CVSD Update

Dear CVSD Families and Caregivers,

Hello Families and Caregivers,

We are approaching the end of the first full month of school and the arrival of the first day of autumn. Up to this point, it has been a great start to the school year. We are so thankful for our faculty, staff, administrators, and others who have enabled schools to open successfully and have greeted students with open arms.

Over the course of the next three weeks, we are asking families to complete the CVSD Panorama Family and School Relationship Survey. This anonymous survey will serve as a platform for you to voice your opinions, share your experiences, and contribute to enhancing your students.

Within CVSD, we are committed to growth and belonging for everyone. Your input will play a pivotal role in helping us identify areas where we excel and where we can make meaningful improvements. Participating in this survey makes you essential to our collective effort to create vibrant and fulfilling learning environments for all our students.

Two holidays are coming soon when the schools will be closed, but our offices will remain open. On September 25, we celebrate Yom Kippur, and on October 9, we will celebrate Indigenous Peoples Day. Between September 15 and October 15, Vermont and the US will recognize National Hispanic Heritage Month.

Thank you so much for reading through this newsletter, for your continued support, and have a wonderful weekend,

Rene Sanchez

Visitors to our schools will see the new image above, which is replacing our previous mission statement.

We have 4 priority areas and a set of objectives under each of priority. We are currently finalizing actions and measures for each objective.

Find more details on the strategic plan page of the district’s website.

CVSD values your feedback and we want to know what you think!

We are currently surveying our families and caregivers to gain insight into your perception of our school and district's effectiveness. To ensure that we continue to provide high-quality, rigorous learning experiences that meet the needs of our learners and prepare them for college, career, and the future, we would love to learn your opinion on the progress towards those ends.

To administer these surveys, we have partnered with Panorama Education to conduct our Fall 2023 Family Survey. Panorama safeguards your privacy, keeping your responses confidential and anonymous. The survey will be a valuable source of information for us as we work to make our schools and our district exemplary.

You may complete the survey online between now and October 13 using a computer, tablet, or smartphone. If you have children in more than one of our schools, we'd appreciate you sharing your thoughts about each separately. Please note: we are not certain that the survey saves if you have to step away while completing it. Please try to fill it out in one sitting. It can be translated into multiple languages in the top left corner.

We thank you in advance for your thoughtful responses. If you have any questions about the survey administration, please don’t hesitate to contact us using Let's Talk and selecting the General Questions topic.

Thank you,

Rene Sanchez, Superintendent

Student Individual Reports for the VTCAP assessments administered in the Spring of 2023 were scheduled to be released on September 19, 2023. We received notification from the Vermont Agency of Education that the release has been delayed by one week. We will continue to keep you updated as we learn more from the AOE. We plan to send the Individual Student Reports home along with an Interpretation Guide for families as soon as we are able.

In the past few weeks, CVSD school counselors and district and school leadership teams worked with representatives from the Howard Center to learn more about suicide prevention. Please see these two flyers for important information.

• Warning Signs
• Safety Measures

Howard Center Suicide Prevention: Information and Resources

Whether you're already familiar with what we do, or this is the first time you’ve heard about us, Connecting Youth is excited to announce the launch of our new website. Consider this website a gateway to learning about our work and mission: promoting a culture that develops in our youth the power and conviction to make healthy choices. From our successful mentoring programs, to prevention education, our mission thrives when all community segments, including YOU, play a role. Designed with you in mind, we invite you to explore this digital hub and discover the impact we have on CVSD youth.

Interested in becoming a mentor, or connecting your child to one of our four Student Assistance Professionals? Or maybe you’re interested in understanding more about how prevention education is integrated into your child’s learning. We hope this site will inform and inspire you and open the door to our support and expertise.

Annual Update Forms MUST be completed in order for your student to participate in field trips and other school events. Forms may be completed on-line or using the PowerSchool Mobile App.

Returning students and anyone who registered their student for this school year before August 1 must fill out the forms.

Use these directions to use the PowerSchool Mobile App Please contact your school if you need assistance in any way.

We request that all families fill out the Free and Reduced Meal application each year as well. Students need healthy meals to learn. The Champlain Valley School District offers healthy meals every school day. In School Year 2023-2024, all students will receive free breakfast and lunch at school. Even though there is no charge for breakfast and lunch, we are asking you to fill out this application for free and reduced-price school meals.

This document provides many of the reasons why it is important to fill out the forms even though meals are free to students this year. Please go to the Free and Reduced Meals page on our website to learn more and to access the online and printable forms.

If you did not receive your eligibility letter for Free & Reduced meals and you would like a copy of it, please contact Stephanie Hurlburt at SHurlburt@cvsdvt.org or 802.985.1925.

The Vermont Department of Health recently shared that it no longer plans to send COVID-19 tests directly to schools and that school nurses can no longer administer COVID-19 tests to students. Please see more in this article from VTDigger

We have heard that the State has made COVID tests available to municipalities, libraries, and food shelves to be distributed for free to the public.

As always, if you are sick, please stay at home. When you feel better, you can return to school. Refer to the Health Services page of our website for the answers to frequently asked questions.

Department of Health Guidelines

Please enroll to receive text messages from the district and/or our schools. 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!

If you've already opted in, there's no need to do it again.

Let’s Talk! makes it easy for you to engage with school and district leaders on the topics that matter most. Your inquiry is automatically routed to the person or team best suited to respond, ensuring you receive timely and accurate responses every time.

Please use this platform to share your questions, feedback, suggestions, and compliments.

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

CVSD's Family and Student Handbook has been updated for the 2023-2024 school year.

We are hiring for a variety of positions for the 2023-2024 school year. Join our team!