Daily Affirmations at ABS

Allen Brook School (and Williston Central School) Enrichment teacher, Julie Rogers, collaborated with ABS librarian Cara Clopton, this February on a Diversity project for Daily Affirmations. Each student made a "power pose" and thought about an affirmation that fits who they are to go with a self portrait. The hallways are filling up with these K-2. It's a JOY!

Book Shopping at HCS

The last few days before vacation were very exciting for students at Hinesburg Community School, in kindergarten through fourth grade! Each classroom had a special opportunity to go “book shopping” and take home a brand new book! There were selections from “Elephant and Piggie”, to “The Last Stop on Market Street”, “Pete the Cat”, and so many more wonderful titles.

This second annual “Build Your Own Library” event is an effort to support building students’ home libraries. According to a 2014 study in the sociology journal, Social Forces, the quantity of books in a person’s home was the most important predictor of reading performance. “The researchers measured the impact of the size of home libraries on the reading level of 15-year-old students across 42 nations, controlling for wealth, parents’ education and occupations, gender and the country’s gross national product.” Findings revealed greatest effect to be in home libraries of about 100 books, which resulted in approximately 1.5 extra years of grade-level reading performance.

Hooray for these new books!

MORE KUDOS to the Food Service Team

As we mentioned last week, preparations were underway to provide meals to families for the vacation week. In all CVSD schools, the food service teams again went above and beyond. Families could order meals for next week's school vacation days off. Here are reports we received today from some of our schools along with a few photos. 

From Williston: Today, our incredible food service team sent out vacation meal boxes for 120 children in Williston. Most were delivered by our awesome bus drivers and the rest were picked up by parents. The boxes were filled with 7 days of breakfast and lunch meals, lots of extra fruit and veggies and snacks. Families ordered meals all week using our online system for remote meals and we had a great response. It was hard work and took lots of planning and organization but our Williston Food Service Team did a great job. We are all about helping families in our community during the pandemic by providing nutritious, delicious and fun meals to children in school and remotely. 

Williston

Williston

Williston

From Hinesburg: This morning, HCS School Nutrition staff packed meal kits for 40 families, 57 people in total. The Hinesburg Community Resource Center contributed snacks and Lantman's shared cards for milk and subsidized adult meals, too. Our intrepid bus drivers delivered the boxes to families. Everyone worked together to send home lots of fresh fruit & veggies, burgers, chicken, eggs, cheese, bread and Wendy's famous chicken soup!

Hinesburg

Hinesburg

Hinesburg

Wow! Kudos to the food service staff, bus drivers, and community for supporting this effort and our students. 

Reminder: Share Your Thoughts!

Good news, we’ve had lots of participation in the ThoughtExchange from parents and guardians and from faculty and staff. It is also now open for high school students as well. Here’s an update on our ThoughtExchange.

There are some great ideas in this exchange, and we need your help to make sure we understand what’s most important to you. If you’re game, please head back into the exchange and rate more thoughts.

Here’s just one of many great thoughts from the exchange that could still use some more ratings:

Please use this link to jump back into the exchange and add stars to show how strongly you agree or disagree with this, and other thoughts.   

https://bit.ly/CVSDMidYearCheckIn

The exchange will be open until 11:59 pm on Sunday, February 21, 2021. Please take some time to participate before then.

We appreciate your participation and contribution to this discussion. Let’s make the most of this opportunity to talk about what really matters to you. Thank you!

Budget Video Helps You Get Informed

We know that many of you are voting early or doing your best to get informed prior to voting on Town Meeting Day on March 2nd. This video provides the information you need about the school district's proposed budget for the 2021-2022 school year.  

Visit the budget page on our website for additional resources and information.  https://www.cvsdvt.org/budget 

Food Prep: A Behind the Scenes View

On Wednesdays, the Champlain Valley High School Redhawk Cafe is in full production creating nutritious breakfast and lunch meals for the district's PreK-8 schools. It's quite the process!

Every Wednesday they produce on average 1080 breakfast and 600 lunch meals totaling about 1680 meals. Because of the upcoming vacation, it will be closer to 2160 breakfasts and 1200 lunches or 3360 total meals. The room in the freezer is really tight at all times!  

These meals can be ordered by all who are 18 and under from within CVSD. See the CVSD website for more information. 

Here are a few photos taken this past Wednesday.

Changes to the School District's Ballot This Year

 

Early voting is now available. Considering that many residents may choose to vote early, we hope this information is useful. Contact your Town Clerk to arrange for a ballot or vote on March 2, 2021. You can also go to https://mvp.vermont.gov/ to request a ballot. 

There are nine school district-related articles on the ballot this year. In past years, voters would usually have seen the last three.

* Articles I-VI are usually voted upon in-person at the CVSD Annual Meeting. With the meeting format changed this year, those articles will be seen on the ballot instead. Most voters are not familiar with these articles.

Articles I-III – Approve three non-voting CVSD administrative support positions: moderator, clerk, and treasurer. These positions are not full-time or salaried.

