HARDWICK, Lieutenant Governor John Rodgers (R) and Representative Leanne Harple (D-Orleans 4) addressed a crowd at a legislative update on Saturday, touching on the challenges facing rural Vermont communities, including aging demographics, the exodus of young people, and the potential closure of small schools.
Rodgers acknowledged the state's demographic trends and the need to make Vermont more attractive to younger residents. Harple, a former educator now serving on the House Education Committee, stressed the long-term consequences of closing small schools for communities. "We also have to think not just of the immediate cost savings, but of the futures of those communities for the next 20, 30, 50 years," Harple said. "Who is going to stay in those communities that don't have a school to send their children to?"
Harple also noted that the loss of schools is part of a broader pattern of reduced services in rural areas, citing the closure of the Copley Hospital Birthing Center in Morrisville as an example of diminishing access to prenatal and perinatal care.
Originally reported by Hardwick Gazette.
Photo: Niranjan Arminius (Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0). Photo is illustrative and not from the scene.
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