SOUTH ROYALTON — A sparse turnout of Bethel and Royalton voters didn’t have much to say at the annual White River Valley Unified School District meeting until after they’d approved all of the business in front of them.

After adopting a budget of nearly $13 million for the coming year with no discussion and assigning surplus revenue to a newly formed capital reserve fund, Royalton resident Tom “Geo” Honigford brought up a resolution of support for LGBTQ students that the WRVUD School Board failed to take up late last year.

“I would like to hear what that was about and what the board decided,” Honigford said under the “other business” article on the warning.

Board Chairman Andrew Jones responded that there were some social media postings on the subject and that “some community members objected to the way some of them were stated.” Those residents brought a conflict of interest complaint to the board, which found that there was no conflict on the part of Shannon Tutunjian, the board member who’d made the social media posts.

Tutunjian also proposed a resolution in support of the district’s LGBTQ community. That resolution didn’t come up for debate because no other board member was willing to second it.

“I think some of the amazing work going on (in the school district) is great,” Tutunjian said. “I wish that attitude extended to the current board.”

“I personally find that kind of distressing, saying that we can’t pass a resolution in support of a group of people,” said Honigford, who was a school board member in Royalton before the unified district was established.

People who identify as lesbian, gay, bi-sexual, trans or questioning face difficulties that require some added protections for their well-being, Honigford said.

“Historically, we’ve done a lousy job of protecting them,” he said.

Further, if the district wants to be seen as a welcoming place, it should make a clear statement.

“What’s the message we’re sending to people outside our community?” he said. “I think we really need to rethink that as a school.”

“We need to find a better way to make sure that our community understands what these issues are about,” Royalton resident Suzanne Long said.

And Bethel resident Gene Kraus noted that welcoming and safeguarding members of the LGBTQ community is not only federal and state policy. “The town of Bethel has adopted an inclusion statement that says we honor and respect all people,” he said.

Tutunjian is leaving the board, and it will have new members after Tuesday’s vote. With new board members, the issue could come back before the board, Jones said after the meeting.

Voters dispatched all other business with a minimum of fuss. While school spending is up slightly, the projected tax impact is small, with an increase of only half a penny per $100 of assessed value in Bethel and 2.7 cents in Royalton.

Elected officials

Number of voters: n/a

Number on checklist: n/a

Moderator: Alison Fulcher

Clerk: Pamela Brown

Treasurer: Pamela Brown

School Director, Royalton (3 years): Edward Sullivan

School Director, Bethel (3 years): Nancy Harlow Pejouhy

School Director, Royalton (2 years): Andrew Jones

School Director, Bethel (1 year): Christopher Jarvis

Alex Hanson can be reached at ahanson@vnews.com or 603-727-3207.

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