June 30, 2016 The Essex Reporter

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Reporter

June 30, 2016 • The Essex Reporter •1

THE ESSEX June 30, 2016

Vol. 36, no. 26

Prsrt Std ECRWSS U.S. Postage Paid Permit No. 266 Essex Junction, VT 05452 Postal Patron-Residential

SEW FAR, SEW GOOD

Essex Area Senior Center to become municipal dept. By MICHAELA HALNON Members of the Essex Area Senior Center, Inc. voted unanimously on Monday to dissolve their 501(c)(3) nonprofit status and transfer center management to the municipality of Essex. More than 75 of the 171 senior center members attended a special meeting at the municipal offices to discuss the impending change with the existing board of directors and town officials. The move will not go to a town vote, said Donna Rae Harnish, chairwoman of the EASC board, because the center plans to continue being financially self-sufficient. The center, which operates out of the village offices, offers programs like bridge, jazzercise and scrabble. It was only in January the center became a nonprofit and hired its first paid employee, senior activities coordinator Lou See SENIOR, page 2

Photo by COLIN FLANDERS Jenna Jeter, 7, of Essex is an avid quilter. This weekend, she took part in the Vermont Quilt Festival for the third year in a row at the Champlain Valley Expo in Essex.

7-year-old quilter shows in festival for third year By COLIN FLANDERS

I

n her third year participating in the Vermont Quilt Festival, Jenna Jeter operates like an old pro. While many quilters

were off preparing for the weekend ahead, Jenna started off last Thursday morning with a brisk yoga session before suffering through a one-man media blitz in her backyard. Later that evening, she stopped off at the Champlain Val-

ley Expo for the festival’s awards ceremony to check on her entry, titled “Jenna’s Colorful Jigsaw Puzzle.” The quilt’s kaleidoscopic center with a teal border displays dumbbell-shaped patches ranging from flowery oranges to earthy

Shaking the grade

By COLIN FLANDERS

T File photo As of now, Essex High School has no plans to lower its passing grade to 60 from 70.

The road to Essex’s unified school district is ushering in all sorts of change, from financial controls and governance, down to its very name. But one major component at Essex High School will remain the same. EHS has a passing grade of 70. There’s no mandated grading scale in Vermont, so local districts can set their own standards. The scale makes EHS an outlier

See QUILTER, page 12

Unified district picks finance system

Should EHS lower its passing grade? By COLIN FLANDERS

greens and bold maroons. Luckily, the quilt was hung low enough for the 7-year-old to pose for a picture. Jenna made her first quilt two years ago with the help of Beth Giard, her grandmother,

in Chittenden County, as the other seven public schools have lower passing grades: Burlington, Champlain Valley Union, Colchester, Milton, Mt. Mansfield and South Burlington all have a passing grade of 60. Winooski’s is 65. For EHS, that means grades between 60 and 69 result in an F. Meanwhile, students at CVU, which has similar enrollment, receive Ds for grades in the same range. In light of these disparities, some faculty members urged the

school board to reexamine the scale in 2009. Yet the school council — the high school’s supervisory entity at the time — failed to reach a consensus, stopping the movement in its tracks. Those in favor of keeping the 70 passing grade have said it would lower Essex High School’s academic standards. Robin Rhodes Astor, a parent and director of enrollment operations at St. Michael’s College,

he Essex Westford Educational Community School Board has decided on a finance system, choosing Infinite Visions — currently used by the Essex Town School District — to be implemented across the unified district. The purchase represents the board’s first major expenditure since beginning to meet in February, and will use more than half of the allotted transition grant. Since finance and human resources allow school districts to pay employees and make

purchases through vendors, it was essential for this system to be in place when the district begins operating July 1, 2017. Beyond a three-pluspage list of detailed requirements, administrators took into account three grander provisions: the system’s user-friendliness, how easy it can be taught and its cost. Personnel from the Chittenden Central Supervisory Union and ETSD finance and HR offices participated in the selection process, narrowing the search to their two current vendors: Infinite Visions and SunGard, the latter which is used by See FINANCE, page 12

See GRADE, page 3

Death reported at GlobalFoundries By JASON STARR A 60-year-old GlobalFoundries employee reportedly died of self-inflicted wounds while on the job Monday in Essex Jct., according to the Essex Police Department. Police responded to GlobalFoundries about 10 a.m. Monday to find workers administering CPR to the man. The man was unresponsive and transported to the University of Vermont Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead, a press release said. “The GlobalFoundries community is

saddened by this loss and concerned for the family and co-workers,” company spokesman James Keller said. Essex Detective George Murtie said the manner of death did not involve a firearm but declined further comment. He said at no time was there a threat to the public. GlobalFoundries declined to release additional information. File photo Left: Police say a man died of self inflicted wounds while on the job at GlobalFoundries in Essex on Monday.


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