Vermont

At least six Vt. towns are considering a declaration of inclusion on Town Meeting Day

Published

2 years ago

March 1, 2024

At least six Vt. towns are considering a declaration of inclusion on Town Meeting Day

On Town Meeting Day this year, at least six Vermont municipalities will have voters decide whether to adopt a declaration of inclusion. A sample version of the statement says that the town condemns racism and commits to fair treatment of everyone regardless of race, religion, gender, and several other traits.

Since 2021, a nonprofit has led the effort to have each of Vermont’s 247 towns and cities adopt the declaration.

Al Wakefield, a Mendon resident and retired executive consultant who is one of the founding members of the declaration initiative, spoke with Vermont Public’s Nathaniel Wilson about the project. This interview was produced for the ear. We highly recommend listening to the audio. We’ve also provided a transcript, which has been edited for length and clarity.

Nathaniel Wilson: What purpose does the declaration of inclusion serve? And why do Vermont cities and towns need to declare themselves as inclusive communities?

Nina Keck

Vermont Public

Al Wakefield

Al Wakefield: If Vermont is going to continue to grow and prosper, it needs to be able to attract people from all walks of life. We felt that the declaration of inclusion was one way of doing it. We are an aging population. We’re losing our youth, young folks are not returning to Vermont. And the declaration of inclusion says that we welcome all people, especially those who’ve been historically marginalized. We welcome them to come, bring their families, build their businesses here, and over the long term, that should have a positive impact on Vermont’s vitality and prosperity.

Nathaniel Wilson: Heading into this year’s Town Meeting Day, 135 of Vermont’s 247 towns and cities have already adopted a declaration of inclusion. What kind of work went into making that happen?

Al Wakefield: Certainly. There are five of us, Nathaniel, working on this. We started off with Bob Harnish and me and subsequently joined by Norm Cohen, Patti Lancaster, and Barbara Noyes Pulling.

And each of us, we almost – we work at this almost like account managers in that each one of us has X number of towns assigned to us. And so we started with the largest towns and cities and municipalities in Vermont, working towards the smallest.

And so the five of us each have responsibility for making initial contact with the town manager or the town administrator or town clerk – or the head of the select board if there’s no town management, working with them to get on to the town’s select board agenda. We make a five- to seven-minute presentation, answer any questions, and then the hope is that they will vote affirmatively – or as we are discussing right now, some select boards opt to defer to the town for a town vote.

Nathaniel Wilson: We’ve seen some pushback on the declaration as well. Highgate and Hubbardton approved statements before rescinding them last year. Select board members have said existing laws serve the same purpose or that their communities are already inclusive. How do you respond to people who say that the declaration is not needed in 2024?

Al Wakefield: Well, it’s very interesting, Nathaniel, none of the towns, and there are two that you named, have told us explicitly why they decided to reject, to not adopt the declaration. Several others have tabled it for further visitation.

We respond in that Vermont may well be known for being a place for all people to come prosper and thrive. But there are many of us, and especially those who are marginalized know that while it’s a good place to be, it’s nowhere near as good as it can be, and certainly not where it says it actually is.

Implicit bias happens almost daily to many of us who are in those marginalized groups, and what we’re saying with the declaration is that it’s an opportunity to make Vermont unique, as it thinks it is – to say to the rest of the world that we are welcoming, especially those who have been historically marginalized.

Nathaniel Wilson: What kind of work goes into ensuring that cities and towns are holding up their end of the bargain after adopting a declaration?

Al Wakefield: Just yesterday, in fact, some 20 to 30 surveys went out to the original 30 towns that signed the declaration of inclusion. We’re going systematically through from town number one to town number 135 or so over the next year to year and a half to see where they are. And so we’ll hopefully begin to get some feedback on that survey in the next two or three weeks or so from towns. And we’ll know whether they’ve not only agreed to adopt, but they’ve done something relevant to the adoption.

Nathaniel Wilson: And so we’re now more than three years removed from the beginning of the declaration initiative. What are some of the lasting impacts of previously signed declarations across the state?

Al Wakefield: Several towns – notably, I think Middlebury, which was an early adopter – have established an equity committee. The town of Bethel, a contrasting town to Middlebury in many ways, was very, very aggressive about establishing a declaration, inclusion and equity committee. Winooski had moved along in doing the same thing, begun to implement many of the things that are outlined on our website.

Some towns are working with both the state’s Office of Racial Equity as well as the Vermont League of Cities and Towns – they have a program in conjunction with Abundant Sun to train managers and town people on how to implement the principles of the declaration of inclusion.

Nathaniel Wilson: And what kind of work is your team doing now to grow the list of towns with declarations moving forward?

Al Wakefield: We’ve got 115, 116 towns to go and so we’re working day by day to get to the remaining 116 while, as I said earlier, following up on the original 135.

This piece of it, quite honestly, is going to be more difficult. We’re talking about smaller towns that are more remote, that don’t have Zoom or other virtual platforms. And so the labor is more intense, and quite honestly, smaller towns don’t see themselves as having an opportunity, as expressed through the declaration of inclusion and so that there probably is more in the way of dialogue that has to occur with them than perhaps has to occur with communities that are more diverse now, such as the ones that I just named.

