July 19, 2021
Good afternoon Champlain Valley School District Communities!
I hope that the midpoint of the summer finds you enjoying the lovely weather, family time, and the Vermont outdoors.
I want to thank the family and community members who came out to the Shelburne Farmer’s market on July 10. We liked it so much that we are planning to make it a monthly event. CVSD will have a booth at the Shelburne Farmer’s Market on the first Saturday of each month. Not only will we be there to meet people, but we will be able to provide information and updates on our COVID-19 Response Plan, the return to school, job opportunities, and much more.
Though the original date for the Charlotte Grange on the Green was postponed, CVSD plans to have a table at the August 12th happening. We are also looking to be present at the July 28 Hinesburg Concert in the Park. If you are interested in listening to some great music, please join us at these wonderful events.
As we prepare for a full five-day-a-week return for the fall, the Vermont Department of Health is still recommending that unvaccinated people over the age of two should wear masks indoors. It also recommends several other ways to remain safe, even though Vermont does not have state COVID-19 restrictions or requirements for Vermonters or visitors to follow. However, we still need to follow the Centers for Disease Control’s (CDC) guidelines for travel on school buses. Students and drivers are required to wear masks until further notice, including for transportation this summer.
We have no doubt that there will be additional guidance provided between now and the first day of school. We are in frequent contact with Secretary of Education French and with the Champlain Valley Superintendents Association so that we can align our policies, our communication, and our actions to other school districts in Vermont, and especially in the Champlain Valley region.
Finally, in coordination with our district’s annual focus on literacy, especially when it comes to summer reading, I would like to share the books that I am currently working through in July. The first is Coaching for Equity by Elena Aguilar and the second is Noise by Daniel Kahneman, Oliver Sibony, and Cass R. Sunstein. Both books are valuable scaffolds for my role as an administrator and both are by authors whom I have read in other contexts. Noise is heavy on the research surrounding bias while Coaching for Equity provides the hands-on, personal experiences that coaches challenge practitioners to muddle through in order to grow their craft. Though written in very different styles, I still find myself working through their text rapidly, but attentively. If you have time this summer, please wander through any of our town libraries to see if some book or other story-telling medium catches your or your student’s interest. (Charlotte, Hinesburg, Shelburne, or Williston).
We will be sending out regular communications and updates, so look for the next one in a few weeks.
Rene Sanchez, CVSD Superintendent
This letter and more can be found in the full newsletter here. We also post these communications on our website and on our Facebook and Twitter accounts.
