Letters to the Editor (7/30/25)

The Bus Benefits Everyone

[Re “Out of Service? Fewer Passengers, Reduced Schedules and Soaring Costs Have Left Green Mountain Transit and Its Riders Searching for a New Route,” July 16]: Green Mountain Transit basically serves those who do not own a car. Most, but not all, cannot afford to own and operate a car. Over the years, GMT has reduced services due to rising costs and fares not keeping up. Like so many other things European systems pay for through taxes as a public service, Vermont, like the rest of America, won’t pay for this, complaining that taxes are too high. We live in a divided system in which rich people thrive and poor people suffer. And then we complain that poor people are a drain to the system. When is Vermont, and the rest of the U.S., going to recognize that lifting everyone up through public services will benefit all of us? If we paid for housing, we would not have homeless people. If we paid for transportation, more people would be working and contribute.

Trine Bech

Shelburne

Another View of July 4

[Re “O Say, Can You See? Protest, History and Democracy Reverberate in a Powerful Show at the Current,” July 2]: When we reflect on our Fourth of July holiday with the wisdom of today, it becomes apparent that we should not be celebrating a needless war in which tens of thousands were killed. Besides, it wasn’t a typical revolution in which the peasants overthrow the ruling class; rather, it was led by rich merchants like George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin, who just didn’t want to pay their fair share of taxes.

Nearly all the other British colonies gained their independence without a shot fired, and we would have as well, if only we had been a little more patient. Rather than sending a Declaration of Independence to King George, we should have sent a letter protesting the Boston Massacre and the Intolerable Acts. Just think of the human suffering that would have been avoided.

And so, I propose that we rename our Fourth of July holiday Apologies to Britain Day, just as we have renamed our October holiday Indigenous Peoples’ Day.

David Maher

Burlington

Gardener’s Roots

[Re Feedback: “RIP, Gardener’s Supply,” July 9; “Gardener’s Supply Files for Bankruptcy as Its Sale Is Pending,” June 23]: Regarding the origin of Gardener’s Supply, Will Raap began it at Garden Way in Charlotte as the Country Kitchen Catalog. His office was next to mine. I was the publishing division sales and marketing director. When Garden Way disintegrated, he moved it to National Gardening magazine, offering products of interest to gardeners. When the magazine publisher decided to include paid advertising, Will’s merchandise was deemed competition with advertisers and had to go, so Will took it to the Intervale and I became the magazine ad director.

Bob Bennett

Shelburne

No Time for ‘Old Games’

[Re “Mr. Sweeney and Mr. Boutin Go to Montpelier,” June 25; “Learning Curve,” July 2]: Thank you for trying to help us understand “the inner workings” of our legislature. Very enlightening and very disappointing, but what I expected.

Concerning what you chose to write in the June article, both representatives were white men. Please give us some insight into life as a woman and other diverse people serving.

My main issue, however, is that the whole legislative process is seriously flawed. It needs to adapt to serve today’s needs. Especially considering our failing federal government, states need to step up. Fix the process. Change the culture.

It’s beyond sad to witness representatives trying to figure out how to get power and wanting to succeed at the political game, whatever that may involve — bowing to the senior legislators, marching in step with the party.

I have a feeling our challenges are about to grow rapidly. We don’t have time to play these old games. We need solid strategy, not political strategy. We need strategic thinkers, problem solvers, planners.

A beginning would be to provide training in basic facilitation skills. A meeting facilitator is a neutral person who runs the meeting and does not take part in the discussion at all and guides the whole process. You don’t have to hire an expensive professional. You could have a group of volunteers. This is simple and would give focus to the goals, not the political games.

Tree Spaulding

Burlington

Gov Must ‘Stand Up for Vermont’

[Re “Disagreements Between State Officials Undermined EV Funds Lawsuit,” July 7, online]: It is not only shocking but irresponsible that Vermont’s secretary of transportation obstructed the lawsuit by our elected attorney general to recover electric vehicle charging station build-out funds impounded by the Trump administration. As someone in the Seven Days story noted, “playing nice” with them will get us nowhere. Law firms, cities, states and individuals who thought they could hide from the bullies ended up gaining nothing and often losing more.

