Morrisville Rotary Club

Present: Tim Sargent, Jason McArthur, Davis Koier, Marcia Marble, Roy Marble, Phil Grant, Phil Chiaravalle, Jim Mahoney, Mel Patashnick, Patti Coultas, Mary Metcalf, Deanna Wood, Gary Nolan, Rudy Loyola, Susan Bartlett, Mark Cattelona, and Ted Lambert.

Guests: Geoffrey Blume, Meredith Haff, Armando Vilaseca

Tim collected happy dollars from Deanna, Mel, Mary, Patti, Jim ($5), Jason, Phil, Davis, Dr. Phil, Geoffrey, Gary, Rudy and Tim

Phil Grant said that Peoples Academy is working with Senator Leahy to create video postcards to servicemen in Iraq. Contact Phil for more information

Tim explained that catering is still open. Deb’s Place will submit an offer, Sweet Crunch already did ($5.50 or $6.50 per person). Tim will let us know. Jim would like it if one of those companies sent someone to join the Rotary. Then we could support our member’s businesses.

Susan introduced Commissioner of Education Armondo Vilaseca.

Commissioner Vilaseca talked about preparing our children for the 21^st century and budget challenges. He discussed the results of the state tests in relation to the National Association for Educational Progress (NAEP) and said that Vermont students are doing very well nationally and internationally. If we were our own country, our education would be listed in the top 10 percent.

Children in poverty is the biggest challenge in Vermont. This group of students tends to score 20 points lower on tests than those of the general populations. Additionally, of those incarcerated who are 23 years or younger, 90% do not have a high school diploma. The Community High School of Vermont (in the prisons) is the largest district in Vermont.

One challenge of budgets is the increasing number of staff to student ratio. This is not because school districts choose to hire more people, but because they are required to provide certain services.

The Commissioner is in favor of reducing the number of school districts, and having the supervisory unions act as the district. This would just consolidate the administrative functions of the region. The savings would be close to 17.5 million dollars.

Current there is a student to staff ration of 4.5 to 1. If we increased the number of students to 4.75 for every 1 staff member, the savings would be significant.

The bill that passed the Vermont Legislature was for voluntary consolidation, with tax incentives for a study to consolidate. This is a step in the right direction.

Addition Northwest voted for consolidating to one district but there was a recall and the next vote will be soon. (Note: The vote was 5/11 and all 5 towns had to pass the consolidation bill, 1 of the 5 rejected it, so the measure failed.)

Marcia asked about mother’s health education. Vilaseca said that with a department cut of 32 since he arrived (about 20%) they are working at partnerships to fill in gaps. The partnership with the DCF Dept. of Health is a strong one. They are working on the health curriculum for the DOE, from nursing to health education.

At 8am, Jim thanked the Commissioner for coming and noted that others could stay if they wanted to discuss education issues with him.

Minutes submitted by Patti Coultas.