The Future of Weybridge School, Weybridge, VT
Small declines in student enrollment caused the tax rate in Weybridge to rise by a whopping 15%. Some residents favored closing the school. Others were committed to keeping the school open. Tensions were rising and almost everyone was directing their frustration towards the local school board for failing to come up with a solution. Feeling a sense of urgency, Weybridge volunteered to be the pilot community for a public engagement process Creative Discourse designed for the Addison Central Supervisory Union governance study committee. Over eighty Weybridge residents participated in a series of conversations and an action forum about education quality, cost and governance.
The community conversations transformed the situation. Residents gained an understanding of the complexity of the issues and began to work side by side with the school board to find solutions. A school policy was changed to allow students from outside Weybridge to attend the school. Several new students enrolled. Word about Weybridge’s excellent schools spread and new families began to arrive. In the years following this work, Weybridge welcomed nineteen new students to its school, the tax rate has decreased significantly, and residents and town officials have come together to successfully address a range of challenges facing the community.
“We came out of the sessions with a reasonable, flexible list of options with which we could move forward.”