Q&A: Ucci, Hance & Benelli vie for two three-year seats on the GMUSD board

The Green Mountain Unified School District Board has 11 members; six of whom represent Chester, the largest town by population within the school district. In addition to Chester, there are three representatives from Cavendish and one each from Baltimore and Andover.

Three Chester residents are vying for two three-year terms. Those candidates are Patricia “Penny” Benelli, incumbent Jeff Hance and Jerry Ucci, who had been appointed to a different open seat in 2025. Incumbent Rick Alexander decided not to seek another term.

We asked all candidates for the school board the same questions, except for two who are running for two town elective offices — Jerry Ucci and Patricia Benelli. We also asked each to limit each reply to 250 words.

1. Give our readers a short biography of yourself. You can include your background, education, accomplishments, family life and goals.

PATRICIA BENELLI: My husband and I have lived in Chester for almost 54 years, and raised our two children here. We came to live on the land, and still heat with wood my husband cuts off our land. We grow a sizable organic vegetable garden each year.

Before coming to Chester, I spent two years teaching 8th grade general science and 9th grade earth science, so I know what its like to be responsible for educating students. In Vermont, I worked as a waitress at Monier’s Country Girl Diner and then at Hojo’s in Springfield. I then became an employment counselor for the Champlain Valley Work and Training Program in Springfield.

In 1981, I embarked on a career as a lawyer. I graduated from Vermont Law School in 1985, and practiced in Chester until my recent retirement. For the last 25 years of my practice, I focused on family law, and for almost 15 years served as chair of the Vermont Bar Association’s Family Law Section. In 2010, when Vermont National Guard members were being sent to Afghanistan and Iraq, I teamed up with another attorney and a Guard colonel to write a statute to protect service members and their families when service members are deployed. I am proud to say that the Military Parents’ Rights Act remains on the books. I love Chester and intend to live here the rest of my life, and I want to help it continue to be the wonderful small town it has always been.

JEFF HANCE: My name is Jeff Hance. I was born and raised in Vermont. My wife and I moved to Chester in 2001. We have raised two children in Chester, both having gone through the Chester school system. It was during this time that I finished my Bachelor’s Degree in Business Accounting.

I got onto the school board in 2008 when my daughter started kindergarten and have been serving in this role for the past 18 years. I was very active in the community while my children were in school and wish to remain active.

JERRY UCCI: I’m a lifelong Vermonter and have proudly called Chester home for over 20 years. My wife and I met here in high school at Green Mountain Union High School, and we’re both proud alumni.

We’ve been together 17 years, married for 11, and are raising our two kids — a seven-year-old son and a five-year-old daughter — right here in the same community that raised us. They’re the lights of our lives and the reason I care so deeply about our schools.

Sixteen years ago, we started our small business, Landscape Solutions, here in Chester. We built it from the ground up through hard work, long hours, and a commitment to doing right by people in our community. We’re also local landlords and understand firsthand the pressures families are facing. Before focusing full time on our business, I spent nearly 14 years as Head of Property Management for a 600-unit real estate value-add portfolio. That role required careful budgeting, hands-on problem solving, and accountability every single day.

At the end of the day, I’m a husband, a father, and a small business owner who wants to keep raising my family in Chester and help ensure our schools stay strong, practical, and focused on kids first.

2. What prompted you to run for election to the GMUSD Board of Directors? And what talents/abilities would you bring to the office that are unique?

JEFF HANCE: I have been on the school board since my oldest first started school, 18 years ago. I am the longest serving board member and bring experience and historical knowledge to the board. Given the challenges that school boards will be facing in coming years, I believe my experience will be valuable. What prompted me to run this year? I like doing it. It is a way that I have been able to contribute and be involved in the community.

 

JERRY UCCI: Running for the Green Mountain Unified School District Board of Directors was always part of my wife’s and my plan. Everything we’ve built has been intentional. When we were 20 and 21 years old, we talked about doing things in order. Start a business, buy a home, then raise a family. We followed that plan because we didn’t want our kids to struggle the way we did growing up.

