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SCS Community Newsletter
Week of September 18, 2023
Principals' Message
Dear SCS Families and Caregivers,
Thank goodness for the return of seasonally appropriate weather! It was a relief not to have to put out coolers of water during recess or worry about kids overheating this week. With after-school sports, field trips, and the launch of many outdoor Dynamic Experiences (read more on that in the PTO section below) underway, we're thrilled to be able to enjoy all that Vermont has to offer this time of year.
Our multilingual learner (ML) team - Patti Tursi, Erika Monaghan, and Robyn Suarez - was particularly busy this week. In addition to providing services to our existing students and supporting teachers as always, they are helping several teams prepare to welcome newcomers to SCS beginning on Monday. Newcomers are students who are new to the country and who are not yet proficient in English - though most are already fluent in multiple other languages! We are thrilled for the opportunity this provides for all students and staff, as well as for the Shelburne community at large. It allows us to live the CVSD values of - among others - community, equity, and belonging. We anticipate lots of reciprocal learning taking place, and we're excited to see more smiling faces walking the hallways of SCS shortly.
If you drive to school, you may have noticed more staff members outside during dropoff this week. It's no small feat to get 750 students and 150 adults into the building each morning given our traffic patterns, and we generally do a great job with this. That said, there is always room for improvement. We need everyone's help addressing a few issues that came up this week around pickup and dropoff. We talk a lot with students about "following the group plan" for safety's sake, and we ask you to do the same if you are transporting your child to or from school. Even if it's not your preferred choice to wait in the long line at School Street in the morning, cutting into the staff parking lot or dropping a student off in the roadway to save a few extra seconds jeopardizes everyone's safety. Any alternate pickup/dropoff arrangements must be cleared through the main office. Please drive slowly, wait your turn, and reach out if you have any questions about the procedures. It definitely helps to get to school a few minutes early! The biggest backlog this week tended to be right around 7:50, which is the time when students should be in classrooms.
There are two BIG school-wide events in the week ahead: school photos and the SCS Open House. Please see below for more information about both items. We hope everyone has a fantastic weekend, and we are excited to welcome you back to school in-person for the open house next Thursday!
Take care,
Alison, Brett, & Emily
Mark Your Calendars!
Here are a few of the upcoming events that we'd like to highlight for your September Calendars:
- 9/18 - School Photos, PTO Dynamic Experiences Ticket Sale Begins
- 9/19 - School Photos, CVSD School Board Meeting at 6pm (Central Office)
- 9/20 - School Photos & DEI Coffee Conversations @ 8am (SCS)
- 9/21 - SCS Open House (5-6pm for last names starting with letters A-L, and 6-7pm for last names starting with letters M-Z)
- 9/25 - Yom Kippur - No School
School Portrait Days are Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday this week!
Your child's teacher will be communicating with you regarding which date their class is scheduled for their picture day.
Please contact Jen Marx (383-1102) with any questions.
Open House - this Thursday!
We are so excited to open the SCS doors this Fall for our Open House 2023 this Thursday, September 21st. In an effort to reduce the parking lot and hallway congestion, we are asking that families with last names starting in A-L join us between 5-6pm, and families with last names starting in M-Z join us from 6-7pm, if possible.
Your child/children will lead you on a tour of our full school building - you'll get to check out our Art, Music, Band/Chorus, PE, Library, Computer Science, World Language spaces as well as classroom spaces. You'll want to stop by the cafeteria to grab a cookie from our Food Service Team - and you'll get to stop by a variety of tables (either out at the pavilion or in the cafeteria) full of information about some of the incredible SCS opportunities available for students and families (ie PTO, DEI, PBiS, SKAT, SCS FoodSmart, etc.). We'll explain all the acronyms to you 😉. There will be some SCS swag to purchase at our PTO table as well :)
It'll be a long day for our faculty, staff, and students, so we'll be wrapping up the fun a few minutes before 7pm so we can all get home and have a restful night before we come back to school/work Friday morning.
We're looking forward to seeing you all soon!
CVSD Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Town Halls
We welcome everyone back and are excited to announce a new format for the CVSD Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Town Halls this school year. We will meet virtually for the first Town Hall on Wednesday, September 20 at 6:30 pm. At that time, we will provide an overview of this year's Town Hall topics. We will also answer questions about the DEI work that is underway in the district. Future DEI Town Halls will take place in November, January, March, and May. Those will be in-person Town Halls with a specific focus. The Zoom information for the September 20th Town Hall is posted on the district's website calendar and on the CVSD DEI website. We look forward to continuing the conversation!
On alternate months, (October, December, February, & April), the CVSD Virtual Town Halls will focus on the Strategic Plan and Growth & Belonging.
Click the link above to visit the SKAT website. There are lots of great offerings again this fall, starting the week of October 2!
First Lego League Applications are OPEN
SCS is pleased to announce the start of an after school team for students from 4th-8th grade that focuses on teamwork, robotics, and coding where all are welcome no matter their past experiences or current knowledge in these areas.
The mission of our SCS First Lego League team is to foster a collaborative and diverse community of STEM-curious members that will build and compete in a mission-based robotics game using the LEGO® Education SPIKE Essential platform. This year will be the inaugural year with the plan to build a sustainable program where students inspire each other as future team members and leaders.
