SCS Students Present to State Board of Education

 This guest post was provided by Lashawn Sells, DEI coach at the Shelburne Community School. 

Photo with newly-elected US House representative, Becca Balint

In late September, a group of 22 students from the Shelburne Community School went to Montpelier for the Day of Anti- Racial Equity and Education. The event was sponsored by Vermont Student Anti- Racism Network (VSARN). Students were chosen by teachers and some students self selected. Students from Charlotte Central School and Hinesburg Community School attended the event as well.

More recently, six SCS students presented virtually to a committee of the State Board of Education . These students shared about the day they went to Montpelier with other students across the state to learn more about Anti- Racial Equity and Education. The students discussed how much they enjoyed connecting with students from other districts and how they want to use this information to help make change in their school community. They also took this moment to share some things they feel we need to work on across the state such as hiring BIPOC teachers, diversification of curriculum, and opportunities for students to learn outside the traditional classroom. 

The committee was elated to hear from our students and are taking their suggestions into consideration.

Williston's Digital Learning Leader Wins Award

 

Williston’s Digital Learning Leader, Jessica Wilson, was presented with VitaLearn’s Frank Watson Award on Friday at their annual Vermont Fest conference in Killington.

The award is presented to a person whose many years of devoted service, vision, and leadership have significantly advanced educational technology at the local, regional, and state level. Jessica has not only served on the board of VitaLearn for many years, Vermont’s ISTE affiliate, but she also served on the board of RETN (now known as the Media Factory) and continues to serve on the board of the Vermont NEA.

Jessica has educated elementary and middle school students at both the Hinesburg Community School and the Williston schools with the state of the art technology through the rapidly changing eras of iPads and Chromebooks. She inspires students and adults to explore new ideas including video production, live-streaming school events, computer animation, coding and more.

Each year, she inspires teachers and their students to participate in the Doodle for Google contest. As a result, an Allen Brook School first grader was last year's Vermont winner.

She is enthusiastic and passionate about digital learning and how digital tools support and enhance learning. Jessica works with everyone in the Williston schools, supporting all efforts that pertain to educational technology. She also serves on Williston’s wellness and safety committees.

Greg Marino, lead principal for the Williston schools, had this to share, 

"The Williston Schools are so grateful for the years of dedicated and expert support of our Digital Learning Leader, Jessica Wilson. Jess is constantly stepping up and stepping in to whatever it takes to advance student learning, especially in areas of transformative and responsible use of digital-age tools in teaching and learning. She serves as a role model to students and adults - not just for what it means to be a good digital citizen, but also a good human being."

We are truly appreciative of all that Jessica does for Williston, CVSD, and others in Vermont.

Congratulations, Jessica!

CVSD Update, November 17, 2022

 

Dear CVSD Families and Caregivers,

This November community newsletter features many celebrations, upcoming events, and updates about work in the district.

Thank you for taking the time to read it and have a wonderful Thanksgiving week.



As always, let us know if you have questions, feedback, or compliments using our Let's Talk page on the district's website.

SCS Paraeducator Recognized!

We are thrilled to share that Gloria Mantagaris, a paraeducator at the Shelburne Community School (SCS), has been named the Vermont NEA's Education Support Professional of the Year! 

Gloria was honored at a surprise ceremony today at SCS, surrounded by colleagues. 

Gloria was surprised at todays' event!

Gloria and Stephanie Dupras, who nominated her for this award.

The VT-NEA shared this information in their press release announcing Gloria's award: 

On this national Education Support Professionals Day, we are pleased to announce that Gloria Mantagaris, an intensive needs paraeducator at the Shelburne Community School, has been named the Vermont-NEA ESP of the Year for 2023. A leader, negotiator, and active member of the Champlain Valley Education Association, Gloria was instrumental in forming her district’s Paraeducator Mentor Program. She has also helped secure extra sick time and an additional paid week during April break for ESP. In short, according to Stephanie Dupras, who is the co-coordinator of the ESP Peer Mentor Program, “Gloria’s passion for this profession is unparalleled. She is always an advocate for what is right and just for all ESP families. She is a peer that I look to in admiration for all she does for the ESP profession.”

As the Vermont-NEA ESP of the Year, Gloria will receive a $1,000 check, an all-expenses paid trip to the NEA ESP Conference in March, and will represent the state in the national ESP of the Year contest, which carries a top prize of $10,000.

“The core of my work is to foster trusting relationships with all students,” she said in her application. “Student success is driven by meeting them at their needs and this something I live and work by.” 

This marks the second year in a row that a CVSD education support professional has received this recognition. Jimmy Johnson, one of our valued bus drivers, was honored last year. We are so very proud! 

We encourage our communities to help to recognize and thank CVSD Education Support Professionals (ESPs) every day, but especially today, which is National ESP Day. ESPs include paraeducators like Gloria, food service staff, custodians and maintenance crew, bus drivers, and many more that not only support our programs, schools, and students, but also help to keep our schools safe, healthy, and welcoming for all. 

