Impact of Government Shut Down

Congress failed to pass a stopgap measure so the federal government is now in partial shutdown.

What this impacts

Social Security, SSI, Unemployment insurance, TANF, Food Stamps: Benefits will continue, but applying and appealing may be stopped.

Medicare and Medicaid: Payment may be delayed for providers but the programs will continue to operate

Not Affected

• Veteran’s Hospitals

• Federal prisons

• Local Governments, schools, libraries etc.

• U.S. Postal Service (note that new rates go into effect on Sunday. A stamp will now cost. 50¢

• Airports-Air traffic controllers, TSA officers and customs agents will continue to work at airports

• USDA Inspection of meat, poultry and eggs

• Federal Financial Aid-Note that 90% of the Education Department staff will be sent home

• Congress

• Supreme Court

• Special counsel’s Russia investigation

What is closed

• Smithsonian Museums and the National Zoo

• National Zoo Panda Cam

• Federal office Buildings: Most departments and agencies will be shut down

• IRS Customer Service-Automated processes will continue but anything that involves people will be closed

• Disaster recovery efforts

• Many government research operations

• National parks though limited access will be available wherever possible.

Possible Impact

• Federal courts: Will have three more weeks of funding

• Passport offices will likely remain open but not those in federal buildings

• Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) is funded through March.

• Military is currently paid through Feb. 1. After that they will not be paid until after their shutdown

• Department of Health and Human Services: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will have a hard time with their annual flu programs. Reduced staffing is expected

Other Ways it can Impact

• Home buyers could face delays in closing. The Federal Housing Administration would halt new mortgage approvals. Since lenders often ask IRS to verify a potential buyer’s tax information, delays should be expected

Impacts in Vermont

• Vermont Guard-Normal day-today operations would cease and only essential personnel would report for work.

• Other action being taken in VT

Cavendish Update: 1/19/18 School/Act 250/Film

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1/19/18 Cavendish Update

Correction

1. Cavendish Related News

2. Act 250 Hearing on Murdock’s

3. Look & See to be screened at Cavendish Baptist Church

4. Events

CORRECTION: Since the Select Board Meeting of Jan. 8, the Town clerk, Diane McNamara has spoken to the state regarding the need for an informational meeting for the school. The annual meeting will be needed to "Hear and act on the reports of the Cavendish Town Elementary School District Directors for the school year ending June 30, 2017.

1. CAVENDISH RELATED NEWS

Combined CTES and CAES Meeting: Moving the 6th grade to Chester: The overwhelming sentiment of those attending Tuesday night's combined meeting of the CTES and Chester/Andover school boards was not to relocate CTES's 6th graders to Chester. This meeting was called by Chester and it was quickly apparent that members of both boards had little idea if a middle school 6-8 grade was even in the best interest of students. Because of CTES’s small size (currently about 93 students) and the state’s push to do away with small schools, many were concerned that if the 6th grade was relocated to GMUHS, the school would have such a low enrollment it was at high risk of being closed. The Dish

GMUDS’s Budget: Did it Deliver on its Act 46 Promises?: At the Jan. 17 Finance Committee and Green Mountain Unified School District (GMUSD) board meetings, the Finance Committee was tied in approving the budget. Throughout the budget meeting, Cavendish representative Doug McBride pointed out issue after issue on the budget showing how it didn’t conform to the Act 46 promise and asking the hard questions. When the GMUSD board met, they ignored the Finance Committee’s deadlock and went ahead and voted in the budget, minus $30,000. The only dissenting vote was McBride’s. When asked why he voted no, McBride stated that the budget is not what we promised the voters. It does not conform to Act 46’s promise of enhancing the education of students and there is no economic savings. The Dish

Cavendish Resident Jim Hasson Super Senior: From a 42-year career as a Navy Seabee, to raising a family, to volunteering at Plymouth Notch State Park, Super Senior Jim Hasson's life has been one adventure after another. WCAX

Mack Molding Sued by Fired Worker in Multi-Part Complaint: A woman who was fired in 2016 from her job at Mack Molding is suing the Arlington-based manufacturer for what she says were violations of the Vermont Fair Employment Practices Act and Vermont Parental and Family Leave Act. In the suit, which was filed in the Bennington County Superior Court Civil Division, former longtime Mack Molding employee Angela Gates, of Mount Holly, accused the company, which employs 2,000 in six locations, including Cavendish, along the East Coast, of a “pattern of discrimination and retaliation” spanning a number of years, against her and other employees. VT Digger

Flu Arrives Early in Area, Strikes Hard This Season: This is not an ordinary flu season in the area, according to officials. “We are seeing widespread activity,” says Blythe Kersula, infection prevention nurse for Springfield Medical Care Systems. Springfield Medical facilities began seeing it in December. Adding to the concern of health officials is the strain. H3N2, the flu virus driving this outbreak, most affects people with low immune systems, particular children and adults over 65. Eagle Times If you need one of the flu Cavendish Cares Packages being prepared by our home school community, please e-mail cavendishconnects@gmail.com There are fun items for kids.

