
Superintendent's Message
Violet Nichols
February 8, 2024
Dear Parents/Guardians and Staff,
Today was the 100th day of school! At Chamberlin, the kindergartners celebrated with their annual parade through the school.
The solar eclipse, of which Vermont is in the path of totality, is two months away on Monday, April 8th! An influx of an expected 250,000 people will be traveling to the area. Eclipse viewers are anticipated to begin to line up along major traffic corridors and side roads beginning mid-day. The eclipse is scheduled to end in totality at 3:30 and partially at 4:30, creating traffic congestion that could potentially last until 6:30 p.m. As a result, the Champlain Valley Superintendents Association in consultation with local authorities and representatives from NASA, has decided that for the safety of staff and students, April 8th will be a half day.
Elementary students will be dismissed at 10:30 and middle and high school students will be dismissed at 11:30 to provide ample time for them to arrive home safely. Lunch will be provided to all students. There will be no PreK that day and School’s Out will be running their Early Ed classroom from 7:30 am -10:30 am, but it will be canceled in the afternoon. There will also be no after school or evening events. Please contact your student’s school directly if you have any questions.
Budget FY25
This week, in unprecedented fashion, the Vermont legislature has been discussing the possibility of adjusting Act 127 and removing the 5% cap and instead replacing it with a tax-rate discount. Nothing is finalized at this time. You can see their committee meetings from Tuesday here and here. Yesterday the Ways and Means Committee considered language regarding a possible postponement of school district budget voting should the district decide to go that route.
While any change to Act 127 would need to go through the complete legislative process, should this legislation go into place, it will be effective for FY25 and ultimately it would impact our proposed tax rate increase. At this time, we do not know what that change would be. I will share information as soon as it becomes available.
Some helpful contextual materials regarding the budget statewide:
SevenDays article about how Vermont schools have been impacted this budget season
Story from Vermont Public on the rising cost of education
Tim Jarvis, Senior Director of Operations and Finance spoke to NBC5 about our budget and what. Watch the story here.
Please attend a PTO meeting! If you have more questions or would like to find out how you can help, the PTO meetings next week will provide lots of great information. Details of the meetings can be found at sbschools.net/budgetfy25 under Upcoming Presentations.
And don’t forget to vote! If you’re not registered, you can do that here up until the day of the election. (Registering now will also ensure you’re registered for the Presidential Election in November.) Town Meeting Day falls at the end of Winter Break so many of you may be out of town. You can request your ballot here. You can mail your ballot to City Hall, 180 Market Street, or drop it off at the 24/7 drop box at the main and back entrances of City Hall. Those ballots must be received by noon on Monday, March 4th.
Tuesday, March 5: Town Meeting Day
For more details, please visit the Budget page on our website at www.sbschools.net/budgetfy25.
Orchard Principal Search-Request for Volunteers
With Principal Trifilio retiring at the end of this school year, we are starting the search for a new principal. You can find the full job description here. If you would be interested in participating in the hiring process, please fill out this form by Sunday, February 18th at 5 pm. We will review applications and be in touch with applicants regarding the committee member selection process by Wednesday, February 21st.
HR will be meeting with Orchard staff to go over the interview process and get their feedback on what they are looking for in a principal on February 19th.
Committee meetings are being scheduled for Monday, March 11th, and Monday, March 18th from 1:00 pm - 2:30 pm at 577 Dorset Street. Interviews will be held on Monday, March 25, 2024, and Monday, March 26th from 9:00 - 3:30 pm. The second round of interviews will occur on April 1st and will include site visits. A community forum will take place on April 2nd and final interviews will be held on April 5th.
If you have any questions regarding the process, please reach out to Elissa Galvez, Employment Specialist, at egalvez@sbschools.net.
Transportation Update
At the school board meeting last night, Tim Jarvis, Senior Director of Operations and Finance gave an update on the state of transportation in the district. With recent retirements and illnesses, the drivers have been severely short-staffed.