We always said that once we had children, we’d step up and get involved. That time is now. With our kids beginning their educational journey in our local schools and with the uncertainty our schools are facing it felt even more important to be part of the conversation. I want to see my children succeed alongside everyone else’s children right here in Chester.

When our kids started at the local Head Start, we got involved right away. My wife serves on the policy council, and my company maintains the property. After the flood destroyed the new Head Start building here in Chester, we donated labor, materials, and helped bring people together to rebuild the classroom and install a new playground. We did it because we care.

Today, my daughter attends Head Start and my son is a student at Chester-Andover Elementary School.

What I bring is long-term thinking, budgeting experience, hands-on leadership, and a real personal stake in this community. We’ve put our roots down here. We’re here for the long haul.

PATRICIA BENELLI: Retirement has given me time to expand my community involvement in Chester, and I am looking to put my experience and skills to work on the school board and the library board. I have, I believe, two talents/abilities to offer which are unique to both boards: my legal knowledge and my longtime practice of collaboration and mediation to settle disputes.

To be clear, I am no longer a lawyer, having not renewed my license when it expired at the end of June last year, and I no longer give legal advice to anyone. But I have a deep respect for the rule of law, and I recognize when a non-lawyer is giving false legal advice to the school board to convince the board that it can take actions in violation of the rules our legislature has set out in state statutes. No one else currently on the board has this knowledge, and it is clear that the board needs to know when it is being bamboozled.

My long and dedicated practice of settling cases wherever possible would also be helpful in working through the differences on issues presented to the board. I served as a mediator myself many times, and I submitted many more cases to the mediation process with others. I believe in collaboration, not demands and confrontations. I believe I can bring that practice to help in deliberations on both boards by practicing what I preach, not by trying to control the process.

3. Should the compensation of the District’s administration (superintendent, principals etc.) and their continued employment be contingent on a metric of student success and well-being? If so, what should that metric be?

JERRY UCCI: I don’t believe you can measure something as important as student success and well-being with one single metric. Education just isn’t that simple. If compensation or continued employment is tied to performance within the Green Mountain Unified School District, it has to reflect the whole picture.

That means looking at academic growth over time, graduation rates, attendance, whether students feel safe and supported, teacher retention and accountability, and responsible use of taxpayer dollars.

Our kids aren’t numbers on a spreadsheet. Leadership should be evaluated based on how all the pieces are working together.

I do believe in accountability. Clear goals should be set, progress should be transparent, and if something isn’t working, there should be honest conversations and a plan to improve.

PATRICIA BENELLI: There is no way to answer that in the short space here. Many times, civic-minded school boards have increased administrative salaries with the hope that this would result in increased benefits for students — better test scores, better school attendance, a reduction in the drop-out rate or other benefits for students.

In fact, the opposite has most often been true: Student performance has gone down as administrative salaries have gone up. This has resulted in many school districts initiating metric-based compensation for administrators which provides incentives in the form of small permanent salary increases or bonuses for meeting established student-based goals. The results have been mixed.

It is clear from the annual report recently issued by the Two Rivers Supervisory Union that school performance in our two districts has been going down as administrative salaries have gone up. But this is a complicated issue which would require much consideration of the facts and the many options to know whether it could work here, so I do not know whether I would advocate that now. I would not, however, tie this system to firing administrators: It is intended to provide positive reinforcement not punishment. And if an administrator is that bad, it should be obvious to the board that he or she should be replaced, without the need for any metric-based system.

JEFF HANCE:  I am not sure that I understand what is intended with this question. It seems to be asked in theory. I can tell you that currently, the GM School Board no longer negotiates any salary or compensation for administration or staff, including the Superintendent. This changed from previous years. The Superintendent now negotiates all central office staff and principals’ compensation, which is brought to the school board for final approval. The TRSU Board, which includes Ludlow/Mount Holly, evaluates and negotiates the performance and contract of the Superintendent. However, this evaluation is based on several metrics within policy governance. The Ends Report is based on the goals set forth in the Portrait of a Graduate.

4. It appears that school consolidation in some form is once again in our future. What should the district do today to be best positioned for various contingencies? Are there issues that the board is wrestling with today that may not make a difference once consolidation takes place?

