All Entries in the "Op-ed" Category
Op-ed: When leaders listen to their constituents
By Nicholas Boke ©2026 Telegraph Publishing LLC Where are the leaders who listen? The Educational Forum held in the Springfield High auditorium held on Monday, May 11, focused on Vermont’s current effort to reform statewide education. It involved state legislators, local educators and Vermont Secretary of Education Zoie Saunders. The forum was “designed to provide […]
Op-ed: Keep our schools to keep our town
By Carl Henshaw ©2026 Telegraph Publishing LLC At a recent Chester Planning Commission meeting, Kellen Appleton and Allison Hopkins from the Mount Ascutney Regional Commission shared a statistic that stopped me cold. Chester’s average age is rising one year for every two that pass. At that pace, within 30 years, our average resident will be […]
Part 3: Disability Rights: Building a Vermont for everyone
By Anne Henshaw ©2026 Telegraph Publishing LLC If housing, healthcare, and transportation determine whether disabled Vermonters can live in community, public education determines whether they were ever fully a part of their community to begin with. For many disabled children, school is their first public community. It is the first place where systems affirm their […]
Part 2: Disability Rights: Housing, healthcare and mobility challenge Vermonters
By Anne Henshaw ©2026 Telegraph Publishing LLC Thanks to the efforts of the Vermont Coalition of Disability Rights, the Vermont Legislature voted on a House resolution declaring Feb. 11, 2026, Disability Advocacy Day. Families, self-advocates, service providers and legislators gathered at the Vermont Statehouse under a shared call to action: disability policy is every policy. […]
Part 1: Disability Rights: From institution toward independence
By Anne Henshaw ©2026 Telegraph Publishing LLC For much of American history, people with disabilities were seen as “others;” as problems to be managed. Disabled people were denied access to public schools, barred from employment, denied voting rights, subjected to eugenics laws, sterilized without consent and segregated banished from public life. They were not only […]
Op-ed: Patriots for freedom of the press
By Tim Roper The rule of law has kept our country safe from despots for almost 240 years. Our Constitution, ratified by the states in 1788, was missing a Bill of Rights — an absence that kept several founders from signing. James Madison introduced one the following year, and 10 amendments were ratified in December […]
Op-ed: The education governance debate is about more than maps
By Jack Hoffman Vermont’s current education debate seems stuck on what to do first: Overhaul the governance structure and then reform the funding system, or do something about spending and then re-draw school district maps? Governance should be the priority, but it’s not about the maps. The first question is whether Montpelier is going to […]
Op-ed: How I became a conservative
By Madeline Bodin ©2026 Telegraph Publishing LLC I was standing in the cold and the rain on the lawn of the Vermont State House. I was clutching a sign that said, “Protect the US Constitution” in red, white and blue letters. I had colored in some of the letters to look like a flag. As […]
Op-ed: School choice fuels dreams for Vermonters
By Ross Powers Vermont’s ongoing and necessary discussion of education reform has had an unfortunate side effect: elevating the voices of people who are manipulating facts to fit their narrative. They want you to believe that Vermont’s independent schools are harming public education — particularly those that educate some of our most gifted student athletes. […]
Op-ed: Private philanthropy is not enough to create economic opportunity
By Bill Schubart ©2025 Telegraph Publishing LLC Is what we’re learning about healthcare and the critical role of primary care a metaphor for what we can learn about reducing poverty with equitable economic policies that create opportunity? Vermont’s current budget is $9.1 billion. For 648,500 Vermonters, that’s $14,400 each. The 2025 U.S. budget was $7.01 […]
Op-ed: Affordability permeates every issue: What to expect from the upcoming legislative session
By Sen. Joe Major As we enter the upcoming legislative session, Vermonters are sending us a clear message: Affordability must be front and center. Families, seniors, farmers and small businesses are all feeling the strain of rising costs, and they expect their elected leaders to respond with practical, responsible solutions. That is both our challenge […]
Op-ed: Does relocating Chester Festival fulfill board’s stated objectives?
By Nicholas Boke ©2025 Telegraph Publishing LLC I kept waiting for the part of the Dec. 11 Telegraph article Chester Festival, long held on the Green, to move to Legion field where the Chester Community Events board would describe the surveys and interviews they had garnered to make their decision. I’ve re-read the article several […]
Op-ed: I’ve been battling the Trump administration for 11 months; Here’s what’s next
By Charity Clark Attorney General State of Vermont Having sued the Trump administration 36 times in 11 months, I am reflecting on the wild ride of 2025 – and preparing for what’s next. President Trump began his second term with a flurry of executive orders. The first executive orders – some of which were almost […]
Op-ed: Reclaiming the spirit of Christmas
By Maya Wright Each December, America lights up – not with reverence, but with neon sales, frantic shopping, and countdowns to the next shipment from Amazon. For Generation Z especially, Christmas has increasingly drifted into a glittering spectacle of trends, wish lists, and content creation. The nativity story, the breathtaking moment when eternity stepped into […]
Op-ed: Thanksgiving and to have and have not
By Bill Schubart ©2025 Telegraph Publishing LLC My family’s always favored Thanksgiving over the celestial holidays like Christmas and Easter that feed a bloom of consumption. At Thanksgiving, families and friends simply gather to express gratitude, share food, and tell stories. It’s an earthbound holiday. There are exceptions. France’s Bernard Arnault (estimated net worth: $184B) […]
Op-ed: In defense of our sixth graders Moving them to the middle school will only cause problems
By Lisa D. Sanders Being a 6th grader is hard. Bodies and brains are changing rapidly and at different rates in different kiddos. Children are trying to figure out who they are. A hug or harsh word from a parent still matters, but perhaps for the first time, less than a fist bump or dis […]
Op-ed: A truly scary story
By Madeline Bodin ©2025 Telegraph Publishing LLC When I was in sixth grade, our teacher gathered us to tell us a scary story on the school day closest to Halloween. He said that he had been a night security guard at a mansion in town. This spooky house had a mausoleum in the basement. Late […]
Op-ed: Laughing at the Scopes Monkey Trial
By Madeline Bodin ©2025 Telegraph Publishing LLC In 1925, 100 years ago this year, John Thomas Scopes lost his trial in Dayton, Tenn., a case that tested a new state law that made it illegal to teach evolution in public schools. Scopes lost the legal case, but the hearts and minds of most of the […]
Op-Ed: Two events, two parties, intersecting viewpoints
By Nicholas Boke What a contrast. A couple of hundred southern Vermont Democrats gathered — for the fourth time since Donald Trump was elected — on the Chester Green on Labor Day for Workers over Billionaires, a honk-and-wave that included speeches by several state senators and a couple of Vermont labor union spokespeople. The following […]
Op-ed: AG Clark stands strong to safeguard our democracy and Constitution
By Nick Boke It’s been quite a while since many of us have felt so positive. We — the very active members of the Chester Town Democratic Committee and others — have been busy ever since Donald Trump took office. Trump’s inauguration got the half-dozen stalwarts who showed up for monthly CTDC meetings to jump […]