On Thursday morning, a member of the House of Representatives Education Committee was shown an image of a raw egg that had just begun to crack between the jaws of a vise.
The egg was part of a PowerPoint presentation by Superintendent Lynn Kota of the Franklin Northeast Superintendent’s Guild, a metaphor for mental health conditions in Vermont schools.
“There comes a point where things start to break, a breaking point,” Kota told lawmakers. “And I think we’re getting dangerously close to the breaking point of everything we try to hold in public education.”
The testimony was given at a public hearing about children’s mental health and staff shortages in schools and Vermont’s designated agencies, nonprofits tasked with providing mental health treatment to communities across the state. .
Over the past five years, schools and institutions have faced two challenges. The growing need for children’s mental health and the lack of resources to provide treatment. Officials said the system cracked like an egg wedged between the jaws of a vise.
Students’ mental health needs are not being met. Waitlists for healthcare providers are getting longer and longer. Children spend their days in hospital emergency rooms waiting for mental health treatment. Schools are being forced to allocate more and more funding to mental health while competing with designated agencies for limited staff pools.
“Now every school system in Washington County is essentially building its own little mental health agency within a building,” Libby Bornsteel, Superintendent of Montpelier-Roxbury Public Schools, told lawmakers. “We’re doing this not because we feel it’s our job or our area of expertise. It’s not. We’re doing this out of desperation.”
But school officials have made it clear they didn’t go to Congress for reform or funding — at least, not for themselves. The superintendent said the mental health system, including other treatment providers, should be heavily invested in.
“I don’t think many people will come to you and say, ‘We’re not asking you for anything,'” Kota said. I don’t think there is.”
— Peter Doria
know
bill to ban paramilitary training campSome lawmakers, however, expressed concern that it would be difficult to prove that someone had violated the proposed law.
Bill, S.3, A person who operates a paramilitary training facility “knows, or should reasonably have known, that education, training, or demonstrations will be used illegally to promote public confusion.” If so, it would be a crime to operate it.
The Senate Judiciary Committee took up the bill at a hearing on Thursday. While committee members generally spoke in favor of the latest version of the bill, questions continued to arise about the difficulty of convicting anyone beyond a reasonable doubt.
At the end of the debate, committee chair Senator Dick Sears, D-Bennington, said at first he didn’t think the bill would go so well, but that recent changes made it more likely to move forward. .
Please check this out for details.
— Alan Keyes
Damian Boomhauer and wife Jessica organic dairy Celebrate the 10th anniversary of the farm in 2022 with a champagne bottle. Instead, he’s been more nervous about the farm’s financial status since purchasing it.
Vermont organic dairy farmers are in crisis. The farmer asked lawmakers to add his $9.2 million to the state budget adjustment bill. H.145Members of the House of Representatives have already approved the funding, and the bill is now on the side of the Senate.
Rep. Heather Suplenant, P/D-Bernard, Vice Chair of the House Agriculture Committee and Organic Dairy Farmer, said: “It’s a way of life and something they’re actively trying to be a part of. I hope people see it and want to support them in it.”
The House has already approved the funding, but it could hit a roadblock as it passes the Senate and gets to Governor Phil Scott’s desk.
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— Emma Cotton
move
The Vermont Legislature has introduced legislation to legally protect out-of-state patients who come to Vermont for reproductive care and to protect Vermont doctors who provide such care.
colloquially shield law, H.89 This is the latest move by Vermont legislators to tighten protections for abortion access after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the Roe v. Wade precedent. The bill also includes protections for gender-affirming care for transgender patients. try to restrict access.
This law allows Vermont health care providers to be investigated, interrogated, subpoenaed, extradited, or served by out-of-state agencies if a doctor provided reproductive care to a patient who traveled to Vermont from a state where such care is illegal. protect against arrest by Although the bill provides relatively limited protections it can provide once a patient leaves Vermont, it does provide some protection by essentially bringing out-of-state investigators to their knees.
The House of Representatives approved H.89 in its second reading by voice vote on Thursday, so vote numbers are not available.
House Speaker Jill Krowinski, D-Burlington, told VTDigger after the congressional vote. .
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— Sarah Mirhoff
what we are reading
Police chief initially refused to act after reports of off-duty racism and misogyny by Vermont police (VTDigger)
Vermont State University community surprised and disappointed by library and sports changes (VTDigger)
UVM officials apologize to recognized tribes in Vermont, Odanak officials continue to denounce them (Vermont Public)
