Recognizing This Year's Retirees

Sadly, it's the time of year when we recognize those who are retiring from CVSD. Thank you for your many years of service and dedication to CVSD students, schools, colleagues, and the larger community.

You will be missed. 

We wish you all the very best on your next adventures!

2023 Articles on the CVSD Ballot

 

This is another post in a series to update you on the upcoming 2023-2024 proposed school district budget. 

In our previous post, we provided voters with information about the school district’s proposed budget. In addition to seeing the ballot article about the proposed budget, voters will also see these additional articles on the ballot.

Article VIII – The FUND BALANCE QUESTION: this question requests permission from the taxpayers to spend reserved money to offset budget increases. FY24 Article VIII asks: Shall the voters of the Champlain Valley School District authorize the Board of School Directors to allocate $600,000 of the school district's current fund balance as revenue for the 2023-2024 operating budget and assign the remaining balance as revenue for future budgets?

Article IX - The BUS QUESTION: This question asks taxpayers to approve the District’s need to borrow funds for bus purchases. The article gives the District authorization to borrow up to $395,000 to maintain our fleet. This year it is proposed that we purchase three new buses to replace older buses. (These older models are 12-15 years old and each has more than 170,000 miles on the odometer).

We hope this is helpful information for you.

- The Champlain Valley School District's Board of Directors

Please reach out to the CVSD School Board with any questions. cvsdschoolboard@cvsdvt.org or use the School Board or Budget Let’s Talk topics https://www.cvsdvt.org/page/268. On behalf of the CVSD School Board, we appreciate your generous support.

Please join the CVSD Annual Informational Meeting on Monday, March 6, 2023, at 5:00 at CVU.

More information:

Budget page www.cvsdvt.org/budget

CVSD Annual Report https://www.cvsdvt.org/Page/602

2023-2024 Budget Booklet https://bit.ly/FY24CVSDbudget

Budget FAQ’s https://bit.ly/CVSDBudgetFY23FAQs

See the Annual Warning on the budget page of our website for all of the ballot articles. We encourage all eligible residents in Champlain Valley School District towns to vote on March 7th or earlier.

Gary Marckres Named CVSD’s Chief Operations Officer

 

Mr. Gerald (Gary) Marckres has been appointed Chief Operations Officer (COO) for the Champlain Valley School District (CVSD). Gary is replacing Jeanne Jensen, who is stepping down as COO to work on special projects for the district. Mr. Marckres will begin his leadership duties on July 1, 2022.

Mr. Mackres comes to CVSD from the South Burlington School District, where he has been the Director of Operations and Financial Management for four years. He also was Chair of the Grand Isle School/Champlain Islands School District’s board of directors for many years. Gary served in the Army National Guard and was Command Sergeant Major, Commandant of the Regional Training Institute, and Operations Lead. He states that “the assignments as Commandant of a regional training and education institute closely correlate to a superintendent role in a public setting. The financial management, accreditation, security, facilities management, food service, and staffing responsibility provided the direct experience which earned me the position I currently hold.” He is a graduate of Post University with a Bachelor of Business Administration.

CVSD’s chief operations officer oversees areas not directly related to academics, including transportation, facilities and grounds, food service, technology, human resources, and finance.

Gary shared this with the district, “I am very excited to join and work with the CVSD leadership team, staff, and students in July! I believe this is a great opportunity to continue my career of service in one of the most respected school districts in Vermont. I am looking forward to getting to know and work with CVSD's dedicated staff and hope that we can continue to advance the work that Jeanne Jensen and her team did so well over the past several years.”

Superintendent Rene Sanchez shared, “Mr. Mackres is a wonderful addition to our leadership team. His previous work in finance and operations in South Burlington will enable him to step into the position and be successful.”

We look forward to welcoming Gary on July 1.

CVSD Schools Name Snowplows

Some of our schools had unusual visitors today, snow plows and their drivers! A few weeks ago, the Vermont agency of Transportation sponsored a Name a Plow Program. Schools or classrooms were encouraged to submit a name for a snowplow. Many of these submissions were accepted and today was the celebration day. 

Today was Vermont Plow Day. The plows visited "their" school for students to see them and meet the drivers. Not only does each plow have the name that the school or classroom submitted, but the name of the school is on there as well. 

It will be very exciting to see the plows out and about when the weather warrants it! Be on the lookout for Salty, Powder Pusher, and Shelburne Blizzard. Thank you to the educators and students who helped to make this happen.

