Update from Vermont

Last week, Vermont-NEA President Martha Allen and Executive Director Joel Cook sent the following email to their peers nationwide. We thought we'd share it with you, as well as some of the responses from your friends and colleagues around the country.

We want to let you all know how things are here in Vermont.

Who could possibly have expected Vermont, more than 100 miles from the nearest seacoast, would experience the kind of damage it received from the innocently named Irene? Putting organizational issues in the background (for the moment and where they belong), it is difficult to describe the breadth of what happened. After all, Vermont is such a small place. But, our 10,000 square miles still provided this massive storm plenty of space in which to display its wrath.

In short, the pictures in the media, of mad-rushing water, age-old covered bridges being swept away, loss of electric power and road access, and loss of life are all too accurate. It still seems almost impossible to accept that a dozen different communities have lost – for the moment – all physical access to the rest of the world. While we sometimes revel in being different from large portions of the nation, this is a literal extreme to which we did not aspire.

Every state highway sustained damage. If you were to look at a Vermont map, you'd note a road down the center of the state. It is communities along that spine, particularly in the southern half of the state, that are the majority of those cut off. The exceptions are primarily Brattleboro to the east and, somewhat less so, Bennington to the west of that spine. Brattleboro was absolutely brutalized by the rush of water. We know as of yet only one school employee whose mobile home there was destroyed and whose wife sustained a broken leg.

The loss of 4 lives to flood waters in different parts of the state provides all of us whatever reminder we might have needed about the power of nature and our relative insignificance in the world we all inhabit.

The cost beyond all that is not readily calculable. Many, many homeowners sustained shattering damage to their houses, in locations where the word "flood" had no meaning until Sunday. "Flood insurance" is unknown to most of them, too.

That said, virtually all schools in the southern half of the state did not open as scheduled this week. Not many sustained physical damage. Some continue to be used as shelters for displaced residents. At least half a dozen are simply closed until further notice. Several dozen will not begin until at least after the Labor Day weekend. School bus travel is severely restricted in many communities, making school attendance not viable at all for now.

Beyond these tangibles are lives disrupted, ongoing unavailability of electricity to dozens of communities, perhaps for months (it takes between 6 and 8 hours to replace and rewire just one pole, and without road access…well). There is limited communications access generally. We still have a lot of dairy farms – hay and corn fields where flood waters came and went may have to be plowed under because of toxins in the water, leaving farmers to purchase much more expensive feed on the market or simply go out of business.

As with so many natural disasters, the immediate responses are immense, with good federal involvement and an ongoing focus by state government. Charitable giving sites are up.

We are very concerned, at this early date, for the long-term effects on the state's communities generally and its schools. Federal funds at best will pay for 75% of the damage, leaving this little state with the bill for the balance. We know that will ripple along to even less money for social services and education.

We are working with NEA to develop assistance for schools and members affected directly by this storm. If your affiliate is so inclined, donations will be greatly appreciated. We recommend they be sent to the United Way's Vermont Disaster Relief Fund online. If you do send a donation, we would appreciate your simply letting us know you have done so.

Thanks to all for your good wishes and ongoing great work.

Martha Allen, President

Joel D. Cook, Executive Director