Something had a snack of...possum maybe?

Where I am it's ballots here that you can pick up the same as any other election.

I feel for the people in more rural towns where you can't cast your vote for an issue unless you are there in the building. Since 2020 it's been a huge accessibility issue for those that are immune compromised and it's also always been an issue for those that are disabled because getting to the place the meeting is being held isn't always possible.

Plus the whole work day thing. It ends up largely being stay at home parents (that can afford childcare) and elderly folks...which is fine? But it's not representative of the community as a whole.

One of my assignments in late elementary school was to attend a town meeting day in the rural town I grew up in and see how it worked and even then I remember thinking it would be a problem for so many. And that was like 25 yrs ago.

If you are near VINS they also take them (or at least used to) to feed their birds of prey.

The only additional thing I'd mention here if the end goal is ASAP license to be sure to schedule the road test as soon as your permit is approved. It can be 3-4 weeks out to get a road test scheduled depending on which DMV you use. If I were scheduling for South Burlington right now the soonest is April 18th. It varies a bit and while awhile it was a LONG wait...seems a little less awful right now.

Yes. The larger issue at play is that people moving here from far away places have idyllic ideas about what actually happens here. That's the problem. It's not us, we've been the same since forever. People moving here don't bother to actually see what's what before coming in.

So like, this is the main complaint I've seen about people from out of state moving here.

They think they are getting friendly hippie commune people that will welcome them with open arms.

That's not what we are. It's never been what we are. We will ABSOLUTELY come together if we need to as a community (look at hurricane Irene and Rochester, VT for a good example). We will grumbly tow you out of the ditch rather than leave you there, but we aren't gonna give you our number and invite you out for drinks.

Generally speaking the people that live here do so *because* they want to be left alone. Especially the more rural you get. We aren't friendly people, especially to people that are new because we know they tend to leave in under 5yrs.

Catan, Kill Doctor Lucky, Clue, checkers, Trekking, Ticket to Ride.

If you include card games Uno, Phase 10, and Skip Bo will always be a hit here.

I like town water only because if the power goes out I still have water. Planning for rural wells every time a storm comes in is....annoying at best.

Correct. It's super depressing. I've got 3 kids, 2 of them not far off the age when "moving out" generally becomes a thing and since we aren't independently wealthy uh...I figure they will just be at home longer than "usual" or move out of state. Bc rent is absolutely out of control here.

As far as crime rates hahahahahahhahahaha.

There were 26 gunfire incidents in Burlington last year. That's it. Our crime rate is so much less than most other areas of the country. Lock your doors and your car doors and it'll be mostly fine.

If I were out of state I'd never move here right now. Not in a million years.

We bought our home almost 15yrs ago after renting a 2 bedroom apartment for $1000/month.

Our home would now sell for double what we paid for it (but we'd have nowhere to live) and that EXACT same apartment now goes for $2000/month. It's mind boggling.

I think it's rather short sighted to 1. ignore that many of the families there are living in poverty and many students leave school to get jobs and help support the family. So...yea, that's going to affect the graduation rate and 2. ignore that standardized tests suck...add in the ESL aspect and 20% isn't really a big deal.

My district is 48%. Our ESL pop is very low. Sure, 48% may be more than double 20% but it's still abysmal when you know it means there's 52% here that aren't proficient.

I think a lot of people move here looking for Vermont culture without realizing what Vermont culture really IS. They think hippie organic food strong community type stuff.

Meanwhile we absolutely will help you if you need it, overall? We just want to be left alone and aren’t known for working hard to make new friends.

In addition to cost that’s why so many leave, by my view. They came here and lived here and never found “their people” get sad and leave. I’ve been here my whole life and of the really close friends I’ve made locally in nearing 40yrs there’s one left in the state. The rest all leave within 2-5yrs.

Obligatory not a teacher. That said, this is how I see it and what I've gathered based on my info gathering.

Schools/admin aren't able (or willing in most cases) to address student behavior at all. The local school has a HUGE bullying problem even starting at the 3rd grade. It's "left to the parents" and if a kid is bullying they are obviously learning it somewhere.

