Hello Everyone and Happy Weekend,

I am sure that you and your family are getting excited about the end of October, Halloween weekend, and the trajectory towards the Thanksgiving holiday. As the days get shorter, the nights get longer, and the weather gets colder, I look forward to learning about the many different ways I might enjoy what Vermont’s winter offers.

First, to keep learning from and engaging with the community, I will begin holding engagement events every other Wednesday morning starting in November. My plan is to find a coffee or food establishment in each of the five towns to meet with community members from 7:15 to 8:30 am. We have several ideas for the meeting places and will release a full schedule once they are solidified. These events are designed to learn more from the community about our district and to share our budget planning and goal-setting processes.

As a reminder, Angela Arsenault, Board Chair, Kelly Bowen, Board Vice-Chair, and I will host a CVSD Virtual Community Budget Forum on Wednesday, October 27, beginning at 7:00 pm. This forum is the annual meeting where we speak about the yearly budget process, focus areas, and timeline. The Zoom information is posted on our website, is included below in this newsletter, and can be found here as well.

As you may know, October is National Principal’s month. Our principals at CVSD do a fantastic job each day to keep our students safe and create learning environments and opportunities for students to become the best possible version of themselves. Should you see them at school or in the community, please thank and honor them for their work for our schools, our students, and our community.

I want to update you on our diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) work in the district. Five of our campus-based diversity, equity, and inclusion coaches resigned from their coach roles two weeks ago. Immediately after receiving word of their resignation, I met with them collectively to learn more about their concerns and then followed up the next week with individual meetings. In the process, it was evident that there was difficulty implementing their assignment due to its nature as an extra duty instead of being their primary role.

The central learning for this event is the need to expand the number and diversity of people, groups, and locations from whom we can listen and learn. Based on the information that we gather, we will be able to recalibrate the DEI coaches’ current role for this year in order to solidify the position for the future. It is also important to know that the learning and listening does not stop, it is a collaborative journey. I will need to listen to the perspectives of the schools, the coaches, and the community. Please know that DEI work is still taking place at the district and school levels; it has not stopped. That being said, to return to the district-wide planning and implementation operations level, we will be posting the DEI coach position openings soon.

I next would like to update you on two other DEI activities with information about our Director position and the Equity Audit. First, our DEI Director position has been posted and advertised since October 12. We will leave the posting up until November 12. Once we have the complete list of applicants, we will begin reviewing the applications we have received. Our goal is to hold several rounds of interviews held by a committee, including students, community members, principals, and central office members. Ideally, we would like to have the director in place in January to further the work begun by our coaches, our campuses, and Dr. Rodriguez and start planning for the summer’s and next year’s work.

The organization we have selected for our Equity Audit will be announced very soon as we finalize the terms and scope of the contract. Once the contract is signed, we will schedule an internal project kick-off meeting to share and provide needs and goals for the equity audit with the company. Next, the company will begin analyzing data and meeting with stakeholders to get a view of the district and our current baseline for the implementation of our equity policy. The process will take place over several months. After we sign the contract, we will post the complete timeline.

Thank you so much for your support of our schools and our district. Have a wonderful weekend.

In our last newsletter, we outlined some of the proposed COVID testing programs that the Agency of Education is seeking to implement in schools. We wanted to take this opportunity to provide a bit of clarity around that information, as it is changing rapidly. We are very excited about this news and changes to the contact tracing guidelines that were released this week. These will have a beneficial impact on our work going forward.

Currently, CVSD is focused on preparing to implement the “test-to-stay” program, because we believe that program is the most critical for keeping students in school. Its goal is to decrease the need for students to stay home from school should they be considered a close contact of a person with a positive test result. This could also reduce the amount of time and the impact of contact tracing on school personnel.

Please understand that the test-to-stay program is not in place yet. We are aware that the Agency of Education has shared information at press conferences about the pending implementation of this program; however, we don't have a specific date for the arrival of the supplies to implement Test-to-Stay from the Agency of Education. The AOE is also working on a process through which families/caregivers will provide consent for students to participate. We are hopeful that we will have more information for you about both aspects of this, perhaps sometime next week.

In the meantime, our schools are working on understanding and developing the logistics to get started once the other details are in place. Some of those include when the tests would take place daily (as needed), where at each school this would happen, where students might wait until the results are in, who administers the tests, and more.

We will provide more information to families and caregivers as soon as it becomes available!

The following quote is from Dr. Leah Costello, a Vermont pediatrician and CVSD parent:

Who will be eligible for the test-to-stay program? Test-to-stay is NOT for those who ARE vaccinated. It IS for unvaccinated individuals who are identified as close contacts of a positive COVID case.

How will it work? If a student is deemed a close contact of a positive COVID case and they are NOT vaccinated, they will have the option to participate in the test-to-stay program. After obtaining consent from a parent/caregiver, schools will test that student with an antigen test before they go to the classroom every day for 7 days.

How long does it take to get test results? We have been told that it takes about 15 minutes to obtain the result of the test. Students will need to stay in a special area until the results are in.

What happens after the results come in? Students who test negative will go to class. Students who test positive will be sent home to quarantine and take a PCR test.

What if a family decides NOT to participate in the test-to-stay program? Those individuals would need to follow the regular quarantine protocol- stay home for 7 days and then get a negative COVID PCR test, or stay home for 14 days with no symptoms and then return to school.