PATRICIA BENELLI: Our local school board has no control over the final form of the changes coming as a result of Act 73. It is clear that our current 119 school districts are going to be drastically restructured into likely a few dozen or so at best, each governed by a single school board.

We know that school consolidation is a goal and that this means closing some schools and merging others. That means, in turn, that if a school is to survive, it will have to make a good case why it should. This is where we can act. Our board needs to do everything it can to make our schools as successful as they can be so that they will be desirable destinations, not candidates for elimination.

Our board is currently doing that with extensive study and work to eliminate the risk of PCBs in our high school, but more work remains to be done on that. The board can and should also address why our students are generally performing under the state average, with the goal of making changes which allow each student to be as successful as possible. The better our schools, the more likely they will be selected to receive more students in the coming transitions. None of this effort will be wasted when the time for consolidation comes.

JEFF HANCE:  Since we don’t know what the final parameters are going to be, our best tactic as a whole district would be to keep open transparent communication throughout the entire process. We should keep all  communities involved in the conversations. But, we have to make sure to keep focused on the district as a whole and not just individual communities. I am not aware of anything that the School Board as a body is wrestling with. We have had recent conversations about current declining enrollment in all schools and finances. Should there be consolidation, in theory, these issues would be addressed.

JERRY UCCI: The reality is that the future is uncertain, especially with Vermont’s Act 73. No one truly knows what the final outcome will look like or how it will impact districts like the Green Mountain Unified School District. Because of that, the best thing we can do is prepare, NOT panic.

Preparation starts with communication. We should be talking with neighboring communities, legislators, and the public. Families and taxpayers deserve to understand what may be coming and have a voice in those conversations.

The board is already wrestling with that uncertainty. It’s difficult to make long-term structural decisions when the framework itself may change. What we can control is staying financially responsible, keeping our schools strong, and maintaining transparency.

We may not know where Act 73 is heading, but we can make sure we’re ready for whatever comes next.

5. Bullying has been a consistent problem within the school system over the years. And some have been with racist overtones. What can board members do make sure that the school reduce or eliminate such occurrences?

JEFF HANCE: At the Candidates Forum a member of the audience asked a question relative to bullying and accused the Board (with an obvious intentional glaring focus on me) of bullying. I chose at that time to not answer the question due to its highly offensive nature. We all know the backstory. I would like to point out that choosing to not agree with someone and daring to make a decision contrary to the audience, is not bullying. Bullying often includes actions such as threats, rumors, social exclusion and/or physical or verbal abuse. I have been elected to this board several times over the past 18 years because I am willing and have had to make hard choices. That is not bullying.

In addition, contrary to what was stated by one of my fellow candidates at the Candidate’s Forum, the School Board does, in fact, have policies and procedures in place in the event of occurrences that involve bullying. As a matter of fact, administration is currently working on the program to meet the policy goals. I plan to ask that policies be amended to give greater consequences for these offenses.

Kids and parents need to know that this behavior will not be tolerated. As a board member, I would require that administration follow these policies and procedures. I would also encourage students (and their parents) who have experienced this type of behavior to inform administration as soon as it happens so that appropriate steps can be taken.

JERRY UCCI: Bullying especially when it crosses into racism or targeting a child for who they are has no place in our schools. As a parent with kids in the Green Mountain Unified School District, this is personal.

Board members don’t handle discipline case by case, but we do set expectations. That means clear policies, consistent standards, and making sure concerns are taken seriously. It also means those policies must have accountability behind them. If students or adults cross the line, there must be consequences, and those consequences need to be followed through on. Rules only matter if they’re enforced fairly and consistently.

It also starts early. Teaching respect, empathy, and accountability takes consistency. Staff need support, parents need communication, and students need to understand that words and actions matter.

Kids also watch the adults around them. The way we speak to one another in our community at meetings, online, or in everyday life sets an example. If we want respect in our schools, adults, teachers, and board members need to model it. Firm expectations, accountability, and a culture built on respect can make a real difference. Every child deserves to feel safe and able to focus on learning.

