The 802 Ed
What's going on in Vermont education policy and practice
Welcome back!
This issue of the 802 Ed covers many topics that are immediately useful like the latest on school consolidation gridlock, momentum for supporting student mental health, and possible statewide protections for immigrant students. Be sure to check out the rapid increase in teacher position vacancies, nearly doubling in the past two months!
New to the lingo? At the suggestion of a reader we include a guide to common abbreviations, just scroll down past the news.
- Steven Berbeco, Editor
School Leadership
Keeping Cool Under Pressure. Higher Ed Jobs offers practical suggestions about how to communicate clearly during high pressure moments.
The Problem with Parents. Education Week dives into the challenges many teachers and school leaders find when trying to collaborate with students’ families, especially around discipline.
Consolidation Meets Wall. VT Digger updates us on lawmakers who have reached a pivotal but stalled moment on school consolidation with competing House and Senate visions.
“Out of Smell, Out of Mind.” Times Argus follows up on a less than glowing review of radon testing in Vermont’s schools, while The VPO questions the wisdom of cutting funding for testing and remediation of radon and PCBs: “And if we can’t do that, we kill the testing program and whistle past the graveyard, I guess?” Update: VT Digger follows up to ask why testing has stalled out.
Too Much Early Tech. The Hechinger Report reports on concerns about the degree that digital media has become embedded in the school day: “Then I realized, ‘I don’t actually think they’re learning any math from asteroid blasting multiples of five.’”
Two Things Can Be True. Education Week hands the pen to an Iranian-American who shares her views on the current war: “I want to invite educators to see their important role in understanding this war and other international crises.”
Snip, Snip to CTE. The Herald gets the scoop on Vermont State University’s decision to cut the automotive and diesel technology program, without much of a heads up to the current students: “We were completely caught off guard by the actual cancellation.”
Spending More to Break Even. VT Digger sums up the major influences on ever-increasing school budgets, including health care: “We are in a place where inflation for school district costs is running at sometimes double the inflation rate. … We cannot consolidate our way out of that.” This was a popular item in last issue, so here it is again for readers who may have missed it.
Early Gains, Long-Term Losses. Chalkbeat digs into research on the Mississippi Miracle and finds that holding students back in third grade may improve their test scores in the short-term, but they are less likely to graduate from high school.
Rights for Immigrant Students. The Winooski News details a bill that expands protections for immigrant students by establishing statewide protocols to help keep students safe from federal immigration enforcement. Update: Passed by the Senate, onward to the House!
Kids at Risk. VT Digger lets us know about about a recent state audit that found child care oversight system has major gaps, including slow background checks, inconsistent reporting of serious violations, and outdated data systems.
Heads Up, Vermont. States are taking innovative steps to support their students. Vermont school leaders and lawmakers should take note:
Legislators in Minnesota are considering a bill that would require high school coaches to be trained in CPR and use of an automated external defibrillator.
California’s free online community college continues to grow, with more than 6,000 student enrolled.
School Shootings in 2026. Education Week’s tracker has logged four school shootings in 2026. “On Feb. 27, a teenage male was shot at Detroit Edison Public School Academy in Detroit, Mich.” Total school shootings in 2025: 18. As a reminder, DPS and AOE operate an anonymous school safety tip line for students, school staff, and their community: calling 1-844-SAFE4VT; texting SAFE4VT to 274637; or online at safe4vt.org. For questions about school safety training in Vermont, contact Sunni Erikson.
Buzz On The Street
This sections highlights recent op-eds and letters to the editor about education.
Cecilia Gulka argues that Vermont’s education policies and political decisions are increasingly driven by adult interests, bureaucratic priorities, and ideological agendas rather than the actual needs and well-being of children: “We’ve built a system that protects itself better than it serves its students.”
Kate McCann calls out the state administration on the recently published school report card: “I’m a math teacher. The Secretary of Education’s fun with numbers is embarrassing.” This was a popular item in last issue, so here it is again for readers who may have missed it.
Several parents from Waterford contend that school district redistricting risks dismantling a long-standing, practical system in which “school choice” simply means attending the nearest high school: “Montpelier calls it reform; we call it a longer bus ride.”
John Castle lays out the argument that Vermont’s education system needs genuine transformation rather than disrupting local control without proving it will improve outcomes: “Governance maps won’t teach a single child to read better.”
Bobbi Warner Somers and Joy Ely remind us of the important role of school counselors as critical safety nets for teens facing trauma, poverty, and mental health struggles, especially in rural communities: “Education isn’t just academics; it’s safety, stability, and a lifeline for our students.”
Reader Survey
In each issue we ask a survey question to get a sense of what is on our readers’ minds. Then, the following issue, we report back on what we learned.
Last issue we asked: What strategies would you support to address teacher shortages? Responses were strongest for Student loan forgiveness and less strong for Higher pay. Few readers selected Mentorship programs.
This issue’s survey question: What would concern you most about mental health screening for students? Please indicate your response by clicking a check mark.
✅ Privacy of the students and their results
✅ Stigma of screening in the first place
✅ Lack of access to follow-up care
Thank you to the reader from Massachusetts who suggested that survey question. What’s on your mind? Suggest a survey question to find out how your colleagues respond in an upcoming issue of the 802 Ed!
How Ya Doin’?
