MONDAY Â Â EDITION
ADDISON COUNTY
INDEPENDENT
Vol. 27 No. 39
Middlebury, Vermont
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Monday, December 21, 2015
State  OKs  ACSU  merger  plan Eagle, Otter girls go to the wire ‡ )RU WKH VHFRQG WLPH LQ IRXU GD\V DQ 29 JLUOV¡ JDPH ZDV GHFLGHG LQ WKH ÀQDO VHFRQGV 6HH 6SRUWV 3DJH
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9RWHUV WR KDYH ÂżQDO VD\ RQ 0DUFK By  JOHN  FLOWERS MIDDLEBURY  —  The  Vermont  Agency  of  Education  (AOE)  last  week  gave  its  seal  of  approval  to  governance  consolidation  plans  for  three  school  districts  —  including  one  in  the  Middlebury  area  and  one  in  the  Brandon  area.  The  Dec.  15  decision  paves  the Â
way  for  residents  in  the  seven  com- munities  the  Addison  Central  Super- visory  Union  to  decide  on  March  1  whether  their  schools  should  be  gov- erned  by  a  single  board  and  funded  through  a  single  budget.  People  who  live  in  the  eight-Âtown  Rutland  Northeast  Supervisory  Union  will  vote  on  their  consolida-Â
tion  proposal  on  Jan.  19.  The  third  district  that  got  the  OK  was  Rutland  Southeast. “I  was  very  pleased  with  the  sup- port  we  received  from  the  AOE,â€?  said  Ruth  Hardy,  chairwoman  of  the  ID-Â4  school  board  in  Middle- bury  and  leader  of  the  ACSU  Char- ter  Committee.  “It  was  a  unanimous  vote.  We  received  some  very  posi- (See  ACSU,  Page  38)
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40 Pages
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Candidates  line  up  for  merged RNeSU  board By  LEE  J.  KAHRS %5$1'21 ² 2I¿FLDOV LQ WKH Rutland  Northeast  Supervisory  Union  were  already  looking  be- yond  approval  by  the  state  Agen- cy  of  Education  of  the  Brandon- (See  RNeSU,  Page  14)
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No snow! Winter-oriented business suffering Warm temps affect ski areas, local inns By  EVAN  JOHNSON  ADDISON  COUNTY  —  A  year  ago  at  this  time,  Vermonters  could  look  out  their  windows  at  hillsides  blanketed  in  a  foot  of  snow  in  some  places.  This  year,  that  same  view Â
yields  mostly  brown  ground,  trees  GHYRLG RI OHDYHV DQG QRW D VQRZĂ€DNH to  be  found.  In  past  weeks,  tempera- tures  have  risen  as  high  as  into  the  40s  and  50s. That  mild  weather  has  perturbed  outdoor  sports  enthusiasts  and  busi- ness  owners  in  many  areas  of  Ver- mont  that  attract  wintertime  tourism,  pushing  back  opening  dates  at  some Â
ski  areas  and  limiting  offerings  at  the  ski  areas  able  to  open  a  small  amount  of  terrain.  Lodgings  close  to  the  mountains  are  feeling  the  affects,  too.  In  Hancock,  dirt  and  grass  still  covered  the  slopes  of  the  Middle- bury  College  Snow  Bowl  on  Friday  morning.  Snowmakers  began  blow- ing  some  of  the  white  stuff  on  the Â
front  side  of  the  mountain  on  Fri- day  night  and  continued  through  the  weekend.  The  small  ski  area  plans  to  open  a  portion  of  its  17  trails  in  the  week  after  Christmas. “We  have  plenty  of  capacity,  it’s  just  a  matter  of  temperatures,�  said  Brett  Rubright,  the  Snow  Bowl’s  snow  school  director. (See  Snow,  Page  18)