The Windham Southeast Supervisory Union, Windham Southeast School District, and Vernon Town School District Boards will meet at 5:00 PM on Monday, June 9, 2025 at the Cusick Conference Room, 80 Atwood Street, Brattleboro, and remotely via Zoom. The boards will convene at 5pm for dinner, during which time no business will be conducted. The agenda begins at 6pm, at which time the Zoom link will open to the public.
It’s the June 2025 dashboard summary. We continue semi-regular COVID-19 dashboard numbers from the Vermont Department of Health, and MA counties that surround Brattleboro, as long as they continue providing them. New Hampshire has now shut down their reporting. Numbers are low, but not zero. Scroll down the new comments for the latest.
VT and MA do weekly updates, near the end of the week, so we update on Fridays usually. Variant updates are every two weeks.
F5 Searches, Seizures, and Interrogation of Students By Law Enforcement Personnel or Other Non-School Personnel
F5 was readopted last August, but the committee is revisiting the policy due to concerns that it may conflict with the District’s Commitment to Student Safety statement for students with immigration status.
The committee discussed several potentially problematic areas in F5:
Burlington, Vt – Executive Director Molly Gray of Vermont Afghan Alliance released the following statement tonight in response to President Trump’s Executive Order banning Afghan nationals from traveling to the United States:
“Citing ‘foreign policy, national security and counterterrorism objectives’ and concerns for a lack of ‘appropriate screening and vetting measures’ by the Taliban, starting ‘12:01am eastern daylight time on June 9, 2025’ entry into the United States by nationals of Afghanistan is ‘fully suspended’ according to the order.
Exceptions to the travel ban include ‘lawful permanent residents’ (green card holders) , ‘Afghan special immigrant visas’ and ‘immediate family immigrant visas’.
The order suggests, although does not confirm, special immigrant visas will be processed for the wives and children of Afghan special immigrant visa holders here in the United States. The U.S. told thousands of soldiers who supported U.S. military and intelligence efforts to leave their wives and kids behind on the promise reunification would happen within a year. This August marks four years of separation.
PUTNEY, VT – On Sunday, June 22 at 5:00 PM, join Next Stage Arts for an unforgettable evening of cinematic storytelling and exquisite cuisine as part of the NXT Feast & Film Series. This unique community event features a screening of Ang Lee’s classic 1994 film Eat Drink Man Woman, paired with a prix fixe dinner by the acclaimed Cai’s Dim Sum Catering.
Curated by James Beard Award-winning food writer Deborah Krasner, the Feast & Film Series pairs meaningful films with meals inspired by their themes. In Eat Drink Man Woman, food is both a familial bond and a silent battleground. The story follows Master Chef Chu and his three daughters as they navigate life, love, and generational change in Taipei—with Sunday dinners anchoring their emotional journeys.
On Monday June 9, 2025, BELLCO Excavation, a contractor hired by the Town, will begin a stormwater improvement project on Abbott Road. A full road closure can be expected from the intersection of Abbott Road and Greenleaf Street to the intersection of Abbott Road and Gateway Farm Lane.
The closure will be in effect on June 9 and June 10 from 7:00am to 5:00pm.
The Brattleboro Selectboard heard initial presentations about Water & Sewer and Parking budgets for FY26. This included a detailed discussion of Sunday parking, whether free parking might be better in some cases to encourage shoppers and 1% LOST income, and whether parking costs should be charged based on how popular a lot might be. The board decided to ask for no changes.
Also, pickleball courts are on the way.
Summary
● The Brattleboro Area Youth Council made a presentation to the Board and shared a statement regarding harassment, hazing and bullying.
● The Board voted to adopt the Ongoing Social Justice and Anti-Racist Commitment updated in 2025.
● The Board approved sending the Open Letter to the VSBA.
● The Board voted to send the Resolution presented this evening to the VSBA.
● Following a discussion about having meetings in July or taking a break, the Board voted to meet on 7/8/25 and 7/22/25.
● The Board accepted the resignation of five staff members and approved seven new hires.
May was a very wet month with a number of cool days. Measurable rain on 17 days with a trace on 4 days totaling 10.23″. NOAA normal for May at this location is 3.64″. This is the 3rd highest monthly total in the 6+ years I have been a CoCoRaHS observer. The other 2 highest were both in the month of July with flooding in parts of the state.
Year to date total is 24.77″ compared to the average of 17.61″. All numbers are from my location in the S.E. corner of Brattleboro and will very with location.