The EV high-speed charging network build-out is absolutely key not only to Vermont residents ready to move to EVs but also to tourists who want to visit us. We are at a severe disadvantage in the Northeast and New England that will only get worse because of the failure of Gov. Phil Scott’s administration to support this lawsuit and claim the funds that are rightfully ours.

Attorney General Charity Clark seems to be the only person standing up for Vermont right now. With the results of the ugly reconciliation bill implementation facing us, the governor must speak out and stand up for Vermont. He must support our AG’s efforts to stop the destruction of our safety nets. He must work with other Republican governors to protect working people and families. We don’t have to face the Trump administration alone, if Scott would show some leadership among the GOP governors. He should do this now and stop the slide.

Jeanne Keller

Burlington

Native or Naïve?

[Re From the Deputy Publisher: “Spotlight on the Publisher,” July 16]: Really, Bill McKibben from Palo Alto, Calif.? “Vermont wouldn’t be Vermont without Bernie, Ben, Jerry, or Paula.” No, you’re absolutely right. It would be the real Vermont before you arrived, not Brooklyn, Queens, California or wherever else all the wannabes have infiltrated from with their agendas and their arrogance! You will never know, and it will never be, Vermont again!

You may have BS’d the rest of them but, after six generations and a life of over 70 years here, not me and the “real” Vermonters who are still here subjected to this crap! We, as a people, have always been accepting of others to our state, but, as happened throughout history, this naïve attitude has led to the decline of values in many societies. This holier-than-thou attitude really falls flat when you present yourself as the voice! God help us!

Will Fagan

South Hero

Editor’s note: Award-winning author and environmentalist Bill McKibben has lived in Ripton since 2001.

‘Sad Day’ for Schoolchildren

Thank you for providing the extensive coverage of the legislative history of H.454 [“Learning Curve: As They Revamped the State’s Education System, Vermont Legislators Navigated the Long-Standing Conflict Between Public and Independent Schools,” July 2]. It’s a sad day for Vermont’s schoolchildren, their families and communities, as well as the “Freedom and Unity” motto of our state. School district restructuring is the elephant in the room, and we are asked to celebrate the evisceration of the tiny mouse called independent education that would have been the savior for those students who will be injured in the redistricting to come.

The cultural wars at the federal level have arrived in Vermont. It’s a good thing the legislature has a long history of reversing itself on education law over the years. It’s a shame that this misdirected anger resulting from the reality that the public education establishment must change has used independent education as the scapegoat and now wants to celebrate this carnage in the name of bipartisanship. Our children, their families and our communities have lost an escape valve when the mandated school requirement is just a poor fit.

School choice is only available as public-school choice. So much for comprehensive education reform legislation. I regret that legislators were accused of bias, frustrated by political manipulation and forced to bring forth this legislation with its misplaced anger. We all need to work on the unity to preserve the freedom that we espouse.

James Reagan

Fayston

Some Covers

I have to wonder if Seven Days is under pressure from Vermont’s executive branch to publish puff pieces about various high-ranking personalities. No less than three cover features of high-ranking administrative officials have been published in 2025 [“Man at Work: Blue-Collar Cred Propelled John Rodgers to Vermont’s No. 2 Office. Is He Gov. Scott’s Heir Apparent?” January 22; “A Public Education: Education Secretary Zoie Saunders Would Prefer to Lead Vermont’s Schools From Behind the Scenes. But She Can’t Escape the Spotlight,” March 26; “Learning Curve: As They Revamped the State’s Education System, Vermont Legislators Navigated the Long-Standing Conflict Between Public and Independent Schools,” July 2].

The cover of the July 2 edition features a beaming Gov. Phil Scott flanked by several officials, including an education secretary initially rejected by the legislature in the confirmation process but who nonetheless served and was salaried in this role. The lieutenant governor, Vermont’s own white male “victim” of “cultural genocide” in the Statehouse, and another supporter of this “overhaul,” is well known for his push for legislation that benefits his own business interests.