Article IV – A yes vote allows the District to borrow money in anticipation of future revenue and allows CVSD to meet payment schedules.

Article V – Asks: in lieu of distributing the Annual Report, do the voters approve sending a postcard stating where/how to obtain the Annual Report?

Article VI – Confirms the date for next year’s Annual Meeting.

 
Articles VII-IX should look somewhat familiar, though of course, they contain information that pertains to the 2021-2022 school year. 

 
* Article VII asks voters to approve a consolidated budget for operating all schools in the five towns of the 4000-student Champlain Valley School District for the next fiscal year starting July 1, 2021.

* Article VIII asks voters to approve applying some of the district’s fund balance to offset taxes.

* Article IX relates to purchasing school buses.

Detailed information about these ballot articles and much more can be found on the district’s budget page: www.cvsdvt.org/budget

More information:

The Champlain Valley School District’s Informational Meeting will be held on Monday, March 1 at 5:00 via Zoom. Use this information to learn more and join that meeting.

In addition, our budget page has many resources, including: 

• Our Annual Report 
• Our FY 2021-2022 Proposed Budget Flyer 
• Our budget FAQ’s 

SCS Lockers As An Art Installation

The lockers at Shelburne Community School are no longer used by students now that middle schoolers can access cubby storage in their teams’ common area. In an effort to bring more color and excitement to the SCS hallways, K-6 Art Teacher, Pete Boardman and UVM student teacher, Dan Reinville, have been working with students to paint temporary murals on the lockers using tape and washable paint. This project also highlights the idea that public art has the power to bring a community together, as well as bring new life to forgotten spaces. 

CVSD Update February 8, 2021

SCS artwork

We continue to use the new format for our newsletters and updates. This platform helps to ensure that more viewers can access the update. 

Please view this newsletter for an update about Charlotte Central School and their 7th/8th graders, the search for a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Director, and more. 

Thank you!

Learn More About the CVSD Proposed Budget for 2021-2022

This letter to the community was contributed by Kelly Bowen, CVSD School Board member and chair of the Finance Committee.

Dear CVSD Community Members and Voters,

FY22 budget season is upon us. While many voters may cast early ballots, for those who prefer to vote in person, TUESDAY, MARCH 2, 2021, is your chance to vote on the FY22 Proposed CVSD Budget and school-related Articles. (Articles and Ballot Questions refer to the same thing.)

As Finance Committee Chair, I am pleased to report that your District Administration and School Board are optimistic and future-focused. We developed the FY22 budget with a goal to return this August to the familiar in-person 5-day per week instruction.

There are NINE ARTICLES for voter approval this year. This letter will be the first in a series of communications to highlight the FY22 Budget Articles to help you prepare for voting. Find further information on the CVSD website: www.cvsdvt.org/budget.

• Articles I-VI - In years past, these articles were voted upon in-person at the CVSD Annual Meeting. Due to COVID-19 meeting restrictions, these articles are on the ballot.
• Articles I-III – To approve three non-voting CVSD administrative support positions: moderator, clerk, and treasurer. These are not full-time or salaried positions.
• Article IV – A yes vote allows the District to borrow money in anticipation of future revenue and allows CVSD to meet payment schedules.
• Article V – Asks: Would you like to have the CVSD annual reports mailed to all voters?
• Article VI – Confirms the date for next year’s Annual Meeting.

• Article VII - THE BUDGET QUESTION- to approve an operating budget for the six schools of the 4000-student Champlain Valley School District for the fiscal year starting July 1, 2021. The proposed budget is $85,285,440, an increase of 1.0% from the current year providing use of Fund Balance (Article VIII) is approved.

• Article VIII – Is the yearly question that permits the District to apply reserved money to offset budget increases and keep taxes lower. FY22 Article VIII asks: May the District use $2,059,000 of the Fund Balance to offset a tax increase and apply the remaining $931,495 as revenue for future budgets? The proposed budget is $85,285,440, which is an increase of 3.5%. CVSD proposed budget plan uses the Fund Balance to decrease the FY22 budget increase to 1%, thereby reducing taxpayer liability.

• Article IX – Is the yearly question approving the District’s bus purchase. This year CVSD needs three buses at a cost not to exceed $305,000.00.

For detailed information about these ballot articles and budget visit: www.cvsdvt.org/budget. I invite you to directly reach out to me: Kbowen@cvsdvt.org if I can help clarify or answer your budget questions.

And, please join us at the BUDGET INFORMATION MEETING on Monday, March 1 at 5:00 via Zoom.

I look forward to the continued educational and fiscal success of the Champlain Valley School District. On behalf of the CVSD School Board, we appreciate your generous support through what has been an extraordinary year.

Kind regards,

Kelly A. Bowen

Chair, Finance Committee CVSD School Board

Further Information:

• FY22 Budget Page: www.cvsdvt.org/budget
• Annual Report: http://bit.ly/2021CVSDannualreport
• FY 2021-2022 Proposed Budget Flyer: https://bit.ly/CVSDBudgetFlyerFY22
• FAQ’s http://bit.ly/CVSDbudgetFY22FAQs