Back to school
Safety first
Five people vying in South Burlington school board elections
Remembering Al Fortin, cop who dedicated his life to helping others
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the FEBRUARY 6, 2025
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VOLUME 49, NO. 6
‘Convince us,’ says school union about proposed staff cuts LIBERTY DARR STAFF WRITER
PHOTO BY LIBERTY DARR
Rick Hubbard relaxes at his South Burlington home after spending two years walking across the country ‘to fix our democracy.
SB man walks across the country to ‘fix democracy’ LIBERTY DARR STAFF WRITER
Rick Hubbard opened the door to his quaint South Burlington home sporting a printed shirt that perfectly encompassed his mission for the last two years: “Walking to fix our democracy.” Hubbard, 83, was spending the remaining month of January settling back into his nest after
doing just that, except his walk wasn’t just a short jaunt around town spreading awareness about America’s shortcomings. This journey stretched 3,081 miles and across 14 different states, from Los Angeles to Washington D.C. just ahead of Donald Trump’s inauguration as 47th president of the United States — timed intentionally for that purpose, Hubbard said.
But the idea for the adventure started brewing long before the 2024 election and this isn’t Hubbard’s first time putting rubber to pavement for a cause he believes in. He isn’t even the first person to walk across the country for a similar mission. His idea was originally spurred See HUBBARD on page 12
Amid another challenging budget year promising the reduction of nearly 15 full-time equivalent positions at South Burlington School District, the South Burlington Educators Association says it is asking for “vision and leadership.” The $71.5 million budget approved by a majority of school board members in January comes with a slew of reductions to staffing and things like sports and independent learning programs. But the educators association has been sounding the alarm to officials that the lack of vision around how the school will function without these positions and programs could leave an undue burden on other staffers to pick up the pieces. The message from the union’s co-presidents, Noah Everitt and Beth Adreon, has remained consistent that, while there has been a lot of talk about the yield and other variables in the state’s education funding formula — which has worked against the district in recent years — there has not been “a lot of leadership and vision about what that means for kids, for faculty and for community
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members, about education at South Burlington and that really has been the linchpin for us.” The union has said it is pushing strongly for “yes” votes from the community to move the spending plan forward, knowing that should a budget fail on Town Meeting Day the repercussions could be even more dire, but has expressed concern that nearly 90 percent of the positions being reduced are student-facing positions. While the educators association represents a large majority of the district’s staff, teachers, particularly those in early elementary education, have taken to the mic in multiple public meetings to air their grievances with the budget process, specifically the reduction of two pre-kindergarten classroom teachers. “Our district has advertised the demolition of our program as ‘restructuring,’” Alex Dezenzo, a speech-language pathologist in the district, said at a January board meeting. “Restructuring presents a dual meaning for spreading our educators thin and decreasing supports and services, whether See BUDGET CUTS on page 12