With Monday's much anticipated total solar eclipse behind us, state leaders reflect on the momentous occasion.

From my perspective, events lived up to the hype and then some maybe more vehicles and people than we've ever seen in Vermont, especially in such a condensed time period.

But it seems like most everyone was prepared and took it in stride.

Plus, the state's longest serving member of the Vermont Senate resigns from his post after serving more than 40 years.

And the governor's nominee for secretary of education faces pushback.

That and more ahead on Vermont this week.

From the Vermont Public Studio in Winooski, this is Vermont this week made possible in part by the Lintilhac Foundation and Milne Travel.

Thank you for joining us.

I'm Colin Flanders.

It's Friday, April 12th.

With us on our panel today, we have Tim Mcquiston from Vermont Business Magazine.

Sarah Mearhoff from Vtdigger, and my colleague Alison Novak from Seven Days.

Thanks all for being here.

So I started last week's show kind of lamenting about the eclipse.

I was a little nervous about it.

Obviously, the sun came back out.

That's good news.

And I think that it's fair to say that it went probably as well as anyone could have hoped, as we heard the governor say.

I mean, it was a really nice day.

A lot of people came and I think a lot of people left happy.

Before we get into our individual experiences, I think Vermont Public put together a video here that we'd love to show.

Just recapping this momentous day.

The great American eclipse is making its way to Vermont this once in a lifetime event that won't show up here in Burlington for all of us to look for hundred years.

It's wonderful.

Here in Saint Johnsbury, the streets, main streets are shut down and people are roaming back and forth.

People started pitching their lawn chairs as early as 7 a.m. today and people seem to mostly be having a great time.

It's looking good, Lauren.

It's feeling good.

The sun is so warm, especially with the light.

What is it like in St Albans?

It's very energetic.

Thousands of people have changed their plans last minute and decided to come to Vermont to see the eclipse.

We're from Basking Ridge, New Jersey.

It took us about 5 hours to get here, but 3:00 this morning, my wife started this like seven years ago and she decided that we were going to take the day off and just come up here.

It took us 9 hours to get here because we blew a brake line, had to get it towed down to Manchester Rent-A-Car and drive back up here.

Oh, we come from Boston.

Wakefield, Mass.

Lakeland, Florida.

Concord, California.

Seattle, Washington.

We're from.

We traveled all the way from Barre to Montpelier to come and see this.

Well, on the way up, it reminded me of the first concert.

It was a slow trip up.

Slowest trip than the made from Bradford to Saint Johnsbury.

I'm sure there'll be a lot of quiet and and excitement and excitement, but a feeling that we're just a very small speck in the cosmos.

We're expecting to be another one of those days where we just sit together, look up at the sky, and just feel this moment of wonder and amazement at all.

There is up above and beyond.

Well, it's pretty amazing because so many people are coming here from elsewhere.

So it's pretty cool that we're really the center of attention and also that there's so much interest in something scientific.

We'd love to know from you in the crowd and anywhere that you're viewing the eclipse, what does it feel like for you?

What are you doing?

What's happening in your community today?

Oh, my God.

Oh, wow.

Oh.

Oh, my God.

Gonna go and drive and see the solar eclipse and engagement during a total solar eclipse like we're here to enjoy and be childish and enjoy the stars.

So let's enjoy throwing a Yo-Yo around.

You know, maybe I can.

I let it sleep for 2 seconds nights.

We're doing good when the sun is over there.

It.

It seems like someone took a bite out of the moon.

I'm super excited because we're going to see the stars and stuff.

So I'm a true a star.

Strong or it's amazing.

I'm waiting for it when it goes completely dark.

We've got the glasses.

And they said you to see just a little ring around it for those few minutes that there's totality of darkness, everything is going to change.

I wanted to see it.

I wanted I want the memories.

I want my daughter to have the memories.

That's what I find important.

It's a great moment to experience with my son.

You know, he was supposed to be at school.

I was supposed to be at the office, but I had to come.

I'm a lawyer in Boston.

I put everybody on hold.

Don't call me.

