EMS Newsletter

Hello again, EMS Families!

These last few weeks have been busy with field trips, Open House, preparations for Fall Conferences (yes, they're coming up!), the start of budget planning, and student projects and presentations. It's hard to believe the first quarter of the year is already drawing to a close in two weeks!

At this week's EngageEMS meeting, I presented BSD's equity-driven budget model. I am genuinely excited about this new approach and the extent to which it will include and lift the voices of students, families and staff in the budgeting process. If you are interested in learning more, but were unable to attend that meeting or the Oct. 4th Town Hall, please see the slides here. If, after reviewing the slides, you are interested in participating in the School Advisory Group (SAG), please email either me (swestdij@bsdvt.org) or Mia Marinovich (mmarino@bsdvt.org) directly to communicate your interest.

I also want to make you aware of another opportunity to share your perspective on important district decisions. The Board will vote on granting a three-year contract extension to Superintendent Tom Flanagan on November 2nd and is asking the community to provide thoughts and feedback through this Board Superintendent Feedback Form before the meeting. Please consider completing this form if you have input you wish the Board to consider.

Finally, I am excited to share another way to connect with other families, teachers, and administrators. BSD's Office of Equity will again sponsor a series of free, participatory Equity Workshops open to the greater BSD community. Based on the success of last year’s Equity Webinar series, this year’s workshops are intended to be an interactive learning experience that makes space for authentic engagement with small-group breakout sessions. The workshops are free to attend and open to any community members interested in learning more and becoming more invested in equity. The first of the series, “Let’s Talk About Restorative Practices” will take place Thursday, October 21st from 6-7 pm via Google Meet: http://meet.google.com/ybe-zoyj-ghs. This will offer a great way to better understand the work underway at EMS and across the district in creating spaces that promote relationships and repair. I hope you will consider taking advantage of these ways to influence decision-making, connect, and learn together.

Have a wonderful weekend and, as always, don't hesitate to reach out to me with questions, concerns and ideas. I am so grateful to be part of such an invested, creative, and compassionate community!

In partnership,

Sabrina Westdijk

EMS Principal

Over the last few months, the Technology Integration team has gathered feedback about GoGuardian and student devices to improve our GoGuardian policies to better support students and families. A suggestion that emerged from family feedback, student data from GoGuardian and staff surveys was to create a “Limited Access Evening Hours” policy to limit late night (10:00 pm-5:00 am) Youtube and other internet use. After reviewing student data, computer activity after 10 PM was frequently not related to school.

During this time period, from 10 PM to 5 AM, all students in grades 3-8 will be limited to a few web sites - including the Burlington School District and Howard Center websites. Chromebooks will return to normal “in-school” settings at 5 AM.

Note that these “Limited Access Evening Hours” do not begin right after school ends. We recognize that student devices may be needed after school to attend after-school programming and to complete assignments. Devices may be also used by other family members to attend conferences, school meetings or other BSD virtual events.

If students have difficulty accessing online tools after the “Limited Access Evening Hours” in GoGuardian, they should refresh their browser screens and return to their main classroom portal in Google Classroom (grades 3-5 ) or Schoology (grades 6-8) to access their assignments. Students should not have to log out to refresh their access.

Dear Families,

We want to clearly define when students can return to school if they are sick.

For any new symptom your child has, even if it may be allergies, your child should stay home or be sent home from school.

If the symptom resolves in the first 24 hours, without the use of any medications, your child may return to school the next day.

If the symptom lasts more than 24 hours, or more symptoms develop, please keep your child home and sign up for a PCR test appointment at a state site through https://www.healthvermont.gov/covid-19/testing/where-get-tested. Please keep your child home and refrain from taking them into public places until your test results come back.

If the PCR test is negative, please submit your test result to your school nurse. Following the negative COVID test, your child may return to school if they have been free of fever, diarrhea, and vomiting for 24 hours (without the use of medication) and are feeling well enough to fully participate in learning activities. If the PCR test is positive, your child will have to quarantine at home for 10 days as directed by the Vermont Department of Health.

Even with a negative test result, if your child does not have enough energy to actively participate in learning, is too tired to learn or engage, and does not feel well enough to be at school, your child will need to go home and rest. In this case, your school nurse will call to ask you to pick up your child from school.

Many Thanks,

Becca McCray, MSN, MA, RN, NCSN

Burlington School District Lead Nurse

A reminder that MathCounts begins next Monday, Oct. 18th! Click the link below to sign up today!

MathCounts is coming to Afterschool, and is seeking team members!

✓ Are you interested in Science, Technology, Engineering, or Math?
✓ Do you like solving puzzles with friends?

✓ Are you competitive?

✓ Or would you like to develop or stretch your mathematical abilities?

Sign up for MathCounts!

Start Date: October 18th

Day: Mondays (it's okay if you can't make every meeting!)

Time: 3:00 - 4:00 pm

Room: A108

Instructor: Mr. Alan Matson

Participants will have the opportunity to compete in the Regional MathCounts Competition at UVM, and the State MathCounts Competition in Randolph!

Laura Wageman (she/her)

Afterschool Site Director, Edmunds Middle School

275 Main St. | Burlington, VT 05401 | 802.355.4062

In science class, we are studying the geologic history of Vermont. We went on a field trip to Redstone Quarry to see rock outcrops which tell us part of Vermont’s story. We used school iPads to document the evidence we found.

In humanities class, we are exploring and celebrating the cultural identities and communities that are represented in art pieces found in our public spaces. We went on a Burlington Mural Walk to provide students with firsthand opportunities to observe, analyze and discuss these public works of art.

In 8th grade, student artists have created a wealth of colorful, textured, inked papers. After looking at the work of the legendary Vermont printmaker Sabra Field, students designed their own landscape collages using this textured paper.

These collages will then be run through a printing press so that the ink can transfer to a new paper, creating a monoprint. The printing press is brand new to the art studio. It's a dream come true to have one in the art room, and we can't wait to show off the final prints.