Students Shine at the VAMLE Conference

Here's a guest post submitted by Lynn Camara. Lynn is a student assistance program (SAP) counselor at Williston Central School (WCS). 

Students from Charlotte Central School and Shelburne Community School also attended the conference.

On Thursday, March 16, WCS sponsored a group of twenty-six 6th, 7th, and 8th graders to participate in a day-long conference at Champlain College. The event was hosted by the Vermont Association for Middle Level Education (VAMLE) and featured workshops relevant to adolescents. It was an incredible conference with 350 middle school students from all over the state. Our students were very engaged in the learning opportunities, they took positive risks, and were terrific ambassadors of WCS.

Jared Bailey, a 5th & 6th grade Sterling House teacher at WCS and the president of VAMLE, gave an opening welcome speech to all of the conference attendees. Then WCS Sterling House 6th grader Eisley Devitt read the Land Acknowledgement to the large crowd. Later in the day Mr. Bailey, Eisley, and other Sterling House students, Anna Thorley-Doucette, Annika Scott, Teague Flattery, and Varian Theriault facilitated a workshop on “Implementing Social Courage.”

The guest speaker was Bennett Townley from Special Olympics Vermont. Bennett is a graduate of WCS and Champlain Valley Union HS. He spoke of his experiences being treated unkindly and being excluded as a middle school and high school student. He found a wonderful sense of community in the Unified Sports program at CVU and shared his excitement about being part of a basketball team. Audience members found his talk to be inspirational and heartwarming.

Later in the morning students participated in a variety of workshops relevant to middle school students. In addition to the “Implementing Social Courage” workshop presented by a group of WCS students, other workshops included: Alternatives to Hazing in Athletics, Creating Change in Your School, Responding to Social Media, Unified School Communities, Organizing Against Racism, Learning About Gender, Pronouns, and Sexuality, among others.

The students returned to WCS excited to share what they have learned with their peers.

               

Nora Brady, a WCS 6th grader, said "It was a really fun experience. It was amazing to see students from all over Vermont. There were a lot of people there all learning from each other.” "This conference was a great learning experience," said 8th grader Malashie Tonokie. "It reinforced that when students can express themselves, they can become leaders. Student voices make student leaders!"

Seventh grader Orion Power-Freeman said of the day at Champlain "It was really great to see the diversity of students from all over Vermont. I loved knowing students all over are working on the same issues we are here at WCS." These students were terrific ambassadors of WCS and did a great job jumping in and participating in the conference!

Note: VAMLE is the Vermont chapter of the Association for Middle Level Educators (AMLE). WCS educator Jared Bailey, the president of VAMLE, added this perspective, "It was our largest conference ever. It's also the only AMLE chapter conference that is run by students for students. It was great to see students from all over the state come together to share concerns, learn from each other, and leave with ideas on how to make their communities better! We hope to see many of this year's attendees back as presenters next year!"

Upcoming Event: Youth Vaping Panel

Here's a message from ParentIN

According to an October 2022 ParentIN survey, 87% of CVSD caregivers viewed smoking/vaping as a big problem or somewhat big problem among our youth. ParentIN is addressing this health concern head on with a community education event for caregivers.

The virtual discussion with expert panelists will share what you need to know about vaping and actionable ways to prevent our children from starting.

Learn more and register today! 

CVSD Update, March 2023

 

Dear CVSD Families and Caregivers,

We are pleased to share our latest informative newsletter. It includes: 

• A letter from Superintendent Sanchez
• Information about our newly approved Strategic Plan
• Exciting updates to Let's Talk
• Announcing our last day of school for this school year
• An upcoming event with ParentIN
• News about CVSD grants
• An updated Technology site
• and more!

Feedback, suggestions, questions, and compliments are always welcomed. Reach out to us using Let's Talk!

Gratitude For Outgoing School Board Members

We want to express our sincere thanks and appreciation for four CVSD board members who are stepping down from their roles as of Town Meeting Day 2023. They have dedicated themselves to the well-being of students, made exceptional contributions to the effective and efficient operation of the Champlain Valley School District, and have championed CVSD through many different challenges, changes, and successes. Though their terms of service to CVSD vary in length, they each have made their mark on the district, its schools, and students in meaningful ways. 

Colleen MacKinnon

Hinesburg, CSSU, & CVSD School Boards
28 Years of Service 

Lynne Jaunich
Charlotte, CVU, CSSU, & CVSD School Boards
13 Years of Service

Erin Brady
CVU, CSSU, & CVSD School Boards
7 Years of Service

Ken Scott
CVSD School Board
3 Years of Service

Thank you, thank you. 

If you are a resident of a CVSD town, please remember to vote on March 7 and help select their successors. 

Summary of the Proposed Budget

This is last post in a series to update you on the upcoming 2023-2024 proposed school district budget. Please take the time to view the previous posts that provide information as well. 

