CVSD Budget: Community Input Welcomed

The CVSD School Board encourages you to get involved and share what’s on your mind as we begin the budget process for the 2021-2022 school year. This budget will be presented to voters before and on Town Meeting Day, March 2, 2021.

While this has been quite the unusual year, the board and administration are planning around a return to normalcy for the 2021-2022 school year. Are there parts of our current experience that we should continue? Thanks to federal and state funding, we are optimistic we will be starting next year on sound financial footing. Should this change, what areas of the budget do you believe are important to protect? We invite you to join us in the discussion.

Your voice is important and valued. There are at least 3 ways to get involved:

• Please share your thoughts and rate those of others on the CVSD Budget Thoughtexchange by October 23.
• Join the virtual CVSD Community Budget Forum on October 27 to discuss what you value most in our schools.*  Find out about CVSD’s financial outlook. Gain an understanding of our budget process.
• You are also invited to attend all future budget meetings. The full schedule of meetings can be found on the district’s website: www.cvsdvt.org/budget

Feel free to get in touch with the School Board at any time: cvsdboard@cvsdvt.org

* Information about how to join the Community Budget Forum will be posted on the Budget page of our district’s website and communicated through school newsletters.

CVSD Update, October 2, 2020

 Dear CVSD Families and Friends,

We have a few short updates to share with you this week. We are very excited to welcome many of our kindergarten students to school four days a week beginning on Monday. For those with first and second graders, if you have not yet completed the survey that was sent at the end of last week or early this week, please do so as soon as possible. 

Here are a few additional items of importance: 

October 9th for K-8 schools:

This year, as in past years, we have designated two days for Parent-Teacher conferences on our calendar-- October 9th and March 19th. There is no school for K-8 students on these days. We hold these conferences to ensure that there is strong communication between teachers and families around the growth of their students socially, emotionally, and academically. It is an important time to take stock of your child as a whole. It is also an opportunity for teachers and parents to get to know each other better. We strive to build as strong a connection with our families as possible. Many, many teachers and parents have already met this school year to reinforce these important connections.

All of our K-8 teachers will once again schedule a conference with their students’ families. As in past years, this conference may be scheduled on October 9th, but also may be scheduled any time between now and the end of the term. In fact, we are encouraging our teachers to schedule these conferences at a mutually convenient time for the teacher and the family and avoid scheduling too many conferences all on one day. Many of our teachers, across the school district, have been implementing this practice for many years. We find that the time allotted is not only more convenient, it is also more focused.

With this expectation, we provide a flexible day for our teachers. We believe this is a win-win situation - better, more personalized conferences for you, and more manageable scheduling for teachers. To summarize, you may have a parent-teacher conference scheduled on October 9th, or it may be scheduled at another time more convenient for both you and your child’s teacher. Be assured that we will make time for this important conference.

A reminder: There IS school for CVU students on October 9.

Temperature Checks

We’d like to thank parents for their diligence in screening kids at home for fevers (above 100.4F) and COVID symptoms before sending them to the bus or school. Parents of bus riders should be aware that, based on the extremely low incidence of finding anything other than normal temperatures, on some routes we have deferred the temperature screening from the bus to the school.

Transportation

The guidance from the Vermont Agency of Education around transporting students on buses includes the following information:

Step II Guidance:

• Create physical distance between students and on school buses (for example, seating students one child per seat, every other row).

Step III Guidance:

• Students should be spaced out for the number of riders

As we move toward increasing the number of students in schools when our kindergarten transitions to 4 days a week on October 5, our plan for adapting transportation is a slow, methodical process. We will still spread students out, students from the same family may continue to sit together, and we will, when necessary, allow up to two kindergarten students and eventually first and second graders to sit together in a seat. Additional changes will depend on ridership and will be communicated to parents of students on the affected routes before they occur.

A Friendly Reminder About Positive COVID Cases

If and when we have a confirmed positive COVID-19 case in our district, we will only be able to share very limited information with our community. We must abide by FERPA and respect the privacy of those impacted. We will use language that leaves out any identifying information in order to protect that privacy. Please view the information about FERPA and HIPPA, as well as details about our processes in the CVSD Symptomatic & Positive Cases Guide. If and when we have a positive case in our learning community, the Department of Health will identify close contacts and reach out directly to those individuals as soon as possible (typically within 24 hours). You can help this process by answering your phone if they reach out to you and being prepared to support their contact tracing efforts. If you have specific concerns about your student’s health, please reach out to your pediatrician.

Thank you for your support. Have a wonderful fall weekend,

Elaine Pinckney 

CVSD Update September 25, 2020

Dear Family and Friends,

For the past two weeks, we have been assessing our readiness for bringing back our kindergarten students to four-days per week of in-person instruction. This assessment included a review of our ability to maintain social distancing and all other DOH and AOE guidelines, as well as our capacity to provide stable and sufficient staffing. To that end, we sent a survey to our kindergarten families to understand what, if any changes, families might make if we were to institute this change. We held a Q &A session with Dr. Leah Costello for our kindergarten teachers, principals, and school nurses. The results of the survey, as well as our review of the criteria, all indicate that we are ready to welcome our youngest students back for four days per week, beginning on October 5.

