The Redistricting Task Force created by Act 73 met in Waterbury on the morning of August 1. Here is a summary of the meeting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
08:30 Elected Sen. Martine Gulick and Rep. Edye Graning as co-chairs.
Members introduced themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
08:45 Legislative Counsel reviewed Act 73 and the charge of the task force.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
09:10 Members articulated their goals:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What problem are we trying to solve?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n What do we hope to achieve?<\/strong> What data do we need?<\/strong> 09:51 Secretary Saunders explains process of filling AOE positions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 09:55 Discussion of Task Force\u2019s connection with the Commission on the Future of Education<\/strong>. General comments<\/strong> 10:05 Break<\/p>\n\n\n\n Hiring a Facilitator<\/strong> Data Tools<\/strong> Future meetings<\/strong> Public comments<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n 11:04 adjourn<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Redistricting Task Force created by Act 73 met in Waterbury on the morning of August 1. Here is a summary of the meeting. 08:30 Elected Sen. Martine Gulick and Rep. Edye Graning as co-chairs.Members introduced themselves. 08:45 Legislative Counsel reviewed Act 73 and the charge of the task force. 09:10 Members articulated their goals: […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-494","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vermontdesign.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/494","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vermontdesign.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vermontdesign.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vermontdesign.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vermontdesign.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=494"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/vermontdesign.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/494\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":499,"href":"https:\/\/vermontdesign.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/494\/revisions\/499"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vermontdesign.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=494"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vermontdesign.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=494"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vermontdesign.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=494"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
– Create three maps.
– Identify cost drivers.
– Identify best practices. Build on what we are doing well.
– Identify success from collective action among districts.
– Design cohesive PreK-12 experiences for students.
– How will we define success? Low taxes? Educational opportunity? Outcomes?
– Avoid going beyond our mission. Focus on our assigned tasks.
– Put together maps that are practical and passable.
– Does consolidation save money?
– Our task will require some hard choices and sacrifices, and so we must involve the public.
– Our task will require perhaps more time than has been allocated.
– Identify what legislation will need to be changed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
– Vermont demographic trends for future student population. And where.
– How many school districts is enough?
– We want maps with overlays. Where kids live, and where they go to school.
– We need access to all the existing data on school buildings.
– Data on the capacity of the Agency of Education, and what support will be needed in the future.
– Projections of optimized school locations.
– CTE sending patterns. List of approved private schools.
– Teacher and principal turnover data.
– Clarity on educational outcomes: how do we measure benefit to students?
– What is an adequate number of educational entities?
– Data on BOCES-type shared services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What questions should they be asking the public?<\/strong>
– What is important to preserve in our schools?
– What are their hopes for the future?
– School boards want to tell us what they think \u2014 we should create a – communication channel(s).
– What do you value in our current system? (Not structures but values.)
– What specific aspects of local control are most important to you?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
– We need to summarize our work without jargon, so we are transparent.
– We now have an official Task Force email: ADM.Redistricting@vermont.gov<\/a>
– And a website: https:\/\/aoa.vermont.gov\/school-district-redistricting-task-force<\/a>
– We are acting for the entire state, not just our town or school.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
10:12 Secretary of Administration Clark explains process of hiring a facilitator(s).
10:21 Task force suggests a simplified bid process. Authorizes chairs to work with Secretary Clark to develop a bid.
Discusses scope of work for facilitator:
– Summaries of meetings.
– Plans outreach.
– Writes the final report.
– Develops a work plan and calendar, working backward from the final report.
– Gets materials to members well in advance.
Make sure the facilitator has extensive experience in Vermont public education.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
10:30 Sec of Digital services Hughes and GIS chief John Allen introduce \u201cDistrict Builder\u201d data tool.
10:41 Discussion of the data tools.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
10:43 Discussion of future meetings.
Agree on sIx-hour meetings, starting at 09:30, In different locations. Will coordinate calendars.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n