GMUSD board hears disappointment in response to bullying

By Shawn Cunningham
© 2026 Telegraph Publishing LLC

Running to almost two full pages, the Green Mountain Unified School District board agenda for Thursday, Aug. 20 was another gargantuan lift for the evening. But Board Chair Lisa Sanders requested a number of changes that consolidated the agenda worked to move things along. Nevertheless, a big chunk of the meeting was again given over to questions of governance and what lane the board should be running in.

Beverly Hart, a Chester resident and grandmother of a GM student who has been repeatedly bullied, once again came before the board to speak during public comment. She said the she had been paying attention to the board all summer and wanted “to express my strong disappointment that this board has not taken advantage of an opportunity … to educate yourselves further on hazing, harassment and bullying with a free presentation by a highly educated NAACP member.”

Hart was referring to an offer made by Mary Gannon who works with the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and has aided a number of schools to address problems of bullying. While some board members spoke in favor of Gannon’s offer, other objected on procedural grounds but the board did vote to ask Gannon for a proposal about her presentation. Gannon told the board at a later meeting that she had had a family emergency that kept her from getting a proposal to them but would put one forward.

“This school continues to have a huge problem with (bullying) and this board turning its cheek doesn’t look good for anyone,” said Hart. “And it will continue to influence our students and teachers.” Hart said she would continue to monitor and document the situation publicly and take action if needed.

Inaction within Action 

Policies are a regular part of the agenda and this one addressed several. Normally these are done as a first read,  with board members giving input on each policy. In the past, a policy committee would craft the wording. The board then adopts a policy on its second read. Board member Adrienne Williams noted that if either of the two boards (GMUSD and Ludlow Mount Holly) changed wording in policies, they would not align across the supervisory union. Williams moved that the district boards suspend first reads of policies until the Two Rivers Supervisory Union board had approved them. While each district has three members on the TRSU board it was not clear whether the district boards would have any input into policies aside from those members. The motion was approved unanimously.

More governance talk 

Discussions also focused on the question of whether the board was operating under “policy governance.” Policy governance is a system in which the board sets up policies and goals for the administration,  then stays out of areas that are “operational.” Board members have several problems with this structure,  including operating with portions of the policies incomplete and with questions about their statutory responsibilities as board members.

While this has been an issue, the board suspended the administration’s work on policy governance so administrators weren’t wasting their time while the board decided whether to continue with that governance system. Williams suggested that the board bring in an expert in policy governance, like the Vermont School Boards Association, to assist the board with its governance decisions. The VSBA offers paid coaching in implementing policy governance and has worked with the schools in the past so it’s unclear whether VSBA would provide neutral or impartial guidance in how the board should proceed.

The board voted unanimously to invite an expert on governance to present to the board and to invite TRSU to attend.

Special education program review

A review of TRSU’s implementation of it special education services was conducted between March and June. It identified a number of areas for improvement. TRSU Superintendent Layne Millington told the board that he agrees with most of the review but that portions are inaccurate, including the Multi-Tiered Systems of Support. You can read that report here.

Board member Anne Henshaw noted that it is a dense document and she moved that the district hold an informational meeting for the public with Millington and Director of Student Support Services Mary Barton. Board member Jerry Ucci questioned the efficacy of a meeting considering that few members of the public attended other meetings, including those on the school budget. After discussing whether it should be scheduled with Ludlow Mount Holly as the other half of TRSU the board decided to hold it in the central location of Ludlow Elementary School.

The informational meeting on the Special Education Review will be held at 6 p.m. on Wednesday Sept. 23 at LES, 45 Main St. The meeting will be held in the Professional Development Room as well as remotely via Zoom.