Bridport Community Newletter

Dear BCS Community:

Our students and staff have been doing some amazing things at school! We also have several upcoming events and important updates for you.

In this email you'll find: details about the Principal search and how to get involved and have your voice heard, an opportunity for your child to engage in our elementary equity listening circles, important dates for upcoming family events, our anticipated last day of school and a look at the 2024-25 calendar, an easy way to appreciate our teachers and staff, and recent photos!

Respectfully,

Matthew Brankman

Principal

We want to share an update about the principal hiring process and opportunities for family engagement.

• Incoming Supt. Dr. Baker has met with Bridport, Cornwall, and Shoreham staff to understand the characteristics and skills to ensure successful leadership at each school.
• The postings for the 3 principal positions close May 3. The Superintendent will review applicants and forward a list of licensed, viable candidates with a positive leadership record to the ACSD Screening Committee.
• The Screening Committee, comprised of two representatives from each school, and two central office staff will schedule screening interviews in early May.
• All candidates forwarded by the screening committee will participate in local community "meet and greet" in all three schools. We hope to schedule these for May 15-17. Please look for an upcoming newsletter to confirm details and times at your school.
• The school community will be invited to share feedback after the meet and greet meetings. Based on all collected feedback, the Superintendent's Office will negotiate with candidates to ensure good matches between leaders and buildings.
• We hope to make successful offers in late May and be able to share our next principals with our school communities in late May/early June.

We welcome family connection. Please send any questions to Courtney Krahn, Director of Teaching and Learning ckrahn@acsdvt.org, or Emily Blistein, Director of Communications and Engagement eblistein@gmail.com or by calling 802-382-1274

May 6th 5:30pm ~ Bridport Concert

May 10th 1pm ~ Bridport 5th Grade Exhibition
May 14 ~ Kindergarten Open House

May 22 ~ Family Lunch

Teacher appreciation week is May 6th!

Our teachers and staff do so much to support our students and community. You can help us recognize them! Click here or the button below to share your appreciation. You can also use the form to nominate them for the Teacher or Staff of the Year awards. Last year over 220 appreciations across ACSD were written by parents, students, and colleagues! We share as many of these appreciations as possible with our teachers and staff so they hear your appreciations.

This fall, ACSD worked with Dr. Rebecca Eunmi Haslam to address issues of racial equity at MUMS and MUHS through a confidential study called The Listening Circles Project. Now we are extending her work to our elementary school students and staff.

The goal of the Listening Circles Project is to hear directly from students and staff about what we can do to eliminate racial harm and ensure everyone feels safe and valued at school. All students and staff at our elementary schools are invited to participate. To participate you must read and fill out this consent form (parents/guardians fill it out on behalf of their child.) Listening circles will begin at elementary schools as early as next week, so please fill out the form as soon as possible if you want your child to participate. Parents of elementary students who participate will also have an opportunity to meet with Dr. Haslam.

As part of her work with secondary students and staff, Dr. Haslam is finalizing a report and recommendations for the ACSD administration. The elementary portion of this work will also result in a report and recommendations. Thank you for sharing your thoughts with us as ACSD works to make all students and staff feel safe and valued.

Bridport students did an amazing job working together to clean up our school and plant trees for Green Up Day!

We anticipate the last day of school will be Friday June 14th. Please note, these dates are our best estimate at this point. If there are any changes to the dates above, we will share with the impacted school communities as soon as we know.

Here is a look at next year's calendar: