CVSD Update

Hello CVSD Families and Caregivers,

I hope that this note and newsletter find you in good spirits, as the school year really seems to be flying by. We are almost to February Break and Town Meeting Day. It really seems like it was just yesterday that the school year was starting. We have newsletter full of information about timely topics and events. Please take some time to consider the information and to provide feedback when needed.

Please note: We’ve enjoyed some unusually warm and sunny weather recently. However, we are closely monitoring the weather for Friday. We are hoping to receive more clarity from forecasts later today. We are also collaborating with the districts around CVSD to gauge their plans to coordinate alignment. If we do make a decision to close or delay, we will let you know as soon as possible.

Strategic Plan

The district’s administration will present the most recent draft of our five-year strategic plan at our February 21 Board meeting. Information about the strategic plan process and a survey to provide feedback on the current draft elements of the plan are available on our website. See the information below in this newsletter for more information. We really hope to hear from you.

Budget

Our school board members and administrators have presented and will continue to present information about the proposed budget to selectboards, parent teacher organizations, rotary clubs, and recently on Town Meeting TV. Please review the information on the budget page of the district’s website. If you have any questions about the budget, contact us via Let’s Talk or plan on attending CVSD’s Annual Informational Meeting at CVU at 5:00 pm on March 6, 2023. (see below for more information)

Black History Month

We are excited to celebrate Black History Month in CVSD. Our DEI coaches are sharing information with their schools from the 2023 Black History Month Series assembled by Vermont’s Office of Racial Equity and Human Rights Commission. Each day in the series there is information about culture, music, history, influential people and movement, and learning opportunities. The link above will take you to the site so you can subscribe to the series and catch up on what has been sent so far.

DEI Shared Definition Committee:

The Feedback committee sessions for the DEI shared vision draft started this week. The first session was conducted on Monday Feb. 13 during the CVSD lead administrator’s monthly meeting. We will have another two sessions in March:

• Williston Schools Parents/Caregivers (March 9th) @ WCS - in the morning.

• CVSD feedback committee (March 15th) @ HCS - 6:00-8:00pm.

The DEI team plan is to finalize work on the shared vision document by April 15, 2023. See below for more information on how you can share your voice.

In just a little more than a week, our district will be closed for the late February vacation week. I hope that you and your family will have time together to refresh for the spring. Hopefully, the weather will cooperate with your plans for the week. Please enjoy the break and stay safe and healthy!

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.

As we near Town Meeting Day, Champlain Valley School District community members and voters have the opportunity to learn more about the proposed 2023-2024 (FY24) budget. Just as we offer opportunities for our students to learn in a variety of ways, we are providing the same to you.

Please attend an in-person presentation, see videos and slides, read articles, or view charts and graphs on the Budget page of the district’s website and in our Annual Report. Find the manner that best suits your style of learning to be an informed voter.

If, after that, you still have questions, reach out to the CVSD School Board cvsdschoolboard@cvsdvt.org or use the School Board or Budget Let’s Talk topics https://www.cvsdvt.org/page/268

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

See the Annual Warning on the budget page of our website for all of the CVSD ballot articles. All eligible residents in Champlain Valley School District towns are encouraged to vote on March 7th or earlier.

• February 16, St. George All Board Meeting
• March 1, Hinesburg Selectboard
• March 6, Shelburne Town Meeting
• March 6, Williston Town Meeting

These presentations are also listed on the Budget page of the district's website.

Calling all 5-year-olds! Kindergarten Awaits!

All CVSD PreK-8 schools have opened our Kindergarten Registration for the 2023-2024 school year. Champlain Valley School District (CVSD) is asking families to register their Kindergartners by February 24th, in an effort to get more accurate enrollment numbers for our schools. These enrollment numbers help us to plan our staffing and scheduling needs for the upcoming school year.

Please contact the school in your town to pre-register your child for the 2023-2024 school year if they will turn 5 years old by September 1, 2023. We will need your child's name, date of birth, parent's names, address(es), phone numbers and email addresses. By February 1st, we will be emailing instructions so you can register your child online through our PowerSchool Parent Portal. The Kindergarten page on the Registration section of the district's website provides more information.

There will be more information coming in early spring. Thank you and we look forward to having your child join us in the fall.

