The meeting began with the normal Call to Order, Agenda Review, and Flag Salute. The first Community Comments portion of the meeting included a comment from a teacher regarding a school board code of conduct and ethics proposed policy currently under discussion and accused a school board member of misconduct. A second community member asked about the status of the previously noted policy, made some general comments on such a policy and how the board has performed regarding past difficult topics, and also asked about the cost of an investigation into a board member accused of misconduct.
The Consent Agenda included the approval of a warrant, contracts, and approval of various meeting minutes.
The Reports to the Board portion of the meeting included a Superintendent Report and Committee Reports.
The Superintendent Report included a section on Lifting Student’s Learning as well as State and Superintendent News. Please see the board packet for the extensive information provided. The superintendent additionally made a statement in support of teachers and what they do for our children in relation to a recent online news article that was published relating to a required reading by teachers at the Milton Elementary School (https://vermontdailychronicle.com/joy-of-destroying-society-required-reading-for-milton-teachers/).
The Committee Reports included a Finance Committee Meeting discussing next year’s budget. The Facility’s Committee Meeting discussed the cost of this fall’s mold remediation of the Herrick facility (approximately $330,750), the results of the Herrick survey on options to fix or rebuild the Herrick facility (survey information is in the packet), and current ongoing projects including the outdoor classroom.
The Presentations portion of the meeting included a Budget Factors discussion on MTSD Budget Outlook Student Services and Class Size.
The Budget Factors discussion of factors causing the FY26 budget to need to go up related to increased costs related to student services and class size considerations. The presentation was thorough and should be watched on LCATV to get the full content. Of note by this writer were the following: Approximately 325 students are currently on Individual Education Plans (IEP) out of 1487 students total at MTSD and services for these students are approximately $24,000/student. The school has staffing allocations for a total of 29 Special Educator, 8 Speech Language Pathologists, and one psychologist spread across pre-K to 12. It was unclear to me whether all of these positions were currently filled at the various grade levels noted in the presentation, but what was clear was that these were difficult positions to fill and the school had to figure out creative solutions to provide required levels of services when positions remained unfilled.
The Class Size Presentation discussed minimum and maximums as well as optimum class sizes for grades/grade-bands: Pre-K, 9-15 (11 optimum), K-3, 14-20 (18 optimum), Grade 4, 16-25 (22 optimum) Grade 5-8, 16-25 (22 optimum), Grade core 9-10, 16-25 (22 optimum) and electives 12-25 (20 optimum) with Unified Arts 20-35 (25 optimum). Current actual class sizes are: Pre-K 10, K-15, G1-16, G2-16, G3-16, G4-18, G5/6-19, G7/8-18, G9(core)-17, G10(core)-18. Factors for optimum class size include; classroom size, age of the students, and type of class (UA vs core).
The Discussion portion of the meeting included a discussion of the Herrick Facilities Project survey with a tentative decision to go forward with the option to stabilize the Herrick Facility to a greater degree (estimated at 7-10 million) in lieu of fully renovating or replacing the Herrick Facility at a cost of $162-$172 million (old estimates), Policy First Reads for E21 Distribution of Non-School Sponsored Literature in Schools, Board Member Conduct/Code of Ethics – Policy or Procedure?, and ADA Website Compliance. Board members were also at the High School Craft Fair on Saturday available to receive more input before making a final decision on Herrick.
The second Community Comments portion of the meeting included one community member re-requested from first community comment period her request for the cost of the board member misconduct investigation. A teacher and community member also requested the cost of the board member misconduct investigation while accusing them of not participating in the investigation. A community member asked how much it costs Milton to operate Pre-K and what state money we get for it. The teacher commenter who accused a board member of misconduct during the first Community Comments portion of the meeting advised that she filed a grievance relating to the perceived misconduct. A community member made a comment relating to the VT School Board Association Conference held in October attended by three school board members, compared the cost associated to other school functions, and requested that attending board members report on what they learned. Another community member also requested the cost of the investigation into the board member’s misconduct accusations, advised that not every report is investigated, and made a statement relating to the accusations of misconduct and attacks on board members associated with the Milton parent group, VPACT.org. A community member advised how to obtain public records from the school, told stories of recent accusations made by the same group of individuals made against the Town of Milton and Town Manager, and extended olive branches to those who have made these accusations against the school board member. Finally, a community member asked about obtaining an employee handbook, concern about the low class sizes when the budget is so high and so many student assistants are also in the classroom, concern with lack of traceability of the Herrick survey and the ability to take it multiple times, the inability to hear board members during the meeting when in the room, and found it ironic that the superintendent was upset that they were unable to provide feedback with the anonymous writer of the article (noted above) when audience members are unable to do the same “in this public forum.”
