MONDAY Â Â EDITION
ADDISON COUNTY
INDEPENDENT
Vol. 28 No. 7
Middlebury, Vermont
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Monday, May 23, 2016
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Includes 3.25 percent raises for two years
• When John Monks found out enormous trees were being destroyed, he started a business to save them. Page 3.
Fire and solar power don’t mix ‡ 9HUPRQW ÀUHÀJKWHUV OHDUQHG ZKDW WR GR ZKHQ D EOD]H VWULNHV DPLGVW URRIWRS VRODU DUUD\V See Page 16.
Conlon running for House seat ‡ &RUQZDOO Democrat and UD-3 VFKRRO ERDUG chairman seeks the Addison-2 spot. See story on Page 3.
Women’s lax hosts regional • The Panthers were trying to advance to the NCAA 'LYLVLRQ ,,, ÀQDO IRXU 6HH Sports, Pages 20-22.
Eavesdropping ADDISON  REPERTORY  THEATER  students  Meaghan  Stanley,  left,  Sam  Kuhns  and  Anders  Bright  rehearse  a  scene  from  the  student  written/adapted  version  of  Mary  Shelley’s  “Frankenstein�  that  will  be  staged  this  week  at  the  Hannaford  Career  Center  A.R.T.  Black  Box  Theater.  For  show  details  and  more  photos  see  Page  2. Independent  photo/Trent  Campbell
‡ 9HUPRQW DUWLVWV ZLOO RSHQ WKHLU VWXGLRV WR WKH SXEOLF this weekend. See Arts Beat on Page 10.
75¢
Bristol-Âarea teachers get new contract
%ULVWRO ÀUP salvages trees
See how & where art happens
40 Pages
By  GAEN  MURPHREE BRISTOL  —  After  16  months  of  negotiations,  the  teachers  of  the  Ad- dison  Northeast  Supervisory  Union  have  a  contract.  What  began  as  a  fractious  and  drawn-Âout  negotiation  that  twice  WKUHDWHQHG WR GHDG HQG ² ÂżUVW DW DQ RIÂżFLDOO\ GHFODUHG LPSDVVH WKHQ DW D FDOO IRU D IDFW ÂżQGLQJ KHDULQJ ² KDV resolved  with  a  teacher  sal- “The board ary  increase  of  negotiating 3.25  percent  team and for  this  year  the teachers’ and  the  next.  “I  am  happy  negotiating that  both  sides  team really were  able  to  both made agree  on  what  an incredible has  been  a  effort to c h a l l e n g i n g  process  for  put what both  the  teach- happened ers  and  the  behind them boards,â€?  said  and look ANeSU  Inter- forward, im  Superinten- dent  Armando  which I believe is a Vilaseca. Representa- good sign.â€? tives  for  the  — Interim teachers  and  Superintendent the  school  Armando boards  reached  Vilaseca an  agreement  in  mid-ÂApril  that  each  then  had  to  put  before  the  full  membership  of  HDFK JURXS IRU UDWLÂżFDWLRQ 7KH $G- dison  Northeast  Education  Associa- tion  (ANEDA),  the  teachers’  union,  UDWLÂżHG WKH FRQWUDFW RQ $SULO 7KH $1H68 ERDUGV WKHQ UDWLÂżHG WKH teachers’  contract  at  their  Tuesday  night  all-Âboards  carousel  meeting.  The  contract  covers  the  current  ac- (See  Bristol,  Page  31)
Tiny  students  bid  farewell  to  two  ‘giants’ Marion  Leonard  taught  3  generations  Angier  connected  with  pre-ÂK  students By  JOHN  FLOWERS MIDDLEBURY  —  The  word  of  the  day  today,  class,  is  “D.â€? As  in  “diminutiveâ€?  and  “dynamo.â€? Two  words  that  only  begin  to  de- scribe  longtime  Mary  Hogan  Elemen- tary  School  teacher  Marion  Leonard. Though  small  in  stature,  Mrs. Â
Leonard  has  been  a  veritable  giant  —  nay,  the  center  of  the  universe  —  to  a  couple  generations  of  Middlebury  kindergartners  who  for  the  past  38  years  have  relied  on  her  sage  advice  for  solving  a  variety  of  mini  myster- ies,  including  “What’s  5  plus  5?�  and  (See  Leonard,  Page  18)
By  ANDY  KIRKALDY VERGENNES  —  Thirty-Âthree  years  ago,  then  Addison  Northwest  Supervisory  Union  Superintendent  Gail  Link  offered  Deborah  Angier  a  yearlong  substitute  teaching  position  in  the  district’s  preschool,  then  operating  in  the  Bixby  Library Â
basement  on  Main  Street,  Vergennes.  Angier,  a  Randolph  native  whose  family  had  moved  to  Vergennes  when  she  was  a  fourth-Âgrader,  had  recently  earned  her  degree  in  elementary  education  from  Trinity  College  in  Burlington,  but  was  (See  Angier,  Page  28)