Creating Learning Communities Through School Board Leadership

The Vermont School Boards Association is a non-profit membership organization serving school board members around the state. VSBA's sole mission is to improve, on an ongoing basis, high quality learning opportunities for Vermont students by supporting those locally elected officials responsible for overseeing the public schools. VSBA serves as an education resource, a provider of education, training and a variety of other services, and an advocacy voice for local school officials.

Nominees Sought for the VMERS Board of Directors

The Vermont Municipal Employee Retirement System is overseen by a Board of Directors. One member is an “employer representative” who must be a member of a municipal board or a school board. VSBA is asked to nominate three representatives. If you have an interest in being nominated to the board, please let Kerri Lamb know by May 25. You may find more information at: http://www.vtvsba.org/mvers.html

Letter to Legislators

In an effort to assure that all members of the legislature are clear on our specific concerns with several pending pieces of legislation, the presidents of the Vermont School Boards Association, Vermont Superintendents Association and Vermont Principals' Association have together sent a letter to every member of the legislature, outlining our issues and urging them to engage with local school officials and professional educators in sorting out ways to improve the bills. The letter can be read through the following link
http://www.vtvsba.org/legis/2012/letter.pdf

VSBA Workshops

The VSBA will be offering workshop sessions for new and veteran school board members in the coming months. You may register for a workshop at http://www.vtvsba.org/mtgform.html.

Essential Work of School Boards
This workshop is designed particularly for new members; it is also a useful refresher for veteran board members. This session will focus on the general role of board members, their specific responsibilities, and will provide guidance around operating an effective and ethical board. It will also cover some of the most frequent challenges faced by board members. The Essential Work of School Boards will be supported by the publication of our new VSBA Guide this spring. VSBA will be offering this training by webinar, interactive television, and in-person at sites around the state.

We recommend boards attend as a group to help establish a common reference for their work, address the questions that arise for new members, and build on the experience of returning members.

School Board Chairs Training
These sessions will cover topics such as the role of the board chair, creating productive relationships with administrators, running a lawful meeting, effective use of Robert’s Rules of Order, and managing challenging behaviors.

VSBA on Vermont Edition

Walking The Line: The Politics Of Teacher Strikes
Wednesday, 04/11/12
Teachers in the Rutland Southwest Supervisory Union are on strike this week. Last fall, teachers in Bennington walked the picket lines for nine days. And several other communities have narrowly averted walk-offs in the past year. We get an update on where things stand with the Rutland Southwest strike from Rutland Herald reporter Cristina Kumka, and we talk to Darren Allen, spokesman for the Vermont-National Education Association, and Steve Dale, executive director of the Vermont School Boards Association, about what's sending so many communities to the brink of teacher strikes.
Listen Here

Reports on Vermont's Education Finance System

Over the past month, two significant reports have been completed related to the education financing system in Vermont. The Picus Report was funded through the legislature and was designed to determine whether Act 60/68 has achieved its primary objectives. A second report was commissioned by the towns of Wilmington and Dover, designed to look at education quality as it relates to Act 60/68. It is entitled Local Impacts of Vermont’s Education Finance System and can be viewed through these links www.doververmont.com or www.wilmingtonvermont.us

UNFAIR LABOR PRACTICE CHARGE

March 13, 2012 Ruling:

Official Decision

VSBA Press Release

South Burlington Press Release

December 23, 2011 - UpdateThe Vermont Labor Relations Board heard a second day of testimony on November 21 related to the Unfair Labor Practice filed by South Burlington. Testimony was provided by board members Rich Cassidy, Martin LaLonde, and Julie Beatty. This concluded the formal proceedings. Both the VT-NEA and the South Burlington School Board have filed their summary arguments with the board. The VSBA has filed a formal brief, in addition, outlining our major concerns relative to all school boards in Vermont. All related documents may be found on the South Burlington website links . No decision is expected from the VLRB until sometime in January.

The central issue in this case is the concern that NEA Executive Director Joel Cook wrote an e-mail to the chair of the South Burlington negotiations committee threatening a picket of his place of business. This resulted in the chair needing to recuse himself from the process to avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest. School boards (and the communities they serve) must be able to be represented in negotiations by representatives of their choosing. What happened in South Burlington must not be able to be repeated. This action threatens the integrity of the collective bargaining process.

Despite representations to the contrary by the South Burlington Educators’ Association (SBEA), the testimony and supporting documentation during these proceedings has shown clearly that the threatening e-mail sent by Mr. Cook was sanctioned by the SBEA prior to it being sent.

It is our hope that the results of this effort will be a clear message that the NEA cannot take actions which cause the strategic recusal of particular board members.

March 23, 2011 - Vermont School Boards Association files motion to intervene in support of South Burlington school district unfair labor practice charge.

Letter to all school board members

Joint Press Release from South Burlington School Board and VSBA

The Unfair Labor Practice Charge filed by South Burlington

Motion to Intervene filed by the VSBA

NECAP SCORES

February 14, 2012 The headlines that ran after the Vermont Department of Education released the 2011 NECAP scores paint a pretty troubling picture about the performance of Vermont’s schools, particularly our high schools. The Department focused its press release on the significant drop in math and science test scores between students in eighth grade and students in eleventh grade. The tone of the press release and subsequent news coverage would lead one to conclude that the scores are revealing a new pattern and that student performance in Vermont’s schools is falling precipitously. But these conclusions are simply not true, since they rely on a single year’s worth of data and do not incorporate meaningful context or analysis. In fact, Vermont’s high school performance over the past five years suggests positive trends. We’ve seen a 24% improvement in science scores, a 20% increase in math, a 23% increase in writing, and a 6% increase in high school reading scores.

The VSBA has issued an op-ed piece to inform this conversation.

VSBA & GOV ON VPR

February 8, 2012 - Governor Peter Shumlin is urging local voters to reject school budgets that include any additional spending for next year. But the Vermont School Boards Association says the Governor's comments don't reflect the unique circumstances facing many school boards across the state.

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Read Here

School board member Carol Brigham's letter to Governor Shumlin regarding the press release:

VSBA & VT NEA ON VPR

On November 8, 2011 Executive Director Stephen Dale discussed teacher negotiations with VTNEA President Martha Allen and Jane Lindholm on Vermont Public Radio's Vermont Edition.

Listen Here

Read Here

RUNNING FOR A SCHOOL BOARD?

This website holds many educational opportunities for candidates. Please consider viewing the streaming videos and the school board resource directory among the many other pages found in this website. Good luck!

VERMONT GOVERNANCE STUDIES

Caledonia North Supervisory Union

The Caledonia North Supervisory Union Governance Study Phase 1 report is available in Acrobat. This report was completed in January of 2011.

Chittenden East Supervisory Union

The Chittenden East Supervisory Union Governance Studies are available in two formats.
Phase 1
MSWord
Acrobat

Phase 2
MSWord
Acrobat

Woodbury

The Woodbury Governance Study is available in two formats, MSWord and Acrobat.The Woodbury Powerpoint given at the public hearing can be found at http://www.vtvsba.org/woodburyppt.pdf