This team will meet every Tuesday and Thursday starting September 21st from 3 - 4:15pm. At times we will need to meet on Fridays and possibly Saturdays as we prepare for competitions. We will travel (always by school bus, no parent transportation to events unless prior approval is granted in honor of the team spirit) to the state competition on Saturday, January 20th at Norwich University and possibly to other district-wide competitions.
This year we SCS will host the Northern Regional Championship on Saturday, December 2nd! This will be a qualifier for the state championship in January. The application was shared with all 4-8th grade students earlier this week and is available below.
Our district values your feedback! Starting on September 22 and continuing through October 9, we will be asking you to take a brief survey to tell us about your experience with the school(s) your child attends. To ensure we continue to provide high-quality learning experiences that meet the needs of our learners and prepare them for college and career, we need your feedback. We invite you to share your thoughts.
We thank you in advance for your thoughtful responses. If you have any questions about the survey administration, please don’t hesitate to contact us using Let's Talk.
Thank you,
Champlain Valley School District
Vermont Comprehensive Assessment Program (VTCAP) Update
All students in grades 3-9 (last year) took the new VTCAP assessment this past spring in math and literacy (and grades 5, 8 & 11 in Science). Results from the assessment were recently shared with districts. We are just beginning to compile those in an effort to send individual student reports to families. We are not anticipating that those will be ready to send until closer to the end of September. When the individual student reports are sent, there will be a guide for families that accompanies the report.
Use Your P-EBT Card to Give Back
All families with a student enrolled in a CVSD school last year should have received a P-EBT card by mail over the summer. If you haven't activated it or exhausted the funds yet, we encourage you to use it to buy food for the Shelburne Food Shelf. Nonperishable items can be dropped off at the Town Offices, Library, or Shelburne Market. The list of items the Food Shelf needs most is available here: https://www.shelburnefoodshelf.org/give. You can also exchange your P-EBT benefit at the Shelburne Farmers Market to support local farms, many of which are still reeling from this summer's flooding. See the graphic below for more details.
If you have more questions about P-EBT, please visit the P-EBT website.
Communications
Community/Family Engagement
SCS PTO
Members:
Co-Chairs: Mark Monaghan (monaghan77@gmail.com) and Devin Beringer (devin@consultap.com)
Treasurer: Ken Scott (kenscottvt@gmail.com)
Secretary: Amanda Broder (abroder14@gmail.com)
Social Media Coordinator: Hayley Cimler (hayley.cimler@gmail.com)
Teacher Reps: Katie Birkett, Alysia Wakeman, and Megan Maynard-Jacob
Additional Members & Volunteer Opportunities
EVENTS:
Sept 18th Dynamic Experiences Fundraiser Ticket Sales Begin
Sept 21st Open House at Shelburne Community School 5-7pm
Sept 27th PTO Grant Proposal Presentations 3pm in the SCS Library
Safe Routes to School - NEW Committee - Need Volunteer Leads!
This group is working on sidewalk enhancements, monitoring traffic incident areas, planning out safe routes to walk/bike to school, buddy systems, and much more!
The broader team includes teachers, town committee reps, and Local Motion.
We would love to have 1-2 PTO leads to join this group. If you are interested please Sign Up Here.
Reminder Every Wed. is Walk/Roll to School. Folks will meet at Pierson Library at 7:30 AM.
Nearby Nature - Needs Volunteers!
Nearby Nature engages K-2 students in place-based science learning in their own classroom and schoolyard. It relies on volunteers to operate and is a great opportunity for family members to be part of the classroom experience. Volunteers have a monthly training on the first Thursday of every month, do a bit of lesson prep, and lead a monthly lesson. Read more: https://nearbynature.fwni.org. If interested, please email Wendy Eberhart at wendy.eberhart@gmail.com.
Attend a PTO Meeting
The next PTO meeting will be on Tuesday, 10/10 at 6 PM. There is free pizza and babysitting for school-age kids! For all other dates: Click Here
Looking for Volunteers in the SCS Library
We would love to see some community volunteers helping out in our library. If you're interested, please email Fiona Kovacik at fkovacik@cvsdvt.org. Thanks!
Everybody Wins! needs a Shelburne Community School coordinator!
This part-time position helps to bring mentors together with children from grades 2-4 each week for friendship, conversation, and reading. Work at SCS and remotely in a supportive environment, with flexibility and autonomy. Love of both books and people is critical, good communication and computer skills are necessary.
For more information, see the Everybody Wins! website: https://everybodywinsvermont.org/about-us/openings/ or contact Beth Wallace, director: beth@everybodywinsvermont.org
Looking to help out SCS, and make some money? We've got a solution for you!
Shelburne Community School is in need of Guest Teachers for the 2023 / 2024 school year. If you're interested in subbing for us, please contact Louise Michaels at SCS at 802-985-3331 x122, or lmichaels@cvsdvt.org and ask to set up an appointment for an interview.
SCS is a vibrant, caring community school with fantastic support staff to aid a guest teacher with transitioning to the classroom environment. Thank you.
Celebrations!
CVSD Info
Find information about monthly School Board Meetings, community forums such as the DEI Town Hall, and more on the district website. See the year at a glance on the 2023-2024 K-8 School Year Calendar. The CVSD Mission is to develop citizens who learn, think, live, contribute, and pursue excellence. See The CVSD Story for the latest blog posts about what's happening across the district.
Let's Talk
Get Involved
Still Need More Information?
Website: https://www.cvsdvt.org/shelburne
Shelburne Community School Administration
Brett Cluff, 5-8 Principal
Emily Cogan, Director of Special Education