by Greg Hughes, Bethel
A Friend of Vermont Public Education
Over the past ten years I have watched the theory of school webs manifest itself here in the White River valley. I live in Bethel, part of the ten-town White River Valley Supervisory Union. Four of our towns closed their small high schools: Bethel, Chelsea, Rochester and Royalton. Bethel became the middle school and Royalton the high school. It has been six years since this happened and things are going well, with the White River Valley middle and high schools becoming the schools of choice for the other eight towns. The smaller towns are focused on community- based elementary schools and some of them have consolidated.
This school web evolved much the way described here on A Vermont Design. Our ten-town web basically makes up the White River Watershed. Each of the four branches of the White River enjoys a state-maintained road that leads into the valley. Between the branches of the White River are mountains. This area basically makes up the hill towns of Central Vermont, where population clusters are driven by geography more than town lines.
A very appealing part of A Vermont Design is the way it cuts the number of administrative units in half, yet maintains local control. Far superior to the Governor’s proposal, the Vermont Design is also student-centered. Only educators and parents seem to appreciate that feature. However it is an essential ingredient. We in the White River Valley looks forward to sharing our progress with other similarly-situated rural areas of Vermont.
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