I'll be back tomorrow.

We have about 30 seconds to totality in Saint Johnsbury, The bottom was amazing.

The diamond ring was absolutely brilliant.

I could see the corona.

I could see Jupiter and Venus, and that was pretty good.

It's one of our first adventures and hopefully more to come.

I will never forget it.

It was eerie, you know, I was waiting for the strange sounds to, you know, started happening from whatever ethereal spirits were escaping from some realm.

Words can't capture it.

Photographs don't capture it.

There is something a full sensory experience and even those of us that are not given to spirituality, I think we're we're blown away for a good few minutes there.

It was like a nice, nice afternoon.

Everyone was happy.

We kind of needed this.

I've been very cool.

Well, I think we probably could have use some tissues for the table, but that was a I mean, there was a really great recap, even though it just happened a few days ago, just seeing it from all the different angles.

And I will say the last sentiment, I think, is one that a lot of people felt something we needed something like this.

I kind of will go around the table, I think, and just talk for a minute about what everyone saw.

We were all across the state.

Alison, maybe you go first.

What did you see on this day?

Sure.

So I was at the top of Mount Silo in Charlotte reporting for seven days.

My two kids and husband were able to join me up there while I was working.

I walked up with a group of Boy Scouts.

I encountered a school trip from Otter Valley Union High School.

35 kids had gone with their science teachers.

And yeah, it was a really like it felt like everyone was picnicking, a really festive environment.

The state parks staff member there told me that the parking lot was full by 8 a.m. and there was more than 100 cars parked on the road outside of the park.

So I wasn't sure if it was going to be a popular spot to watch the eclipse, but there was certainly hundreds of people there.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And Tim, you were saying that you sounds like you watched it with some of your neighbors.

I traveled from Williston to Williston up on Martel Hill.

And from there you can see the Champlain Valley and Burlington.

And I was a little concerned about the you know, the little bit of haze there, but it actually made no difference at all to to where we were seeing.

And the thing that Jane Lindholm mentioned in that clip was community.

And that's what I really felt was neighbors, people I hadn't seen in a long time.

On top of the hill there, everyone was in a very festive mood.

Everyone really appreciated the moment.

I wasn't expecting that.

Like, like you said, I'm a little bit nervous about what was going to what was going to happen.

That was the sun going to come out and it was going to be cloudy day.

And but the sense of community was was really inspiring.

It really was.

Yeah.

And, Sarah, I saved you for last year, and I see this with all bits of envy.

Possible.

You had the day off, actually.

Just tell us a little bit about that.

It sounds like get some friends up.

Yeah, I had to.

One of my really good old friends, we've known each other for about ten years.

She was one of the many people who traveled from out of state.

She took the train up with her partner from New York City and her partner actually has traveled twice unsuccessfully in the past to try to see total solar eclipses.

And so I felt this immense pressure actually to deliver like a really good day for them.

And I was so nervous and he was refreshing his weather app up until like a couple minutes before he was like, Oh, there could still be a cloud.

And I was so nervous, honestly.

But we took the day.

I took the day off, actually, which felt very luxurious.

I didn't have to report.

And we went to Montpelier and we were up on the college green and we watched it and I honestly didn't know what to expect.

But what happened so far exceeded my expectations, whatever they were that I had.

And it was very, very beautiful.

And I looked over at my friend's partner, who had been literally waiting for this for years, and you can't make this up like a single tear was running down his cheek.

And it was it was great.

I actually got really emotional and it was it was amazing.

And at the moment when it went at totality, everyone in the green started.

I don't know if even cheering is the right word.

It was almost just like these expressions of exaltation.

It was.

It was amazing.

It was really beautiful.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And I think as reporters were often kind of at an arm's length that a lot of times when we're covering things and I think this was a really unique moment where we everybody that I've talked to in the field kind of took a moment while reporting just to experience it.

And I think it was that moment right before totality where things got quiet, got a little colder.

And I think I think that's what I'll remember the most, along with the gasps of the children and the crying out of how cool it was.

And in the coming months will obviously be learning a lot more about how this went for the state economically.

