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VSBA Directors Profile Series
Deep Sea Division
Pop quiz time: Have you ever gone swimming in the
ocean? Did you do any underwater
diving? OK, how about diving not to see a
colorful fish or a coral reef, but to lay concrete for industrial
development? VSBA 2nd Vice President Ken Fredette has – he’s been
professionally diving for years as a commercial builder and jack of all
underwater-trades. For example, he
participated in the underwater repair effort that occurred in April 2005 when a
pipe burst in the New North End of Burlington, causing millions of gallons of
sewage to flow into 
the
Winooski River.
Ken was born in Rutland, the
son of Kenneth Fredette Sr., an employee of the Howe Scale Company and later
the city school district. His mother
Carolyn worked many years for Moore Business Forms. Ken has two older sisters who, like him,
continue to live in the Rutland area. He
attended local public schools, earning good marks, and his was the second class
to graduate the Rutland Town Elementary School, which was brand new at the
time.
Several years after graduation
from Rutland High School, Ken learned the diving trade by attending the
Commercial Diving Center outside Los Angeles, California in 1981. Afterward, Ken took diving jobs for several
years on offshore oil rigs and other projects in the Gulf of Mexico. Diving for Ken means
donning a sophisticated wetsuit with an “umbilical cord” back to the surface
that carries air, communication systems, and even hot water to keep the diver
warm for his two- to four-hour shift down below.
During this period Ken married
his wife of 25 years, Kate, and once the couple had their first child, Ken
decided it was best for him to give up his subtropical employment and settle
down in Vermont full time. During most
of the late 1980s and 90s, Ken worked as a technician for Sears and then for a
commercial appliance company. Eventually
the diving bug bit him again, and Ken has resumed
commercial diving in recent years, although he now works for M & K Diving,
a North Clarendon based company that dives primarily in the New England area.
Ken and Kate raised their
three children in their Wallingford home.
Their daughters both graduated from Mill River High School and attended
the University of Vermont. Their son is
currently a student at Mill River. The Fredettes enjoy
frequent hiking and camping, and Ken is able to take a hunting trip or two each
year. They have attended SolarFest, hosted in nearby Tinmouth,
Vermont, every year since its founding in 1995.
SolarFest is a unique blend of a music and
renewable energy festival.
Ken was appointed to his local
Wallingford school board in 1998, not long after he had publicly lauded the
work of the board at Town Meeting. He
was re-elected several times since, serving as the board chair for six years
before stepping down this month to focus on his other board
responsibilities. Ken says the toughest
part of being a board member is the hiring and firing of staff members – both
processes can be agonizing. He also
recognizes that there is a lot of misinformation about property taxes and
school budgets out there and believes it is very important to educate the
public on what cost drivers are really factoring into their tax bills. He must be doing something right; this month
Wallingford voters overwhelmingly approved their school budget despite the fact
that the district had to enter the excess spending threshold penalty box for
the first time.
Ken has also chaired the
Rutland South Supervisory Union board for several years, and that experience
helped to shape his views on school consolidation. During his time at RSSU, an effort got
underway that would have consolidated the three town schools and union high
school into a single district.
Ultimately, by a vote of the electorate last year, the effort to
consolidate failed. Ken doesn’t believe
the reasons why are that complicated; Shrewsbury taxpayers would have seen
increased education tax bills, and all the towns were worried about losing
their community school. He told From
the Board Room that unless a consolidation plan includes a mechanism to
stabilize tax rates, and allows for individual towns to decide whether or not
to close their school, that consolidation will never work in the minds local
voters.
Keep an eye out for this
thoughtful VSBA leader in the hills and campgrounds around Wallingford and
Rutland, or at the bottom of a lake near you.