the essex
August 30, 2018 • The Essex Reporter • 1
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{ Thursday, August 30, 2018 }
Busing plan still in the works By AMANDA BROOKS Essex Westford school leaders are working on some unique – yet temporary – fixes in response to the transportation controversy this week while parents continue to chastise leaders for their handling of the ordeal, which has left many students without a bus on the first day of school. Mountain Transit has 11 drivers going through the training and licensing process and it’s unclear when they will be ready for driving, according to Brian Donahue, chief operating officer of EWSD. He added in an email to the Reporter that several drivers test dates have been moved up to the beginning of next month, meaning more bus
routes could be created earlier than expected. In lieu of a permeant solution, EWSD has been working on a few temporary fixes to ease parents’ struggles to find transportation as the school year begins. Donahue said over 1,000 responses to ridership surveys sent out by the district helped the transportation team come up with alternatives for students without transportation options, especially those in rural areas. One solution includes a fleet of districtowned minivans driven by teachers and EWSD staff members, who will be paid extra for their work in the mornings and afternoons. Donahue said that deploying these
minivans, consolidating routes and having EHS students utilize free GMT buses could get service to all of rural Essex Town on the first day of school. He also noted the district is still offering free parking passes to all EHS students, with increased capacity at the school and extra traffic attendants hired for the first week. Donahue held an information session last week on the status of busing to address parents’ concerns. After the presentation, EWSD transportation manager, Jamie Smith, and school board members joined Donahue to field questions and comments from parents. Many were frustrated with the lack
of communication and more last-minute changes, forcing them to scramble for alternative ways to get their children to school. “My son’s going to be a junior at this high school and his anxiety level is through the roof,” one parent said. “Getting on a bus, a city bus, has made him so nervous in the last week, it’s unreal.” “You didn’t plan a ‘plan b’ or a ‘plan c,’ you’re working on that now,” another parent said. “I’m hoping it’s a Band-Aid fix, that it’s not the go-to for the rest of the year.” Safety was another major concern. Parents who live on roads without sidewalks worried about their children having to walk to consolidated stops, especially during the See BUSING, page 3
Dogs have their day PHOTOS BY KYLE ST. PETER
Pooches owned the pool at Maple Street last Sunday during the annual farewell-to-summer event hosted by the Essex Jct. Recreation and Parks department. Dogs jumped, paddled and slobbered their way around the pool deck for two glorious hours. See more photos on page 2.
Village, AOE in dispute over preschool accreditation By COLIN FLANDERS The village plans to withdraw a court appeal over an Agency of Education decision that it says jeopordizes nearly $100,000 in revenue for its recreation department and instead work with the state on a legislative fix to their dispute. The controversy centers on a designation under Vermont’s universal pre-K law, Act 166, known as “prequalification.” The status allows preschool programs to partner with school districts and pass along up to 10 hours of funding per week. In an appeal filed this June, the village claimed the AOE incorrectly terminated Essex Jct. Recreation & Parks’ prequalification status and never informed the village of the change, allowing its preschool program to continue accepting school district funds without the correct accreditation.
Downplaying the clash, village attorney Claudine Safar said she doesn’t think the village is in a “completely adversarial” posture with the state, noting it has tentatively agreed to dismiss its court action without prejudice and instead pursue the legislative route. Attempts to reach AOE's legal counsel were unsuccessful. Court documents filed in the appeal show the AOE’s decisions could have ramifications not only for EJRP but also its partner districts, which can count preschoolers who attend prequalified programs in their student population numbers, or “average daily membership.” Calculated on a two-year rolling average, ADM is used to determine homestead tax rates. According to Safar, under the current AOE ruling, those partner districts can’t count students who attended the EJRP program. Now, some of those districts
want their money back, and the village fears others could follow suit. EJRP began its preschool program in 2009 at its Maple Street headquarters and two years later became accredited under the Step Ahead Recognition System, or STARS, which rates adherence to state regulations and overall performance and is a condition for prequalification. EJRP expanded its preschool program during the 2014-15 school year and started another classroom in the Park Street School. The AOE then granted EJRP prequalification status for a threeyear term starting June 2015, but it only applied to the Maple Street license. A month later, EJRP consolidated its preschool program into the Park Street location, expanding that state license to include both rooms and ending the license at Maple Street. See PRESCHOOL, page 3
Essex man appointed to community safety task force By MADELINE CLARK Rob Evans is no rookie when it comes to school and campus safety. In 2006, he led a group of officers into Essex Elementary School in response to an active shooter. He described the multi-agency response as the unfortunate reality of what law enforcement must train for these days. “Everybody knew the same tactics, everybody was operating under the same framework and they just went in and responded as they should,” he said. “It certainly highlighted for me, and I'm sure others in the state, that this type of work needs to continue.” Today, Evans serves as the Vt. Department of Public Safety and Agency of Education’s See SAFETY, page 10