Phone Scam Targets GMP Customers: A warning from Green Mountain Power about a phone scam making the rounds. Officials say scammers are going after businesses and threatening customers with disconnection if they do not pay immediately. They give the business a fake toll-free number to call which leads to a recording claiming to be GMP.  The utility says if you get a call like this -- hang up.

 GMP Customers to Benefit From Tax Cut: The state’s largest utility will pass along savings from a reduction in the federal corporate tax rate. In December, the Trump administration and Congress reduced the rate from 35 percent to 21 percent as part of an overhaul of the federal tax code. The new rate went into effect on Jan. 1. Mary Powell, CEO of Green Mountain Power, says the Vermont utility will pass along “100 percent” of the savings along to customers. In December the VT Public Utilities Commission approved a 5.34 percent rate increase. The utility will not announce how much the percentage savings for Vermont ratepayers will be until Green Mountain Power files a rate case with state regulators in April.

2018 USPS Postage Rate Increase: Effective Sunday, Jan. 21, 2018, U.S. Postal Service (USPS) postage rates for several mailing and shipping products will increase . Stamps will now be 50 cents, while other rates will increase an average of 4 percent.

 State of VT to See $30M Trump Bump in FY 2019: Federal tax reforms will boost state coffers by $30 million in fiscal year 2019, state economists predict. And will go up another $38.3 million for fiscal year 2020. While the Republican plan was supposed to cut taxes, many Vermonters will actually pay more to the federal — and state — governments. Married couples filing jointly in Vermont who earn between $125,000 and $500,000 will be hit the hardest by the increase, according to the state’s economists. Meanwhile, corporations will see a 14 percent reduction in federal tax rates. While experts are unsure exactly how the federal Tax Cuts and Jobs Act will impact the state’s economy over the long haul, in the short term it looks like a boon for government revenues. VT Digger

2. ACT 250 HEARING ON MURDOCK’S: When Murdock’s Restaurant submitted their original Act 250 permit application for a restaurant on the Proctorsville Green, it was approved without a hearing. However, when they applied recently to increase their seating from 50 to 80, without any additional construction, the Act 250 board called for a hearing, which was held on January 16. The reason given was to ensure there was sufficient parking, particularly in view of the fact that Outer Limit Brewery, which has not filed, let alone been approved for an Act 250 permit, is planning to open a brewery and tasting room in an adjacent building.

Following a site visit to the restaurant’s location, testimony was given by the Cavendish Town Manager, Brendan McNamara, who stated that the Select Board and Planning Commission approved the project, as it fit with the town plan and there was no parking issues. The Regional Planning Council provided similar comments.

An under current of frustration with the Act 250 Commission for creating an issue where none existed, was best expressed by Tim Calabresse of the Cavendish Planning Commission. He noted that there was no need for the hearing and that it could have been handled by a few phone calls and e-mails. The fact that three governing groups-the Cavendish Planning Commission, the board of Selectmen and the Regional Planning Commission- all agreed the expansion was fine and did not pose a parking problem should have been sufficient.

While the chairman of the hearing kept on saying that Act 250’s purpose was to facilitate appropriate development, this was not necessarily the viewpoint of those in attendance. Calabresse stated what many were thinking-the hearing was not needed; it created unnecessary expenses to say nothing of the stress placed on Murdock’s; and ultimately, if it was still “boom” times, they wouldn’t have given a second thought to this request for modification.

Doug McBride, a Proctorsville business owner, also commented that the message the Act 250 Commission was sending to future business owners was a very negative one. If a resident is willing to invest their own funds to refurbish and create a thriving business in what was once a derelict building, it is punitive to create roadblocks over a possible 10-20 parking spaces.

3. LOOK & SEE TO BE SCREENED AT CAVENDISH BAPTIST CHURCH: Cavendish Baptist Church is hosting a screening of the award-winning Sundance documentary LOOK & SEE, a powerful cinematic portrait of Wendell Berry—farmer, activist, and writer. The film will be screened on February 9 at 7:00pm at Cavendish Baptist Church, 2258 Main Street in Cavendish. 

In 1965, Wendell Berry returned home to Henry County, where he bought a small farmhouse and began a life of farming, writing and teaching.  This lifelong relationship with the land and community would come to form the core of his prolific writings. A half century later Henry County, like many rural communities across America, has become a place of quiet ideological struggle. In the span of a generation, the agrarian virtues of simplicity, land stewardship, sustainable farming, local economies and rootedness to place have been replaced by a capital-intensive model of industrial agriculture characterized by machine labor, chemical fertilizers, soil erosion and debt - all of which have frayed the fabric of rural communities. Writing from a long wooden desk beneath a forty-paned window, Berry has watched this struggle unfold, becoming one its most passionate and eloquent voices in defense of agrarian life.