In the meantime, the district has reached out to CCTA and Green Mountain Transit as well as private companies and there are simply not enough drivers so partnership opportunities are unavailable at this time. They have been in touch with Green Mountain Transit as they are eager for the school to play a role in expanding their services to support student needs. Their current routes are not conducive to student ridership and so a partnership there may be further out.
Two new drivers are in the process of completing the tests necessary to earn their CDLs and there has been interest from a new applicant who already has a CDL so there hopefully is relief coming. In the meantime, we will continue with scheduled cancelations as, especially in the winter and with many drivers calling out due to illness, schedules can still be unpredictable. So while I know that this is not easy for families dealing with last-minute changes, this is the best option to give them some notice when routes are not available.
The district will continue to look for more drivers as it has been, using SchoolSpring, job fairs, radio ads, and more. We will also be hosting an event for multilingual families in the district to provide information about job opportunities and that will be held on April 10th. I will provide more details as we get closer to that date.
You can watch the transportation update in full here. (Starts at 01:33:10)
School's Out Summer Camp
Registration for School’s Out Summer Camp will open to School Out’s families on February 12 and to all SB families on February 26. Find more information here.
PowerSchool and Staying Up to Date
The district uses PowerSchool and School Messenger to send out all updates and notifications. regarding school closures and other important information.
Please note that transportation updates are only sent to families who have subscribed to transportation services on PowerSchool.
Please make sure all your information is up to date in PowerSchool so you can receive all notifications as quickly as possible.
New and Returning Student Registration
At this time, both the New and Returning Student Registration is set to open by March 1st.
Families can access the Returning Student Registration form via the Parent Portal. Any new students who have enrolled since January of 2023 must be linked to parent portal accounts for parents/guardians to access the Returning Student Registration form.
On March 1st, enrollment will automatically notify families of currently enrolled students that the Returning Student Registration is open with a link to the Returning Student Registration webpage that contains translatable instructions and information.
Notable Items
The World Language Wolf Pack recently celebrated Japan Fest. In collaboration with Kazuko Suzuki Carlson, a Japanese lecturer at UVM and several of her students Sinyoung Ra Evans Champlain College students enthusiastically shared their knowledge of Japanese language and culture. They all expressed the importance of our middle school students experiencing Japanese culture.
They created Japan Fest T-shirts, which made participation in the Japan Fest more meaningful and rewarding for our students. Thank you to Sinyoung Ra Evans, who also teaches Japanese at SBHS, as well as Fiona Connors, World Language teacher at the middle school, for their efforts in putting together wonderful events like this.
On Monday, February 19th, the seventh-grade science fair will be held from 5:30 -6:30 in the cafeteria and the library at FHTMS. The seventh graders have been working on their science fair projects for nearly 2 months and there will be over 60 projects on display!
The United Way of Northwest Vermont created a list of all Chittenden County nonprofits that allow teens below 18 to participate in volunteer opportunities. If your student would be interested, you can find the full list here.
The Greater Burlington Girls Soccer League (GBGSL) is a non-profit recreational soccer league, run by volunteer coaches and board members. Their objective is to introduce soccer to young girls, without cost being a concern. They have the lowest registration fees in the area, and offer scholarships to families who cannot afford them. They have many South Burlington kids in their league, but are always looking for more! If you are interested, you can register here until February 5th and the season starts in early May. Email infogbgsl@gmail.com with any questions.
Some great events are happening at the South Burlington Public Library, including South Burlington Public Library's first artist-in-residence, Dr. Jolivette Anderson-Douoning
The series of seven community-building events begins on Friday, February 16th, 2024, with an Opening Reception and Meet and Greet, and a short performance, Poetry and Stories About Black American Migrations: Rural to Urban and South to North.
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
February 9: MS/HS Late Start at 10:35 am
Elementary Early Release at 12:30 pm
February 26-March 4: Winter Break, no school
March 5: Town Meeting Day, no school
April 4-5: Family Teacher Conferences, Half Day
April 8: Half Day for Solar Eclipse (Elementary students will be dismissed at 10:30 am and middle and high school students will be dismissed at 11:30 am)
Thank you for reading!
Violet
SBSD App
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