Congratulations Gloria!

 

Celebrating CVSD Leaders

We are excited to honor and recognize seven Champlain Valley School District educators who completed the Snelling Center for Government's Vermont School Leadership Project (VSLP) this past weekend. CVSD has a long history of encouraging leaders to participate in this 17-month professional development experience and the district and its schools has benefited as a result of engagement in this program.

The 2022 cohort includes 22 Vermont educators, seven of whom are leaders in CVSD.

Clockwise in the above image, from the top left:

• Courtney Krahn, assistant principal, Charlotte Central School
• Jensa Bushey, CVSD district literacy leader
• Angela Filion, principal, Allen Brook School
• Sarah Crum, CVSD director of learning and innovation
• Caitlin Bianchi, math coordinator, Williston Schools
• Arthur Chiaravalli, Fairbanks house director, Champlain Valley Union High School
• Jennifer Roth, principal, Charlotte Central School

Our district is fortunate to have motivated leaders who strive to learn, enhance their skills, and challenge themselves in order to best support our students.

Thank you and congratulations!

CVSD UVM Outstanding Educators 2022

We are proud to share that Hannah Carey and Heidi Huestis were recognized today at UVM's 42nd Outstanding Educator event. Hannah is a math teacher at CVU and Heidi is the librarian at Charlotte Central School. They were nominated by their peers and building administrators. 

The comments below were submitted with their nominations for this award.

Hannah Carey is a creative, connected, and collaborative teacher. She knows her students deeply, resulting in lasting relationships. Students name her as a favorite teacher for years after taking her class. Hannah is most passionate about creating opportunities to make learning more engaging and pursues innovations to meet this need. Her ideas use connections between math and other subjects to help students see the relevance of their learning in the world. We are grateful for Hannah’s work!

 

Heidi Huestis has touch-points with every staff member and student in our building sharing her love of literature with all. She uses her knowledge of students, their interests and their abilities to create access to rich books for all. She volunteered as a middle school advisor and spends every morning creating a safe space and fostering connections with our middle school students. Heidi is more than our CCS librarian, she is an asset to the whole CCS community.

Congratulations to Hannah and Heidi and thank you for all you do on behalf of CVSD students!

Stone Soup at SCS

 Here's a guest post from Shelburne Community School: 

We had lots of smiling faces last week as we collected ingredients and made stone soup. If you're not familiar with the story that sparked this activity, check it out in our library or see this short, animated video version. Hopefully, the kids will have taken the enthusiasm and some new skills home!

It was really impressive to see how attentive they listened, and how focused, and enthusiastic the kids were when peeling, chopping and cleaning up. With all the chatting, it really felt like friends preparing a meal together. They showed resourcefulness (how about using scissors for the herbs?) and flexibility (substituting tools if needed). They willingly shared and swapped stations to try something new. Many parent helpers and teachers commented on the value of these life skills.

Here is Stone Soup by the numbers; our recipe for success:

230 kids helped prep
150lbs of chopped vegetables
75 gallons of soup
40 adult helping hands (some multiple times)
23 different vegetables and herbs
12 classes and cohorts
4 days of fun
3 donated stones
2 visits to the nurses
1 amazing community

Thank you to the parent/caregiver community, teachers, our food service staff, and our wonderful students. 

Let's Talk and Engage in Conversation

Last March, the school district softly rolled out a new communication tool called Let's Talk. Let’s Talk makes it easy for parents, students, staff, and community members to ask questions, request information, and share feedback. Over the summer, we added topics for each of our schools. 

Anytime someone submits something to Let's Talk, it goes to the people who are most knowledgeable about the topic. There's often a team of people behind each topic, ready to engage with you on any inquiry.

“As a school district, we want to create a thriving school culture and climate, and that’s only possible by listening to community feedback,” says Superintendent Rene Sanchez. “Let’s Talk makes it easier for our stakeholders — including students, families, staff, and community members — to reach out with questions or concerns and provides the district with data needed to make informed decisions.”

Let’s Talk delivers dynamic features including:

• 24/7 accessibility from any device, including smartphones, tablets, and laptops; and will soon support texting
• We are working to add translation tools that can translate dialogues to a number of languages to meet community needs and manage multilingual communications
• Data collection to help education leaders make informed decisions

"Let’s Talk enables our district to accommodate the communication needs and preferences of our community members with a variety of channels and translation tools (soon!), and address issues and inequities experienced by students and families. This is directly tied to findings from our equity audit,” reports Superintendent Sanchez. “No matter how our community contacts us — we are able to provide a timely, accurate response through Let’s Talk within 3 business days, though it's typically less.”

Every voice deserves to be heard and every question deserves to be answered. Let’s Talk makes this all possible. We encourage everyone in our community to use Let’s Talk to share your feedback, questions, and ideas to help us deliver high quality customer experiences and make CVSD an even better place for our students, staff, and families.”

Here's a short how-to video to help you see how easy it is to share your thoughts.

We look forward to hearing from you!

CVSD's Let's Talk page