Often called “a prophet for rural America,” Berry has long been a voice for the communities that are so often overlooked by the media. Filmmaker Laura Dunn skillfully weaves Berry’s poetic and prescient words with gorgeous cinematography and the testimonies of his family and neighbors, all of whom are being deeply affected by the industrial and economic changes to their agrarian way of life. “It’s a conversation that is more urgent now than ever, as we find ourselves in a deeply divided nation where urban consumers remain so completely disconnected from the rural producers whose work sustains their very lives,” says director Laura Dunn. “Wendell shows us with extraordinary sensitivity, just what fidelity to a place and to one's own community can truly mean.”

Admission is free thanks to a grant from the Cavendish Community Fund, but donations for refreshments will be accepted for the Cavendish Fire Dept. Emergency Shelter Initiative.  For more information and to view the trailer, visit: http://www.lookandseefilm.com

 4. EVENTS

JANUARY 23 (TUESDAY): Home Weatherization Workshop, 6 pm Cavendish Town Office. Free.

 JANUARY 28 (SUNDAY): Dinner and a Movie at the Cavendish Library (Proctorsville) featuring the film Dunkirk. 1 pm. Free donations welcome.

For information on upcoming events, go to the Cavendish Connects Calendar. For area events, check the Okemo Valley Chamber of Commerce calendar.  

IF YOU READ THIS PLEASE HELP SUPPORT CAVENDISH CONNECTS

GMUSD’S BUDGET: Did it deliver on its Act 46 promise?

At the Jan. 17 Finance Committee and Green Mountain Unified School District (GMUSD) board meetings, the Finance Committee was tied in approving the budget with two no, two yes and one abstaining. Throughout the budget meeting, Cavendish representative Doug McBride pointed out issue after issue on the budget showing how it didn’t conform to the Act 46 promise and asking the hard questions. When the GMUSD board met, they ignored the Finance Committee’s deadlock and went ahead and voted in the budget, minus $30,000. The only dissenting vote was McBride’s.

When asked why he voted no, McBride stated that the budget is not what we promised the voters. It does not conform to Act 46’s promise of enhancing the education of students and there is no economic savings.

With an 11% increase in administration, only an interim principal for CTES but a Dean of Students added at Chester Andover Elementary and no programs to “enhance education,” Cavendish residents attending the meeting were not pleased with the outcome.

To have approved the first budget under GMUSD in such a callous way is an insult to our students, teachers, schools, and taxpayers.  What’s the true mission of this board?  After the last few meetings I’ve witnessed, I find it hard to believe the mission is at all about the children we are trying to educate. Denise Hughes, Cavendish resident mother of three students in Pre K and CTES

“I am dismayed at how the Superintendent seems once again to be bullying us into making hasty decisions about the future of our schools. While she has backed down temporarily, she makes it clear that everything is on the table for next year, which is not that far away. I appreciate the work the board did to get a few positions reinstated, including the principal at CTES, but I do not understand why the overwhelming majority them voted on a budget that included an arbitrary $30,000 cut at the end, in spite of an passionate plea last week to consider asking voters for more time. The process of consolidation was divisive. Now we are divided again, rather than being united for our schools and communities, and it seems to be all to comply with something we aren’t sure we agree with in the first place. The time to push back is now.” Sara Stowell, Proctorsville resident, parent of two students at GMUHS

If this is the process for improving educational outcomes more efficiently and at a lower cost, then our system is broken and the result is offensive.   -Trevor Barlow, Proctorsville resident, parent of two students at CTES

After the two meetings this week-last night's meeting and the January 16th Combined CTES and CAES Board Meeting: Moving 6th Grade to Chester -there is a real concern that a movement is a foot by the TRSU to ultimately squeeze CTES inch by inch until it no longer exists.  It is important that the Cavendish community pay attention as if the goal, stated or not, is to do away with CTES, the impact will include the devaluation of property, the continuing decline in census (a town without a school is not attractive to young families), and ultimately end in the loss of the heart and hub of the community as we know it.

You can watch these meetings on line at Okemo Valley TV and on Comcast. Check the Okemo Valley TV website for scheduled times.

COMBINED CTES AND CAES BOAD MEETING: Moving 6th Grade to Chester

Before reporting on the discussion at the combined school board meeting of Cavendish Town Elementary School (CTES) and Chester/Andover Elementary School (CAES), there is a correction to last week’s article GMUSD: Are we getting what we voted for?

