When school started this fall, central Vermont schools in the Orange Windsor Supervisory Unionand the Windsor Northwest Supervisory Union had already begun the process of merging into one unified union. Now that new union has a name: the White River Valley Supervisory Union.On Sunday, the new supervisory union will hold a public forum that it hopes will help plan the future of education in the White River Valley. The presentation, which will be held from 1 p.m. until 4 p.m. at Vermont Law School in Royalton, is called Ed Talk: An Afternoon of Educational Action Planning for our Kids.
An event announcement states:
The purpose of this event is to spur discussion and gather input to help craft a strategic plan that will guide the educational choices made by our SU in the coming years. All members of the White River Valley SU community are welcome and encouraged to attend!
To help enable parents to participate, the supervisory union is offering activities for kids at both the law school and South Royalton School Sunday afternoon. Adult Ed Talk participants are in for a busy afternoon themselves, judging by the agenda.
"In addition to learning more about Act 46 and the SU transition process, community members can expect to review results from the We Surveys our schools conducted last spring and participate in small group discussions about education," the announcement explains. "To help get to know one another and share different perspectives, discussions will include members of every community in the new White River Valley SU. Groups will explore questions such as, 'how do we become a world class educational system?' 'how do we help all kids succeed?' and 'what structure should our schools have?' All feedback will be recorded and considered as the Transition Board works to develop our strategic plan."
The State Board of Education is dissolving the Windsor Northwest Supervisory Union due to decreasing enrollment numbers. The towns of Bethel, Rochester, Stockbridge, Granville, and Hancock are integrating into the neighboring Orange Windsor Supervisory Union, which has now become the White River Valley Supervisory Union. The two supervisory unions are still functioning separately in this transition year, and will be fully merged in July. The town of Pittsfield, which was also in the Windsor Northwest Supervisory Union, has transferred to Windsor Central Supervisory Union.
