October 30, 2026 | By Lisa ScagliottiThe death of a second student this school year in a car crash last weekend has touched off reflection, support and much concern at Harwood Union Middle/High School where Vermont’s top education leader paid a visit on Thursday.
Vermont Education Secretary Zoie Saunders speaks during an assembly at Harwood Union Middle/High School on Thursday. Members of the school’s Assembly Band on stage look on. Photo by Gordon Miller
“I want you to know that there are a lot of people who really care about you and are here to support you in processing – however you're feeling – as you all have experienced, a lot of tragedy at a young age, and in a very short period of time, in your community,” Vermont Education Secretary Zoie Saunders said to Harwood students at two assemblies.
In addition to Saunders addressing the impact of the tragedies, Harwood Principal Meg McDonough shared a somber message with the school’s junior and senior class members about deep concern throughout the school and wider community for the safety of teenagers behind the wheel and the need to curb risky behavior.
Saunders’ afternoon visit began with a talk to about 130 seventh- and eighth-graders and their teachers, where she shared words of sympathy and encouragement along with a personal story.
“I’ve really been thinking a lot about you during this time,” Saunders began.
Part of the job of the state Agency of Education is to ensure that schools have resources needed in times of tragedy and loss, Saunders explained. But beyond that, she said she wanted to share how recent events have resonated with her personally.
“I’m here as somebody who has experienced a lot of loss at a young age. And as an adult, I still struggle sometimes to make meaning of life when tragedies hit, and those tragedies just don’t make sense. And they are just unfair,” she said first to the younger students seated on the floor in the middle school, and later to high schoolers in the auditorium.
“When I learned about Gracie’s death, and Vinny’s death earlier this year I was immediately transported back to January of 1998, when I was in eighth grade,” Saunders said.
On Sept. 22, Harwood junior Vinny Viola died in a one-car crash in Warren; last Saturday, Harwood ninth grader Gracie Dunbar died as a passenger in a crash, also in Warren. A memorial service will be held on Sunday in Waterbury for Dunbar.
Saunders then recounted a memory from growing up in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, when a friend died in a car accident. She recalled that her parents were out of town and she was staying with a friend’s family. A phone call from her parents delivered the tragic news.
“Her older sister was driving; they were coming back from a party. She lost control of the car, and had terrible accident, and Katie died. She was 15,” Saunders said.
The news of the recent Harwood student deaths brought back that searing memory. “I was feeling nearly 30 years later, that same aching feeling when my parents told me that Katie had died,” she told the students, adding that not long afterward she lost her father to cancer.
“Your community is going through something similar. You’ve experienced a lot of loss in a very short period of time,” she said, acknowledging the death at the start of the school year of staffer Ruth Haskins before the two student fatalities. In addition, the school and community on Oct. 8 marked 10 years since the 2016 fatal wrong-way crash on Interstate 89 that took the lives of five teenagers, including four Harwood students.
The school Assembly Band performs the Cat Stevens song, “The Wind,” in honor of the schoolmates they have recently lost. Photo by Gordon Miller
“That type of loss is really, really hard to process, right? I want you to hear from me today that it’s okay to feel how you’re feeling,” Saunders said. “You might feel sad, you might feel angry, you might feel frustrated, numb, a lot of different feelings.”
Saunders shared some ways that she has processed grief and copes with sadness. “I’ve tried to focus on things that give me purpose, things that I’m grateful for, or things that inspire me,” she said. “My wish for you, during this difficult and sad time, is that you’re able to take the moments to be comforted by the beauty around you.”
In both talks to the teenage audiences, Saunders stressed that the adults around them are there to help navigate this time of grief.
“The state of Vermont cares about you. Your district cares about you. Your principal, your teachers care about you, and they’re here to support you,” she said. “Everyone will be grieving you differently. I just want you to know how you can access support from your community and reach out when you want to process how you're feeling down the road.”
Education Secretary Zoie Saunders shares a personal story and a message of support at a Harwood high school assembly on Thursday. Photo by Gordon Miller
A heartfelt request
The high school assembly closed with the school Assembly Band dedicating the Cat Stevens song “The Wind” to the schoolmates they have lost. Freshmen and sophomores were dismissed first, as McDonough asked juniors and seniors to stay for an additional message, starting with the growing grave concern for their safety, especially when it comes to driving, underage drinking and speeding.
