1. Bottle Drive on Saturday the 18th

2. Williston's Martin Luther King, Jr Day Observance, Sunday Jan 19 @WCS, 3-4:30pm

3. 1/20/25- NO SCHOOL / Martin Luther King, Jr Day

4. Middle Grades Celebration of Learning - 1/22 @6:30pm

Important Upcoming Dates to Note

01/18 - Swift House Bottle Drive

01/19 - Martin Luther King, Jr Day Observance, 3:00 - 4:30pm @WCS Auditorium

01/20 - No School / Martin Luther King, Jr. Day

01/22 - WCS Middle School Celebration of Learning, Drop in between 6:30-7:30pm

01/24 - Deadline for 8th Grade Baby Pictures and Yearbook Quotes

02/04 - WCS Grade 4 Chorus Concert, 6:30pm @WCS Auditorium

02/07 - Deadline to register for the Grades 1 & 2 Heart Challenge

02/24 - Winter Break Begins

02/28 - Last chance to order a yearbook

03/05 - Welcome Back from Winter Break

by Angela Filion, Allen Brook School Principal

As teachers are administering assessments and preparing for report cards the admin team felt it would be important to provide updates about our newly revised K-4 report card system. Over the past year, a team of educators collaborated across our district to develop a reporting system that provides clearer, more meaningful communication about your child’s progress and growth. Below you will find the updates/revisions that were made to the reporting system:

• Unified Purpose: The report card is designed to clearly communicate your child’s progress toward grade-level expectations, highlighting areas of strength and opportunities for growth.

• Social-Emotional Learning Section: A new section has been added to provide insight into your child’s development in areas like self-awareness, social skills, and emotional regulation.

• Updated Grading Scale: The grading scale now includes three descriptors:

• Proficient (Prf): Your child demonstrates grade-level proficiency in the skill or concept.

• Developing (Dev): Your child is making progress toward proficiency.

• Beginning (Beg): Your child is in the early stages of understanding the skill or concept.

• Revised Math and Literacy Sections: These sections have been updated to better align with our curriculum and instructional practices.

How and When You’ll Hear About Progress:
We believe communication is key to supporting your child’s success. Formal updates occur four times during the school year:

• Fall Caregiver Conferences: Scheduled individually between October 7 and November 22, 2024.

• Winter Report Cards: Emailed home on January 31, 2025.

• Spring Caregiver Conferences: Scheduled individually between March 3 and April 18, 2025.

• June Report Cards: Emailed home on June 16, 2025.

As always teachers will continue to share regular updates about what things are happening in the classroom through their regular communication with families.

Teacher Comments:
Each report card will include brief comments summarizing your child’s learning and growth, providing a snapshot of their progress. These comments are meant to complement the more in-depth conversations that take place during caregiver-teacher conferences.

We hope this new report card helps you feel more informed and connected to your child’s learning. If you have questions or would like additional information, please don’t hesitate to reach out to your child’s teacher or members of our leadership team.

Dear Williston Families,

We wanted to reach out to let you know that we have many confirmed cases of Influenza A in both ABS and WCS and many students are out sick with fever, fatigue and bad cough, vomiting and diarrhea. If your child’s fever is lasting more than 3 days and/or their cough doesn't improve, consider checking in with a pediatrician.

Symptoms

• fever* or feeling feverish/chills.

• cough.

• sore throat.

• runny or stuffy nose.

• muscle or body aches.

• headaches.

• fatigue (tiredness)

• some people may have vomiting and diarrhea, though this is more common in children than adults.

In an effort to reduce the spread of illness, we ask that you keep your sick child home until they are healthy (fever-free x 24 hours without medicine and symptoms improved), reinforce the importance of covering coughs and sneezes with an elbow or tissue, and encourage your child to wash hands often and well. At school, we are reinforcing good hand and cough hygiene and cleaning in work spaces.

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Williston Rec, DAML, Community Events, Buzz at ABS, WCS Wildcat What's Up, Bus Information, WFAP & Four Winds, and more! Don't see it all? click VIEW ENTIRE MESSAGE at the end of your email

January marks National Mentoring Month, and CVSD is celebrating 25 years of Connecting Youth’s mentoring program. The program, founded in 2000, has paired thousands of mentors with local students, providing support during pivotal moments in their lives.