The start of the school year can be challenging for many reasons. It may be helpful to look for support around personal and professional issues. If you would like to schedule a time to talk with a rostered psychotherapist and VPA mentor, we can work on making small but significant steps that promote self-care, communication, and control. Sponsored by 802 Ed
Listen Up
Check out the 802 Ed’s conversation-style podcast! Generated by Notebook LM
Job Listings
Principal. Come join the accelerated success of Bellows Falls Union High School! We are looking for a seasoned school leader with experience in supporting departmental collaboration and community partnerships. Our next Principal will serve as the instructional leader and cultural steward of the school, working closely with students and a dedicated team of faculty, collaborative administrators, and engaged operations staff. Deadline is April 1. Sponsored by NESDEC
Supercharge The Applicant Pool. The market for school staff in Vermont is fierce and it’s important to stand out when attracting quality candidates. Why get wedged in among thousands of open positions on SchoolSpring? Your opportunity can stand out in an upcoming issue of the 802 Ed, dropping into the Inbox of thousands of readers. Sponsored by 802 Ed
School Leader Vacancies. Latest report from VPA counts 35 school leader positions, like principal and assistant principal, that are turning over for next school year.
The Big List. Josh Czupryk compiles and publishes a monthly spreadsheet with nearly 700 job opportunities for remote work in K-12 education.
Looking for a Change? With so many open jobs in education, there are sometimes unusual opportunities. For example, DPS is recruiting a director for its School Safety Center with a workplace not so different from many classrooms: “Incumbents must be able to concentrate on details and perform accurate work in the face of frequent interruptions.”
Thank The Team
You read it, you love it, and now is a good time to say thanks. Cover our coffee budget! Writing, editing, researching… all of that is caffeine driven. Choose this option and the extra energy will go to finding a few more updates to share.
Note From The Editor
Here’s the thing about student mental health right now: it’s no longer what we are talking about.
When it does come up in legislation, it’s more earnest promises and big gestures that feel important in the moment but somehow miss the deeper fracture underneath.
Take H.818. It proposes voluntary, school-based mental health screenings, aiming to identify students who need help before crisis hits. On paper, it’s compassionate, proactive, and sensible.
Then there’s H.817, which pushes mental health literacy and substance use prevention into the curriculum, a recognition that students are carrying more than backpacks these days. (A bill with a bit of pushback along the way.)
And H.618 nudges school counselors toward spending more time directly with students, a tacit admission that the system has been asking them to juggle paperwork while kids quietly unravel.
Individually, these bills feel like care. But collectively, they feel like triage. Why aren’t we talking about them? Why are two-thirds of them still sitting in committee? Even Vermont’s major education organizations have missed the bills in their latest legislative report.
And here’s an uncomfortable truth: you can screen, teach, and counsel all you want, but if the underlying ecosystem isn’t there, you’re just installing better smoke detectors in a house with faulty wiring.
The legislature is trying to support kids the best way it knows how, through programs, mandates, and appropriations. But support is not just about showing up with solutions. It’s about understanding the problem in its full, messy, interconnected reality.
Until then, we’ll keep getting answers that are elegant and well-intentioned, but just slightly off the mark. The state continues to tackle problems one silo at a time, rearranging the furniture while the floor beneath it quietly gives way.
Eye on Data
The chart below tracks number of open positions for teachers in Vermont in the past 60 days, presented as data points and a linear trend line. Data from SchoolSpring.
Pass It On
Like what you are reading? Hit the button below to send a copy to a colleague, friend, neighbor, your boss… whoever!
Grants & Opportunities
More Chess for Youth. The annual Vermont State Scholastic Chess Championships for grades K to 12 will be held at Lamoille Union High School. March 28.
Inclusive Graduation Toolkit. AOE published an RFP to develop a resource document, and not a web-based tool, helping ensure that graduation requirements are accessible to students with intensive disabilities and multilingual learners. Deadline is March 30.
Better Dashboards. AOE has an RFP out to develop online data visualizations and dashboards on state, district, and school quality. Deadline is April 8.
Early Childhood Mental Health. DMH has published an RFP for a contractor to develop and implement a framework for early childhood mental health consultation and social emotional supports. Deadline is April 21.
If You Missed It
Betting on Boys. Recent research suggests that more than a third of boys nationwide have gambled before they turn 18, which may be a blind spot for most school mental health programs.
School Budget Scoreboard. The VSA has posted an unofficial spreadsheet that keeps track of which budgets have passed, 95-19 at publication time. This was a popular item in last issue, so here it is again for readers who may have missed it.
Building Community. Vermonters can get reimbursement for inviting newcomers to dinner, a program that schools may consider copying for new staff members.
Preparing for ICE. A Vermont school district recently published its comprehensive response procedures in the case of federal action that occurs locally. Another district produced a helpful list of discussion resources, too.
Since 2021 the biweekly 802 Ed has brought together the latest from Vermont’s associations for principals, superintendents, and school board members, as well as state and national education agencies and many other news sources. We hope that you’ll find something useful in each issue and welcome comments or suggestions for upcoming issues: editor@802ed.com.
Abbreviation list: AASA School Superintendents Association, AOE Agency of Education, CTE Career and Technical Education, DCF Department for Children and Families, DMH Department of Mental Health, DPS Department of Public Safety, FERPA Federal Educational Rights and Privacy Act, NAEP National Assessment of Education Progress, NEASC New England Association of Schools and Colleges, RFP Request for Proposals, SBE State Board of Education, SEL Social Emotional Learning, UVEI Upper Valley Educators Institute, VEHI Vermont Education Health Initiative, VPA Vermont Principals Association, VPO Vermont Political Observer, VREC Vermont Rural Education Collaborative, VSA Vermont Superintendents Association, VSBA Vermont School Board Association, VSBIT Vermont School Boards Insurance Trust, VSBPE Vermont Standards Board for Professional Educators, VTCLA Vermont Curriculum Leaders Association, VTSU Vermont State University.
Special bonus for making it to the bottom: Looking for a new way to impress friends? Try controlling shopping carts with your phone.