Mountain Times - Vol. 49, No. 53 - Dec. 30, 2020 - Jan 2, 2021

4 • LOCAL NEWS
The Mountain Times • Dec. 30, 2020 - Jan. 5, 2021
OBITUARY
Debra Poplawski-Wilson, 57
On Thursday Dec. 17,
Debra Poplawski-Wilson,
57, a former resident
of Rutland passed away
peacefully at her father’s
home in Mendon. She
bravely fought Glioblastoma
Brain Cancer
for 43 months and was
considered a long-term
survivor.
The daughter of
Eugene J. and Barbara P.
(Grum) Poplawski she
was born in Belleville,
New Jersey on Nov. 17,
1963. Early in her childhood,
the family moved
to Bridgewater and after a
few years in Bridgewater,
finally settled in Rutland.
Debra Poplawski-
Wilson was a very active
person her entire life. In
her teen years as a student,
she played tennis
and ski raced and varsity
lettered for both. She was
also active in choir,
marathon, honor society,
cheerleading, and other
high school activities. She
was also a member of the
Pico Ski Club.
Though COVID keeps
many of us apart,
I don’t feel alone
at The Gables.
Select residency
now available
She was a familiar face
at Pop's Place, the restaurant
owned by her family.
After school, she
participated in Rotary
exchange program, which
took her to Brazil. She
said it was an experience
of a lifetime and she
learned fluent Portuguese
while abroad. She also
traveled Europe for a
short time before coming
back to Rutland. Once
home, Deb renewed her
educational goals and
received her Bachelor of
Science Psychology in
1986 and, upon attending
online courses with
the Phoenix University,
she finally received her
Masters’ degree in Psychology
in 2010.
Deb’s life was funny
though and she laughed
that she could do better
in the restaurant business
than as a psychologist. She
worked in many restaurants
and clubs over her
lifetime as a waitress and
bartender but most passionately
as a pastry chef.
Her passion for baking
led to what personified
her life. Her passion for
baking led to her operating
four bakeries in the
Rutland and Killington
areas. Most recently, she
operated Sweet Lovin’
Creations on Wales St. in
2017 – 2018 before her
cancer made it impossible
to continue the shop.
However, she also had a
“home” bakery and was
well known for her beauti-
Obit > 19
Dining Services • Housekeeping • Transportation • Maintenance •
Pet-Friendly • One & Two Bedroom Residences
Before another winter comes this way,
explore Rutland County’s
premier retirement community.
For info or a tour,
call Randi Cohn
at 802-770-5275 or
visit us online.
Debra Poplawski-Wilson
200 Gables Place, Rutland, VT
www.thegablesvt.com
Where the living is easy
Farmers to Families Food Box program
to continue through February
Thanks to generous community
support, the Vermont Foodbank is able
to extend the Farmers to Families Food
Box program into January and February,
independent of the USDA.
In partnership with the Abbey Group,
Farmers to Families food boxes will
continue to be available at multiple daily
food distributions throughout the state
through February.
To keep wait times to a minimum, reservations
will be required for the distributions.
To register and see the dates and
locations, please visit humanresources.
vermont.gov/food-help or call 802-476-
Schools can no longer ask
about gatherings, state says
By Lola Duffort/VTDigger
Schools cannot ask students or parents
about multihousehold gatherings, the
Agency of Education announced just before
Christmas, entirely reversing the state’s
prior policy encouraging schools to do so.
Gov. Phil Scott announced Tuesday, Dec.
22, he would slightly loosen prohibitions
on multihousehold events over the holiday
week, allowing Vermonters to gather with
one trusted household outside their own
between Dec. 23 and Jan. 2.
But the state’s new education guidance
does not adjust the question schools should
ask, or instruct schools to temporarily
suspend its inquiries. Instead, it rescinds
earlier guidance outright.
“Schools may no longer include a question
on multihousehold social gatherings in
their daily health check
questionnaires,” reads
a three-line memo issued
this week.
On Thursday, Education
Secretary Dan
French called the prior directive “arguably
probably the most challenging thing we’ve
asked [schools] to do,” and noted coronavirus
case counts had leveled off from the
early November surge, when the question
was originally posed.
“We felt comfortable saying this guidance
was no longer necessary,” French
said during the governor’s twice-weekly
press conference.
Scott added that contact tracers are
no longer seeing as many cases linked to
social gatherings as before, which indicated
that the second shutdown had persuaded
residents to substantially change their
behavior. “I think Vermonters have gotten
the message,” Scott said.
The new guidance gets schools out of
the business of enforcing the governor’s
(currently partial) ban on multihousehold
socialization, a change some administrators
will welcome. But it is equally likely that
it will alarm many educators, who are worried
people will let their guard down and
bring an onslaught of cases into schools
after Christmas and New Year’s.
Darren Allen, a spokesperson for the VT-
“I think Vermonters
have gotten the
message,” Scott said.
0316 for assistance.
New distribution dates and locations
will be posted regularly—please continue
to check back if you do not see the location
or date you are looking for. January
dates will be posted soon.
Each reservation will receive one box
with about 30 lbs of food, including fresh
produce, dairy products, and meat.
You are welcome to pick up food for
other families who are not able to make it
to the pickup site, just be sure to make a
separate reservation for each household
you would like to pick up for. Each reservation
is for one box of food.
NEA, said the union hadn’t known about
the change ahead of time, but it appears
to be in line with the governor’s general
lockdown relaxation.
“We continue to hope that everyone —
families, staff and the community — continue
to put the safety of themselves and
other Vermonters first,” Allen said.
As part of their new roster of pandemicera
safety protocols, schools survey
students or families daily about whether
children are symptomatic or have recently
traveled out of state before allowing them to
attend school in-person. (In many districts,
parents in the morning simply click
through a quick questionnaire at home on
their computer or phone.)
When he imposed a second lockdown
in November amid a
record-breaking surge
of Covid-19 cases,
Scott also encouraged
schools to begin
including a question
about multihousehold gatherings in their
daily health check.
The move proved deeply controversial,
and put local education leaders in a difficult
spot. Some administrators appreciated
the clarity about whether they were within
their rights to send students home if their
families had attended events in violation of
the governor’s orders. But others felt deeply
uncomfortable prying into what they
thought were private matters. The policy
was also seized upon in the national rightwing
media, where commentators suggested
teachers would interrogate children
and demand they spy on their parents.
Jeanné Collins, superintendent of the
Rutland Northeast Supervisory Union,
did not ask students but instead put the
question to parents, and gave them some
latitude as to how they wanted to interpret
the governor’s directive.
She thinks simply asking the question
raised awareness about the gathering ban,
and got many to reconsider their plans. “I
am concerned that I can no longer ask it
because I think my staff will be quite concerned
about safety,” she wrote in an email.