North Bennington News

A State Board of Education meeting here today is coincidentally an ideal one to be held in Bennington, as two items on the agenda have significant local impacts.

The Prudential Committee and The Village School of North Bennington finalized a lease agreement Friday that allows the school building to be used by the proposed independent school for the next five years.

Two local hydro developers want to get the town-owned dam producing power again, and they seek a lease option agreement from the Select Board to determine the projects feasibility.

The Young at Heart Seniors of North Bennington invite all area seniors to their senior luncheon at Kevin's, 10:30 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. seatings.

North Bennington school officials say the action taken by the electorate in 1999 to increase the makeup of the Prudential Committee met statutory requirements and there is no question of the legitimacy of any decisions since.

The Legislature amended the North Bennington Graded School District charter Wednesday so that it aligns with what local officials thought was in place for more than a decade.

Sen. Dick Sears wants the Legislature to amend North Bennington Graded School District's charter to expand the Prudential Committee from three to five members -- a change voters in the district believed they had legally made more than a decade ago.

A combination of inadequate and biased local newspaper coverage of the 1840 Whig convention at Stratton, at which the great U.S. Senator and orator Daniel Webster addressed 15,000 people, led a short time later to the creation of what became the Bennington Banner.

Park-McCullough House trustees heard a range of suggestions during a community "focus group" over the weekend.

Nothing brings out the rough and tumble of politics more than the redistricting battles that routinely follow the federal census, when legislators must come up with boundary revisions to ensure each district is proportional.

The North Bennington Prudential Committee expressed optimism Tuesday that any concerns the education commissioner had regarding the process it has taken to create an independent school will be resolved today during a face-to-face meeting.

A local management consultant has been tapped by Gov. Peter Shumlin as the newest member of the panel responsible for reviewing and approving economic development incentives.

On March 24, Brittany Durkee of North Bennington was named the Distinguished Young Woman of Vermont and awarded $500 in cash scholarships during a statewide scholarship program for high school girls held at Green Mountain Union High School in Chester.

The North Bennington Prudential Committee chairman issued an official response Monday evening to concerns raised by Education Commissioner Armando Vilaseca in a letter last week about the recent independent school votes.