This year, CY Mentoring serves 184 5th-12th graders across Champlain Valley School District. According to Mentor National, one in three young people will grow up without a trusted mentor to turn to for support outside of their immediate family; CY Mentoring exists to foster meaningful relationships and help close that gap.

“These interactions help students regulate emotions, feel safe and seen, practice effective communication, make good choices and benefit from the guidance of well-trained, compassionate mentors," says Tony Moulton, CVSD Director of Wellness & Prevention.

Studies consistently show that youth with mentors are more likely to graduate, pursue higher education, and become active, engaged citizens in their communities. These relationships have proven to be invaluable, offering stability, confidence, and opportunities to young people who often face barriers to success.

As we celebrate this milestone year for Connecting Youth, we invite community members to join in recognizing the profound value of mentorship. If you’re interested in contributing to your community now and in the future, our Mentor Coordinators are skilled at the matching process, training and scheduling a time that works around your personal time.

For more information about mentoring opportunities contact a CVSD Mentor Coordinator:

Hinesburg Community School, Livy Bulger, lbulger@cvsdvt.org / 802-482-6248
Charlotte Central School, Kate Rooney, krooney@cvsdvt.org / 802-425-6682
Shelburne Community School, Alice Brown, abrown@cvsdvt.org / 802-734-9845
Williston Central School, Becky Martell, rmartell@cvsdvt.org / 802-871-6046

Champlain Valley Union, Alison Duback, aduback@cvsdvt.org / 802-482-8921

The Kids Heart Challenge is an event to support the American Heart Association. We will be doing our Kids Heart Challenge event this year at the Allen Brook School with the first and second graders in early February. The purpose of this event is to teach children about their own heart health while helping raise money to help others who have heart or stroke issues. The money raised goes to research, education, and support for people dealing with cardiovascular issues.

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WHEN: Saturday, January 18

WHY: Raising funds for our end of the year trip

WHAT: Bottle Drive! Swift house students will be going through neighborhoods collecting redeemable cans and bottles.

We encourage Williston residents to please put any cans and bottles they’d like to be picked up in a bag out by their curb by 9:00am Saturday

Please contact khunt@cvsdvt.org with questions.

Communication with parents and caregivers is a key component in maintaining family engagement and support. Currently, every teacher/team and school communicates regularly in some way to families. Emails, blogs, newsletters, websites, and Facebook are a few of these methods. If you reach out to a person who works in the district, you can expect a response to your communication within two (2) school days (keeping in mind that weekends and the days school is not in session are not included). In the event that a response will take more time, district employees may acknowledge receipt of your email, call, or otherwise contact you with information about when they will be able to provide resolution to your request. Please remember that if you have a concern, please go to the person most directly involved first. You are also encouraged to use the CVSD Connect With Us page.

• First Call - 488-7777: phone support, crisis intervention, assessment and referrals
• In Crisis: 1-800-SUICIDE (1-800-784-2433) (National Hopeline Network: USA)
• National Suicide Prevention Life line- 1-800-273-TALK (8255), call or chat online
• Crisis Text Line - text HOME to 741741 (24 hours a day, seven days a week)
• Outright Vermont - support for LGBTQ+ community
• UVM Breathe In Breath Out - How to deal with stress due to COVID-19
• Vermont 211 -Vermont database of resources and services
• Vermont Support Line (833) 888-2557) - peer support warmline open 24/7 - 365 for call or text
• Teen Crisis Text Line - Crisis Text Line provides free emotional support and information to teens in any type of crisis, including feeling suicidal. You can text with a trained specialist 24 hours a day. Text “HOME” to 741741.
• Society for the Prevention of Teen Suicide - Website where you can find information to help yourself or a friend who may be having thoughts of suicide.
• Trevor Lifeline - 1-866- 488-7386 - provides suicide prevention and crisis intervention services to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning (LGBTQ) young people. It offers free, 24/7, confidential counseling. TrevorText—text START to 678-678; TrevorChat—instant messaging at TheTrevorProject.org/help. It also runs TrevorSpace, an affirming social networking site for LGBTQ youth at TrevorSpace.