PATRICIA BENELLI: There is no question that bullying at GMUHS is a long-term problem. So far, however, I have not heard that it is also a problem at either of the elementary schools in Chester or Cavendish, and I sincerely hope that this is true. The board is well aware of the bullying at the high school. Last fall, it approved payment of tuition to Springfield High School after the deadline for school choice had passed so that the bullied and harassed daughter of a board member could escape the torment she was experiencing at GMUHS. Yet nothing was done about it.

I am also aware of another local citizen who has repeatedly reported the persistent bullying of a family member to the school and the superintendent for years, with little or no results. This is simply unacceptable. Our children need to be safe in school, and that includes safe from threats, harassment, and abuse from other students. If there is any current bullying policy, it is nowhere to be seen. The board should make it an immediate priority to establish a strict no-bullying policy and monitor it to make sure that is being enforced.

6. What actions will you take to keep politics out of the Board of Directors?

JERRY UCCI: The role of the Green Mountain Unified School District Board of Directors isn’t to debate national issues or push party agendas. It’s to make sure our schools are safe, well run, and focused on educating kids. If elected, I’ll keep discussions centered on students, teachers, and taxpayers. If conversations drift into political talking points that don’t directly affect our local schools, I’ll work to bring it back to the basics.

At the end of the day, the board is elected by the community. Voters play an important role in keeping politics out of our schools by looking closely at why someone is running and who is backing them. In my view, school board members should serve the whole community, not a political party. If someone says politics have no place on the board, their actions should reflect that.

We owe it to our kids to keep the focus where it belongs on education, accountability, and doing what’s best for our local schools.

JEFF HANCE: First and foremost, politics do not belong with the Board of Directors. In my 18 years on the School Board, I have worked with many individuals across all political affiliations. We have faced many challenges and have had to make hard decisions where we did not all agree. For the most part I have remained neutral. In both my personal and professional life, my decisions are not politically driven. I cannot tell board members how to think, but I can encourage them to do the same.

PATRICIA BENELLI: As an attorney who practiced family law for decades, my focus was always to work as collaboratively as possible with other attorneys and parties to resolve disputes in the hope of facilitating agreements that worked for all those concerned, especially the children. I never asked any of my clients about their political views nor discussed mine with them.

Politics had nothing to do with the job. I would have the same focus on the school board. The school board operates within a set of rules established by the legislature, and adherence to them is required by law, not politics. The focus of the board is on providing a good public education for our children at a cost which the taxpaying community can manage, given the funds available from other sources.

That is math, not politics. Each director, of course, has his or her own political beliefs and associations, but there is no place for those in the work of the board. If I were on the board, I would just agree to disagree with other directors on those matters and get down, collaboratively, to accomplishing the vital work of the board.

7. This final question will apply to two candidates who are running for two elective seats in Chester: It is unusual for a candidate to run for more than one office at a time. How do you plan to handle the workload if elected to both?

JERRY UCCI: It’s true running for two seats isn’t typical, and I understand why people ask about it. I wouldn’t have put my name on the ballot if I didn’t believe I could handle the responsibility.

I’m a working, middle-class guy. I run my own business, I raise my kids here, and I take commitments seriously. Being my own boss gives me flexibility to set my schedule and priorities, and when something matters, I make the time. In the seven months I’ve already served on the Green Mountain Unified School District board, I’ve shown up to every meeting prepared and ready to contribute. I’ve spent extra time speaking with citizens, administrators, parents, and community members. I’ve toured schools and taken the time to understand how things operate day to day.

If voters trust me with one seat or both, I’ll approach the job the same way I approach everything else steady, serious, and willing to put in the time.

PATRICIA BENELLI: The important work of the school board is demanding at all times, but particularly so now, in anticipation of the dramatic changes coming as a result of Act 73. Once those changes are known, the demands are going to increase further.

The issues are daunting, and it will take a significant amount of time for each director to learn the facts and develop an understanding of each so that the board can have informed, collaborative discussions and take appropriate actions. The work of the library board of trustees in maintaining our amazing library is certainly important, but as it concerns only the Whiting Library, the issues are fewer, and it is much less time-consuming. I am now fully retired, I have the time to devote to being fully involved in both.