Voters in the town of Addison have struck down a deal to create a unified union school district with four other towns.
Two-thirds of the voters in Addison, Panton, Waltham, Ferrisburgh and Vergennes agreed on Town Meeting Day to dissolve their school districts and govern their three elementary schools and one high school with one board. The schools make up the Addison Northwest Supervisory Union. The consolidation effort was hailed by state education officials.
But a petition forced a revote in Addison and Vergennes yesterday. In the little city, opponents outweighed supporters at the polls yesterday, but they fell 5 votes short of the needed two-thirds of the original vote total to overturn. But in Addison, 191 "no" votes meant they had the majority needed to shoot down the merger.
All five towns needed to agree to the unified union for it to go forward. The district’s voters shot down a similar proposal five years ago.