As “Learning Curve” points out, the bill signed last month included last-minute proposals to shield private schools from changes being forced on public schools. These changes were “unvetted” and “unmapped out,” according to one legislator but were championed by the governor — a proponent of expansion of private schools — as well as legislators against whom ethics complaints have now been filed for their connections to schools benefiting from these changes.

The fawning smiles framing Scott on the July 2 cover belie the sadness and disappointment felt by many in our state who now face closure of their schools, which will necessitate larger classroom sizes and long bus rides for many kids. Perhaps some attention to those affected by these changes, rather than just on those who will benefit from them in their political careers, is in order.

Rachel Daley

Charlotte

Editor’s note: We report the news and offer meaningful context for why and how it happened. That’s the only pressure we feel. Our reporting speaks for itself.

Senators Are Conflicted

[Re “Learning Curve: As They Revamped the State’s Education System, Vermont Legislators Navigated the Long-Standing Conflict Between Public and Independent Schools,” July 2]: When we consider whether the senators charged with reforming our education system are acting in the interest of the education system as a whole, it’s vital to look at the ways they have already used their power. The map Sen. Seth Bongartz produced, with help from Sen. Scott Beck, simply makes no sense for meaningful reform in most areas that currently have school choice but makes a huge amount of sense if the goal were to preserve towns’ abilities to tuition their students to other schools.

Peacham and Stannard together constituted their own school district, despite being about 40 minutes apart. The unifying theme was that they tuition students for grades 7 through 12. Creating this district would have foreclosed potential reforms such as educating students from Danville and Peacham or Stannard and Hardwick together. Peacham and Danville are 10 minutes apart, and Stannard students already go to Hardwick. Rutland City and Rutland Town were placed in entirely different supervisory unions, maintaining the town’s ability to tuition its high school students anywhere. Most egregiously, the Village of North Bennington was maintained as a separate school district with the ability to continue tuitioning students to a small private elementary school, even as the rest of Bennington remained in a separate district.

This proposal makes it clear that Sens. Bongartz and Beck are both clearly unfit to serve on the redistricting committee. When proposing actual district maps, these senators clearly placed the interest of maintaining tuitioning over opportunities for real reform in their parts of the state.

Zach Sullivan

East Montpelier

How to Achieve Equity

[Re “Learning Curve: As They Revamped the State’s Education System, Vermont Legislators Navigated the Long-Standing Conflict Between Public and Independent Schools,” July 2]: To advance the new education transformation law, Vermont needs statewide leadership to control costs. Savings begin with effective teaching and learning gains. The 2024 National Assessment of Educational Progress shows that Vermont fourth and eighth graders’ reading skills are steeply declining. Less than one-third of fourth and eighth graders read at grade level. Forty-two percent of fourth graders and 33 percent of eighth graders read “Below Basic” — they cannot read. Deficits increase costs in remediation, contracted services and special education. With illiteracy comes disengagement, behavior problems and mental health issues, much of which could be avoided if all students received evidence-aligned reading instruction.

Unity addresses this crisis. Many states have implemented successful solutions: 1) restructuring education programs grounded in evidence-aligned reading; 2) retraining educators in the field; 3) adopting one literacy progress-monitoring assessment strongly recommended by the Vermont Agency of Education; and 4) supporting students, parents, guardians and educators to ensure that schools provide effective instruction and remediation. These should not be local burdens but a state transformation to embrace reading science. The 2024 K-3 literacy law, Act 139, requires evidence-based literacy instruction and assessment. The 2025 H.480 Foundation for Literacy amendment guarantees additional instruction to all students significantly below reading proficiency or whose poor skills impede progress. A statewide scale would improve literacy and reduce the cost of education.

Our ultimate goal of equity — preparing every student for success as highly literate, engaged community members — can be achieved.

Dorinne Dorfman

Plainfield