Editor’s note: This commentary is by Rama Schneider, who is an active member of the Williamstown community including more than six years on the school board.
[A] while ago I was watching a video posted on the Northeast Addison Television website of the most recent Addison Northeast Supervisory Union teacher negotiations. The bulk of the video was taken up by a presentation put on by Laura Soares and Mark Hage, who were both representing the Vermont Educators Health Initiative (VEHI).
It seems VEHI, the health insurer for almost all of Vermont’s educators, will soon be dropping its current cadre of grandfathered health insurance plans and putting in place one or more Affordable Care Act (ACA or Obamacare) compliant offerings. It appears there is a great deal of uncertainty as to who will actually be in the VEHI insurance pool and who will be required by law to move over to the health insurance exchange or even if VEHI will be able to continue should the state move ahead with some statewide employee insurance program that would include teachers and other school employees. And this will all be taking place over the next two to three years.
I couldn’t help but notice that just behind Laura as she spoke was a sign that simply said “Keep Calm and Carry On.”
These are great times to be a school board member in Vermont, and I say this in absolute sincerity. The challenges and opportunities for school districts and the boards that oversee them have in the last several years come at an amazing rate that is simultaneously frustrating and energizing.
Buildings still need to be maintained, superintendents supervised, community needs responded to, staff and administrative contracts negotiated, and the state is now threatening to punish local communities should the supervisory union boards not fulfill their legal obligations as defined in law.
Meals served in our buildings have become free for those who were paying a reduced price while we also instituted new and improved nutrition related federal mandates. Our public primary and secondary schools have with the addition of early learning and expanded early college offerings grown into a pre-kindergarten through 12 plus system. Introduction of the Common Core State Standards has brought with it a wave of new educational quality standards, curriculum changes, increase in the need for staff and administrative professional development, and a sense of urgency regarding upgraded and expanded communications technology not to mention greater expectations regarding learning opportunities and student outcomes.
Governance-related structural changes started with Act 153 of 2010 have reached a crescendo with this year’s Act 46 as the state policy has shifted from increasing supervisory union board responsibility and authority to mandated district consolidation. And of course there are the changes coming to the VEHI program I mentioned above.
All of this alone is a full set of plates or three, but we also need to put together budget proposals under the extra pressure of double taxation for spending growth above a state defined minimal allowable limit. Buildings still need to be maintained, superintendents supervised, community needs responded to, staff and administrative contracts negotiated, and the state is now threatening to punish local communities should the supervisory union boards not fulfill their legal obligations as defined in law.
Of the utmost priority, of course, is the need to give the children and young adults in our schools the best educational opportunities we can offer, and we must do our utmost to ensure a great outcome for each and every student.
These are great times to be a school board member. These are great times to be part of a real change machine. For a summer metaphor all you need to do is jump into the pool with all the other swimmers and splash and make waves.
But above all keep calm and carry on.
