Rep. Roberts June office hours

2023-06-13

Dear friend,

One week from today, June 20, the Legislature is back at it. We will vote on whether to override the Governor's veto on a number of bills, including the budget. We plan to adjourn for the 2023 session by June 22.

I'll be relieved when the 2023 session is done.

✅ Getting it done next week will mean we passed Vermont's budget before July 1st, the start of our fiscal year.

✅ It will mean we did the best we could to confront post-COVID homelessness. (see ​“We can do hard things.” - History​.)

✅ But best of all, after next week we'll gavel out till January 2024. As a member of a citizen Legislature, we get to come home and stay home.

🙏 - my family.

It's not all 🥳. I'll be working. And I'll be in summer school. Here are some June office hours. Please come and say hi and let me know what's on your mind this Thursday, June 15th:

• 9–10 a.m. 1a Coffee Roasters, 123 W Main St., Wilmington

• 11 a.m.– noon. The Halifax Community Hall, 20 Brook Road, Halifax (during their cafe hours -- come and support 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Thurs/Sat).

• 12:30–1:30 p.m. Whitingham Transfer Station, 4185 Vermont Route 100.

I hope to see you there, or feel free to email or call to schedule something.

***
Summer school is also what it felt like on Friday. My teacher was Sean Youmell, Operations and Facilities Coordinator for Windham Southwest Supervisory Union (WSWSU), who walked me through Windham-6's three public schools.

TVES gym: "Hey You: Be Better Than You Were Yesterday."

The second-highest airborne PCB levels in the state made Twin Valley Elementary School make statewide headlines this spring (see Strict PCB testing leads to alarm in schools). We took a look inside the closed gymnasium, and discussed the current testing that is out at the lab, likely areas of remediation, and possible costs for this and other projects.

Twin Valley Elementary's wood chip boiler, which Sean says has been running well.

For example, TVES's chip boiler is working well, says Sean, but its oil boilers are aging.

I spoke with several teachers and staff about professional challenges, but you can also see a lot from looking at folks making do.

Students and teachers coming back to all three area schools in September can look forward to no longer seeing plastic taped over lights to reduce glare, and missing fixtures.

Twin Valley Middle High School classroom.

With the help of Efficiency Vermont, WSWSU plans to replace 2,600 fluorescent ballasts over the summer with new LED lighting.

I love buildings, and what their hidden corners tell us.

Halifax built this supply closet in 1992, and I bet it's been chock full ever since. As Sean pointed out, it is a rare school facility that gives teachers enough space to store lesson plans.

All three of our public schools in Halifax, Whitingham, and Wilmington are in great shape. The care and dedication for well by the facilities staff are evident. And all three show evidence of school boards doing their best to stretch limited resources across the march of time.

I was especially glad for this look, knowing that Vermont's 2007 moratorium on funding for school construction will be on the agenda in the 2024 Legislature.

What should be on my summer school agenda? Email me and let me know.

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