Presentations by the Public to the School Board
Public CommentThe public is encouraged to attend school board meetings and make presentations or comments. If you would like to present to the School Board, please call or write the Superintendent (295-8600) laplantedd@hartfordschools.net) so enough time can be allocated in an agenda.
Meet the School Board
Kevin Christie - Chair
Kevin grew up in Hartford Connecticut. After receiving his Bachelor’s degree in Fine Arts Music from Eastern Connecticut State University in 1972, Kevin worked for the City of Hartford Model Cities Program as their Manpower Coordinator from 1972 – 1973. He then moved to Quechee Vermont in 1973 where he opened Christie’s Quechee Exxon from 1973 – 1980. Kevin was active in the community, Hartford Fire Department (Quechee, Lieutenant / Training Officer), Board of Directors, Quechee Chamber of Commerce, Treasurer, Quechee Community Center, Co-chair, Hartford Housing Authority, Organizer, American Cancer Society, and Advisor, Woodstock Developmental Center. He also began coaching Track at Hartford High school in 1980.
After a stint with the Vermont Department of Employment and Training, Kevin began teaching at Hartford in the Technical Center, in the Automotive Technology Program, which received state and national awards for excellence. He was also named Vermont Teacher of the Year in 1992. Coaching was an important part of Kevin’s work at Hartford, he was an Assistant Football Coach during five State title wins and finished his Track tenure as Head Coach with Hartford’s first ever Boy’s State title, 1994.
Kevin received his Masters Degree in Education Administration from Plymouth State University in 1992 and started an education administration career in Randolph, VT. as a Technical Center Director / Principal 1994 – 2001. Since leaving Randolph Kevin was a Service Director, Miller Volkswagen Dodge, and a Community Facilitator, United Developmental Services, Lebanon, NH.
Kevin is presently a Therapeutic Case Manager with Northeastern Family Institute, Brattleboro, VT. He has lived in the Town of Hartford, Vermont since 1973, with his wife Mary since 1978 and two daughters, both Hartford graduates. His passion is education and he hopes to be able share it with his community. It does “take a village to raise a child”.
Tim Fariel - Clerk
Tim has a BA in Geography from Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia, and a Post-Baccalaureate Certificate in Teaching from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. Over the years, he has held a variety of positions in area schools, including paraprofessional, grant administrator, and teacher. He currently works in commercial real estate in the areas of development, building management, and project management.
Tim has lived in the Upper Valley for 38 years and moved to Wilder in 2003. He has two children in the Hartford School District. Tim’s reasoning for serving on the board is driven by his strong desire to be involved in education, and to contribute to the Hartford community in a meaningful and positive way.
Jeff Arnold
Jeff graduated from Woodstock High School in 1971 and from the University of Vermont in 1977. He joined the Peace Corps in 1978 where he taught western horticultural and animal husbandry skills to schoolchildren in Togo, W. Africa. After traveling through the Sahara Desert twice, he returned to Togo to manage a rice farm and then took a teaching position at the American International School in Togo’s capital of Lome where he taught 7th and 8th grade English and PhysEd and Arts and Crafts to 1st thru 8th graders.
In 1991, he earned a Masters Degree in International Administration from S.I.T. in Brattleboro, Vt. and was hired by the International Rescue Committee in Peshawar, Pakistan to run an agricultural reconstruction program for Afghan farmers. He then managed a repatriation program for IOM/UNHCR that provided transport subsidies for Afghan refugees returning to Northern Afghanistan. When this program halted, he established an emergency water supply program for a French NGO that provided water to 220,000 displaced people living in the desert outside of Jalalabad, Afghanistan. Once this situation was stabilized, he started and managed a sanitation program for German Agro Action that replaced open latrines in a large suburb of Kabul. Upon returning to Vermont in 1998, he was employed by Geographic Data Technology before joining his wife and establishing a licensed daycare for 42 children called Aurora Daycare in Wilder and earning an AA. in Early Childhood Education from CCV. He has been working with pre-schoolers and managing all aspects of this business for the past eight years. He has three children with his wife Noreen; a 14 year old boy who attends HMMS and a 10 yr old daughter and an 8 year old son who attend DBS. Jeff wants to use his Board term to find an economical way to provide a high quality of education for the children of Hartford.
Contact information – arnoldj2@hartfordschools.net
Chris Sneddon
Chris grew up in Minneapolis, Minnesota. After receiving his Bachelor’s Degree in Zoology from the University of Wisconsin in 1987, Chris worked as a Peace Corps Volunteer in the Philippines from 1988-1990. He completed a Master’s Degree in Resource Policy and Planning at the University of Michigan in 1993, where he also worked several years for the Global Rivers Environmental Education Network. Chris moved to Hartford in 2003. His wife, Connie and he have two children who are in Grade 2 and Kindergarten respectively. He is currently an Associate Professor of Geography and Environmental Studies at Dartmouth College, where he received the 2006 J. Kenneth Huntington-John M. Manley Memorial Award for teaching and scholarship. He teaches courses in environmental politics, Southeast Asia (his primary regional focus of study), research methods and geopolitics.
Chris is a strong advocate for public education, and he is particularly interested in issues related to environmental and science education, and the coordination of education policies at the local, state and national levels.
Philippe Bouthillier
Phil grew up in Nashua, NH, graduated from high school at Mt. St. Charles in RI. He received his BA in Chemistry from St. Michaels’s College in VT. He taught at Mt. St Charles in RI, St. Dominic’s in ME and came to Hartford in 1966. During this time, he was Hartford High School Science Department Chair for 15 years and was involved in many committees. During his tenure, Phil took professional development courses through institutions including: MIT, UVM, St. Anselm's, Cal-Berkley, U of Arizona, U of New Mexico, U of Miamo-Ohio, and UNH. After teaching for 42 years he retired in June 2008.
Phil began the High School ice hockey program in Hartford in 1966 and was influential in the construction of the Hartford Municipal Arena (BOR). He helped develop the Youth Hockey Program, coached for 10 years, and officiated for many years.
Phil has been named Hartford High School Employee of the Year, Vermont Secondary Teacher of the Year, Hartford Park & Recreation Dept. Volunteer of the Year, Co-Recipient of the Cascadnac Grange Community Award, Fulbright Scholarship to Japan, Who’s Who in America High School Teachers, American Chemical Society’s VT. Outstanding High School Chemistry Teacher, and NE Institute of Chemistry Secondary School Chemistry Teacher Award.
Phil and his wife Mona have three sons, all of whom are Hartford graduates. He has eight grandchildren, two of which presently attend Hartford High School. “Hopefully, my experience will help to create an educationally sustainable future for the Town of Hartford.”