But I think overall it went really smoothly.

I mean, we saw some traffic heading back down south.

But Tim, it sounds like otherwise, I mean, not too many problems here.

It was so quiet even that morning in the suburbs of Burlington were all these 50,000 extra people were.

And it was very, very quiet.

And then in the governor mentioned this to it as press conferences, I think only two accidents, very minor accidents.

And while all those cars piled on the road.

So and it the traffic was moving, everyone everyone seemed really delighted and it was good to see Phil Scott in a good mood for it has it's been a while I think since he's been in a good mood.

So that was really everything worked out great.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And we probably will not be here for the next one, but maybe the people 100 years from now, I don't want I don't want to speak for you too.

Maybe.

Yeah, maybe.

That said, a spoiler alert.

Yeah.

But I think we'll move on to some other news here on the same day.

Is the eclipse actually some a sad announcement out of the state house and that Senator Dick Mesa, a long time senator, Democrat representing Grand Isle, announced that he plans to retire after nearly four decades in service, citing health issues.

Sarah, I want to get to you and talk about what this means for the big picture.

But for a moment, Tim, can you just reflect on Senator Miles's career here?

Well, you seem to be everywhere and all at once.

And he was there was this really cute picture of him in Back of Balance.

And Dick is is a big fellow.

And Becca, of course, is very petite.

And you could tell that there was there was just a great relationship there.

And that's how I think he wanted to be as a politician, as is reaching across and knowing a lot of people and working together for that.

We we're really lucky in Vermont.

I think that our Paula, our elected officials, for the most great most part, have wanted to do the best they can for their constituents and the state of Vermont.

And he was one he opened his his general store and now it's Bay.

And in the 1950s, believe it or not, and then he became a state rep in the seventies, and eventually he's been at the Senate.

And I think of it mostly as is working on the and transportation that's been his but but really being a consensus maker and and keeping things moving and keeping things he wasn't a I don't think he was really a jolly fellow but really someone that that sort of kept everything together in the Senate and, you know, worked with Shumlin, Governor Shumlin and Senator Welch and Congressman Balin when they were all in the Senate.

And of course, Phil Scott.

Yeah.

And Phil Scott actually put out a statement upon this announcement, read in part it would be difficult to find a Vermonter who has been more impactful, committed or dedicated to public service over the past four decades than Senator Dick Moser.

It's hard to put into words just how effective Senator Moser has been in Montpelier.

He knows when to speak up and when to do so deliberately.

And when he does, everybody listens.

Senator Moser has had the unique ability to command the respect and attention of his fellow senators and beyond.

He has often been described as the conscience of the Senate.

A perfect summary of the man he is.

Sarah, I see you nodding along.

I mean, I know that you cover the statehouse pretty closely.

What's the reaction to this, Ben?

I think that Senator Max is almost a lawmaker of another time.

I feel like not just in Vermont, but in just the general national political discourse, there's almost a mourning of what was once what once was.

And I think Senator Mazur was frankly very much a centrist, a consensus builder.

And like Tim said, a congenial guy who just had this almost all time meanness about him.

I almost feel like it's borders on a caricature of the fact that you were in a general store.

It just feels like a man of another period in terms of very though tangible political outcomes.

It's really hard to overstate how vital he was in this Senate.

He was a very important vote, especially in a very closely or not closely divided, as in 5050 Republican-Democrat, but closely divided in terms of 2010 four veto overrides.

Mazar was someone who we were always looking at as, you know, he could go one way or the other when it came to veto overrides, especially with his relationship with the governor.

And then also in terms of seniority and very vitally the silly named committee on committees, he was the quote unquote, third member, which meant that he was one of three people on a committee which decided the makeup of all of the committees in the Senate, not just policy committees, but summer study committees.

And also, I would say perhaps most importantly, honestly, are conference committees.

And the fact that he held that power, that kind of quiet, understated power, there is so much there.

And his impact on the makeup of all of the committees in the legislature, in the Senate, which has a direct impact on how policies are shaped, the his the end of his career is really, really monumental for the state.

