Plans for a teacher walkout at an independent school in Dorset are off, following the resignation of the school board’s head this week.
John Moser stepped down as chair of Long Trail School’s board of trustees on Tuesday, saying it was “in the best interests of the school.”
The move came a week after a majority of the school’s faculty and staff declared they planned to hold student education on the campus fields Oct. 15 if the board didn’t meet the group’s demands — chief of which was Moser’s resignation.
Moser said he will leave the school board altogether on or before Jan. 1.
In a joint statement Wednesday, Long Trail’s faculty, head of school and board members said there won’t be any disruption in student education. It said the faculty has designated Oct. 15 as Celebrate Long Trail School Day, where students, faculty, parents, trustees, alumni and community members “will join together in the values of the school to beautify our campus, to play games, do arts and crafts and have fun, and to share a meal.”
On Tuesday, according to the statement, school headmaster Seth Linfield and board members took part in a “moderated conversation” with faculty members about issues of school leadership and communication that the staff recently raised.
Having a moderated forum with Long Trail management was among six major demands that more than half of the faculty and staff listed in a public letter Sept. 27 to the school board.
Besides Moser’s resignation, the group sought the release of Linfield’s contract terms and performance reviews in the past two years. It also asked that the board’s bylaws be posted on the school website and wanted the removal of a portion of the parent-student handbook that allows disenrollment of students, based on the behavior of their guardians.
The dialogue on Tuesday resulted in “agreements to continue to meet and repair our relationship and our school processes,” according to the joint statement of the three parties. It said the school board is planning some governance changes, including changes in board composition and information distribution. No details were provided.
Linfield, in response to an interview request, forwarded the joint statement and a separate statement announcing Moser’s resignation.
The 26 faculty and staff members who signed the open letter declined to comment, telling VTDigger the group instead wanted to focus on their students.
Moser, identified on the school website as a Manchester resident, emailed VTDigger a copy of his resignation letter. In it, he cites some of the Long Trail board’s accomplishments in the five years he has been among the trustees.
He mentioned construction of a “state-of-the art” athletic facility that could host winter games, turning around the school’s financial situation toward stability and sustainability, and reversing the school’s declining enrollment even before the pandemic brought an influx of students to the area.
He also wrote about being “deeply frustrated and saddened” to see many in the school community seek “to win at all costs instead of looking for ways to collaborate for the greater cause — our students.”
Even though Moser disagreed with what he described as “bullying tactics,” he said he hopes that resigning would allow much-needed constructive conversations to happen and for the school community to move forward.
He didn’t respond when asked whether he was referring to the faculty and staff letter signatories in speaking about people who used bullying tactics and sought to win at all costs.
The letter itself came after a Sept. 20 public meeting where some Long Trail faculty members and parents talked about systemic problems at the grades 9-12 school. The issues they raised included the leadership’s supposed top-down management style and lack of transparency, high turnover among teaching staff, and lack of recourse for faculty and staff, students, parents and alumni.
Long Trail School, founded in 1975, has 239 students from Vermont, New York and overseas.
