African Drum & Dance at Ripton Elementary

Ripton Elementary presents the culminating event of our week-long artist in residence with Shidaa African Culture Troupe. Shidaa has been with us March 23-27 teaching us about West African culture as part of our thematic study of Africa. Students and teachers have been learning about drumming, dancing, fabric painting, and drum-making. We will have a drumming and dancing performance Friday March 27 at 6:30 at Ripton Elementary School. All are welcome. Free! The residency was made possible by grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Vermont Arts Council, Neat Repeats, ACEEF, Friends of Ripton School, and private donations.

FORS meeting tonight

Tonight the Friends of Ripton School (FORS) are meeting.
On the agenda: Square One Art , Kids Night, Ripton Summer Day Camp, the budget, FORS requests, and more.

Town Meeting Video Now Online

Friends,

Complete video coverage of Town Meeting 2009, including the School Meeting, is available online through our friends at MCTV. For those of you who couldn't be there, or would like to hear it again, this is a great resource.

Jean Cherouny did the taping, and facilitated the production of it on the station. Thanks, Jean!

http://middleburycommunitytv.org/video/RiptonTownMtgandSchool.html

Jean reminds us that streaming video requires a broadband connection. The site allows either streaming or downloading of the video.

Town Meeting 2009

Town Meeting this year went smoothly, with all articles passing. The record budget, inflated to cover the costs of both floods, passed with not a nay. The article which will increase the Town Clerks term to 3 years also passed, and this new policy will begin with next year's election.

In Tuesday's vote, the town was approved in its request to borrow up to $400,000 to cover additional costs related to the floods. The actual amount is still undetermined.