And there's already been some jockeying.

Right, for who is going to replace him.

What do we know about that so far?

So you mean on the committee?

These are.

Yes.

So the only person last I heard, the only person who has submitted her name to be the third member of the committee on committees is Senator Jane Kegel.

Senator Kegel is has an enormous amount of seniority and respect among her fellow senators, much like Dick Mazar, I think you could say.

I think what's really important about the possibility or the probability of Senator Kegel being on the committee on committees, I feel so silly every time is that she's also chair of Senate Appropriations.

So she is one of the chief architects of our state budget.

And when I mentioned before that the committee on committees establishes conference committees, the budget committee is vital.

I mean, these are we're talking to six people who essentially do the final drafting of our state budget between three House members, three senators, and the fact that she is likely going to be one of the folks choosing the senators to be on that committee, that is that's a lot of power in one person.

Yeah.

And another bit of business that's going to be coming before the Senate soon is the appointment potentially of a new education secretary.

Governor Scott has nominated Zoe Saunders to fill this role, but there's been a lot of pushback immediately from all across the state.

We're talking teachers, we're talking unions, we're talking the Democratic progressive Parties.

Alison, you did some really good reporting on this this week, looking into Zoe Sanders background, her professional experience, what people think of her.

Tell us about what you found.

So, yeah, I think a lot of the pushback, a lot of the concerns have been around her lack of experience in public education.

So for six and a half years, she was a strategist with a for profit charter school management company called Charter Schools USA.

So, you know, Vermont is one of five states that doesn't have charter schools, but the other 45 do.

And for profit charter school management companies essentially are hired by charter schools to provide, you know, every aspect of running running those schools.

And a lot of people, critics of of those types of companies say that they're more concerned with the bottom line, bottom line than actually, you know, with educating students.

And so that was, you know, a big portion of her career.

After that, she went to work for the city of Fort Lauderdale as an education, you know, someone who kind of bridged the gap between education entities and the city.

And then for the past three months, she's worked at the Broward County Public Schools.

So some of the other kind of concerns have been she's really only worked in a public school district for three months, and now she's leaving to come to Vermont.

And I was able to talk to some people who she worked with in Broward County, who served on some school board committees who said, you know, it felt like she she was hired in Broward County to essentially lead a process to close and consolidate schools amid declining enrollment.

And so some of the people I talked to said, you know, she's come in, she started this very kind of controversial, difficult process and then she's kind of leaving three months later.

And there is a little bit of, you know, feeling that she was kind of leaving, leaving the district after she had kind of got this very difficult process in motion.

And yeah, so it will take six or it will take majority of senators to vote for her for her to actually be confirmed in that position.

So it'll be interesting to see what happens in the next couple of weeks.

She's slated to begin her job next Wednesday, and it appears that the Senate Education Committee, who has to first kind of do a interview with her will, will do that on the 23rd.

So a week after she starts.

Yeah.

And so obviously a lot of people in the statehouse are trying to feel her out, get up, get a sense of almost like a judicial nominee at the national level of like where do you stand on these things?

And you got a chance to talk to her.

What did you make of her?

Yeah, so I did.

I had a 40 minute conversation with her last Friday.

And, you know, she is very polite and well-spoken.

She definitely spoke and a lot of educational jargon.

It's clear she kind of comes from a strategy background.

One of the other criticisms is that she has not worked in a school.

She has not been a teacher, she's not been a principal or a superintendent.

And that's something actually the Vermont Principals Association told me that they are very concerned about just how are you going to kind of have credibility with the field when you haven't had that experience of working in a school?

But, you know, I think she's very proud of her work, kind of doing data driven work with schools to improve student achievement.

She said that she believes that she has the right experience to lead Vermont.

And I asked her about, you know, local control in Vermont, which is obviously very important.

And she said that her experience working to run schools in a number of different states was applicable to that in that, you know, each state has its own kind of culture around schools.

And so that is something she thought would apply to Vermont's kind of local control ethos.

Yeah.

And Tim, we were talking before the show just about this in you had mentioned you were kind of surprised at the initial pushback.

