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Date of publication: April 19, 2006

Source: Brattleboro Reformer

Author: Ellie Sabater

Editor of the Reformer:

The current issue around Brattleboro High School's affiliation with the WRC, which has been in the news lately, brings home the importance of one of our most important rights under our Constitution -- the right to vote.

Devon Monette and Sarah Maceda-Maciel, both CLEA representatives, presented appeals for support of joining the WRC, which were both well-informed and elegant. In diametric opposition to these appeals was the adversarial bludgeoning of CLEA student representatives and their advisor received at the hands of the current BUHS School Board which arrogantly appears not to be afraid to display its ignorance in front of anybody!

I personally don't understand the board's attitude. When we para-educators presented our grievance over not being reimbursed at the current IRS rate for driving stuºdents as part of our duties as our contract stated, (we won our dispute, by the way), we received the same smackdown. Are the board and the students and staff of BUHS supposed to be enemies? I thought we were all supposed to be working together toward the goal of being the best high school we can be.

CLEA has done its homework. We have a chance to make history here as the first sweat-free high school in the country as well as forwarding a much-supported humanitarian effort. Let's hope the board does the right thing.

Which leads me to my first point: How did these people get on the school board in the first place? Maybe this could be the answer. Out of all the people eligible to vote during the last school board election, a paltry 27 percent showed up to exercise this most basic right of our democracy. Let's do better next time.

Ellie Sabater

Para-educator, BUHS

Newfane, April 19

[This is one of a number of letters to the editor written in support of the sweatfree policy and published in the Brattleboro Reformer.]