Hello CVSD Families and Caregivers,

We are slightly more than halfway through November and have the Thanksgiving holiday week just a little more than a day away. I am excited to have a few days off to spend with my family cooking, playing games and sports, and just mostly catching up on all our needs for rest.

As we move into December, we do have a few things to share with our community.

State Championships

Congratulations to the CVU Redhawks, who brought home a lot of hardware during the Fall state playoffs this month.

CVU played in the state championships in the following athletic events

• Field hockey, state champions

• Girls soccer, state champions

• Girls cross country, state champions (who also came in second in the New England Cross Country Championships this past weekend),

• Football, CVU’s first-ever state title in this sport

• Girls volleyball, state runner-up

Central office relocation ad hoc committee

A study was underway to explore the possibility of moving the district’s central office to a new location. The combined school board and administration committee has suspended it to work. We initially announced the committee's suspension during the finance committee meeting on November 8 and again at the school board meeting on November 15. Since, at this time, we cannot project the final budget numbers completely for next school year, the committee decided that it was not an appropriate time to change locations. As a result, we have suspended the work of the committee.

Strategic Plan

Thank you to everyone who met with district representatives at our outreach events: community forums, farmer’s markets, tables outside of businesses, Select Boards meetings, and our Strategic Planning town halls. It is always wonderful to meet community members and families of our district–in any capacity–but even more wonderful when we have created designated opportunities for the district to receive your feedback and advice. We were out in the community to collect this feedback so we could use it to help us organize the writing of the strategic plan.

Now that we have completed that portion, our next steps include:

• Summarizing the findings from the strategic plan survey and the feedback from the community forums.

• Planning out the steering committee‘s work to develop the goals and objectives

• Presenting a draft strategic plan to the Board during the January 17 meeting.

For more information on our process, please visit the Strategic Plan page on our website.

Native American Heritage Month

National Native American Month started off as an effort to get a day of appreciation and acknowledgment for the unique contributions made by the first Americans for the growth and establishment of the United States. Now the United States celebrates Native American Heritage during the month of November for that purpose.

DEI Virtual Town Hall Dec. 14

Since the district will not send a similar newsletter before our next DEI Virtual Town Hall, we wanted to begin the advertisement now so you can place it on your calendar.

During the upcoming meeting, we will reflect upon the work prescribed by the equity audit and other work currently underway by our campuses and district. Additionally, we will spend some time discussing the recommendations from the Act 1, 2019, Ethnic Studies and Social Equity Working Group. (There is a State Board of Education-Education Quality Standards Rule Update Committee-Public Listening Session on November 30. If you are interested in providing feedback, please visit this page to access the Microsoft Teams meeting information. )

The December Virtual Town Hall meeting will take place on December 14. It will begin at 6:30. See the additional information below in this newsletter.

Happy Thanksgiving

The district and I would like to wish you a Happy Thanksgiving! On behalf of our entire Champlain Valley School District, please know that we are beyond thankful for all of you in our five towns–our students, faculty, staff, administrators, parents, caregivers, community members, business owners, and everyone who calls our district home.

We are always thankful for your caring and support and hope to provide it back to you in a humble manner. I hope that you and yours will be able to take some time to relax and rejuvenate during our week-long break.

Please stay safe on the roads and in your travels.

Rene Sanchez, Superintendent

Champlain Valley School District

Identity is developing a sense of one’s self with respect for the uniqueness of others.

Connection exists when all individuals see themselves in others and in their environment. It is the feeling that our individual and collective story is known. We learn and appreciate new perspectives. Connection is committing to the time and effort to build shared experiences and understandings.

All learners find direction by discovering purpose and exploring passions or interests. We honor where learners are and support their growth, helping them navigate pathways and empowering them to reach their fullest potential.

Proficiency: All students and staff members demonstrate progress and develop capacity toward CVSD student and educator learning targets.

In the past few weeks, a number of CVSD professionals have been recognized and honored.

• Hannah Carey (CVU) and Heidi Huestis (CCS) are CVSD's UVM Outstanding Educators for 2022!
• Seven CVSD leaders completed the Snelling Center for Government's Vermont School Leadership Project!
• Gloria Mantagaris (SCS) is the Vermont NEA's Education Support Professional of the Year!

Congratulations to all of these incredibile educators and thank you for all you do to support CVSD students!

CVSD invites all community members to learn about and join in on the budget development process by attending upcoming School Board meetings. All members of the CVSD community are always welcome to attend Board meetings. See the topics and schedule in the image above and on the Budget page of the district's website. https://www.cvsdvt.org/budget

Links to join the virtual meetings will be available on that page and on the website calendar. We will also post the presentations on the Budget page afterward for those that cannot attend.

• November 21-25, Thanksgiving Week, no school
• December 6, CVSD School Board meeting, 6:00 pm (Instructional program budget presentation)
• December 13, CVSD School Board meeting, 6:00 pm (Operations budget presentation)
• December 14, CVSD Virtual Town Hall: DEI, 6:30 pm

CVSD Families and Caregivers: Here's a great opportunity!

If your child participates in the free or reduced-price meals program at school, then your family is eligible for the new Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP)! It's another reason to fill out the Free and Reduced Price School Meals form. https://bit.ly/cvsdFRmeals

Learn more about qualifying for affordable internet service through the ACP at https://getmyinternet.org/

The Vermont Agency of Education and Department of Health recently shared updated considerations for schools for the start of the new school year. We have summarized those on this document. We will keep all staff, families, and caregivers informed if there are any changes.

Please enroll to receive text messages from the district and/or our campuses. If you haven't done this yet or if you are new to CVSD, follow the easy steps on this flyer. We don't overuse this method of communication, but it is helpful for reminders and quick announcements. Don't miss out!

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. See this blog post to learn more and view a short video that explains how easy it is to use Let's Talk.

Look for the Let's Talk tab or page on our district's website.

Resources to keep accessible:

• First Call - 488-7777: phone support, crisis intervention, assessment and referrals
• In Crisis: 1-800-SUICIDE (1-800-784-2433) (National Hopeline Network: USA)
• National Suicide Prevention Life line- 1-800-273-TALK (8255), call or chat online
• Crisis Text Line - text HOME to 741741 (24 hours a day, seven days a week)
• Outright Vermont - support for LGBTQ+ community
• UVM Breathe In Breath Out - How to deal with stress due to COVID-19
• Vermont 211 -Vermont database of resources and services
• Vermont Support Line (833) 888-2557) - peer support warmline open 247 - 365 for call or text
• COVID Counselors @ VT-211
• Teen Crisis Text Line - Crisis Text Line provides free emotional support and information to teens in any type of crisis, including feeling suicidal. You can text with a trained specialist 24 hours a day. Text “HOME” to 741741.
• Society for the Prevention of Teen Suicide - Website where you can find information to help yourself or a friend who may be having thoughts of suicide.
• Trevor Lifeline - 1-866- 488-7386 - provides suicide prevention and crisis intervention services to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning (LGBTQ) young people. It offers free, 24/7, confidential counseling. TrevorText—text START to 678-678; TrevorChat—instant messaging at TheTrevorProject.org/help. It also runs TrevorSpace, an affirming social networking site for LGBTQ youth at TrevorSpace.

Serving the communities of Charlotte, Hinesburg, Shelburne, St. George, and Williston.

Reach out using any of the methods below or visit our Let's Talk page. Please use Let's Talk rather than email.

Let's Talk
Website
Location: 5420 Shelburne Road, Shelburne, VT
Phone: (802) 383-1234
Facebook
Twitter: @cvsdvt

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