Allen Brook School's plow, Salty

Williston Central School, Karin Ward's class plow,  Powder Pusher

Shelburne Community School, Karen Newman's class plow, Shelburne Blizzard

CVSD Bus Driver Receives Well-Deserved Recognition

 

Champlain Valley Bus Driver Named ESP of the Year

Here's an official press release from the VT-NEA (National Education Association) 

James “Jim” Johnson, a Champlain Valley School District bus driver with 31 years behind the wheel, has been named the 2022 Vermont-NEA Education Support Professional of the Year. 

“Over the years, Jimmy has used his humor, patience, and excellent communication skills to develop deep, personal relationships with district officials, the head of HR, payroll specialists, and chief operations representatives,” said Christopher Hood, the Champlain Valley EA president who nominated Johnson for the award. “These relationships help Jimmy be the best possible advocate for his members as he uses his lines of communication and wisdom to get the job done. He is a role model.” 

As ESP of the Year, Johnson will receive a $1,500 award, an all-expenses-paid trip to the national ESP conference, where he will represent Vermont as our nominee for NEA ESP of the Year. “I love working in transportation because it's constantly on the move and I get to talk with so many people,” Johnson said. “I love to collaborate with great people who are passionate about their jobs, and I love helping make our professional employees have a better living, a safe place to work and the happiest, most rewarding work environment possible.” Congratulations from all of us at Vermont-NEA!

We encourage our communities to help to recognize and and thank CVSD Education Support Professionals (ESPs) every day, but especially next Wednesday, November 17th, which is National ESP Day. ESPs include bus drivers like Jimmy, food service staff, custodians and maintenance crew, para-educators, 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 to Jimmy and thank you for all you do for our students, their families, and your colleagues!

eBuses Have Arrived in CVSD

 In December 2019, we published this post about electric buses coming to CVSD. The Champlain Valley School District was selected to be a partner in the Agency of Natural Resources Electric School and Transit Bus Pilot Program. In March of 2020, voters in our towns approved the purchase of two buses (at the price of our regular diesel buses) and the grant we were award provided funds to make up the substantial difference. 

After a number of delays due to varied reasons, the buses have arrived! We have two electric buses, easily recognizable by the blue bumpers and wheels, that are running routes in Williston. They may also be used for other activities like field trips or transporting athletic teams, which could benefit our other schools as well. 

A group of CVSD leaders went to check out one of the buses today after it completed its morning route.

Greg Marino - Williston lead principal, Superintendent Rene Sanchez, Barry Russell - transportation supervisor, Angela Arsenault - board chair, Jeanne Jensen - CVSD COO

We could barely hear it coming into the WCS bus loop. What a difference! These buses will certainly help to reduce air pollution as well as diesel fumes. 

Barry Russell, transportation supervisor

The only need for diesel is for heat.

That looks a lot different than in a diesel bus!

Charging station at ABS

A few of our bus drivers have been trained to learn any additional details that pertains to driving an electric bus. There's great enthusiasm from students as well, especially those lucky enough to be on the routes covered by the electric buses. 

One lucky bus driver!

As we said in our December 2019 post, this opportunity allows us to not only transport students more safely and efficiently, but to make a concrete example of living up to our values. We are excited to take such an important role in helping Vermont reduce carbon emissions and improve energy efficiency. 

CVSD Reopening Schools Update: August 28

Dear Friends and Families,

The CVSD newsletter this week features information about the start of school, health screenings, the K-8 Virtual Learning Academy, transportation, childcare, and much more. We hope you find it helpful.

Have a wonderful weekend,

Elaine Pinckney

Fulfilling a Birthday Wish for a Former Colleague

Some of you may have seen the story that ran on WCAX last night. What you may not have known is the connection to our school district.

Susanne London's grand-daughter reached out to CVSD to suggest the idea of a birthday surprise for her mom, a bus parade with 16 school buses in front of her house. Susanne worked as a creative writing teacher at CVU in Hinesburg for years and LOVES school buses. She lives alone and cannot have visitors because of the pandemic. She turned 88 years old.

Happy birthday, Susanne. We were so glad to be a part of it!


Photos from Robin Fawcett, CVU educator:

Electric Buses in CVSD

Superintendent Pinckney, COO Jensen, and CVU student Ethan Lisle

Ethan speaks on behalf of CVSD

Ethan and DEC commissioner, Emily Boedecker

The Champlain Valley School District has been selected to be a partner in the Agency of Natural Resources Electric School and Transit Bus Pilot Program! The announcement reads:

"Champlain Valley stood out in both your level of support for and engagement around this pilot and our confidence in your capacity to be a great Project Partner in deploying electric buses."

