Student actors took to the Harwood Union High School stage last weekend for their first live performance since before the COVID-19 pandemic began.

As Vermont continues to see record-setting daily COVID-19 case counts, local schools have been dealing with their own surge in new infections. As of Tuesday, Nov. 9, the Harwood Unified Union School District had reported nine COVID-19 cases for November alone for a total of 20 since the school year began.

Less than a week after the school district’s proposed $59.5 million construction bond suffered a resounding defeat at the ballot box, consultant John Gratto finds himself the central note-taker this week in an exercise designed to shape the search for the next superintendent to take the helm next summer. 

The search for a new superintendent for the Harwood Unified Union School District has begun with a community survey in progress and multiple meetings next week for various groups including community members to weigh in on the qualifications a successful candidate should have. 

Voters in the Harwood Unified Union School District, by a nearly three-to-one margin, rejected a proposed $59.5 million bond to fund extensive high school maintenance, renovations and upgrades, and a middle school expansion.

Regardless of how this week’s vote turns out on the school construction bond, the next several months have significant transitions in store for the Harwood Unified Union School District. The search for a new superintendent gets underway in November. Also on the horizon in early 2022 will be local elections to fill half the seats on the HUUSD School Board.

In its last public session before Tuesday’s vote on a $59.5 million school construction bond, the Harwood Unified Union School Board heard from just three people with questions. 

With just one week remaining before the Nov. 2 vote on the proposed $59.5 million construction bond, the Harwood Unified Union School Board will devote more than an hour this week to discussing details of the project and answering questions from the public. It also will nail down steps to the search for a new superintendent and it will adjust the weighted system for board member voting based on the 2020 U.S. Census.

Voting is already underway in the special election for the Harwood Unified Union School District’s $59.5 million construction bond and school district leaders are busy conducting information sessions for the public to get informed before casting ballots. 

Ballots for the Nov. 2 school bond vote are available now at town clerks’ offices and the first of four pre-election Q&A sessions for the public to get more information about the bond proposal is scheduled for Thursday evening, Oct. 7, at 6:30 p.m. 

Students and staff from Crossett Brook Middle School on Friday morning took part in Walk & Bike to School sponsored by Waterbury Winterfest and Waterbury LEAP.

Brookside Primary School recently was awarded a $3,400 grant by the American Heart Association’s school-based youth programs, Kids Heart Challenge and American Heart Challenge to purchase bikes for its physical education program.

Harwood Union Middle and High School administrators Wednesday morning provided an update to families regarding acts of vandalism and theft at the school by students, done in connection with a recently popular online social media challenge. 

Although the construction bond took up the majority of the Harwood Unified Union School Board’s in-person meeting time this week, a number of updates were shared with details on back-to-school enrollment, staffing, managing COVID-19 risks and cases, and smoothing out the bus schedule. 

It’s official: the Harwood Unified Union School District will hold a special election Nov. 2 on a $59.5 million bond to finance the first major construction project since the district’s six communities merged five years ago. 

For the next several weeks, Harwood Union’s school superintendent will be on leave with several members of the administrative team filling in to cover her responsibilities.