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Vermont

Burlington Trout Parade celebrates kids raising fish, learning nature

Published

5 hours ago

June 2, 2026

Press Room

Burlington Trout Parade celebrates kids raising fish, learning nature

Kids shouted, stilt-walkers strode and paper-mache puppets swayed above the crowd as a procession snaked through downtown Burlington last week.

What for? Trout.

Sustainability Academy students and their supporters marched across the city to the beat of bucket drummers May 29 for the second annual Trout Parade, a showcase of their conservation efforts for the state’s official cold-water fish.

Their chants and hoisted fish-shaped cutouts served as a send-off to brook trout raised by students as part of a schoolwide science project.

“The Trout Parade was really just our students lining up to say goodbye as we loaded them onto the bus to be released,” said Kestrel Plump, a sustainability coach at the academy.

For about five months this year, the school lobby became a hatchery as students cultivated fish from eggs supplied by regional conservation group Trout Unlimited.

Interim Principal Antony Dennis said the trout would be released in the Huntington River the next day, May 30.

“This is the second year that it’s been this big that we actually got to a point where it went off campus,” Dennis said. “It used to be a small event.”

The parade began for students outside the school as residents set out from The Flynn to join them and continue together to Battery Park.

The school has conducted the project for roughly five years, but this was only its second time partnering with The Flynn and Vermont puppeteers Janice Walrafen and Erik Gillard, or Erok.

The kids thought the jumbo puppets were magical, Walrafen said. “The same with the masks. You put on a mask, and then all of a sudden you get to be transformed as something other than your little self,” she said. “You get to be part of something bigger.”

Onlookers, bicyclists and pedestrians stopped and recorded the spectacle with their phones.

If they had any question about its object, answers came by way of lilting treble chants.

“Tell me what it’s all about!” a parade leader called out over a megaphone.

“Trout!” a chorus of kids chimed back.

They followed their leader in reciting: “We love the trout, but we must let them out!”

The parade concluded with a pageant accompanied by a harpist. The students were sent off with ice cream given out by retired University of Vermont faculty member Patrick Malone.

Asked if students get attached to the aspiring fish or just see them as blobs in a science project, Plump, the school sustainability coach, let a group of girls answer.

“The first one,” one of them said.

And were they happy to see their piscine pals released?

“Quite,” another responded.

Corey Arwood is the Burlington Free Press city reporter and can be reached by email at clarwood@gannett.com.

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Vermont

Debate over ICE masking bill complicates, for a moment, end of session in the Vermont House – VTDigger

Published

15 hours ago

June 1, 2026

Press Room

Debate over ICE masking bill complicates, for a moment, end of session in the Vermont House – VTDigger

Protesters and ICE agents in South Burlington in March 2026. File photo by Glenn Russell/VTDigger

We’re outta here

That’s all, folks.

The Vermont Legislature adjourned for the year, and for the 2025-26 biennium, Friday night. Senators finished up their work just before 6 p.m., and the House followed suit two hours later. I’m not complaining about the time. I was happy, in fact, to be on the road home with a sliver of daylight left.

The House took longer to finish in part because its adjournment got tangled up in a bill, ultimately doomed, that as originally proposed would have barred federal officers such as ICE agents from wearing masks.

The bill, S.208, emerged from a joint House and Senate conference committee Thursday. In order for the latest version of the legislation to be taken up on the floor so soon after, though, the House needed to suspend its rules. Such a procedural move needs three-quarters approval. And while rules suspensions are common late in the session, when it came to taking up S.208 “for immediate consideration,” that was not the case.

House lawmakers voted 81-51 in favor of expediting the bill’s timeline, falling 18 short of the 99 needed to meet the threshold to cast aside the chamber’s rules.

After that, the House took up and passed, with no debate, this year’s budget bill, H.951. Then, House Speaker Jill Krowinski, in her last floor session holding the gavel, brought up the last thing lawmakers had to approve for the year: a resolution formally dictating the terms of adjournment.

But some lawmakers weren’t ready to be done with S.208. Rep. Brian Cina, P/D-Burlington, stood and asked for a roll call vote on the adjournment resolution itself, “due to the important impact of S.208 on our open democracy.”

His comments mirrored those of several senators earlier in the night who had lamented on the chamber floor how the bill was falling by the wayside. The Senate also adjourned without taking any floor action on the compromise version of S.208.

Ultimately, 15 other House members joined Cina voting against the adjournment resolution in a vote of 114-16. After it was approved, the rest of the formalities of adjournment played out, including a requisite speech from Gov. Phil Scott.

“I’m going to try and make this brief,” the governor said at the outset of his remarks. “I guarantee it’ll take less time than it did to roll call the adjournment address.”

Beyond debate over S.208, adjournment in both chambers was marked by emotional farewell remarks from Krowinski, D-Burlington, and Senate President Pro Tempore Phil Baruth, D/P-Chittenden Central, both of whom aren’t seeking reelection.

