NORTH HERO, Vt. (WCAX) – Some North Hero residents say they are concerned about the loss of their community school and what it will mean for children. It comes after The Champlain Islands Unified Union School Board voted Monday to shutter the Noth Hero School, sending Pre-K to grade 6 students to Grand Isle.
Empty chairs and cubbies at the Isle La Motte town offices harken back reminders of its old elementary school. And with students at North Hero School now moving to Grand Isle, it’s deja vu for families.
“This is two elementary schools that our students — Isle La Motte students — have been exposed to in five years,” said Sylvia Jensen, a local school board member.
Mary Catherine Graziano, an Isle La Motte parent, says the community is feeling the change. “A real loss, a loss to the community,” she said. Graziano says she’s worried about the longer drive for her preschooler. “My child has to travel two towns away to go to school.”
The board justified the closure because of challenging financial times and needing to preserve as many resources as possible for students. But Jensen and Graziano are among those who fear that closures like theirs will soon become the norm under education reform plans being discussed at the Statehouse.
“It feels like a trend of a loss of the rural Vermont character and community,” Graziano said.
Jensen calls for the legislature to consider the community impact of consolidation. “That perhaps they consider geography a little bit, because perhaps if Grand Isle School was in the middle of our district, I don’t think there would be so much disappointment,” she said.
The board did not officially vote to close the school, The superintendent says the building will continue to function as a focal point of administrative and student service functions for the district.
and they will continue to explore other uses, possibility even returning students in a different confuguration.
