Diversity in Science

Middle school teacher Lisa Phelps, and students on the Winton team in Shelburne, have focused on diversity in science over a period of time. Last year, they closely examined news articles from a magazine for students to gather data on the representation of diversity. She posed the following question to her class. “Does SuperScience Magazine contain bias toward race and gender?”

The students focused in on the topic and proposed a change to the magazine in a letter. The most recent edition, and the letter they received back from the magazine, indicates that their voices were heard. Great job Winton students and thanks Mrs. Phelps for raising awareness.

Read more about it on this page of the Winton website.

School Budget Season Gets Underway Soon

We hope you will join us as the school budget season gets underway!

The first event takes place on October 30th. We invite all members of the CVSD community to join us and provide your thoughts and input at a Community Forum.

If you can't attend, please share your thoughts on this form by November 16th.

In addition, there is a series of budget meetings to which all community members are invited. These meetings have varied topics, which build on one another throughout the process. You are encouraged to attend all of them or view the livestream thanks to RETN.

Mark these dates on your calendars:
All of these events take place at CVU at 6:00 pm.

• October 30, 2018, Community Budget Forum

• November 27, 2018, topic: Special Ed

• December 4, 2018, topic: Instructional Program

• December 18, 2018, topic: Operations and Maintenance

• January 8, 2019, topic: Summary and tax implications

• January 22, 2019, topic: Final Approval

We hope to see you at all or most of these events and welcome your input.

PBIS Recognition

CVSD schools were recognized for implementing Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS).  PBIS is a framework for promoting school-wide expectations where expectations are explicitly taught, encouraged, and practiced by staff and students.  For example, Allen Brook School's expectations are to BE safe, BE kind, and BE responsible.  At Charlotte Central School, students are encouraged to Take CARE of Ourselves, Take CARE of Others, and Take CARE of This Place.  At Hinesburg Community School, BE a STAR by Belonging, Sharing, Trust, Accepting Responsibility, and Respect.  

When a school uses PBIS with fidelity, typically, the adults outline expectations for behavior so that everyone has a common understanding. We use this way of managing behavior in our schools because research has shown that teaching the behaviors we want to see in a school and at home and then marking those behaviors with verbal acknowledgement and natural rewards builds long lasting positive behavior. Positive reinforcement (catching someone doing something right and letting them know what is great about what they are doing) is far more effective in shaping desired behavior than consequences or punishment.

At last week's VT PBIS Leadership Forum, several of our schools received recognition. The Allen Brook School won an Exemplar Award for showing positive academic and behavioral outcomes for students and Hinesburg Community School and Charlotte Central School both received Merit Awards for showing positive behavioral outcomes for students. 

We are especially thankful to the PBIS leadership teams in each building, as well as the CVSD leaders, Cindy Cole and Cassandra Townshend. 

Congratulations to all faculty, students, and staff who help contribute to a positive learning environment for our students. 

Exciting Happenings at SCS on Wednesday!

We've noticed that there are many exciting things happening on Wednesday at SCS. 

First, Walking Wednesdays happens each week in October. Families and students are encouraged to meet at the parade grounds in the heart of Shelburne village to walk from there to school together. 

From the SCS blog, we learned that Ms. Stephanie’s First Graders helped prep this month’s Vermont Harvest of The Month taste test. They shredded a whole lot of kale, grated cheddar, and juiced lemons for the dressing. The taste test will be a kale and cheese salad and will be available for sampling to all students on Wednesday during lunch periods.

Thank you to Shelburne Farms for donating the cheese, the parent volunteers and Becky Mashak and her cafeteria staff for making this happen.The kale comes from Vermont’s Lewis Creek Farm and any retrieved caterpillars have been lovingly moved to the stem buckets by the 1st grade caterpillar experts. It appears that wellness is on the menu tomorrow in Shelburne! 

Celebrating More CVSD Educators

We are thrilled to share that two CVSD educators have been recognized as UVM Oustanding Teachers. There was a ceremony yesterday to honor all educators in Vermont who received that recognition this year.

Congratulations to Sarah Pierson, world language teacher at Charlotte Central School and Sarah Malcolm, science teacher at CVU! Our students benefit from your talents.

 Sarah Pierson 

Sarah Malcolm

Adam Bunting: Principal of the Year

Each year the Vermont Principals’ Association honors distinguished educational leaders at its annual VPA Leadership Academy in August.  We want to congratulate Adam Bunting, CVU principal, for recognition as Vermont's Principal of the Year. Last week he traveled to Washington, DC for more celebrations. 


Here are some thoughts about his recent travels, in Adam's words. 


It was an honor to represent CVU and Vermont in Washington DC this week. Of course, as I soon discovered, CVU was already well represented on the staffs of Welch, Leahy, and Sanders (see photos below: Hans Lynn, Lucas Hilker, Alex Beaton).

The trip was a homecoming of sorts as I grew up in DC public schools until the age of 9. Memories of elementary school flooded back as soon as the plane touched down: I hated school! It wasn’t until moving to Vermont — joining the organized, caring, and dedicated SCS — that I relaxed enough to understand that education wasn’t a punishment. We may not recognize it as kids, but we feel functional school systems on a deep level...and functional systems are often reflections of the cultures around them. I’m biased, but everywhere I turned made me remember how much I love our small state. Unlike many of my colleagues from around the US, I was excited to meet with our representatives. Most of the principals in my group got passing glances from their reps at best; Senator Leahy spent nearly 30 minutes with me. When I asked him what message he would like me to bring back to CVU students, he walked me to a photo hanging on his wall--one taken by the Senator himself years earlier in China.

The image was of a Tibetan man holding a forbidden picture of the Dalai Lama; the man had posed for the photo and risked imprisonment because -- in his words -- “the world [needed] to know.” Leahy’s message to me: Help our kids to live with purpose — ultimately nothing brings greater meaning.