November 6, 2026 | By Beth Cook To the Community:
I want to express my support for the concerns raised by Alexina Cather and JB Weir following the Nov. 4 Harwood Unified Union School District School Board meeting.
I appreciate their willingness to speak up and challenge what appears to have been a departure from the process the board established to make the incredibly difficult decision to close two schools.
I recognize that there are deeply personal and emotional connections to each of our schools. They are important to their respective communities, and I don't underestimate what their potential closure means to the families and towns affected. That said, I am disappointed that the board appears to have allowed the emotional response and advocacy of one town to sway a decision that should be based on the educational, financial, and long-term interests of the entire district.
There is a difference between listening to a community and allowing the volume or intensity of its emotional response to dictate the outcome. Every town in this valley has a history, an identity, and a vested interest in its school. Every community has families who are worried about what these changes will mean for their children. The fact that some families are more visible or better represented at board meetings should not give their concerns greater weight than those of families who cannot attend or choose not to speak publicly.
Consider the big picture
It is time for the board to step back and consider the bigger picture. School consolidation cannot simply be viewed as a question of which town loses its school. We need to consider the educational impact on all of our children, the financial implications for taxpayers throughout the district, and the economic and community-wide effects on the Mad River Valley as a whole. Our towns are interconnected. What happens in one community affects all of us.
The scoring process was established for a reason. It provided a common framework for evaluating the different configurations using criteria intended to serve the entire district. If the board is prepared to move away from those results, there should be a clear and objective explanation for doing so. It is difficult to understand how a decision intended to be driven by data and the best interests of the district could shift so significantly in response to public comment from one community.
I also agree that it is fundamentally unfair to move forward without giving all valley families the same opportunity to be heard. If public input is going to influence the board's decision, every community deserves an equal opportunity to participate. But public comment should inform the decision, not replace the objective evaluation the board undertook.
Ultimately, this is bigger than any one town or any one school. It is about making a responsible decision for the future of our schools, our children, our taxpayers, and the economic vitality of the entire Mad River Valley.
I urge the board to reconsider its direction, return to the collective assessment, and remember that its responsibility is to the entire district and the valley, not simply to the community that makes the strongest emotional appeal.
The future is a shared responsibility
Another important consideration that deserves attention in this discussion is the responsibility we all share for the future of the Mad River Valley.
I understand Moretown’s desire to preserve its elementary school, particularly given the important role it plays as a center of the community. Schools are often much more than educational institutions. They provide identity, connection, and a gathering place for residents. I respect that attachment and understand why Moretown families are fighting to preserve it.
However, I think we need to consider this position in the context of regional responsibility and reciprocity.
Moretown has historically maintained a degree of independence from broader regional initiatives. It is not a member of the Mad River Valley Planning District, which has long provided a framework for regional planning and cooperation among Fayston, Waitsfield and Warren. Moretown only recently joined the Recreation District.
There is nothing wrong with a town choosing to maintain its independence or determining the extent to which it participates in regional organizations. Those are local decisions. But those decisions also come with a broader consideration: regional cooperation requires reciprocity.
It is difficult to reconcile a desire to preserve a town-specific community asset by asking the entire school district to absorb the educational and financial consequences, while taking a more limited role in other regional efforts that benefit the valley as a whole. The interests of one town cannot take priority when the interests of the broader valley are at stake.
If we expect the valley to function as a connected community, we all have to be willing to think and act beyond our individual town boundaries. That means sharing responsibilities, making compromises, and sometimes accepting decisions that may not be our first choice but serve the greater good.
I am concerned that the current school discussion has become focused on what Moretown stands to lose, without sufficient consideration of what the rest of the valley stands to lose or what is best for the district as a whole.
Moretown's school is important to Moretown. But the educational future of our children, the financial responsibility of our taxpayers, and the long-term economic vitality of the Mad River Valley are shared interests. Those interests deserve at least equal consideration.
Ultimately, I believe the school board needs to make a decision based on objective facts and the collective good, not the individual interests or emotional priorities of any one town. Regional responsibility cannot simply be expected of others; it has to be demonstrated by all of us.
Beth Cook
Waitsfield