We wanted to let families know that we are seeing an increase in influenza cases (primarily Influenza A) and influenza-like illnesses in all of our school health offices. Students are primarily presenting with headaches, sore throats, body aches and fevers. COVID does continue to circulate in our greater community but it does not appear to be the primary source of illness at this time (we continue to have both antigen and PCR tests available to families--just reach out if you have a need). While we are committed to keeping students in school as much as possible, we also know that sometimes staying home is best for everyone. We encourage families to follow this guidance when navigating when to keep students home.

Please feel free to reach out to your school's health office if you ever have any questions or contact your pediatrician if/when your child is ill.

The CVSD Strategic Planning committee has drafted some elements of the plan and is seeking input from all community members. That includes parents/caregivers, those without children in our schools, faculty/staff, and students.

Please view this set of slides and then use this form to share your thoughts. These links are also available on the Strategic Planning page of the district's website. Please contribute your input by March 3. Thank you!

March 8, 6:30-7:30 pm

Find out about next steps in the process, see the current version of the plan, and provide input. Zoom information will be posted on the Strategic Planning page of the district's website closer to the event.

As a team, the DEI Coaches and Director are working to move forward in the Equity Audit’s first recommendation of creating a shared understanding for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) work at CVSD as well as in each school individually.

Since the beginning of the school year 2022-2023, the DEI coaches at the schools have been working on collecting input from the school communities about what DEI means to them. This input, along with the equity audit report information, and the history of the school district’s DEI work will be used by the DEI team to create a draft document that represents a shared vision for DEI work in our district that will be no more than four pages. The shared vision draft will explain the focus of CVSD DEI work and provide shared definitions for all community members.

As part of this work, we are forming a committee to give us feedback on this document. Our goal is to have 17-20 members on this committee including teachers, students, parents, community, support staff, and admin. This feedback committee will not include CVSD leadership because they will have a separate feedback committee. The committee will share their feedback via email and/or at a 2 hour in-person/hybrid. We will try to provide childcare for this meeting for those that attend in person.

If you are interested in being part of this committee, please contact the DEI coach at your school. If you would like to read the complete Equity Audit report click here.

• February 21: CVSD School Board Meeting 6:30 pm
• February 27 - March 3 - No School, Late Winter Vacation Week
• March 8: CVSD Strategic Planning Virtual Town Hall

Each spring, students in grades 3-9 take a statewide common assessment. Most recently, that assessment has been the SBAC for English Language Arts and Math, and for students in grades 5, 8 and 11, the Vermont Science Assessment.

This year that assessment is changing to the Vermont Common Assessment Program (VTCAP) and will continue to assess students in grades 3 through 9 in English Language Arts and Math and students in grades 5, 8, and 11 in Science. The assessment will continue to be administered online in the spring.

The testing administration window runs from April 12 through May 26. Parents/caregivers will be hearing from your student's school and teachers closer to that time with details about your student's schedule for testing.

These assessments are important measures of individual student progress as well as important indicators for our teams, schools and district about the effectiveness of our teaching practices. However, it is one of many measures we use to report on each student's progress and learning.

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/

Did you know CVSD's Connecting Youth Mentoring Program currently supports 155 amazing youth in grades 5-12? The same number of community mentors volunteer one hour a week to build strong friendships with students, based on trust and having fun together.

This winter, our mentor-mentee pairs have had a blast crafting Valentines for Vets, snowshoeing, playing chess, and baking up a storm. Pairs are eagerly awaiting the annual bowling field trip which is always a highlight event of the year.

So, why mentor? A recent Seven Days article covered Vermont's mentoring programs, citing research on the short and long-term benefits on youth development, "children in mentoring programs are both more likely to graduate and less likely to engage in risky behaviors such as drug or alcohol use."

This March, we'll be hosting a workshop in March for mentors, focused on building youth resilience through mentoring. This workshop will be held in collaboration with the State of Vermont, and we can't wait to see the amazing impact it will have on our program. For more information on mentoring, contact anyone from our CY Staff

This month, we are excited to announce our CVSD and Connecting Youth Vaping Prevention Campaign. Aligned with VT Department of Health's Prevention Week, we are launching a district-wide prevention campaign that will include programs, policies, practices and people.

With this announcement, we are revealing two video assets that will act as key tools for partners, like you, to support the campaign:

• "Let's Talk About Vaping" - Informational video for educators, parents, and caregivers

• "Up In Smoke" - Student video

Please see this document for more information about this important topic.

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.

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

LinkedIn

Instagram @cvsdvt