Mountain Views Supervisory Union Becomes Founding Member of New Educational Service Agency Cooperative
After five years of collaboration between the superintendents of eight southeastVermont supervisory unions and districts, the Mountain Views Supervisory Union (MVSU) voted unanimously Monday to become the founding member of the new Southeast Vermont Region Board of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES). With the Board’s vote of approval, MSVU also became the first Supervisory Union or District in Vermont to officially join a BOCES.
State law (Title 16 of Vermont Statues) empowers BOCES to provide shared resources and responsive solutions that can cost effectively meet many short- and long-term regional challenges faced by school districts across Vermont. BOCES members stand to gain benefits that include shared staffing resources, professional-development initiatives, recruitment and hiring support, consultation services, and the pooling of resources for cooperative purchasing, transportation, and other services at reduced costs.
BOCES could also provide new and critically important operational advantages to school districts, unions, and the towns that comprise them as Vermont seeks to expand the size and reduce the number of districts under the partially defined terms of Act 73. Formerly known as H.454, Act 73 is the State’s recently passed, sweeping education-reform legislation.
Supervisory unions and districts also working with their boards to formally join the new Southeast Vermont Region BOCES include: Mountain Views Supervisory Union, Springfield School district, Two Rivers Supervisory Union, Windham Central Supervisory Union, Windham Northeast Supervisory Union, Windham Northwest Supervisory Union, Windham Southeast Supervisory Union, and Windsor Southeast Supervisory Union.
“Our combined eight Supervisory Unions and Districts will almost immediately begin to benefit from a single agency with the ability to provide regional, efficient district and supervisory union solutions for a wide range of needs,” said Sherry Sousa, MVSU Superintendent. “By leveraging this cooperative and those that will soon follow, member supervisory unions and districts will realize remarkable financial and operational efficiencies that will enhance the quality, equity, accessibility, and educational outcomes for all students in their regions.”
Sousa has worked with counterpart superintendents from across southeast Vermont for the past five years to form the new BOCES. As the organization is now established, she will serve in the position of the cooperative’s Vice President.
“Congratulations to MVSU on becoming the first and founding member of our BOCES!” said Jill Graham, Executive Director of the Vermont Learning Collaborative. “This is an exciting milestone, and it marks the beginning of an important new chapter for educational collaboration in our region.”
Contact:
Gina McAllister
MVSU Communications Committee Chair
gina.mcallister@mtnviews.org
Mobile: (802) 738-6414
Office: ((802) 952-1048