Vermont School Boards Association

Visit their website at www.vtsba.org

Ken Fredette
President

Ken Fredette is president of the Vermont School Boards Association and has been a member of the Wallingford, Vermont, elementary school board since May of 1998, and currently serves as chair. He also chairs the supervisory union board, which has representatives from three elementary boards as well as the union middle/high school board. Ken says focusing on the needs of students, particularly at the elementary level, helps to keep him young.

Ken earns a living as a commercial diver, working primarily as an “underwater construction worker” at hydroelectric plants throughout New England. He and Kate and their children all enjoy hiking and camping. They all have been involved in SolarFest, an annual festival that promotes sustainable living and energy education through the arts, since its inception in 1995.

Dr. Stephen Dale
Executive Director

Stephen Dale became executive director of the Vermont School Boards Association in January 2011.  Dale is no stranger to education, having begun his career as a high school social studies teacher in Cleveland, Ohio.  Moving to Vermont in 1973 with his wife, also a teacher, Dale’s entire career has been in and around education.

Prior to joining VSBA, Dale had a 37-year career in human services, starting as a juvenile probation officer for Windsor County and then working as a manager in Corrections and then in Social and Rehabilitation Services.  Dale served as Director of Baird Center for Children and Families (now Children’s Services at the Howard Center) for 10 years.  He returned to the government in 2004 and has since served as the Commissioner of the Department for Children and Families (DCF), spending extensive periods of time in the Vermont Statehouse.

As the Director of the Baird Center, he collaborated with all nine Chittenden County school districts and supervisory unions providing 50 school social workers, behavioral supports, autism services, a school-based health clinic, and three alternative schools.  As Commissioner of DCF, Dale collaborated with various Vermont Commissioners of Education around pre-K, education continuity for foster children, education at Woodside, the Family, Infant, and Toddler program (now Children’s Integrated Services), and sexual abuse prevention. 

Dale also served as a school board member in Hartland School Board (VT), including two years as chair; and one year as chair on the Windsor Southeast Supervisory Union Board.

Dale and his wife have three sons.