“This week I have been humbled by the outpouring of support that Harwood has received from across the state. Their eyes are on us out of deep worry for you. Schools have sent messages of care and journalists are writing articles to share the story out of sadness and concern for you. I am continually hearing this as a call for us, the adults in your life, to do more.
The roughly 150 teens sat in silence as McDonough shared a “heartfelt request” from the family of Vinny Viola, “so that the devastating mistake that Vinny made never costs another precious life from this community.”
In a measured pace and tone, McDonough delivered the grim message: “His family wants you to know that the morning of his crash, he had a blood alcohol concentration that was way over the legal limit for an adult. And he was driving over 100 miles an hour when he left the road.”
She followed that with her memory of the 11th grader. “Vinnie was a good human. He had this bright, mischievous smirk that never failed to make me smile when I saw him,” she said.
“Losing both Vinny and Gracie are profound tragedies,” McDonough continued. “And they will become even greater tragedies if we – you – fail to reflect and take lessons away from the heartbreaking realities of these losses.”
Harwood students and staff during Thursday’s assembly. Photo by Gordon Miller
Recent incidents
The principal then called out students for taking part in recent incidents involving alcohol. “The night of Vinny’s service, there was a party where there was underage drinking that I know many of you were at – a stark reminder that asks all of us what lessons are truly taken to heart by each of you,” she said.
“Now, five weeks later, seeing continued risky behaviors from homecoming choices to this past weekend’s heartbreaking events, leaves me standing here today asking each of you very directly: What lessons will you take away from this?”
She was referring to the school’s Oct. 16 homecoming dance held at Zenbarn in Waterbury where a several students were found with alcohol in vehicles in the parking lot. Washington County Sheriff Captain Bret Meyer on Friday confirmed that about a dozen of the attendees were involved and that alcohol was found in seven vehicles.
“It was beyond bad,” he said.
Harwood Superintendent Mike Leichliter said that 10 students afterward were disciplined for the infraction, including multiple student-athletes who were prohibited from participating in some of their final games of the season. Leichliter said the actions taken by the school were the consequences students are told they will face.
“It’s not about punishment,” he said. “It’s about wanting to change behavior.”
To that end, school officials as well as the sheriff’s department and state officials say they are hoping to put together efforts to address these issues with students. In a message shared with Harwood parents, McDonough said a first step will come at a meeting on Nov. 17 at 5 p.m. to begin discussing prevention. Further work will be done to schedule sessions with speakers related to driving and substance use, and perhaps an all-school dialogue around making safe choices.
Thursday’s assembly was the first step. Knowing now that the September crash involved alcohol and speeding, and that police said the last weekend’s fatal crash involved high speed, McDonough asked the students to think about their decisions around risky behaviors.
“For some, it might impact your choices this weekend. For all of you, I hope it includes a consideration of how you will make choices that keep you and your friends safe. That consideration starts right now, asking yourself hard questions before such a moment occurs,” she said, posing hypothetical situations where teens may be in a vehicle where the driver is speeding or with a friend who has consumed alcohol and is about to drive.
She reminded students how she views them.
Vermont Education Secretary Zoie Saunders talks with Harwood Principal Meg McDonough and Superintendent Mike Leichliter. Photo by Gordon Miller
“Obviously, I’m here speaking to you today as your principal. But you also know that I’m standing here today as a mother. As an aunt, as a community member who has quite literally watched many of you grow up before my eyes,” McDonough said. “You are incredible young people. And I cannot make these choices for you when you step out these doors. But what I can do, and what I will continue to do, is show you every single day how much you matter to me. I will keep bringing you into these difficult conversations. I will keep challenging you to pause, to think clearly, and choose the path that keeps you and your friends alive and safe.”
A parent of a Harwood student herself, McDonough closed with an immediate appeal: “Very specifically, I want to leave you today, deeply thinking about your actions this weekend. Please, please make choices that keep you safe, that support each other. So that on Monday, I watch each of you walk back into these doors.”
More information
See a letter from Harwood Principal Meg McDonough to parents and guardians, shared with the community here.
See a transcript of Secretary Zoie Saunders’ remarks in Opinion here.
See details about a memorial service Sunday, Nov. 1, for Gracie Dunbar here.