Dottye graduated from Mansfield High School in Mansfield, Louisiana, from Northwestern State University of Louisiana, and from Texas Woman’s University. She was an instructor in dance and physical education and the choreographer and director of dance companies at the University of New Orleans, University of Kentucky, and Auburn University.

Since 1989 Dottye has resided in Barre Town.  She worked in Vermont public schools as a dance teacher, a business teacher, a health educator, and a basketball coach. She administered several educational organizations including child care, after school, and adult education programs. In adult education, she tripled the number of participants and doubled revenues. She has a background in business and economics and has worked in accounting, setting up the first electronic accounting system for a local union and aiding in the operation of her former husband’s business.

Dottye has volunteered in many local capacities. She served three years as a Barre Town school board member. During that time she pushed for greater transparency and inclusion of taxpayers in school processes and was the driving force in reworking school policies. She showed her willingness and ability to take leadership on issues and stand up to the status quo even in the face of fierce opposition. She currently is opposed to Act 46 due to concerns about educational quality, costs, and local control. She was on the board of the Old Barre Labor Hall helping re-evaluate its accounting procedures and has been a 20-year member of the Barre Opera House. She was a local Girl Scout troop leader and a basketball coach for Barre Recreation and for girls AAU.  She is a member of the ASPCA and for many years was a volunteer at the local humane society, both working at the shelter and providing a foster home to dogs as they transitioned to a permanent home.

Strengthening the economy is a main issue for Dottye. She believes in a “moral economy” with investments in small businesses and in good jobs in the green economy, other job creation, incentives to repair crumbling infrastructure, and raising the minimum wage to a livable wage. Easing property taxes and reforming the state’s tax system would help to ensure tax fairness and boost the economy. She supports workers and workers’ rights and a re-envisioning of the budget process that reflects voters’ needs and priorities.

Women’s and children’s issues have been major concerns for Dottye throughout her life. In her career she has personally challenged inequitable workplace conditions and pay bias. Through her classes and employment she has addressed sexual harassment and supported others in their responses to retaliation. She was a volunteer rape crisis phone consultant and is an avid supporter of Planned Parenthood and access to free and low cost women’s health clinics. Dottye strongly supports a woman’s right to choose. She believes there needs to be a greater presence of women in the political system so that governing groups are more reflective of the society they represent.  More women in government as consensus makers can be the driving force to minimizing gridlock.

Dottye supports universal health care. The US spends more on health care with poorer results than any other industrialized country in the world. Major beneficiaries include for profit health care companies and big pharma. The military for years has operated a single payer system with great success as do Canadian and European countries. She believes we can learn from these examples to make health care more accessible and affordable for all Vermonters. While the costs of prescriptive medications are prohibitive in the US, and are increased regularly and sometimes astronomically for the profit motive, the same medicines in other countries are affordable. The health care system is broken in this country and she firmly believes, that a single payer system can help address those concerns.

Dottye supports protecting the environment. Her main interest is in protecting citizens and eco-systems from the potential harmful effects of industrial operations such as pipeline distribution, water and lake degradation, and asphalt plant issues. She wants community members and representatives to have comprehensive or at least adequate information on the results of environmental projects. It is important to Dottye that community voices be heard and supported in any decision affecting the environment. She would work with state officials to ensure that current industries have attained state permits and are abiding by those permits, and that the state has the resources to enforce them. She supports a state plan of action to achieve clean energy development and usage and she is for expanding investments in public transportation, weatherization, and healthy water systems.

Dottye has been a staunch supporter of other issues as well. She has always advocated for social,  economic, and racial justice, for voting rights, and for workers issues. She has been a peace activist her entire adult life, had a spouse disabled in the Iraq War, and was on the national board of Military Families Speak Out. She is passionate about economic equity, environmental concerns, prison reform, gun violence prevention, and educational equity. For her in-depth views on these and other issues, please go to the “Dottye’s Platform” page of this website.

Dottye brings a new perspective and an enormous energy to addressing these issues and offers Barre Town voters a choice for a representative with a different voice. She is inspired by Bernie and by what is possible, not by what has always been. She is running to make change. She can and passionately will be the voice for those of the 99% in Barre Town who struggle to make life more livable.

Dottye is currently retired from education, has established and works with a non-profit historical/educational foundation. In her spare time she enjoys gleaning in central Vermont, gardening, antiquing, and plays and musicals at the Barre Opera House, Lost Nation Theatre, and the Flynn. Dottye has one daughter who graduated from Spaulding High School, Rutgers University, and the University of Tampa graduate school, and who works for the United Way in the Florida keys. Dottye lives in Graniteville with her rescue dog Zoe, and the “enduring Spirits” of her other rescue dogs, Cassie and Neve.