Wavell,
For your review.  RB
----- Original Message -----
From: Wavel Cowen <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Tuesday, September 28, 1999 7:57 AM
Subject: Info for Newspaper


> Hereafter is proposed material to be submitted for publication in
> Moretown Matters.  Please make corrections, recommended changes, etc. in
> CAPS, and return by end of week latest.      ..... Wavell
>
> Special Education Update:
> Well folks, it seems that our good news was premature. Representative
> Alan Weiss was incorrect when he informed us that the senate had passed
> a bill allocating $2.3 million to deal with exceptional special
> education costs in districts such as Moretown. What happened was that
> Senator Jeb Spaulding, who was planning to introduce just such a bill,
> ran into a problem when consulting Department of Education analysts.
> Special education costs at Moretown were not projected to rise into the
> exceptional category until  2000-2001 fiscal year.  On that basis Jeb
> dropped the issue for this year, but failed to communicate with Alan
> Weiss.  Alan ,THEN,INADVERTENTLY  MISINTERPRETED an unrelated $2.3 million
> discretionary spending bill, AND IINCORRECTLY PASSED THAT INFORMATION ON
TO US. Jeb has since organized a meeting with board member Wavell Cowan, and
> including Bill Talbot from the Dept. of Education  The result is that
> the Deptartment will develop a "needs" criterion for exceptional special
> education costs as a basis for Jeb  Spaulding to seek appropriate
> funding for next year. We'll keep you informed of progress.
> Harwood Governance:
> The superintendent, Bill Riegel, updated the Moretown board on the
> status of the Harwood 7-8 committee. Bill stated that Keith Kennedy was
> having preliminary discussions with Harwood on leasing space. There are
> other committees doing preliminary work but nothing substantive to
> report.  The Moretown board have indicated that the proposed new Harwood
> 7-8 board does not have their support.  They believe the only viable
> solution to the Harwood governance problems is to develop some kind of a
> K-12 or 7-12 solution.. It has been suggested that the Harwood 7-8
> committee should check with the State Board of Education for a legal
> opinion as to where the Valley towns stand if Moretown won't join the
> proposed contracted district (or send it to a vote).  The Moretown board
> believes the Harwood board would then necessarily still govern the
> Middle School, since they cannot abrogate their statutary
> responsibilities and the articles of association require a unanimous
> vote of all towns for any change.  This would mean that the Valley towns
> would  have no governing authority but would simply tuition their
> students into a Harwood district middle school composed of Moretown as
> the sole remaining sending school, not having withdrawn its middle
> school students.
> Harwood Assessment:
> The assessment issue has stalled at the Harwood board level. Motions are
> expected at their next meeting but there are only rumors of content and
> speculation of support for those motions. We await some proposal from
> them before discussing a course of action.
>