Policy governance wheels still spinning at GM board Act 170 merger talks begin by Oct. 15

 

By Shawn Cunningham
© 2026 Telegraph Publishing LLC

Study groups mandated by Act 170 will shortly be ramping up to produce proposed school merger agreements by the law’s September 2027 deadline. Those will be voted on at Town Meetings in March 2028. Meanwhile, the Green Mountain Unified School District Board spent a fair amount of time at its Thursday, June 18 meeting grappling with whether to continue with “policy governance” in a district that may not exist in a few years.

Policy governance is a way of running the schools in which the board sets policies and goals, then gives the administration a relatively free hand in working to meet the goals. Some board members seem to never have fully accepted the concept and some seem to be unhappy with aspects of the policies. The differences over the concept — and the manner in which it was rolled out — were magnified by continuing board polarization that seems to have risen out of the non-discriminatory mascot wrangle of a few years ago.

Chester representative Katie Murphy made a motion to “just keep policy governance,” and the ensuing discussion and vote contained a surprise or two. Cavendish representative Donovan Nichols, who has been critical of aspects of policy governance, said he liked its concept, but that it’s “immensely complex.” Discussion then centered around whether the goals were quantifiable enough for evaluating the superintendent’s performance.

In the end, the vote was four in favor of continuing with the system and three against. Board chair Lisa Sanders then voted “no,” creating a tie that effectively meant the motion failed. Murphy protested Sanders’ action. But Sanders’ explained that as an elected representative, she has a right to vote and that under Roberts’ Rules of Order, she could do that to tie the vote. Three board members were not in attendance.

July board meetings; merger committee; associate principal hired

The board discussed having three late afternoon/evening sessions in July in lieu of the annual board retreat. Each session will have one or two topics for discussion. They will be:

• Thursday, July 9 – Board governance including continuing talk about whether to continue with policy governance and if so how to go about it.
• Friday, July 10 – District goals
• Thursday, July 16 – Act 170 (the voluntary school merger law) and the school budget for 2027/28

The board also selected representatives to a school merger committee under the new Act 170.  The committees will work with facilitators to study possible mergers with other nearby districts to create a unified union district with 2,000 or more students. Representing GMUSD will be:

• Lisa Sanders
• Lois Perlah
• Jerry Ucci (alternate)

A committee tasked with recommending a replacement for Middle School Principal Kate Leathe put forth the name of Mike Bennett, who teaches woodshop at Green Mountain High. GM Principal John Broadley and Two Rivers Superintendent Layne Millington explained that Bennett would not be a co-principal as Leathe had been, but rather an associate principal. The board voted to hire Bennett, with members saying they were happy to hire from within.

Millington also said that a committee working on finding a replacement for Cavendish Elementary School Principal Emma Vastola is closing in on a candidate to recommend to the board. Vastola and Leathe announced their resignations on the same day in March.