Here are important takeaways for this year’s budget:

• The Champlain Valley School District is committed to supporting all students.
• CVSD will receive funds to support pandemic recovery through September 2024. We will continue to provide mental health services, social-emotional guidance, and academic support that acknowledges the unique needs of each student. These funds are separate from the proposed FY24 budget.
• We strive to maintain class sizes within the state’s recommended range.
• This budget supports the continuation of our commitment to CVSD students. All program and staffing changes have been offset by increases in revenue or reduction in other areas.

Superintendent Rene Sanchez, along with Gary Marckres, COO, and Board Chair Angela Arsenault shared this presentation on Town Meeting TV.  

You may be wondering, why, if the budget is going up by 7.5%, your tax increase is different. The reason for a different tax increase despite a 7.5% increase in the budget can be explained by two factors. The first factor is the "net cost per equalized pupil," which is used to calculate property tax rates, rather than the budget increase. The second factor is the Common Level of Appraisal (CLA), which is the adjustment made by the state to assessed property values to reflect current market values. This adjustment can have a significant impact on local tax rates and is applied to the tax rate based on the rising property values in the community. The estimated Pre-CLA tax rate is expected to decrease by 9.3¢ from last year, but the gross tax rate impact may vary by town.

We hope this is helpful information for you.

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.  

The CVSD School Board appreciates your generous support.


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

More information:

• Budget page 
• CVSD Annual Report
• 2023-2024 Budget Booklet
• Budget FAQ’s 

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.

Seal of Biliteracy, Part Two

The Seal of Biliteracy at CVSD

Contributed by: Johanna Shaw-Daniels, Robyn Suarez,

Susan Simpson, and Melita Sedic-Lawton

Last May we wrote about the CVSD Pathway to the Seal of Biliteracy Program. The following is an update to that post.


The Seal of Biliteracy is a fairly new award given by the Vermont Foreign Language Association, under the authorization of the Agency of Education. It recognizes students who have studied and attained proficiency in two or more languages by high school graduation.

Since 2020, CVU High School has had two recipients of this award, and our program is growing. This year, so far, we have five seniors graduating with this award. In CVSD's elementary and middle schools, there are approximately 30+ active participants working towards this achievement through our Pathway to the Seal of Biliteracy program. The Pathway program is designed specifically for our younger multilingual students, with classes focusing on their heritage languages.

This year, classes are being offered at WCS in Nepali, Chinese, Russian and Vietnamese. Some of these classes will be offered at SCS as well. At the high school, students are participating in French and Spanish classes, forming conversational groups in the CLD Center, and studying independently. Students’ enthusiasm for participating in the Pathway program has been wonderful to see! Before the 8-week sessions began, students frequently asked when their heritage language instruction would begin. In addition, ABS has launched Lunch Bunches, an opportunity for students to eat together while chatting with a volunteer in their heritage language. The warm relationships students develop with their language instructors and with each other as multilingual learners has been invaluable.

Please view this graphic to learn more about the many benefits of multilingualism, and the photos of CVSD students enjoying their heritage language learning.

Russian Heritage Language Class

Practicing Chinese characters

Vietnamese Heritage Language Class

Nepali Heritage Language Class

CVSD Sets a Penguin Plunge Record

The annual Penguin Plunge event, a fundraiser for Special Olympics Vermont, was canceled this year due to the extremely cold temperatures on February 4. Those who had signed up to participate, as teams or individuals, were encouraged to find another way to show their support for this great organization. Once again, CVSD schools came through. The total raised by teams representing all of our schools came in at over $53,000! 

Thank you to the organizers, students, faculty, staff, parents and caregivers who dedicated their time to raising funds and to those who created alternate events to keep the spirit strong.

Shelburne

The Shelburne Community School Plungers, led by student Gray Latka, raised $5589! They organized an alternate event at Shelburne Beach on February 20th.

Charlotte

Charlotte's team, made up of 12 staff members called CCS and Company, held an alternate event at Charlotte Town Beach on February 15, raising $4104 for Special Olympics Vermont! 

Hinesburg

Hinesburg Community School's team, led by Paul Lasher, had 46 participants. 35 of those were there to plunge into Lake Iroquois on Saturday, February 11. They raised just over $12,000! See the NBC5 story below.

Williston
On Saturday, February 11, 35 brave Williston penguins assembled in the WCS parking lot - seated in a circle on cold metal folding chairs, waiting for a “Bucket buddy” to dump an ice cold bucket of water over their heads.

They counted down from 10, and then went around the circle. A few brave souls even volunteered to take a 2nd bucket for the cause! It was a crisp sunny day - and the Wildcat spirit was alive and well.

The team felt great about honoring the generous donations raised that totaled over $16,400 - Wow! In fact, for the first time, our Williston Team was the top fundraiser among the school teams signed up for the event this year.

Shout outs go to Emily Downing-Ponce, Ingrid Luby, Sam Beatson, Lauren Goracy, and Cathy Kohlasch - all who helped to make the event possible.
 

CVU

The massive effort by CVU, always a top fundraiser, did not disappoint this year. They raised $15,544 in support of Special Olympics Vermont! When we get more information, we will add it here. 

We are so proud of all who organized, participated, and donated to this great event. Thank you CVSD!