Fairfax-Fletcher RED Merger Study - Community Input Needed

I am writing to let you about the current status of the Fairfax/Fletcher RED Merger Study. You may have heard that Fairfax and Fletcher School Boards voted to form a Regional Education District (RED) Merger Study Committee last summer. A committee of board members and community members from both towns was formed in late January 2011 and has been has charged with determining if a merger between Fairfax and Fletcher school districts makes sense both educationally and financially. Other districts in our surrounding communities were also invited to participate but at this point Fairfax and Fletcher are the two towns exploring a potential merger.

Since its inception, this committee has met almost every two weeks to meet the goals set forth in their charge. The committee has been exploring every aspect of both districts that would need to be examined should a merger occur. So far, it has found that both Fairfax and Fletcher districts are very similar in many areas. And it has also found areas where similarities do not exist.

I urge you all to review the minutes of the meetings on our website at http://tinyurl.com/redmerger so that you may be fully informed about the discussions. If the committee ultimately finds that a merger could be beneficial, it will make that recommendation in its report to the VT State Board of Education. If the State Board agrees, a vote by Australian ballot will then be scheduled in both towns so that the communities decide whether to merge. Note that a new merged Regional Education District can only be formed if voters in both Fairfax and Fletcher support a merger of the Fairfax and Fletcher school districts. The committee is tentatively planning to hold the vote in our communities this October.

Part of forming the process of a new regional district (RED) is selecting a name for the new merged entity. The current names (Fairfax Town School District and Fletcher Town School District) would disappear if a merger is approved by community votes. However, I want to be very clear, the names of the schools (BFA Fairfax and Fletcher Elementary School) will NOT change. If you would like to share your thoughts on potential name ideas, please visit our FWSU Facebook page at http://tinyurl.com/fwsufb and participate in our online poll (http://tiny.cc/scwig).

In conclusion, I want to thank our RED merger study committee for their hard work. The time commitment has been extensive and the work has been difficult. There is still much work ahead and ultimately the committee is most interested in gathering all the detailed information so that the public can make an informed decision about whether a merger makes sense for our communities.

We invite all community members to learn more and share feedback. All meetings are open to the public and we invite you to attend.

Sincerely,

Ned Kirsch, Superintendent
Franklin West Supervisory Union