* I Love Vermont

Ms. Jess Bidgood, Reporter

Mr. Jake Sotak,  Reporter

The New York Times

Dear Jess and Jake,

What an excellent article, Jess, in today's New York Times. (attachment).

Special thanks to your talented colleague on the Times, (ahem, my former student---  brag  ) Jake Sotak for alerting you to this worthy topic

I admire particularly the phrase "callous rebuke".  And capturing the "geographical" component of the problem at the outset (valleys, mountains) made the problem much more understandable to the average reader, especially Vermonters visualizing an army of yellow buses transporting children across treacherous Rochester Mountain Rd. ---part of which is proudly unpaved. ( Note: Vermont has more dirt roads than paved roads and any point in the state can be reached on a dirt road by only crossing asphalt intersections. True.)

Your month of research, Jess, paid enduring dividends.

.

And thank you too for giving me the most idealistic quote in the piece.

I love Vermont.

Best wishes,

Paul

Paul D. Keane

M.A., M.Div., M.Ed.