oh bernie

ONE FAMILY, TWO SCHOOLS: QUESTIONS RAISED ABOUT ANOTHER SANDERS DEAL
JUN. 13, 2017, 5:28 PM BY JASPER CRAVEN 5 COMMENTS
Vermont Woodworking School
The barn housing the Vermont Woodworking School in Fairfax. Photo courtesy of Carina Driscoll

While one deal struck by Jane O’Meara Sanders during her time as Burlington College’s president has triggered a federal investigation, another arrangement she engineered is breeding claims of nepotism and allegations of veiled threats against her husband’s presidential campaign.
The bad blood centers on the relationship the college forged with the Vermont Woodworking School, co-founded and run by Sanders’ daughter, Carina Driscoll.

Carol Moore, the final president at Burlington College, broadly blames the school’s 2016 closing on Sanders. In a scathing op-ed last year, Moore wrote: “BC’s fate was set when its former board members hired an inexperienced president.”

Bernie Sanders
Sen. Bernie Sanders and his wife, Jane O’Meara Sanders, in Rock Hill, S.C. File photo by Hilary Hess/Sanders campaign

That president, Jane Sanders, the wife of Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., led Burlington College from 2004 to 2011. Previously she served as acting president of Goddard College in Plainfield, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in social work. (Sanders also holds a PhD from Union Institute.)