Quarantine information from the Vermont Department of Health

What about learning experiences for those who choose NOT to participate in test-to-stay? If this option is selected, students will have a choice of grade-appropriate online lessons available but will not be receiving support from their classroom teacher. The class will be taking place in-person for those who are selecting the test-to-stay program.

How can I find out more about Test-to-Stay? We have scheduled a virtual Town Hall with local pediatricians and health professionals. This is scheduled for Thursday, October 28th at 7:00 pm. See below for more information.

As of October 21, 2021, the Vermont Agency of Education updated the definition of close contacts. Outlined in this memo, we have new guidelines for determining when a student is identified as a close contact. We will use these guidelines going forward.

The goals of this revision are to:

• keep students in school as much as possible,

• reduce transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in school settings, and

• streamline contact tracing processes, making them less burdensome to implement while maintaining student and staff safety.

The definition of close contact for students in school settings is updated to the following:

• Within 3 feet of an infected person for a total of 15 minutes or more over a 24-hour period. This update is based on findings from other states that find this definition results in low levels of transmissions in school settings.

• In cases where students are younger and moved around in the same indoor space making it difficult to know how close students were to the contact, then a close contact is considered students in the same classroom/pod for 4 or more hours.

• Schools may use the above definitions as long as universal masking is in effect; masks must be used correctly and consistently.

Vaccinated Students*

In situations where:

• the entire student population is eligible for vaccination; AND

• the school’s fully vaccinated rate is 80% or greater (as defined by the Immunization Registry (IMR) as applicable)

The school should not conduct contact tracing. See the memo for more information on this situation. *At this time, this only applies to CVU.

Outdoor Exposure

Outdoor environments are generally low-risk. Schools should not contact trace close contacts of cases that occurred outdoors.

School Bus

School busses can be challenging environments for accurate contact tracing, creating a significant burden. Schools should only contact trace the seatmate of a case, if known. Schools should enforce assigned seating in order to make identifying the seatmate of close contacts easier. It is strongly recommended that schools require busses to operate with windows open to increase ventilation.

Lunchroom

It is strongly recommended that schools continue to reinforce assigned seating, or eating in classrooms. The use of seating charts is highly recommended for elementary students. For high school and middle school students, students should be asked who they sat with. Schools should maintain a 3-6 ft. distance between students eating whenever possible.

Indoor Recess and Indoor PE

Outdoor recess is strongly encouraged whenever possible. Indoor recess should be reserved only for those occasions where severe weather or low temperatures prohibit outdoor recess. Indoor recess should be restricted to classrooms or pods

The CVSD School Board encourages you to get involved and share what’s on your mind as we begin the budget development process for the 2022-2023 school year. This budget will be presented to voters before and on Town Meeting Day, March 1, 2022. We invite you to join us in the process.

There are at least 3 ways to get involved:

• Please share your thoughts to help inform our work around developing the budget in this Thoughtexchange between now and October 31. After adding your thoughts, visit it a few times to see and rate new thoughts that have been added.

• Please consider attending the CVSD Virtual Community Budget Forum on Wednesday, October 27th at 7:00. This will be a virtual forum with an introduction by Board Chair Angela Arsenault and Superintendent Rene Sanchez. Following that, the community is invited to share their thoughts and engage in discussion around budget priorities. Zoom information can be found on the district's website and below.

• All CVSD community members are also welcome to join all School Board meetings, especially those focused on the development of the proposed budget. See the Budget webpage for more information and the dates of those meetings.

PowerSchool - Creating Parent Accounts AND Updating Forms
We'd like to thank everyone again who has created their PowerSchool Parent Portal account and who has completed all forms.

• Some folks created their account, but didn't fill out the forms yet. Log in and look on the left for the Forms link. Please fill out all of the forms! It doesn't take long; you know the information needed about your child(ren).
• If you haven't created your portal account yet, please do and then complete the forms. If you need another copy of the letter with the initial login information, please contact your school.

It is very important that we have the most current and up-to-date information to support your child and reach you. Thank you for your help. Contact your school if you need assistance with this process.

A: If your child is sick with ANY symptoms, please do not send them to school. In order to return to school, your child will need a PCR test before returning to school. While antigen tests are quick and convenient, there is a range of reliability and are not accepted at this time to clear a child with symptoms to return to school. Please let your school nurse know that your child is being tested and let them know when you get your results.

Q: What are the symptoms that I need to have my child tested for?

A: Fever, cough, shortness of breath, sore throat, runny nose, loss of smell/taste, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, fatigue, muscle aches, and/or headache

Q: My child is fully vaccinated, do they still need a test?

A: Yes, even if your child is fully vaccinated, they need to get a PCR test if they are experiencing COVID symptoms. They need to stay home until they get their negative PCR results.

Q: Where can I go to get a PCR test?

A: You can get a test by calling your child's pediatrician or scheduling through the Vermont Department of Health. Most PCR tests take about 48 hours to get results when done by the Department of Health. Tests done at Fanny Allen (ordered by your pediatrician) can come back quicker but it may take longer for you to get an appointment.

Please contact your school nurse if you have any questions or need help. See the resources below for additional information.

Reach out using any of the methods below or use this form to share a question.

Email: cvsdinformation@cvsdvt.org
Website: https://www.cvsdvt.org/
Location: 5420 Shelburne Road, Shelburne, VT, USA
Phone: (802) 383-1234
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ChamplainValleySchoolDistrict
Twitter: @cvsdvt