Krowinski said her favorite memories from her 14 years in the House have been “the quieter moments most Vermonters never witness,” such as “members helping one another through difficult days, offering support regardless of politics and members coming together to support a colleague through a rough time.”

Baruth at times teared up as he recounted his 16 years in the Senate. And the English professor closed his speech with a nod to some of his favorite literature.

“It will hurt not to find my seat when the bell rings next session,” Baruth said. “But even Frodo Baggins — and you know that ‘The Lord of the Rings’ means everything to me — even Frodo Baggins knew when it was time to follow Bilbo to the Grey Havens.”

OK, our turn now

Before we go, some thanks are in order.

Putting together an originally-reported newsletter every day of the session — on top of the traditional news stories our readers expect — is no easy task. While you’re used to seeing my byline, and that of our fearless Statehouse Bureau Chief, Ethan Weinstein, there are a host of others who make this work possible.

Several other VTDigger reporters took the lead on issues of Final Reading this year, including Charlotte Oliver, Olivia Gieger, Theo Wells-Spackman and Corey McDonald. Meanwhile, ace photographer Glenn Russell captured many of the moments — like this one — that defined this year’s session.

Chad Lorenz, contributing editor on the politics desk, and Ruth Hare, VTDigger’s managing editor, brought their decades of experience and watchful eyes to each day’s newsletter. Noel Clark, VTDigger’s digital editor, and Night Editor Nathan Allen turned the plain text of a Google Doc into the email that landed in your inbox every night. Taylor Haynes, the newsroom’s audience and product director, made sure that email looked as good as it did.

And of course, we’re grateful to all of you — almost 8,000 subscribers — who turned to this newsletter, and do so year after year, to stay on top of the news under the Golden Dome.

If Final Reading has helped you cut through the noise and understand our government better, please consider supporting VTDigger in an amount that works for you.

This week, every donation helps fund our reporting and provides a new book to a Vermont child through the Children’s Literacy Foundation.

Reliable information matters. So does helping young readers discover the power of reading. Today you can support both with one donation. Pretty cool!

— VTD editors

While we’re gone

Even though the legislative session lasts just five months, our coverage of state government and politics is year-round. Your tips and pitches help us find the stories readers care about and that need to be brought to light. So don’t be a stranger, even if it’s just a little harder to reach us than flagging us down in the Statehouse hallways.

Reach me at srobinson@vtdigger.org and Ethan at eweinstein@vtdigger.org. You can send a secure tip on our website here, and find other reporters’ contact information here.

Until next year!

— Shaun Robinson

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Vermont

Why VT students are signing letters of intent with local employers

Published

1 day ago

June 1, 2026

Press Room

Why VT students are signing letters of intent with local employers

Beth McDermott
| Burlington Free Press

Students who plan to enter the workforce after graduation are being celebrated at the Northwest Career & Technical Center’s 2026 Skilled Trades Signing Day.

The event is scheduled for 1 to 2:30 p.m. June 5 in the BFA Saint Albans Gymnasium, according to a community announcement.

Modeled after collegiate athletic signing days, the event will feature students signing “letters of intent” with future employers. The ceremony aims to recognize students for their hard work, technical skill development and commitment to pursuing careers in Vermont’s workforce.

Students from various programs at the Northwest Career & Technical Center are expected to participate, including those entering fields such as electrical, construction, cosmetology and engineering.

Participating students and their future employers include:

Theodore DeCiantis – Alliance Group (Electrical)
Nolan Howrigan – BP Construction
Lexie Lemieux – Downtown Cuts
Brayden Rooney – Engineers Construction Inc.
Hunter Gagne – Engineers Construction Inc.
Nicholas Boomhower – Engineers Construction Inc.
Quinton Nicholas – Handy Toyota
Natalie Powers – Hayward Tyler
Kaleb Bocash – Hazelett
Damien Callan – Husky
Hailey Carey – Jubilance Salon
Hallie Robtoy – Jubilance Salon
Ryiah Gaudiaso – Lake Shore Hair
Kris Mumert – MEI Electrical Contractors
Logan Little – Milton CAT
Alisa Freighberger – Nail Nook
Jonas Wagner – Omega Electric
Collin Langevin – PC Construction
Vernon Ouellette – PC Construction
Brandon Murray – RPM Engines
Wyatt Blake – United Ag & Turf
Edan Peters – VHV
Owen de Jesús López – VHV
Grace Robert – Villa Rehab Center

“We are incredibly proud of these students and the opportunities they have earned,” said Lisa Durocher, assistant director at Northwest Career & Technical Center. “This event highlights the value of career and technical education and the strong partnerships we have with local employers who are investing in the next generation of skilled professionals.”

The Northwest Career & Technical Center, located in St. Albans, provides career and technical education opportunities for high school students and adult learners throughout northwestern Vermont. Programs include automotive technology, building trades, cosmetology, culinary arts, digital media, electrical, engineering technologies, human services, medical professions, outdoor technology and public safety and law enforcement.

This story was created with the assistance of Artificial Intelligence (AI). Journalists were involved in every step of the information gathering, review, editing and publishing process. Learn more at cm.usatoday.com/ethical-conduct.

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