By Curt Peterson
The Winsor Central Supervisory Union Board unanimously adopted Mountain Views School District as the new name for the consolidated seven-town district formed under Act 46 on Monday, Dec. 5.
The new name will become effective July 1, 2023.
Woodstock High students Aiden Keough-Vella and Owen Courcey, who served on the WCSU configuration and enrollment growth working group, presented the new name for the school district to the board. The new name is intended to represent and symbolize all seven sending towns, they said, pointing out that mountains are integral to the aesthetics and recreation opportunities in each sending town.
Courcey and Keough-Vella quoted an anonymous community member: “So many of our schools ‘head to the mountains’ for location-based learning and important milestones. Graduates of Prosper Valley walk to the middle school at the end of the year. WES kids take field trips up Mount Peg. Barnard kids strap on snowshoes and head out in the snow. Elementary kids learn to ski together at Suicide Six/Saskadena. Killington kids … well, they live on a mountain.”
The winning name was suggested by Killington Elementary School students.
There were originally nine suggested names gathered from a public survey and solicitations among the individual elementary and middle/high school students. Three were sent to the board on Nov. 7, including, Mountain Views School District, Calvin Coolidge School District, Riverbank School District. Courcey and Keough-Vella had made that presentation as well.
Renaming the district is also meant to distinguish the district among similarly named districts in Central Vermont. The survey had indicated public agreement that “Windsor Central Unified Union School District” was sterile, clumsy and unremarkable.
The committee publicized the three proposed names, inviting public comment. The intent, committee chair Keri Bristow said, was to involve as many members of the community as possible in the decision. The final choice is felt to be socially and politically neutral, Bristow said, and won’t offend or discount any group or town.
Superintendent Sherry Sousa thanked the committee for their hard work and congratulated them for their organized process. Several board members cited the student presenters’ poise and professionalism.
