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Superintendent's Message
Violet Nichols
October 19, 2023
Dear Parents/Guardians and Staff,
I had the honor of talking about being a SUPERintendent with our pre-K students at RMCS since last writing to you. Truthfully, that part of my visit didn’t land, but I did bring a great book as backup, and story time was an easy win. The dance party procession to the sink for hand-washing was also a success. What a pleasure it is to be in our pre-K classrooms. Thank you to our exceptional pre-K educators for inviting me to visit.
Website
Our new website is live! It features intuitive menus and the information families need most, front and center. And lunch menus are printable again! (Apologies for that inconvenience!)
If you’re having trouble finding anything, the search function actually works now and is effective for finding staff, documents, or any other information you may need.
We’d love to hear your thoughts so please email any feedback to website@sbschools.net. And look out for information about the accompanying app in the coming weeks!
Facilities Tours
This week, we continued tours with City Council members and state representatives at the middle and high school. Principal Sivo and Principal Burke outlined the wonderful programs, talented staff, and exceptional students at their schools.
They also highlighted the significant facilities upgrades that are needed at both schools. Principal Sivo took the group into the unused locker rooms due to age and broken plumbing. He also showed the homemade improvements that were made in the restrooms by adding additional plywood to the tops of bathroom stall doors to give students much-needed privacy.
At the high school, we took the elevator to see how a student in a wheelchair would move from class to class. To get from one wing to another, they would need to take the elevator to the second floor, cross through the gym (oftentimes while classes are occurring there), and then down another long hallway in the few minutes necessary to change classes.
In addition, due to the age of the buildings, when minor improvements are necessary, like replacing a floor tile (which happened this summer), the cost, which was not budgeted, was exorbitant due to abatement, and ultimately provided no educational value.
Another concern at both the middle and high school as well as the elementary schools is there is simply not enough space for the entire school or even large groups to gather, which impedes community building.
These tours have provided great insight into the fact that we can not allow our facilities to dictate instruction and we will continue to look for appropriate solutions for these concerns and gather the input of the community in the years to come.
School Board Vacancy
Last night the School Board determined that they would fill the vacant seat. Applications will be accepted starting today and must be submitted by October 25th at 4pm to schoolboard@sbschools.net. You can find the application here or at sbschools.net/schoolboard.
City Council Vacancy
There is also a vacancy on the South Burlington City Council as Councilor Tyler Barnes recently announced his resignation. You can read the press release here and interested applicants should submit their letter of intent to Jessie Baker at jbaker@southburlingtonvt.gov by October 24th.
Staff Spotlight: Kristen Courcelle
Kristen Courcelle, an ITE educator, ran her SECOND Iron Man this year. After qualifying in Lake Placid this summer, Kristin ran the Kona Iron Man in Hawaii this past weekend. An Iron Man consists of 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike ride, and a full marathon and she finished in just over 12 hours. What an incredible feat and we are so proud of her! We’re looking forward to having her back next week and continuing the wonderful work she does in the elementary schools and at central office keeping all our technology running smoothly.
Congratulations Kristin! I hope you get some well-deserved rest!
Know a staff member who deserves to be highlighted? Fill out this form.
Student Spotlight: FHTMS 8th Grader Kayla Cisse
Kayla started playing basketball at the age of 5, and the sport has been her #1 passion ever since. Her favorite things about the game are sinking a 3-point shot and making a fast break score. She’s currently spending most days after school in the gym, all while striving to keep her grades up. She’s training to become faster, more explosive, and a better defender. When not playing basketball, Kayla loves to play bass guitar and is currently reading The Hunger Games.
Kayla is very excited to have received her first social media mention this past weekend on X/Twitter while playing in the Lone Wolf Athletics fall basketball league, which is comprised mostly of Varsity and JV players. She’s grateful to have been given the opportunity to play in as an 8th grader.
Kayla is also working toward her 6th AAU championship and would like to send out a heartfelt thank you to all her coaches, teammates, and trainers that have helped her make this a possibility. We are very excited to see what this season brings for Kayla and the FHTMS girls basketball team. Go Wolves!
