Standing at the Crossroads Farm focuses on bringing people together
Scout Support Two volunteers get Silver Beaver awards
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South Burlington’s Community Newspaper Since 1977
the JUNE 15, 2023
otherpapersbvt.com
VOLUME 47, NO. 24
Homelessness has tripled since before start of pandemic
Setting sail
COREY MCDONALD STAFF WRITER
A report released this month found a nearly 20 percent increase in the number of people experiencing homelessness in Vermont compared to last year, and an almost 200 percent increase since a pre-pandemic count in 2020.
Across Vermont, 3,295 people said in January that they were experiencing homelessness, an 18.5 percent increase from the 2,780 people counted last year, and a 197 percent increase from the 1,110 people counted in 2020 See HOMELESSNESS on page 12
Parents raise concerns over school safety with district officials LIBERTY DARR STAFF WRITER
COURTESY PHOTO
Mike Dean of South Burlington captured this scene of a sailboat framed by a Lake Champlain sunset.
Parents of South Burlington School District students came before the school board this month to raise concerns over school safety regarding the district’s active shooter protocols. “There is a large portion of the parental community that is concerned about this,” resident and parent Jennifer Swanson said. “We have had some separate meetings over the past year between last spring and this spring with individual teachers at Orchard School as well as Mr. Trifilio, the principal.” She explained that the meetings with teachers and other staff caused concern mostly because they found there may not be a clear, standardized approach to district safety, leaving many parents wondering what protocols are exactly in place.
“When I interviewed some individual teachers at Orchard School, all of them said they did not feel safe in their jobs with the policies and procedures in place,” said Swanson. “So if the teachers don’t feel safe, then how safe is the building? How safe are the children? Clearly what’s in place might not be sufficient based on what we’ve heard from teachers.” Board members and superintendent Violet Nichols explained that, although each crisis plan is highly scenario-dependent, exact answers to those questions are purposefully not made readily available to the public in order to protect student safety. In addition to following guidelines put out by the Agency of Education, Nichols explained, “We See SCHOOL SAFETY on page 11