The Windham Southeast School District Board will hold a Public Information Meeting on the Proposed FY ’21 Budget at 6:00 p.m. on Tuesday, March 10, 2020 in the Brattleboro Area Middle School’s Multi-Purpose Room, 109 Sunny Acres, Brattleboro. (Note: Childcare will be provided)
The Windham Southeast School District Communications Council will meet at 12:00 Noon on Thursday, October 17 at the Brooks Memorial Library, 224 Main Street, Brattleboro.
At a time when the Windham Southeast Supervisory Union grows more diverse in its student population and educators clamor for tools to engender relevant cultural inclusion and equity, the WSESU School Board has proposed to cut Mikeala Simm’s position as Director of Diversity, Equity, and Social Justice. The proposal to cut her position was just announced today before the upcoming board meeting tonight. Let come out in force this evening at the Windham Regional Career Center Conference room at 6:30 p.m.
The Brattleboro Selectboard decided to revise their proposed plastic bag ban ordinance bag thickness, increasing it from 1 mil to 2.25 mil. This came after some special demonstrations and displays were presented and comments taken.
They also got a peek at the FY19 budget, with a review by the Town Manager that sets a course for in-depth analysis at a series of upcoming meetings. The board learned of continued steps in the realm of diversity, inclusion and equity. Groundworks received grant funds for operation of their new shelter, and results of the panhandling survey were reviewed.
Brattleboro’s Town Manager revealed the results of his summer explorations of issues of diversity, inclusion, and equity. He got generally good reviews for the summary of his report, but more than a few requested some additional specifics be included. Brattleboro seems to be in a good position to make progress over the long term, but benchmarks and budgets might help.
The pesky panhandling sign returned in a semi-uncertain form, with wording in question and sponsoring organizations and services asking for their logos to be removed. The private effort was to be a collaboration, but appears to have offended a few too many.
The board also signed a statement in support of other climate agreements being signed around the globe. (For Kate O’Connor’s sake, I’ll say here that Brattleboro has been working on climate issues for a long time, is committed to action, and will continue to be so.)
All this, and possibly more.
The energy of the Brattleboro Selectboard was spent on many issues of energy – from a demonstration of carbon use during a fuel oil purchase to appointing, oddly, multiple weighers of coal. Energy improvements were contemplated, but not firm enough to take hold quite yet.
The conversation about diversity continued, with a status report and a plan to survey experts and others in the community before jumping in with decided plans. Green Street and surrounding areas will get a new network of trails. And the board asked for an ordinance to ban single use plastic bags from retail outlets.
