Values and Priorities
The Williston Democrats aim to build an inclusive community for all Willistonians. We believe Williston should be an attainable place to live for all income levels. We value a strong public education system. We know access to affordable healthcare is a right. We strive to foster resilience in our systems. We are guided by a responsibility to future generations. We believe in change through action.
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In The News
Williston passes resolution opposing ICE
Greta D’Agostino, the vice chair who proposed the resolution during last week’s meeting, said that while passage would be primarily symbolic, “it does send a strong message that this is not what we as a town uphold as our values and our beliefs.”
The town’s decision came after about 10 anti-ICE protesters spoke and dozens more took up two rows of chairs, lined the back walls of the Beckett/McGuire Meeting Room at the Williston Town Hall and spilled out into the narrow hall and down the staircase.
“This feels like a milestone moment that signals that maybe our mantra of ‘ICE OUT OF VERMONT’ is not just rhetoric, but an actual possibility,” said Blaine Paxton, a resident of Burlington who was there for the second time in two weeks.
People cheered and thanked the board when the resolution passed, banging wooden spoons on the backs of metal pots. As Kenney predicted, they filed back out before the budget discussion began.
Source: Vermont Digger 1/21/26
Ban on smartphones in schools picks up steam in Vermont Legislature
A school cell phone ban was previously introduced in a standalone bill that has failed to move forward this legislative session. But on Thursday members of the Senate Committee on Education voted to graft the ban onto H.480, a miscellaneous education bill that includes several smaller adjustments to Vermont’s education laws.
Now, with broad support in both chambers, lawmakers hope to send the bill to Gov. Phil Scott’s desk by the end of the session. The miscellaneous education bill is expected to soon hit the Senate floor before returning to the House, which needs to approve the new amendment to the bill.
“I feel like I still have to reserve a little caution, because there are still a couple steps, and things can always change,” Rep. Angela Arsenault D-Williston, the lead sponsor of H.54, said in an interview. “But when it passes, I’m going to feel an overwhelming sense of gratitude for everyone involved and making it happen, and relief for our kids and our teachers.”
In Vermont, a broad spectrum of advocates have said that a ban on smartphones and similar devices would go a long way toward alleviating soaring rates of depression, anxiety and other mental health issues among students.
Source: Vermont Digger 5/16/25
Capitol Recap: Education reform debate slams into historic obstacles in Montpelier
The House and Senate education committees are left to resolve a policy dilemma that implicates two things Vermonters guard most closely — their children and their money.
Williston Rep. Erin Brady, a Democrat, said the House Education Committee this year has felt more like “a support group than a policy committee.”
“Really the reason maps are so hard is because they’re not just about school districts, it’s really about the future state of Vermont,” Brady said this week.
Hovering over the Legislature’s work on education reform is an ultimatum from Scott, who says he won’t allow the state’s $9.4 billion budget to pass into law unless lawmakers approve forced consolidation as envisioned in Act 73.
That threat likely won’t compel lawmakers to reconsider their non-negotiables on education reform. And for many of them — possibly a critical mass — mandatory consolidation of the scope Scott has demanded is a nonstarter.
Source: Vermont Public 1/23/26
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