So you end up in this...awful downward spiral. The behavior issues makes teachers leave/move but the position doesn't pay enough and isn't in line with the current rental/housing market so we aren't bringing in any qualified teachers or support staff.

No support staff means more work for teachers so more teachers leave and in the end we've got people with poor classroom management skills (because we aren't hiring "highly qualified" anymore, we are hiring "whomever will take it"). And then things get even worse and just keep spiraling.

Add to this the shit being taught (per state or federal standards) that's super not developmentally appropriate making kids feel either stupid or bored and it makes it even WORSE. Like, K kiddos are being taught how to write persuasive essays. Half the kids can't even READ yet.

Are there still some amazing teachers here? Absolutely. But it boggles my mind that anyone is sticking around honestly. It's gotta be impossible, demoralizing, and just straight up awful.

I am teaching a teenager to drive. The amount of absolute jackasses we've had to deal with. Yes, he's going slower than is "normal" to make this turn on to a side street...HE'S BEEN DRIVING FOR ALL OF FIVE MINUTES. Fuck off, yo.

We've got the "student driver" sticker but like...that just seems to make some people WORSE.

I knew it always happened but it seems SO much worse in the last couple years.

Make sure you've got a blanket per person and everyone in the car has a good jacket, hat, gloves, and scarf.

I won't be going anywhere because I don't have to.

I think you'll find the racism here in Vermont is a lot more...microaggression than overt bullying type things. We are a largely white area (esp in the wealthy white Killington area) but consider ourselves "better" than racism. Which, of course, we are not. So your child is less likely to have kids shouting at her with the hard r and more likely to have randos touching her hair or saying things like "You speak so well." as if it's a compliment.

I don't know a ton about the schools down there. I went to one not far from there but the high school has since closed. I think that area of the state has schools that are either not great (Rutland, very recently still fighting over racist mascot) or very wealthy and likely to be...difficult for a newcomer.

As others have mentioned the Burlington area is much more diverse but you're not gonna want to be commuting to Killington for work from here.

730pm, week night, during a snowstorm. It's dead there then.

Wild turkeys. I know, it seems ridiculous, but there's nothing quite like seeing a giant stupid looking used to be a dinosaur meandering around your back lawn. They make me laugh every time.

Also a big fan of the spiders we've got here. None are medically significant and some of them (jumping spiders in particular) are very cute.

Electricity and heat are around $400 per month year round here. That's nearly $50k in just 10 years time. And that's IF prices don't go up. If you manage to live 20yrs post retirement that's 1/10th of your money in just heat and electricity.

Planning on $100/week for groceries (that's the low end right now honestly for 2 people) that's another 10th in 20 years.

Gas, phone, repairs on the house (roof cost like $15k), insurance etc etc etc it's not a surprise to me at all that people could get through a mil real fast.

And that's not counting potential medical bills that come with old age....

Honestly this one amuses me if only because I cannot imagine the driver of this truck thinks this means the same thing that my brain interprets it as.

"Staffing" and "1:1 aids" are entirely different things.

There's always so much here that's not brought into the articles about schools.

1. There's WELL DOCUMENTED mental health side effects from having had covid. For all ages.
2. Families have to fight HARD to get the supports a child needs. To even get the schools to recognize the supports the child needs.
3. Even if the parents were able to get the schools to realize a student needs an IEP and a 1:1 aid the staffing is lacking SO BADLY at most schools that it's not even an option if it gets approved.

I feel awful for teachers but there are SO MANY aspects to this and it's always strange to see an article like this ignore some of these very real factors. It's going to be a huge problem going forward as it's going to get worse and worse if not remedied ASAP as more teachers/support staff leave Vermomt/the field of work.

There's a Hiking it Easy group on Facebook if you're on there. Great group of people.

If you enjoy reading at all check your library to see if they have an adult book group! I won't lie, the members of my local one are almost all on the older side but they've all been friendly and welcoming!

If you are near Colchester and still able to be around other former soldiers you might check out Josh's House on google and see if it might be a good place to meet some people.