November 3, 2026 | By Lisa ScagliottiThe Harwood School Board continues its advance work towards next year’s budget – including discussions of potential school closures as soon as next fall – when it meets on Wednesday. It also is taking a step to accommodate growing public interest in its work to allow for more attendees to offer comments at meetings.
Harwood Unified Union School District leaders envision an expanded role in the future for Crossett Brook Middle School, which might eventually accommodate Waterbury-Duxbury elementary students. File photo by Gordon Miller
The board has juggled its schedule to avoid missing a meeting due to the Thanksgiving holiday this month, putting this week’s meeting back-to-back with its second October meeting last week.
Board Chair Ashley Woods of Warren announced that there would be an extended time at this week’s meeting for the public to comment. That comes after several dozen people, mostly from Moretown, attended last week, but only five people were given the chance to address the board in the 15-minute comment period on the meeting agenda.
Attendees, many of whom brought young children along, were disappointed that the board did not allow more time to hear from more members of the public. Despite attendees voicing complaints at the time, the board held to its agenda, which was lengthy.
Moretown lawyer Andrew Pappone later sent the board a written complaint calling the board’s handling of the public comment time an open meeting law violation. “Allowing five people to be heard did not ensure that the people’s government officers were accountable to them. It did not ensure that the people’s voices were heard,” he wrote.
In a letter to the Harwood community on Monday, Woods acknowledged the large audience last week and proposed an earlier sign-up for Nov. 4 and a longer comment time at the start of the meeting.
“At our last school board meeting, we experienced a level of community attendance greater than we have seen at any board meeting in the past five years. We understand the importance and difficulty of the discussions before us and appreciate the many community members who want to share their perspectives,” Woods wrote.
The board has created an online sign-up for people to fill out by noon on Wednesday to help the board gauge interest and better allocate time. The advance sign-up is not required, however. Attendees on Wednesday may also indicate then if they would like to speak, Woods said.
The heightened public interest comes as the board and administration set out to build the budget for the 2027-28 school year that voters will consider on Town Meeting Day in March. That spending plan needs to be completed by the end of January to be put on the local election ballot.
New state parameters have created tighter education spending rules, which could mean costly penalties for school districts whose per-pupil spending exceeds state guidelines. Harwood school leaders are now wrestling with the decisions that will be needed to keep next year’s spending under the state’s threshold that would trigger a penalty. So far, preliminary calculations have shown that the district could face a penalty of about $2.5 million if the 2027-28 budget offered the same level of programs as it is currently providing. That calculation envisions a budget of about $55.2 million, up from this year’s $51.9 million.
To tighten spending, district leaders could consider deep cuts to school operations while continuing to support seven school campuses. An alternative is to potentially reduce the number of elementary schools in operation. One option being considered would close two of the four schools now serving Moretown, Fayston, Waitsfield and Warren. So far, the school board has expressed a preference for the latter, but no decision has been made regarding which schools might close.
At last week’s meeting, Finance Director Lisa Estler gave the board “homework” in the form of a worksheet and one-page school profiles with key details about each school’s enrollment, staffing, and facility condition. Estler asked board members to review the information to help score each of the schools on a number of criteria to help inform the discussion ahead.
That discussion will take place at Wednesday’s meeting.
The board is simultaneously looking at long-term planning with an eye toward potentially reducing the district’s footprint even further to running just three schools – Harwood Middle/High School, Crossett Brook as an elementary school on the north end of the district, and one combined elementary school in the Mad River Valley.
The commercial property in Waitsfield now used by Cabot Creamery as its corporate headquarters has emerged as a potential location for a future combined elementary school when the company put it up for sale earlier this year. The school board recently sought proposals from architectural firms to evaluate that building and site to determine its suitability as a future school and the potential associated costs.
Last week, five firms responded with interest in taking on that project. The school board’s building committee has received and posted those proposals, which range from about $140,000 to $190,000. Meeting on Monday, the building committee decided to hold off on discussing the proposals until members have had a chance to review them carefully.
The school board meets next on Wednesday, Nov. 4, in the Harwood library. Meetings are livestreamed via Zoom, allowing attendees to participate. Meetings also are streamed for viewing only and posted on the district’s YouTube page. Those links are on the meeting agenda.