The Action Items portion of the meeting included policy adoptions of 1) A40 Board Committees, 2) B20 Personnel Recruitment, Selection and Appointment, 3) B32 Personnel Files, 4) C9 Wellness, 5) D3 Responsible Computer, Internet and Network Use, 6) F24 Prevention of Conflict of Interest in Procurement, and 7) F26 Security Cameras. Also included policy rescindments of 1) D5 Personnel Files and 2) F28 Nutrition and Wellness.
The Board Comments portion of the meeting included a board comment regarding the PTA Book Fair.
An additional board comment was made by board member Allison Duquette addressing much of the above-noted community comments regarding: 1) Formal violation of board Conflict of Interest Policy complaints alleged against her that culminated in an Executive session held May 6, 2024 where the board found that no violation had occurred and 2) a similar allegation that similarly recently culminated in a finding that no violation had occurred after a third party investigation. See her complete statement copied below.
There was an Executive Session concluding the night to discuss contracts.
BOARD MEMBER COMMENT OF ALLISON DUQUETTE
There have been a lot of accusations and complaints flying since Scott and I were elected members of this board. They started via email literally two days after the election before a meeting with us sitting in these seats ever even took place. They have continued during multiple public comments at meetings. My MTSD email has been used to sign me up for numerous spam email accounts. My emails have been subject to public records requests more times than I can count. Multiple attempts were even made to get all of my private digital correspondences from multiple email accounts, Facebook messenger and X private messaging.
An executive session hearing took place over accusations that I violated the MTSD conflict of interest policy because I am a member of a parent group, I like to read and I have opinions. The other members of this board found the accusations of a conflict of interest to be unsubstantiated. Other claims have included that I shared information from executive sessions and that I shared sensitive student information. These are flat out lies. I have never shared anything with the community that was not already public knowledge and I do not have access to student information. These accusations circulating on social media are complete fabrications and were found to be such by the board at the time.
Most recently, back in June, an independent third party was hired to investigate accusations against me of harassment and a conflict of interest because I had received an email to my MTSD account that I didn’t respond to, from someone I didn’t know about a teacher whom I had never met who happens to sit on the schoolboard in a neighboring district. In fact, the first interaction I ever had with this teacher was an email to the board stating that Scott and I don’t know what we are doing and should resign. I fully cooperated with the investigation and was interviewed on August 16th and have been waiting months for the results being unable to respond while accusations of harassment have been circulating knowing full well that I would be exonerated and I have been. The accusations of harassment have been found to be unsubstantiated and the claims that I was not cooperating with the investigation are again flat out lies.
Not once has anyone speaking against me at board meetings or complaining about me via email reached out to me personally. Not once have any of them contacted me privately to discuss my opinions on issues, to try and find clarification or to see what common ground could possibly be reached. Instead, this small group of very loud individuals have repeatedly lied about me here and online and caused this school district to spend money and time we don’t have on bogus accusations. Members of this same group caused the town to spend thousands of dollars to investigate bogus fraud accusations during the town meeting day election. They seem determined to tear this once peaceful community apart.
It should be clear to everyone by now that they have launched a targeted and coordinated harassment campaign against me from the moment I was elected while crying victimhood themselves. And I quote, “A friend of mine has been giving me tips on how they made a VPACT adjacent essex-westford board member quit mid term. I’ve created a fb group to organize efforts to make Scott and Allison’s life [o]n the board miserable. She’s gonna have to earn the right to keep her butt in that seat. I’m personally gonna make her work. If I can get Brenda, Allison or Scott to resign by November I’ll have done my community service for 2024.” (end quote) This was written on The Milton Progressives Social Club discord server within hours of the election results by one of those who has filed numerous complaints and made many community comments and it was applauded by many of those whose signatures can be found on the complaints. These are not the words of someone who wants what is best for our town or students. They are the words of someone petty enough to not even give someone with whom she has a difference of opinion the benefit of the doubt. Everything else and the voters of Milton be damned!
I love the town of Milton. I have deep roots in this town. I want Milton to have a bright future. I want what I have always wanted; well-educated students, valued teachers and a good working relationship between the community and the school district. It is now November and I’m still here. I have been turning the other cheek and taking the arrows for months without comment. I am clearing my name, and I will not allow the actions of a few to keep me from doing the job that I was elected to do and doing what I can for the people of Milton, this school, its faculty and staff and its students.
I am willing, if the complainants are, to put all of this behind us and move on.
I am willing to forgive and forget. Imagine the good we could do and the improvements we could make to this school district if we could work together in a positive way to improve it. Our students deserve better, they expect us to be good role models. It would be wonderful, in the future, to engage in civil discourse about our different opinions. I am urging them to show the community with their future actions that they are also ready to move forward. Let’s unify our efforts because we all want quality education for our kids. This is about them, not us. Let’s start acting that way.