Dear members of our six town community,
At our last meeting on June 12, 2019, the Harwood Unified Union School District (HUUSD) board reviewed the remaining 10 (of the original 27) PreK - 12 scenarios with the goal of having 3-5 models by the end of the meeting.To assist with this effort, Brigid Nease, HUUSD Superintendent, presented the administrative perspective on each of the 10 change model scenarios; and Michelle Baker, Chief Financial Officer, presented on the expenses of all 7 schools. The board indicated that the administration will model the status quo (scenario R) and, for comparison purposes only, a hypothetical “everyone-under-one-roof” (aka “maximally cost effective”) scenario. Therefore the board was left with a list of 9 scenarios (A, B, C, D, E, G, P, S, and V), which they narrowed down to 3 (see actions #2-5 below, which include descriptions of the scenarios, also found on the District Plan/Bond Project tab at wwsu.org). The board then asked the admin team to populate these models using our approved criteria for the Board and community to review and consider in the fall.
The Board took action on the five (5) items below (listed in order of the time in the meeting when the vote occurred):
Approved the following items as part of the consent agenda: Approve past meeting Minutes; Accept Voucher 1279 equaling $134,244.02. Authorize the Superintendent as the CEO of the HUUSD to accept and administer all federal and state grants (this annual board authorization is required in order for the district to receive federal grant funds in the upcoming year). Approve heating oil bid from Gillespie Fuels for 2019-2020 at the fixed prepaid rate of $2.46/gallon for 72,000 gallons. Approve tax anticipation note in the amount of $4,000,000 from the Union Bank for 2019-2020.
Adopted: Move scenario D (PreK - 4 at Thatcher Brook, PreK - 6 at Moretown, Waitsfield and Warren, Grades 5 - 6 at Crossett Brook and 7 - 8 at Crossett Brook, Grades 9 - 12 at Harwood Union) forward for further modeling.
Adopted: Move scenario B (PreK - 4 at Thatcher Brook, PreK - 4 at three valley schools, Grades 5 - 8 Crossett Brook, Grades 9 - 12 at Harwood Union) forward for further modeling.
Adopted: Move scenario A (PreK/Early Ed Center/Central Office at Moretown Elementary, PreK - 4 at Thatcher Brook, Waitsfield and Warren, Grades 5 - 8 Crossett Brook, Grades 9 - 12 at Harwood Union) forward for further modeling. After consideration, separate motions to move forward scenarios C, P, and S each failed.
Adopted: Eliminate G, V, E from further consideration.
Our next meeting is Wednesday, June 26th at 6:00 pm in the Harwood Union School library. Also, please come early to join us for a Vision Process Celebration at 5pm that evening in the library.
Please visit www.wwsu.org/huusd-board to confirm time and place of meetings as start times and locations are subject to change. You’ll also find all board and committee agendas, packets and minutes, HUUSD Smart Goals for the 2018-2019 school year, and the link to board meeting videos. The direct link to watch this and other recent meetings is: https://mrvtv.com/category/school-board-meetings/. An archive of older meetings can be found here: https://archive.org/search.php?query=Harwood+Unified+Union+School+Board&sort=-date
Thank you for your continued support and engagement.
Respectfully,
The HUUSD Board