The Mountain Times - Volume 48, Number 47: Nov. 20-26, 2019

2 • LOCAL NEWS
The Mountain Times • Nov. 20-26, 2019
BINGO
Every Thursday
Doors open 5pm
Games start 7pm
American Legion - Post
87 871 Pleasant Street
West Rutland, Vt 05777
Guided tours of Woodstock school to be offered
Editor’s note: This press release is the first in a weekly
series provided to the Mountain Times by the Windsor
Central Supervisory Union office.
Since 2017, the WCSU (Windsor Central Supervisory
Union) Board, working with a team of planning experts
for education facilities, WCSU faculty, staff and community
members, has been engaged in ongoing planning to
develop solutions to concerns related to the condition
of the Woodstock Union High School
and Middle School. Through detailed
facility studies and analysis conducted
by experts in the field, site visits to
other schools around the country
and preparation of a master plan
for a new middle and high school
facility, board members have
processed the extent of the challenges.
A recent guided tour of the
building prior to the Oct. 14 board
meeting underscored the urgency
in addressing these challenges and
to finding a solution to the WUHSMS
facility issues.
The current facility was constructed in
1957, is now over 60 years old and (while code
compliant by virtue of being grandfathered in) does
not meet current standards for health, safety or learning
– including such items as ADA compliance; fire safety;
septic system; HVAC, security, and structural codes. The
district is faced with annual costs related to the inherent
energy inefficiencies of a 1950s era building along with
the replacement costs of systems that are obsolete and at
risk of failure.
Given the magnitude of structural, operating and programmatic
challenges facing the building, Band-aiding
the myriad of issues is no longer a viable solution and
does not appear to make good economic sense.
Additionally, the 1950s era configuration of the
WUHSMS does not meet the programmatic needs of current
learning and teaching standards. Many of the spaces
in the existing school are inadequate for the activities that
take place in them: closets turned into offices, makeshift
>
spaces, classrooms that are undersized and inflexible,
and arts and athletic spaces that over the past 60 years
have become obsolete. Further, methods of learning and
teaching continue to evolve to enable students to develop
the skills and dispositions they need to attain in order
to be well positioned for future plans and aspirations.
Modern teaching and learning spaces are flexible and
student centered and designed to foster collaboration
and connectivity. Learning is visible and
celebrated in designated public spaces.
Designs include places for students to
work in small and large groups; integrate
across content areas; digitally
connect with outside resources
and experts; and connect to the
outdoors. These environments
foster a sense of purpose, value,
confidence and safety for all students
and educators.
Given these issues, at the end of
the last school year (June of 2019),
the board voted unanimously to
explore the financial viability, including
public, private and other funding sources, of
building a new middle and high school as part of
a district-wide facility improvement plan. The resolution
included a recognition that improved facilities are necessary
investments to support the attainment of Portrait of
a Graduate outcomes and the proposed district strategic
plan. This strategic plan identifies learning environments
as a critical focus area and sets forth a vision that “Our
facilities serve as an example for Vermont and meet or
exceed national best practices for school design.”
To better inform community members of the current
facility issues facing WUHSMS and plans for addressing
those issues, a series of guided building tours and follow
up conversations have been scheduled for the dates and
times listed below. All tours will begin in the school lobby.
• Thursday, Nov. 21 from 5:30-6:30 p.m.
• Wednesday, Dec. 4 from 5:30-6:30 p.m.
• Thursday, Dec. 9 from 5-6 p.m.
• Thursday, Dec. 19 from 5:30-6:30 p.m.
The unsupplied demand
did not go unnoticed by
Oliver Szott.
Entrepreneur: Barnard teen spots an opportunity
from page 1
to buy out-of-town newspapers
in Barnard,” he posted on the
listserv. “My name is Oliver Szott,
I’m thirteen years old, and I had
an idea to help fill this gap. With
help from Sara at The Fan House
and the Universalist Church—I
am introducing
an
out-of-town
newspaper
subscription
service
for Barnard.”
The first Sunday, Oliver had a
supply of papers people could
pick up at the Universalist
Church between 8:30 and 10:30
a.m.
Subsequent deliveries would
be on a pre-order weekly or
monthly basis that could be arranged
either by email or in person
during Szott’s “office hours”
– also 8:30 – 10:30 a.m. Sundays
at the church.
Barnard General Store had
been selling five weekday out-oftown
papers and 10-15 Sunday
editions. Oliver told the Mountain
Times he sold about a dozen
Sunday papers in the summer of
2018, but in the fall the number
drops in half. He doesn’t sell the
dailies because “it isn’t profitable,”
he said.
“Delivery” consists of a stack
of marked
reserved
papers on
his porch
with an
honor box
for payments. He charges $1 over
the retail price and pays the $3
delivery fee out of that. It’s not a
big margin, but Oliver hopes to
save up enough from all sources
to someday buy a car.
His interests include filmmaking,
politics and business.
Newspaper distribution isn’t
his first enterprise – two or three
years ago Oliver and his cousin
sold homemade sodas at Feast
and Field and the Mt. Tom Farmers’
Market.
“I have some other ideas,
too,” he said, “but I haven’t done
anything with them yet.”