Know a student who deserves to be spotlighted? Fill out this form.
Returning Student Registration Form
Transportation
Now that Stopfinder has been rolled out to all routes, we want to make sure that everyone is utilizing this helpful resource. This is an app that is independent from our new website. You should have received an invitation directly from Stopfinder in order to set up your log in. It may have gone into your spam folder, but if you are not able to locate it, please email Sean McKenzie at smckenzie@sbschools.net and he will send you another invitation.
Our transportation team is also working with Monica Desrochers, Director of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Anti-Racism, and Social Emotional Learning to discuss the language on the expected rules of behavior for students when riding the bus. These conversations will be taking place over the next few weeks and I will share more information as it becomes available.
Please refer to the Transportation Dashboard for daily route updates.
School Safety
A reminder that October is Pedestrian Safety Month. Read more about the program here.
On October 12th, I formally requested that the City Council reconsider our request for the implementation of school zones at each school and city-staffed and city-funded traffic monitors.
As our great City becomes more urban due to current and planned development, I see, more than ever, the importance of our strong shared value of supporting the City’s Climate Action Plan’s goal of creating a more walkable and bikeable city for all those in the community. As I look to our closest comparable city, Burlington, I see the effectiveness of the partnership between the city and the schools through the traffic monitors that are hired, trained, and funded by the City of Burlington, which support students and community alike in safe travel. Highly-traveled Shelburne Road, Hinesburg Road, and Dorset Street can be closely compared to the urban and heavily-traveled streets in Burlington such as Pine Street and Main Street, where school zones (speed limit 25 mph) and city-funded traffic monitors support the community’s safe travel via bicycles and walking.
I have requested that the City Council reevaluate its decision not to fund a traffic monitor at each school. Due to increased development, traffic, and urbanization, to improve safe passage for students, and linked directly to the City’s Climate Action Plan, I see it responsible and prudent for the City to support traffic monitors at each campus for FY ‘24 and beyond, as exemplified by the City of Burlington.
As our wonderful city continues to develop, it is imperative that the city’s infrastructure adapt to ensure that our urban settings allow for students and community members to travel safely to and from school on public streets.
Zero Energy Modulars (ZEMs)
On October 25th, Rick Marcotte is hosting their Grand Opening ribbon-cutting celebration at 7:50 am. Students will get to see their new classrooms at long last!
Orchard’s completion date is slated for November and we will send details about their Grand Opening once we have that planned.
After the holidays, in January or February, we will host an Open House at Rick Marcotte and Orchard for community members to tour the classrooms, so stay tuned for updates on that.
Structured Literacy
With the recent article on student reading rates in SevenDays, I wanted to share information about our literacy curriculum as we have been transitioning to Structured Literacy in our elementary schools for the past several years. This has replaced the Balanced Literacy approach, which was supported through Teachers College Reading and Writing Project Units of Study program that was authored and edited by Lucy Calkins, with evidence-based Structured Literacy instructional practices that are explicit, sequential, systematic, and cumulative. In Structured Literacy, students are taught decoding strategies that lead to automaticity and comprehension in reading.
In the 2021-2022 school year, our special educators, speech-language pathologists, and literacy specialists spent their Teacher Learning Community (TLC) sessions learning about Structured Literacy with the Stern Center. Additionally, over the last several years, our district has provided opportunities for all of our kindergarten through five special educators to be trained in Orton Gillingham. Currently, our middle school special educators are in their second year of their training.
In the 2022-2023 school year, this professional learning was expanded to kindergarten through fifth-grade teachers who spent their TLC sessions learning about Structured Literacy. This professional development series was again developed and delivered by The Stern Center. Key elements of Structured Literacy include oral language development, phonemic awareness, phonics, vocabulary, spelling and morphology, fluency, syntax, reading comprehension, and writing, which are all taught explicitly and systematically.