Talk a little bit about that.

It felt like a knee jerk reaction, a negative knee jerk reaction to this and not to good old Ted lasso Walt Whitman.

And it felt like there was a rush to judgment without any curiosity about this, about this person.

Now, admittedly, the secretaries of education have almost always come from school systems, but that is not the case with other cabinet officers.

In fact, that is frequently not the case with other cabinet officers.

Human Services, for instance, is almost never someone who comes from that industry.

But it has been the tradition of to have education secretaries come from within the public school system itself.

Now, having said that, they haven't all been great either.

So that doesn't necessarily mean she's going to be good or bad.

But what I would I'd be hired a lot of people in my day.

And the first question always is, why do you want this job?

And she's taking a little bit of a cut in pay.

She's coming to a state that has a state income tax.

Florida does not.

Vermont is a much more expensive place to live.

There's she serves at the pleasure of the governor.

So with the consent of the Senate and we'll see how that goes.

There hasn't been a failure in a cabinet position, as I understand it.

As you mentioned, Colin, since the nineties.

So what is it that being an extraordinary thing?

And you know, why?

Why do you want this job?

It could only be a couple of years.

It could be six months.

You know, it could be very short term.

There's there is much higher plateau for your your profession down there.

She's from Fort Lauderdale.

That's where she grew up.

She'd go to high school and college in private high school and went to Harvard.

So she has some experience with with New England and she has family here in Vermont.

But I think answering that question will be really important for her.

Why do you want this job?

And it's a it's a hard job.

No one no one's going to say this is maybe the most difficult job because it's not cut and dry.

You have no control over the budgets.

They're all local, as Alison was mentioning.

You have no control over the curricula, which is also controlled locally.

So how can you make a difference in in the state?

And I think the the Senate can and will and should have some difficult questions for and I'll be I'll be curious to see how she answers those and she see how she does and, you know, give her a chance to answer the questions before a lot of politicians have come out and said, you know, I'm not going to I'm not going to support this nomination.

It's like really mean, you know, give give the process a chance.

That's that's what democracy is.

It's all about process.

And if she is to make it through this gantlet here, I mean, she's she has a lot on her plate.

She's going to have to be trying to figure out how to lead a system that is in many ways in a bit of turmoil here.

And the post-COVID thing is, is going to be really, really difficult.

But both of you have partners who are in the in the public school system.

And I'm sure they can speak very, very eloquently about the difficulty of the students.

You know, I'm actually it's interesting that you said that you were surprised by the reaction from the Senate, because I'm actually not I think that the the her resumé it makes sense to me, given not only the makeup of the Senate right now and some of the the feelings on public education within the Senate.

I mean, we saw a record number of people breaking, voting against the Budget Adjustment Act for pretty small provision in the ACA based on public education.

A whole side debate that I won't get into.

But in addition to that, it's been such a tumultuous year in the state house and it's also an election year and I don't think it is all that surprising that this is really taking up a lot of oxygen.

Also, because, I mean, we've been without a permanent education secretary for the better part of a year.

So there was so much build up to this.

And I think that there's a lot of scrutiny on this candidate.

Will Senate President Booth, will he be able to keep things in line?

Amy promised there'd be a fair hearing and everything like that.

Given everything you've said, is it do you anticipate that going smoothly?

I'm really interested to see how it goes in our final 30 seconds or so here.

I just want to mention to you that Governor Phil Scott tried out his hand at acting this week.

You were at the play.

Just give me a really quick critique of it.

One of the students I think, said it best.

He said that he was surprised by how soft spoken the governor is.

And as someone who covers his press conferences every week, you know what?

Ditto to to Brady.

The student who told me that it sounds like you're saying don't quit your day job, Phil, we will have to end there.

That's all for this week.

Thank you so much to our guests, Tim Mcquiston from Vermont, Business magazine, Sarah Meyerhoff from Vtdigger, and my colleague Alison Novak from Seven Days.

Great to have you all here.

I'm Colin Flanders.

Thanks for watching.

We'll see you all next week.

And.