It gives you perspective. Housed in the former vermont Teddy Bear Co. at Jelly Mill Common, Shelburne Road, The Gailer School has retained many of the building's high ceilings and open beams. A predominance of woodwork gives much of the space the type of warm glow that painted cinder blocks never could. On this Tuesday morning in late May, students work in small classes behind closed doors. Sixteen to 18 is the target class size.
Smaller groups meet in open areas partitioned from hallways by dividers.
The 12th-grade room sits empty. The past few years I've been on the board, we've operated with a deficit in our budget. Canning, founder of Physicians Computer Co. in Winooski, says the more realistic tuition level combined with a new focus on fund raising and grant writing will turn things around. Then Gailer will begin to build an endowment. The Gailer School moved from Middlebury to Shelburne in 1998.