This year, kindergarten through fifth-grade teachers are using their TLC time to learn research-based instructional practices for implementing a Comprehensive Literacy Block. This block includes all aspects of Structured Literacy as well as handwriting and grammar, usage, and mechanics.
In order to support Structured Literacy instruction, a group of teachers, instructional coaches, and literacy specialists developed learning targets and success criteria for the grade level literacy priority indicators. These clearly define the skills that students are expected to master at each grade level in connection to Structured Literacy. The learning targets are written in student-friendly language and help children to know what they are learning during their Comprehensive Literacy Block.
These indicators and success criteria will help inform a revision of the literacy section of the kindergarten through fifth grade report cards this year. We have also started a revision of our Local Comprehensive Assessment Plan (LCAP) to align with these Structured Literacy priority indicators. The priority indicators, learning targets, success criteria, Comprehensive Literacy Block, and LCAP can all be found on the South Burlington School District website under the Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment section.
Next steps include a thorough analysis of the LCAP to ensure ongoing progress monitoring of proficiency attainment with Structured Literacy, including the literacy priority indicators. The District Literacy Leadership Team will identify any gaps and ensure that common assessments are selected or developed as needed. This leadership team will also evaluate evidence-based instructional resources and programs to support Structured Literacy that will be piloted by our kindergarten through fifth grade teachers.
See more information about our Pre K-12 curriculum here. (*Please note that this page is under development so not all curriculum is included here yet.)
Lunch Account Refund Request
Refund Requests made BEFORE OCTOBER 20th will be processed and issued by the END OF NOVEMBER.
Refund requests made AFTER OCTOBER 20th will be processed in the second round in LATE DECEMBER.
With Universal School Meals Act H.165 passing, all students will continue to be offered one complete reimbursable breakfast and one complete reimbursable lunch FREE of charge daily, during the school year.
We are offering parents/guardians an opportunity to request a full refund on their student/student's lunch account/s or donate the remaining funds to help a student in need. Information on student balances was sent via email to all parents/guardians from "donotreply@sbschools.net" If you did not receive this email, please check your spam/junk folder. The subject line will say "school lunch refund requests" You do not need the account balance to request a refund, though it may be useful in determining. You also do not have to request a refund if your student intends to purchase snacks or a la carte items.
Please keep in mind that snacks and al a carte items are not included in the Universal School Meals Program. If your student brings lunch from home and wishes to have milk, they must have money in their account to purchase it. The USDA does not allow these items to be charged.
To Request a refund please fill out the form linked here: Lunch Account Refund Request
PowerSchool
In order to make sure you are receiving the most up to date information, please remember to update all of your contact information in PowerSchool so you can be informed of school closures and other updates from your student's school as well as the district and make sure you are subscribed for transportation information (more on that below). There are also items that you can opt in or out of, so please go here to make any changes.
Notable Items
Our wonderful art teachers are having an art show! The show is opening on October 26th and running through January at The Gallery at City Hall. Be sure to stop in and support our art educators!
Four free COVID tests are once again available to every household. Order them here:
Don’t forget to visit sbwolves.com for information on all sports and co-curricular activities. This includes game dates, rosters, scores, pictures, info on trainers, boosters, and more!
Employment Opportunities
The district is hiring! Please follow the links to read the full descriptions for these roles.
Bus Drivers (and Bus Aides)
Training available obtain Commercial Driver's Licenses to eligible candidates, full and part time positions available as well as van drivers and bus monitors
Special Ed teachers:
Frederick H. Tuttle Middle School
Lunchroom:
Full job descriptions are available on School Spring. If you have questions on hiring processes or on employment, please contact Elissa Galvez, Employment Specialist, egalvez@sbschools.net (802) 652-7247.
Notable Dates
October 20: Donuts and Discussion is CANCELLED this month as the school board reevaluates their community engagement process
October 23-24: Family/Teacher Conferences, no school
November 10: MS/HS Late Start at 10:35 am
Elementary Early Release at 12:30 pm
November 20-24: Thanksgiving Recess, no school
Thank you for reading!
Violet
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