Board Members

Flor Diaz Smith (Board Chair)

East Montpelier Three-Year Term (ending 2025) 

Flor grew up in Guatemala City. She is a licensed architect in Guatemala that has been designing in Vermont since 1997.  Her Design Studio consults with other Architects on interior design, residential, school design and retail.  Residential Design and Interior design are her passion but she also enjoys small commercial and retail design.  Her other big passion is education, she believes that education is a human right and spends a lot of time learning and understanding what is best for kids.  She believes a strong public education is the basis of our democracy and the key to successful communities.   Flor lives on Horn of the Moon Road in East Montpelier with her husband Dan and two children Mia (17) and Lincoln (14).

Michelle Ksepka

Calais ( One (1) Year of a Three (3) Year term) Ending 2025

Daniel Keeney

Calais: One Year of a Three-Year Term  (Ending 2026)

Daniel has lived in Calais with his partner Adrian (a U-32 Art Teacher) for 6 years and has two children at Calais Elementary. He works  as a farm and food business planner at the Center for Agricultural Economy in Hardwick. He is originally from St. Johnsbury but is happy to call Central Vermont home -not least because of the Washington Central Unified Union School District! He's excited to bring his passion for food and farming into his work with the district as it continues to develop its alternative education paths. 

Patrick Whelley

Middlesex: Three Year Term Ending March 2026

Julia Hewitt

Worcester  One ( 1) Year of a Three-Year Term (Ending 2025)

Julia Hewitt grew up in Connecticut, attending high school in Middletown. After earning a degree in English at Connecticut College in 1983, she taught for two years at The Elmcrest School, part of Elmcrest Psychiatric Institute in Portland, Connecticut. In 1985, she joined the faculty at Cabot School, where she taught English and humanities courses for 33 years. She earned her Masters degree at Goddard College. Her second professional home is the National Writing Project, with which she was affiliated for twenty years, eventually becoming a co-director of the Vermont site and teaching several graduate level Writing Project courses at UVM, including the Summer Institute for teachers of writing.   

After a very short retirement from public school teaching, Julia joined the faculty at Middlesex Community College (now Connecticut State Middlesex) where she is an adjunct professor of English, teaching online synchronous courses. When not working with students, she serves on the board of directors of the Worcester Historical Society and on the the steering committee for the Worcester Arts Festival. She is a hospice volunteer, a member of the Worcester Neighbor Network, and a member of the Justice in Action committee at the Old Meeting House of East Montpelier. Somehow she makes time for camping, writing, knitting, and playing her 36-string harp.

VACANT 

Berlin Three Year Term (Ending 2025)

Ursula Stanley ( Vice-Chair) 

Two Years of a Three Year Term (Ending March 2025)

Chris McVeigh

Middlesex - Three Year Term (Ending 2027)

Elizabeth Brown 

Calais Three Year Term  (ending 2027)

Diane Nichols-Fleming ( Board Clerk) 

Berlin Three-Year Term (Ending 2026)

My husband, Jim, and I have lived in Berlin since 1991. We have both been teaching for over 30 years. I was the preschool teacher in Berlin for 12 years and am currently the Early Childhood Programs Coordinator for the North Country Supervisory Union in the Northeast Kingdom. We have 2 children, Fiona and Nathaniel, who were educated at Berlin and U32. I believe in the great value that public education brings to our communities and our world. Each of our community schools provides a rich grounding in what it means to be a Vermonter and prepares our children to go out to the wider world. They are able to do so while maintaining the unique nature of each town. I am honored to be representing Berlin on the board.

McKalyn Leclerc

Worcester: Three Year Term (ending in March 2026)

I grew up in Worcester and am a graduate of both Doty and U-32. I obtained my undergraduate degree in biology from Middlebury College. After spending a few years teaching high school in New York City and then working for the Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation, I received my medical degree from the University of Vermont College of Medicine. I completed my Family Medicine residency in 2015 and now work as a family doctor at the Hardwick Area Health Center. In my spare time, I enjoy dancing, gardening, swimming, hiking, and spending time with my husband and two daughters. 

Natasha Eckart

Worcester: Two years of a 3-year Term (Ending 2027)

I was raised in Worcester and attended Doty and U-32. I left Vermont to attend college and have lived and worked in Pittsburgh, Fresno, and, most recently, Baltimore. I moved my family to Vermont 4 years ago, and worked as a para, a long-term sub and a STEAM teacher at Northfield Elementary School. I currently work for VT-NEA as an advocate and organizer. I am excited for my children to attend the same schools that I attended, and I look forward to being a representative and advocate for not only my Worcester community but for the BIPOC community as well. 

Kealy Sloan

Berlin ( Three Year term ) Ending 2027

I moved to Vermont in 2016 and have lived in Berlin with my husband Zach since 2017.  I work for a non-profit that helps to make agriculture more sustainable, focusing on improving farmer income and livelihoods in crops like coffee, cocoa, and vanilla. Our oldest child currently attends Berlin Elementary School and our youngest child will start next year.  We have grown to love Central Vermont, and Berlin in particular, and are very happy to call it home and raise our children here.

While we live in Berlin, we have friends with children from all towns in the District and I proudly represent all children and schools in WCUUSD. I have always believed that a good education system is both one that teaches children to be successful in life – whatever that means for each of them – and works to ensure that children of the community have equitable access to resources and opportunities to help them grow. I am happy to serve on the school board to help shape the future of the School District to support all of our children to thrive.

Amelia Contrada

East Montpelier ( Two (2) Years of a Three (3) Year Term) Ending 2026

Amelia grew up in Vermont and studied Psychology at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst where she learned the value of community activism. She then moved to Detroit, worked at a school and helped organize the 2010 United States Social Forum. Inspired by grassroots activists at the forum, she began traveling on bicycle to volunteer with groups working for social equity and environmental justice. She believes that public education creates and sustains healthy, well-resourced, and peaceful communities. She moved back to Vermont in 2017, earned her graduate degree in clinical psychology and is currently a psychotherapist. Amelia lives in East Montpelier with her husband Dave and son Desmond Mateo.

Zach Sullivan

East Montpelier : Three Year Term  (ending 2027)

Zach lives in East Montpelier with his wife Helen (a social studies teacher at Montpelier High School) and their two children, a first grader and a preschooler. He grew up in southern New Hampshire, and moved to East Montpelier in 2014. Zach works as an analyst for the UVM Health Network, focusing on capacity planning, forecasting, and health equity work. In his free time he enjoys exploring the woods and bike paths with his kids. He is able to juggle odd objects.