The Danville School, seen on Tuesday, Oct. 7. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDigger Saturday’s referendum on whether to shutter high school grades at Danville School cannot compel the Danville School board to move forward with closure, according to a legal opinion the Caledonia Central Supervisory U nion received Tuesday. The opinion, sent to Superintendent Matt Foster just days before a controversial vote to end Danville School’s high school grades, makes the results of Saturday’s town-wide vote nonbinding, and gives the school board the final say on whether to close the high school grades. The vote was first spurred by a citizen’s petition to close high school grades by June 30. READ MORE The board will take Saturday’s results into consideration, said Clayton Cargill, the chair of the Danville School Board. He added that the decision to shutter high school grades will remain with board members—regardless of the results of Saturday’s vote. But, when asked if the board could vote to keep the grades open even if the community votes in favor of closing high school grades, Cargill said that he “rejected that hypothetical.” “I can’t speak for the entire board in this case, because I don’t know the will of each board member,” he said. “I don’t know how the vote’s going to go, and so there are too many variables in that for me to consider that hypothesis and give it proper consideration.” The upcoming vote in Danville echoes considerations at other school districts to close schools or shutter grades, as district officials wrestle with what Act 73’s proposed reform would mean for their communities. In the Bennington-Rutland Supervisory Union, board members there went against the results of a public referendum last month when they voted to close two elementary schools with declining enrollment. Tuesday’s legal opinion, first reported on by The North Star Monthly, complicates what has been a tense situation for the Northeast Kingdom town. Danville School serves as a hub for upper-grade students in surrounding towns. Closure would otherwise leave the region a public high school desert, officials with the district said previously. If high school grades were to close, the district would then pay tuition for those high school students to attend other public or private schools.  The new legal opinion, drafted by attorneys with Burlington-based law firm McNeil, Leddy Sheahan, says that the board has the discretion to refuse a petition “if the subject matter of the article concerns a matter outside of the voters’ authority.” The board sought a second legal opinion after hearing from residents who disagreed with the board’s initial decision to schedule a referendum, Cargill said. Attorneys with Lynn, Lynn, Blackman Toohey initially told the board it had to hold a binding vote on the matter. The document reads that the petition to shutter high school grades “exceeds the authority of the electorate under Vermont law.” Cargill said that the legal opinion means the board can treat the petition as null and void, or as advisory. “But because we’re going through so much effort,” he said, “we need to treat it as advisory.” “We have a warned article,” he added. “If we cancel our meeting, we would probably be subject to a lawsuit or something.” Read the story on VTDigger here: New legal opinion complicates Saturday vote on shuttering high school grades in Danville. ...read more read less