going places!
Middlebury College(3), Colorado College, Yale University, Northwestern, Syracuse, Endicott, Plymouth State, McGill, SUNY New Paltz, Boston College, UVM, U of Michigan, Flint; Northern Vermont University, SUNY Cortland, Colby-Sawyer, St. Michaels, URI, UVM (3), UNH, FIT, UMN, Smith College, Marist College, American University, Montserrat College of Art, University of Victoria, WPI. Plus gap years of work and travel, and as one wrote, “Conquer the World.”
I have no doubt our students have bright futures and are our future. College isn’t the only measure, but it is one we should be proud of.
We have great kids, let’s end the year on a positive note and pass the budget.
Bobbi Rood
Waitsfield
Bobbi Rood is one of two representatives from Waitsfield on the HUUSD School Board.