 At an event announcing the grant recipients on December 19, CVU student and Environmental Action Club (ENACT) member, Ethan Lisle, spoke on behalf of CVSD. The Commissioner from the Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation, Emily Boedecker, presented the grant award to Ethan. Superintendent Pinckney and COO Jeanne Jensen were present as well. CVSD is one of three Vermont school districts that are recipients of this grant.

On Town Meeting Day, voters will see a ballot article for our share of the cost of two electric buses (our share is the equivalent of two diesel buses, with the grant making up the substantial difference.) The purchase of two school buses is proposed as part of the continual replacement cycle to ensure that buses in our fleet are no older than 15 years. If approved, the electric buses will be based at the Allen Brook School in Williston.

The Champlain Valley School District community prides itself on being a leader in sustainable practices.This opportunity allows us to not only transport students more safely and efficiently, but to make a concrete example of living up to our values. We are excited to take such an important role in helping Vermont reduce carbon emissions and improve energy efficiency. We hope to see the electric buses rolling through CVSD next fall.

CVU: The Carbon Cutting Leader for Bus Ridership

Did you know that CVU was just given an award called The Carbon Cutting Leader for Bus Ridership? Representative Curt McCormack, Chair of the Vermont House Transportation Committee, and others announced the winning schools at a special celebration in the Statehouse on June 5, 2019.

We reached out to Katie Antos-Ketchum, CVU English teacher in the Fairbanks core, to learn more. She shared this guest blog post highlighting CVU's EnACT club as well as one student's work. 

The CVU Environmental Action Club (EnACT) participated in this year's Way to Go! Challenge. Our "bus" action was a bus ridership survey that was led by 9th grade student Sabina Brochu, who was curious to find out what barriers exist for students to ride the bus. Sabina took on this action as a part of her 9th grade Human Impact Project action which focused on the connection between fossil fuels, transportation, and climate change. 

The Human Impact Project had several components. Back in the winter, students were asked to choose an issue that they care about in the world, research the roots of the problem and its impact, and deliver a speech to educate an audience about their topic. In the spring semester, students shifted their focus to their own potential for making positive change and worked on developing solutions individually, locally, and globally that will help move a negative impact in a positive direction.

Sabina worked with me, the EnACT adviser, to develop her survey so that we could think about how to remove actual or perceived barriers students face in order to promote bus ridership. She presented her findings to the EnACT club this spring.

Of the 229 students who took the survey, 66% agreed that they ride the bus regularly, mostly or sometimes. Here's some interesting information about the students who consider themselves riders. First, 44.7% of our riders reported their travel times were 30 minutes or longer in duration. When asked what keeps them from riding some days, responses that are worth investigating from a systems level include the bus ride takes too long ( 31%), that the bus comes too early ( 23%), and that they aren't sure when the bus will arrive (18%). Social and cultural obstacles included sports or other commitments (49%) and social / personal reasons (25%).

The 34% who reported riding rarely or never also gave us feedback about what keeps them off the bus. For them, 39% reported the routes were too long, 37% said the bus came too early, 20% reported they weren't sure when the bus would arrive at their stop, 30% reported they had sports or other commitments, and 26% reported social/personal reasons kept them off the bus.

EnACT members have examined the data and will continue to problem solve around this topic in the coming year.

Sabina attended the awards ceremony in Montpelier at the end of the school year.

EnACT's mission statement: 

The Environmental Action Club believes that climate change poses significant risks for the future. We strive to cultivate an environmental ethos and action in our various communities. We envision a society whose practices are based on an ethic of conservation and sustainable improvement in the environmental well-being of the community.

Change Coming to CVSD School Buses

Dear CVSD Community,

Over the winter break, while families everywhere enjoyed the holidays, CVSD transportation received a different kind of treat; internal and external cameras for our bus fleet. These cameras, which will provide a new level of safety for our students, are scheduled to be turned on the first week of February. The following protocols will be followed:

• All surveillance camera recordings in the district will be subject to board policy, currently under review by the CVSD School Board. The policy will be posted on the District website.

• Recordings from the internal cameras are not monitored in real time and will only be viewed after an incident and at the discretion of the Superintendent of Schools. As always, incidents on our buses are handled by the CVSD Chief Operations Officer or appropriate school administrator per that school’s procedures.

• Recordings of automobiles which violate state laws regarding the passing of school buses will be turned over to the local police authority.

Cameras in CVSD are used only with the goal of improving the safety of our students. If you have any questions about the use of cameras, please contact your local principal or the CVSD COO, Jeanne Jensen, at 802-383-1234