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Superintendent's Message

Violet Nichols

Superintendent'sMessageViolet Nichols

February 6, 2025

Dear Parents/Guardians and Staff,

Our first snow day! It’s hard to believe we made it this far into the year without one, but I hope everyone stayed warm and safe today.


This week we celebrated the 100th day of school! Kindergarten classes at the elementary schools celebrated with parades and crafts. As a former 2nd grade teacher and elementary mathematics instructional coach, I have many fond memories of celebrating this momentous occasion!


It’s hard to believe we’re more than halfway through the school year!

Governor Scott Proposal

Governor Scott’s Strong Schools, Strong Students Plan proposes significant changes including a switch to 5 districts in the state. Those districts would be the Champlain Valley region, Winooski Valley region, Northeast region, Southwest region, and Southeast region. Each district would have roughly 10,000-15,000 students, except for the Champlain Valley district, which would have closer to 34,000.

Under the proposal, the five districts would have part-time elected school board members who would be paid. To compensate for the reduction in local control, the plan proposes “school advisory councils.” The councils, made up of caregivers, educators, and students, would have input on budget development and strategic planning.

The proposal also includes a shift to a foundation funding formula where the state determines a base amount of money per student and allocates that money to schools. Secretary Saunders did not provide details on the base amount and indicated that the exact number would be provided in the coming weeks, along with other details of the proposal.

Here is more information you can review:

Student Spotlight

The SBHS Robotics Team, Batteries Not Included, is heading to their State competition this Saturday, February 8th. The competition will be held at SBHS. Thank you to team members Siddhant Nazre and Myra Waqar, both seniors, and their advisor Ryan Estes for presenting about the team and demonstrating their robots at the school board meeting last night. Siddhant and Myra spoke about the value of the club and the work they do in the community as well as the applications of mathematics in real world challenges.

Staff Spotlight

Delina Gilroy, executive assistant, has been with the district for 38 years. She keeps the board running smoothly, supports budget warnings, and manages teacher contracts and seniority; not to mention all of her incredible institutional knowledge. Our Grants Coordinator, Meg Collins, has also helped run our district smoothly and always with kindness and a smile. We are lucky to have them!

Safe Routes to School

At the City Council meeting this week, the Council decided not to move forward with the streetlight project at this time. A Walk/Bike Committee member, who is a lighting expert, believed that funds would be better used for lighting dark paths as current illumination levels meet State and National criteria for such an area. Council has directed the Department of Public Works to trim the trees to allow more light to reach the sidewalk and fix broken lights. Once this work is complete, as well as other planned crosswalk improvements this summer, DPW will reassess the lighting.


The council did agree to hold the $286k in a fund to add additional streetlights in this area of Dorset in the future, or for another Safe Routes to School project. They specifically identified the Richard Terrace sidewalk gap near Chamberlin School as a potential project, which was the priority need identified by Chamberlin School administration.


I would like to thank the council, city staff, Susan Grasso, and our Safe Routes to School Task Force for their work in improving safety for walking, biking and rolling in our wonderful city!



Scholastic Magazine

In the fall, our Student School Board Representatives Gracie Morris and Ally Leduc held roundtables with middle and high schoolers to hear their thoughts on the new rules around cell phones in schools which Gracie and Ally presented their report to the board. At the round tables at the middle school, Scholastic Magazine report Anna Starecheski sat in and the article was recently published. Thank you to all the students who participated!

Donuts and Discussion

Thank you to everyone who came to Donuts and Discussion last week. It was wonderful to have the opportunity to connect with parents/guardians.


Mark your calendars for our next Donuts and Discussion, which will be on Friday, March 7th from 1:00-2:00 pm at 577 Dorset Street. I hope to see you there!


FY26 Budget

Last week Tim Jarvis, Tim Warren, and I presented the budget on Town Meeting TV. You can watch the presentation here.


At the board meeting last night, the board decided to add an additional meeting next Wednesday, February 12th. This meeting will include the whole board and myself, but will be more conversational and discuss individual items in the budget to answer any questions from the community.


Be sure to take a look at our budget newsletter and have your budget questions answered!


These shareable graphics are easy to download and can be used on social media or to send to other community members.


Please visit the Budget FY26 page on our website for all budget information including presentations from the board meetings.

Here is the schedule for board meetings in the coming months and when the budget will be presented:

*NEW MEETING* February 12: Community Listening Session


March 3: Pre-Town Meeting and Public Hearing of City and School District Budget (This meeting will be at City Hall)


March 4: TOWN MEETING DAY

Transportation Update from Operations Director, Jean-Marie Clark

We’ll be updating our transportation page with pictures of all our bus drivers and aides. Visit the Transporation page to see the photos. More coming soon!


A friendly reminder to all families about bus stop schedules:

  • Please have your student ready to be picked up 5 minutes before their scheduled pick up time.

  • Be ready for your student to be delivered home 5 minutes before or 5 minutes after their scheduled time.

  • Many students are required to be greeted by an adult when the school bus arrives. Please be on the lookout for us! And be visible to the driver when they arrive.

We thank you for your partnership in safely transporting your students to and from school!



Visit our Transportation Update page for up to date information.


For questions and concerns about transportation, please contact Stephanie Hyatt, Transportation Dispatcher. Stephanie is the point of contact for families with questions about transportation in-the-moment. She can be reached at 802-233-0673. You can also call the bus garage at 802-652-7479. For general questions, please reach out to Jean-Marie Clark, Operations Director, at jclark@sbschools.net.


For information about Safe Routes to School, including minutes from their recent meetings, visit this page.

Employment Opportunities

The district is hiring! Please follow the links to read the full descriptions for these roles.


Benefits Manager


Grant Coordinator and Administrative Assistant for Educational Support Systems


Interventionists


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


Traffic Monitors


Full job descriptions are available on School Spring. If you have questions on hiring processes or on employment, please contact Alanah Rockwell, Employee Specialist (arockwell@sbchools.net) at (802) 652-7247.

District Calendar

Thank you for reading!

Violet

For information about each school please visit our website or download our app. If you are new to the district or haven’t had a chance to explore, the website is the best place to find all the information on the district and your students' schools. You can also follow us on social media: @SBSchoolsVT on Twitter, @southburlingtonschoolDistrict on Instagram and on Facebook.

SBSD App

Along with the website, the dedicated app will be your best resource for updated menus, schedules and other important information in the event of school closures and delays.


  • Download the SBSD app (Apple and Google) to stay up to date on events and announcements (or scan the QR code )!


Stay in the loop with our Live Feed


  • Access breakfast and lunch menus
  • Get your daily dose of news
  • Stay updated with the events calendar
  • Connect with our staff directory
  • Receive important notifications, like school closures

The South Burlington School District is on Social Media! Please follow us for updates and District happenings:

South Burlington School District

@SBSchoolsVT

@southburlingtonschooldistrict

South Burlington School District
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