In case you missed it (icymi) and it is of interest, vtdigger profile, fyi:
Montpelier advocate reflects on cancer journey, advocating for unhoused neighbors and how the community has given back to him:
Have you ever noticed when you behave like a doormat, you get treated like one, have you ever had a friend or a family member who acts like a doormat and it makes you livid because you can see the footsteps coming? Walking all over them?
I think I want to reinstate the council of Censors. What is the council of censors, you may well ask? The council on censors is, or was, and will be again, an independent body elected by the people to report back to the people on the laws being passed and entertained in the statehouse. The Council of Censors would alert, and if I can get it going again, will once again alert the people of legislation that trespasses on the Constitutions of the state and the US.
Dear Neighbors,
This week Brattletboro passed a budget for the 12 months starting July 1. You can hear my thoughts (3-minute clip) on the budget here: https://www.youtube.com/live/YduOTj9stGs?feature=shared&t=1119
I supported the budget, and it passed Representative Town Meeting with flying colors (110-4, with about a dozen people abstaining). It represents compromise. We should look to the budgeting process for the following year, and time between now and then, to strengthen our Town’s financial situation, with an eye out for generations to come.
“By the People: Brattleboro Goes Fourth” is seeking parade participants as it prepares to celebrate the town’s 52nd Independence Day event on Friday, July 4, 2025.
The all-volunteer citizens committee will begin the day at 10 a.m. with a parade from Flat Street to Main Street and the Common. The shorter route comes after requests from older marchers and challenges finding enough volunteers and public safety patrols to monitor a longer distance.
June 2 Mexican Lasagna
Garden Salad
Garlic Bread
Tropical Fruit
Next Stage’s Bandwagon Summer Series continues with a high-octane evening of music and soul as Christine Ohlman & Rebel Montez take the stage on Saturday, June 21 at 6:00 pm at the Putney Inn Field, 57 Putney Landing Road, Putney. Tickets are $22 in advance, $25 at the gate, and children under 12 are free. Food will be available from 802 Soul Kitchen, with more information and tickets at nextstagearts.org.
Known as “The Beehive Queen” for her signature mile-high platinum hairdo, Christine Ohlman is a powerhouse of American rock and soul. Best known as the longtime vocalist for NBC’s Saturday Night Live Band, she most recently appeared in the SNL 50th Anniversary telecast in February 2025. With her band, Rebel Montez, Ohlman brings her fiery energy and deep musical roots to the hills of Vermont for a family-friendly, can’t-miss performance.
The Brattleboro Selectboard will hold a special meeting on Friday, May 30, 2025 at 12:00pm at the Brattleboro Municipal Center (230 Main Street, Room 212) and over Zoom. The attached agenda contains information on how to access the meeting remotely, including the required “passcode.” Closed captioning will be available for deaf and hard-of-hearing community members.
The Brattleboro Selectboard will hold a regular meeting on Tuesday, June 3, 2025 at 6:15pm in the Selectboard Meeting Room at the Brattleboro Municipal Center (230 Main Street, Room 212) and over Zoom. Prior to the meeting the Board will meet at 5:45pm to hold committee interviews for the Development Review Board. The attached agenda contains information on how to access the meeting remotely, including the required “passcode.” ASL interpreters will be available for deaf and hard-of-hearing community members.
The Brattleboro Charter Revision Commission will meet on Wednesday, June 4, 2025 at 6:15pm in the Selectboard Meeting Room and over Zoom.
The Brattleboro Tree Advisory Committee will meet on Thursday, May 5, 2025 at 4:15pm in the Hanna Cosman Meeting Room.
If the proposed budget that includes Medicaid cuts passes, ten million Americans will lose support that keeps them alive. Republicans in Washington are hiding behind the fraud and abuse mantra saying that their cuts will make the program run more efficiently. What they really want to do is to eliminate the program so that “those people” do not use up the money that the fat cats want more of. It’s that simple.
In Vermont 151,000 people, or 26% of the population, receive some degree of benefit from the Medicaid program. People will lose access to health care and medications. A lot of people will suffer and die if they lose this benefit. The politicians who vote for these cuts should be prosecuted for first degree murder when the first diabetic dies because he could not afford enough insulin to control his blood sugar.
All Town offices within the Brattleboro Municipal Center will be closed on Friday, June 6, 2025, from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. for a staff training.
With a new award-winning novel just published, author Tim Weed talks about the many worlds of fiction, his outdoor adventures and leading international education programs through NatGeo and Putney Student Travel. “The Afterlife Project”book launch party is at NXT Stage on June 3 at 6pm.