We will be undergoing this same level of assessment, review, and planning for phasing-in, over the next month, our Grades 1 through 4 students. This process will begin with our Grades 1 and 2 students. A survey will be going out later today to these parents. During the next two weeks, faculty and administration will conduct a thorough assessment of our criteria:

• There is no or very low COVID activity in our communities
• Our ability to staff our classrooms remains stable and sufficient
• Our routines are efficient, effective, and any trouble-spots are easily worked out
• We are able to maintain compliance with VT DOH and AOE guidance
• We are confident in the DOH’s ability to respond to any positive cases in our school community.

Assuming a successful re-entry of our Kindergarten and Grades 1 and 2 students, and our continued ability to meet all criteria, we would turn our focus to Grades 3 and 4. Here is the tentative timeline for this to happen.

• Oct. 5 Kindergarten students Mon. Tues. Thurs. Fri. - or Virtual Learning Academy
• Oct. 19 Grades 1 and 2 students Mon. Tues. Thurs. Fri. - or Virtual Learning Academy
• Oct. 26 Grades 3 and 4 students Mon. Tues. Thurs. Fri. - or Virtual Learning Academy

Please know and understand that all of these dates are tentative. If at any point, we are unable to meet the criteria we’ve set, the dates could be moved out or even canceled.

In other news, we are including the October calendar with this newsletter. We cannot finalize the year’s calendar until the legislature has acted upon an expected change to the statute. As soon as this has been accomplished, we will share our adjusted school year calendar. We do not anticipate many if any changes to the calendar that was shared in the spring.

And finally, I know there is some confusion around the Secretary of Education’s announcement that schools are now in Phase III. In reality, there are very few changes to the guidance between these two phases. The social distancing requirement - 3 feet for students age 10 and under and 6 feet for our older students has not changed. This does not mean that students must be socially distanced at 3 ft or 6 ft at all times. It does mean that we should do our best to minimize the number and amount of time that our students are in closer proximity AND add other layers of protection when they are. For example, wearing our masks, sitting side-by-side instead of face-to-face, and being vigilant about hand hygiene all help to mitigate the transmission of the virus. The main areas of change are; the clearance for our sports teams to hold competitions - GO Redhawks! - and the relaxing of the rules for use of our gyms and cafeterias. In Phase II these spaces could only be used as classroom overflow and only if absolutely necessary. In Phase III, these spaces may be used as long as we are still able to follow all other guidelines (social distancing e.g.).

I hope you all have a very relaxing and restful weekend with your families.

Sincerely,

Elaine


To see this letter as well along with other updates, please view our full newsletter.

CVSD Educator Presented with Literacy Award

We are thrilled to share that CVSD's District Literacy Leader, Jensa Bushey, is the recipient of the Vermont Council on Reading's 2020 John T. Poeton Award. This award is usually presented at the VT Council on Reading's Spring conference, but that event didn't take place this year due to safety concerns around COVID-19. 

As stated on the VT VCR website, "The John T. Poeton Award is presented annually by the Executive Board of the Vermont Council on Reading at the Conference. A plaque shall be presented by the President or his or her designee at the Annual Spring Conference to an outstanding educator working in a Vermont school setting fostering literacy development with students and colleagues."

Jensa exemplifies this to the greatest degree. She is an inspiring leader and advocate for literacy with teachers and students alike. In addition to her valued literacy role in CVSD, Jensa stepped up this year and is also teaching kindergarten in our Virtual Learning Academy. This only illustrates how dedicated Jensa is to her work, our district, and student learning. Jensa is a former Shelburne Community School teacher and literacy coordinator.

Congratulations Jensa and thank you!

Remembering a Beloved Principal

The CVSD community lost a beloved past principal last April. Monica Smith was the principal at Charlotte Central School for 20 years, from 1990-2009. She touched and influenced so many in our community and beyond. 

Today, some former colleagues organized a tree-planting at CCS in her memory and planted a sturdy oak tree. Members of Monica's family were present, along with many others who were recipients of her generosity, time, friendship, and colleagueship. 

Superintendent Elaine Pinckney spoke and shared some thoughts, which are highlighted below. 

Monica was full of love. She took care of everyone. She took care of CCS students and staff in the same way that she took care of her treasured family. Through small tokens of affection and appreciation, she made time together special. She instituted many traditions which are carried on at CCS to this day, including Grandparent's day and the Carnation Ceremony.

Monica was a relationship person and was full of joy. She loved people, she loved life. she was generous, unselfish, caring, thoughtful. Those of us fortunate enough to know her, and that's many, count ourselves so lucky to have been a part of her orbit.

The tree is near the playground behind CCS and has a special sign to help visitors find it.

Thank you to all who helped make this special event for a very special person happen.

Schools Are OPEN in CVSD!

We are so excited to see students in person! Here are a few photos from the first days with Cohort or Group A. 

CVSD Update and Food For All Under 18!

Dear CVSD Families and Community,

This is the last update before school starts on Tuesday, September 8. There are some new updates available in this newsletter. We hope that between this and communications from your schools, you're as ready as we are to get this school year underway.

Many of you may have received this message earlier, but we wanted to repeat it here.

We are so happy to share that the USDA has announced it is allowing schools to continue to provide free breakfast and lunch meals to all children 18 years old and younger. CVSD will be offering in-school meals, pick-up, and delivery. To read about our program, see our menu and place your order, go to our district website at https://www.cvsdvt.org/ and scroll down to "Foodservice". Our amazing food service team is excited to continue to serve the children of our community meals that are safe, nutritious, and delicious!

Wishing you a safe, healthy, and happy long weekend. We look forward to seeing your children on Tuesday in one way or another.

Superintendent Elaine Pinckney