A Celebration Day for the CVSD Common Read

In the late spring, all students who would be entering 4th, 6th, 8th, and 9th grades in August received a copy of a book at kickoff assemblies in each school. The books varied by grade level, but all focused on a central theme of racial equity. The Vermont Reads book this year is March: Book One, by Andrew Aydin and John Lewis. CVSD expanded upon the theme to include that book and other books for a variety of grade levels.

Now that school is underway we will gather all of those students, along with teachers, for a special culminating day to celebrate, connect, and expand together at CVU on Thursday, September 5.

Highlights of the Day:

• Keynote from Lisa Moore Ramée, author of A Good Kind of Trouble 
• Workshops and a collaborative art project
• All students will participate in the collaborative art project at some point in the day
• Workshops opportunities for 4th and 6th graders will include: Clemmons Family Farm (poets, storytellers, musicians, singers, culinary artists), and Lisa Moore Ramée will facilitate writing workshops with some 6th graders
• Workshops with 
• CVU's Racial Alliance Committee for 8th and 9th graders to better understand racism and build empathy.
• Closing Remarks and photos with the collaborative art project 

The purpose of the day is to celebrate the Common Read books students received before the summer break, connect with their peers across the district, and expand on the themes of the books through an author’s keynote speech, workshops, and a collaborative art project. We anticipate a wonderful day to bring together our district around literacy and empathy building.

We are very excited to bring students together in what we hope is the first of many district-wide collaborative events. We will post photos and more afterward.

For more information about the Common Read, please view our related post from June or visit the Common Read website: http://bit.ly/CVSDCommonRead.

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HCS Student Swims Across the Lake!

Geo Debrosse just finished swimming across Lake Champlain for his 8th grade PLP project!

Geo is a rising 9th grader at CVU. One of his former Hinesburg teachers, Jen Bradford shared the following about Geo's accomplishment this summer.

"He set a goal that was meaningful and relevant to him—and that could be considered a personal stretch—and set about attaining it. It was clear he was passionate about it and committed to the action. He realized it could be something this powerful; he never looked back or thought about just taking an easier route. It’s pretty amazing what he did. I’m super proud of him—we all are—but what is really cool is that he will have this memory forever and is super proud of himself."

All students in our district are engaged in personalized learning, starting at least in the 7th grade and continuing at CVU through 12th grade with other passion-driven projects.

View the featured story about Geo on WCAX here. 

Colchester Teen Swims From NY to VT in Less Than 4 Hours
Way to go Geo!

Summer Work on Buildings and Grounds

The devoted and talented CVSD maintenance and facilities crews have been hard at work over the summer. Here's an update on some of the work that was done. We thank them for their hard work and commitment to ensuring that our buildings and grounds are safe and welcoming for students and families. Some schools were able to supply us with more detailed updates than others, but rest assured with the knowledge that there has been a tremendous amount of great work done in all CVSD locations!


Charlotte:

Chris and the entire crew have been working tirelessly to prepare our school for our big opening only days away. This summer they have really outdone themselves:

• 7/8 Learning Center- Updo!
• New ceiling tiles have been put into several classrooms.
• We replaced the water line to the building then a couple of weeks later the well pump died. So we have a new main water system at this point. The water has been tested and all was good.
• The band room had a makeover, including new paint and now has some character. It also got a new floor. 
• There is a new ADA ramp and stairs at the east entrance (MPR Hall) This will be a big improvement.
• The Quonset hut is torn down! There will be a small hole there for this school year. We are planning now for a new garage and additional parking. This will be for next year's budget.
• We are painting a few classrooms on the second floor now and hope to get as many done as we can. We apologize for those rooms we didn't get to. We will get to them next summer.
• We removed another folding wall and put in a permanent wall in the primary hall as well as new ceiling tile in the 2 rooms.
• There is one more thing that people will notice in several locations (gyms, cafeteria, and on the outside of the building), there are BLUE STROBE LIGHTS. These are meant to notify people in areas where it is loud, that there is an emergency. This was part of the safety grant money we received last year.
• Starting the week of the 12th the front sidewalk will be removed and replaced for safety. If you come in to CCS during that time, you may need to seek an alternate route.

Hinesburg:

Thanks to Tim and his crew, the building is again looking incredible! There are shiny floors, new paint, clean windows, and many other improvements big and small. They deserve a huge thank you for their outstanding job getting our school ready to welcome back the kids. When you do come in, be sure to have a look at our re-sanded gym floor, our new scoreboard, and thanks to our makerspace group, a much improved makerspace next to the library.

In addition, we installed an additional set of doors in our front entryway that will require visitors to be buzzed into an entry holding area, and then buzzed in a second time by our administrative assistants.Our side entrance will now remain locked, including during drop-off and pick-up. This means that all students and parents/guardians will need to enter the building through the front entrance. Drivers will still drop off students in the side parking lot, but then students will walk around to the front of the building and enter through the main doors. At the end of the day, students will still dismiss from various doors, but entry by non staff members to our building will always funnel through the more secure front door. A final change is that the front entrance will be unlocked from 7:30-8:15 am, and then again at 2:30pm. On early dismissal days, we will unlock the front door at 1:30.

Shelburne: 

Our rain garden in probably the biggest summer improvement that we can show off thus far.  All of our sidewalk curbs are currently being re-done.

Here is the story about the rain garden from WCAX.

Here is the Lewis Creek Newsletter detailing their work in Shelburne.

Williston: 

In Williston, cracked concrete paths were replaced for improved safety and appearance. Acoustic panels were installed in WCS Design and Tech Space.

Summer cleaning: Thanks to Lyall and the crew, corridors are scrubbed from carpet to ceiling so they gleam for the start of school year.

CVU: 

We've replaced half of the seating in the gym with new bleacher seats, replaced doors to the building to increase security, reorganized the Library, replaced furniture in the Business labs, and finished a conference room in the Learning Center.

English Language Learners in CVSD Benefit Over the Summer

The Champlain Valley School District has a growing number of English Language Learners (ELL students). As of May 2019, there were 127 ELL students in the district, with the largest percentage of those students in Williston. There's a district team of talented ELL teachers supporting students in classrooms and in our schools. More information about the ELL program can be found on their website.

Two of our schools provide summer opportunities for English Language Learners. Some of the educators associated with the camps shared updates about their focus and happenings this summer.

Shelburne
The ELL Summer Camp at Shelburne is always a blast! The purpose of our camp is to provide authentic experiences in the Vermont Community to facilitate the practice of social language and academic language. Students build relationships with other ELL students in the school as well as adults/places in the Vermont community. Each year we have a different theme. This year we are exploring the subject of postcards and writing about new experiences. See their visit with Elaine Pinckney!

Williston
Our theme in Williston this summer is Farm-To-Table and we are visiting local farms each week. The students are making their own snacks with local ingredients, and each week they make a different style book to document their experiences. Campers also start each morning by journaling about experiences from the previous day, and gluing photographs into their journals.