Fairfax holds town meeting discussions
By Jill Fahy
Free Press Staff Writer
He didn't coin the popular 1980s slogan, but BFA-Fairfax Principal Scott Lang borrowed it Saturday afternoon when town residents asked how they should vote on the controversial Regional Technical Academy proposal.
"Just Say No!" Lang yelled good-naturedly to a crowd of about 60 people at Fairfax's town meeting in the elementary school auditorium. Many in attendance laughed; a few nodded in agreement.
Fairfax school officials have been vocal in their opposition to the proposal they fear will drain their small school of students -- 29 of whom already attend the Essex and Burlington technical academies -- and money for academic and extra-curricular programs.
Residents Saturday were also leery of the $58 million proposal that would combine the two Chittenden County technical academies into one center in Essex.
"I'm against the RTA because I can see it's a money pit and it's going to suck this town dry," said Chris Bessette, a 1982 BFA-Fairfax graduate and a former Essex technical center student. "I'd much rather see something regional to Franklin County."
Lang and several other school officials tried their best to address concerns about the contentious proposal that will be voted on Tuesday by residents in 25 area towns in Chittenden and lower Grand Isle counties and the Franklin County towns served by Bellows Free Academy-Fairfax.
Residents will vote Tuesday whether to establish a regional technical academy school district and a board to govern it.
Voting results from each town will be sent to the Secretary of State's Office, where all the ballots will be collected and counted. The outcome will be decided by a majority vote, said Melissa Hersh, director of Education and Training at the Lake Champlain Workforce Investment Board.
Fairfax resident Kelly Crawford said she hopes other Fairfax residents have informed themselves about the tech center proposal.
"There aren't a lot of people here," Crawford said, referring to the 60 or so people who were in the crowd. "How do we get the message out to the rest of Fairfax?"
Not everyone at Saturday's meeting was opposed to the tech center plan.
"We sat here all day since 10 a.m. talking about budget issues and about money, and I haven't heard one comment about the best interest of our kids," said Fairfax resident Carl Jones, who expressed his disagreement with the board's position. "Let's look at children and where they want to go and how they can get there."
Concerns about the tech academy did not come up until the end of the nearly seven-hour-long meeting, which had begun at 10 a.m., with about 200 people in attendance.
Fairfax residents young and old filed into the auditorium, which also serves as a gym, and sat down on chairs and rows of bleachers. Some people preferred to stand on the perimeter while they watched the proceedings.
Nearly everyone took advantage of the brunch-style coffee, donuts, muffins and cookies that were being sold in the hallway.
Breakfast food turned into saran-wrapped egg salad sandwiches a couple of hours into the meeting, as town officials slowly checked off "articles" that residents could vote on by yelling out "yea" or "nay."
Among these items, residents voted "yea" to approve a contract with the Franklin County Sheriff for 20 hours a week worth of police coverage in the town.
And voters also approved a $56,160 allocation to pay for full-time ambulance coverage by the volunteer Fairfax Rescue squad through the use of paid staff. This "per-diem" staff, which would work a maximum of five shifts per week, would only be used when volunteer staff are unable to fill the shifts.
Contact Jill Fahy at 660-1898 or jfahy@bfp.burlingtonfreepress.com
