DANVILLE - The Danville School has decided to remain a singular district and to not merge with a unified school district under Act 46. While there are multiple reasons as to why the Danville school board decided to remain independent district, the most common response is that they wanted to maintain their school structure, and they also wanted to come to a mutual decision by the Act 46 decision deadline, which takes place December 26th.
Bruce Melendy, who is the head of the Danville school board, wanted to make it clear that the Danville school was not opposed to merging with other districts; however, their decision to remain independent was for the sake of their students.
"We as a district are blessed to have the curriculum that we do, and to have so many other school districts, like St. Johnsbury Academy, who are willing to collaborate and work with us. Our fear with Act 46 is that the new dynamic that we will be faced with, will cause more problems than solve them."
Melendy spoke on the 27th about their decision to remain an independent district when they announced their decision at their school board meeting that night.
"I feel very strongly that we have met the task of meeting with other districts to discuss ways to promote improvement and we will submit our proposal to the State by December 26th, 2017".
While they will be their own district, Melendy and other members of the school board have said that they will continue to work alongside the other districts in the area, as well as work with the Caledonia Central Supervisory Union. Mat Forest, the Superintendent of the CCSU, said that he was happy that the Danville school board was finally able to come to a decision, even though it means that they will not be joining the CCSU.
"I'm pleased the board made a decision to move forward. a lot of great discussion has occurred that will assist in benefiting students... In the end I feel that Danville and its partners will work successfully to create additional opportunities for our community's children."
Although the Danville school board has announced that they are working on creating a partnership with St. Johnsbury Academy, and are continuing to look into a potential partnership with Blue Mountain Union School, no finalized plans have been made.
"The Danville School Board has decided to present a stand alone plan to the State Agency of Education which will outline the partnership we are exploring and plan to implement with St. Johnsbury Academy," Melendy said, "We will also indicate in this plan that we are also exploring collaboration with Blue Mountain."
For the time being the Danville School will remain as they always have, and hope that the State Board will see that through their efforts and research, the best present course of action for the Danville School is to stay as they are and continue to explore their options and resources.