Cavendish’s Town Clerk, Diane McNamara, spoke to the Secretary of State’s office after the article was posted. Contrary to what was discussed at the Select Board on Monday, January 8, there will be school business segment at this year’s Town Meeting. However, at last night’s meeting, the Two Rivers Supervisory Union (TRSU) superintendent Meg Powden said that the informational meeting for the Green Mountain Unified School District (GMUSD) is in February in Chester-Feb. 27.

Why is it being proposed to move 6th grade to GMUHS?: Given the tension about GMUSD, people wanted to know why this issue was being brought up now. Marilyn Mahusky, the chair of the CAES board, said that she thought it was relevant to ongoing discussions.

The idea was suggested to the CAES board by administration while they were on retreat a year and a half ago. No one from CTES was present, yet the CAES board thought it could be good for both elementary schools to have their 6th grades move to GMUHS for a middle school 6-8.

Do middle schools make a difference?: While articles being posted on the CTES PTO Facebook page questioned the value of middle school, both boards said they didn’t know very much about the issue. Some of the articles suggest that students attending middle schools actually do worse than the traditional K-8/9-12 model. In an effort to understand more about performance, data on GMUSD schools was obtained from School Digger.

For 2017, CTES ranks 23 out of 169 elementary schools in Vermont while CAES ranks 102. CTES has 56% of its students on reduced or free lunch, an indication of how many students live at or below the poverty level, and on Average Standard Score (2017) scored 77.8. CAES has 51.2% of its student population on reduced or free lunch and scored 40.5 on Average Standard Score (2017). For high school, out of 55 schools in Vermont, GMUHS ranks 44th with 43.6% of students on free or reduced lunch and has an Average Standard Score of 24.6.

Why fix what isn’t broken? CTES’s 6th grade teacher, Robin Long, spoke about how well CTES 6th graders do, which was echoed by parents . An audience member working in the middle school at GMUHS was clear that they were in no way prepared for any type of changes of this magnitude and were pretty clear it wouldn’t save money. The audience sentiment before, during and after the meeting was not in favor of moving the 6th grade to Chester.

What would be the impact on CTES if the 6th grade was moved? What was clear to many in the audience is that if the 6th grade was moved, it was the beginning of the end for CTES. If the school were to close, the impact on the town would be devastating. As one parent noted after the meeting, Why would you jeopardize the one asset Cavendish has?

Do we have local control? Act 46 protects the school for four years. After that it’s up to the GMUSD to determine its fate. Given that there is sufficient voting power on the GMUSD board and in actual voters, it’s very simple-whatever Chester wants Chester gets.

Savings? At the April 25 ACT 46 informational meeting, which took place prior to the vote for joining the GMUSD, tax information was presented as follows, Tax rates for the unified district were presented to show that Cavendish would experience an initial drop from 1.5153 in FY 2017 to 1.4699 in FY 2019. This would then increase slightly each year so that by FY 2022, the per pupil cost for all schools in the district would be 1.6751

 Any savings that were to be experienced disappeared almost immediately after the GMUSD was voted in-health insurance for teachers. Now there is an additional $225,000 required so that the elementary school staffs will receive the same benefits as the high school staff. Clearly, if there was a policy within Act 46 requiring that all participating schools in a district provide equal benefits, then this $225,000 should have been part of the discussion back in April. It wasn’t.

At the Finance Committee-which will meet on Jan. 17-a budget will be released. While much discussion has been about doing what’s best for students, there has been little evidence of that. In fact, it appears to be more about jobs than students.

Read the report on the April 25 meeting.

Trust: CTES board member Fred Marin made a plea for people to be patient so we can learn to trust one another. Unfortunately, many of the older residents who were around at the formation of the GMUHS felt they were short changed in that process- e.g. the school was to be located on the Cavendish/Chester border but instead was moved to its current location, far more convenient for Chester than Cavendish. The creation of the TRSU was to save money, improve services etc. none of which have been realized.

Some audience members were surprised to learn that the replacement of retiring CTES principal George Thompson with another principal will be a temporary position for one year. They felt this was a switch from the previous week’s discussion at the Finance meeting.

Trust is going to be difficult to establish even though members of the audience very much want to overlook history and move forward.

Hold off on the Budget: Fred Marin encouraged the TRSU to hold off on producing a budget that could be easily defeated and instead take the time to produce one that could be voted on at a separate time other than Town Meeting Day. There was strong support among the audience for his suggestion.

Attend the Finance Committee and GMUSD Meeting: Tonight, January 17, there will be a Finance Committee at GMUHS at 5 pm. This will be followed by a GMUSD board meeting at 6 at the same location. All meetings are being filmed by Okemo Valley TV and live notes are being posted via the CTES PTO Facebook page.

Regardless of whether you have school age children, the decisions being made effect everyone not only because of taxes but also because anything that jeopardizes the school endangers the community as we know it.