CVSD Update

Hello CVSD Families and Caregivers,

I hope that you and yours have enjoyed a most wonderful summer. As I begin my second year as the Champlain Valley School District’s Superintendent, it is proving to be as exciting as it is compelling. Thanks to our board, my colleagues from CVSD, and the Vermont Superintendent’s Association, I have learned a great deal about our district and about Vermont. I continue to grow and learn and am excited to start another year at CVSD. Over the summer, we welcomed many new members to our leadership team. Check out some of the new faces in our district. I am thrilled to welcome them and have already enjoyed getting to know and working with them in the past few weeks.

I am excited to share that our five-year strategic planning process is getting underway. We are creating opportunities to learn from our community and other stakeholders. As we develop this strategic plan, there are topics with which we are already engaged that are meant to serve each and every student, as well as teachers and staff members. These will serve as the core of the plan. Some of the topics include teaching and learning, diversity, equity, and inclusion (including our upcoming equity audit report), social-emotional learning, proficiency-based learning, flexible pathways, and many others. See the additional information below to learn about how you can get involved in the strategic planning process.

Also in this newsletter, you’ll find an update on COVID-19 considerations from the Vermont Department of Health and the Agency of Education. The state has not shifted its COVID-19 guidance from the spring very much. We will keep everyone informed should the landscape change. We remain dedicated to ensuring that our students and staff are safe and healthy. As always, our district and its campuses are mask-friendly environments.

There will be many opportunities to engage with the district this year, whether it’s with strategic planning meetings, our monthly virtual Town Hall meetings for diversity, equity and inclusion (even-numbered months) and strategic plan (odd-numbered months), our budgeting process, and the many campus-level outreach events that will occur regularly for the first time in several years. We hope that you will take advantage of these opportunities and engage with the CVSD community in a variety of ways. I look forward to seeing you at these events or others that will happen throughout the year.

Our buildings are almost ready, buses are clean and routes are mapped, menus are being planned, and technology is up to date. I sincerely thank the folks in and around our schools who have been hard at work all summer preparing for everyone to return. We are eager and excited to welcome students, and you, back to our schools!

I hope that you have a fun and relaxing remainder of the summer and a safe, healthy, engaging, and enjoyable school year.

Thank you so much,

Rene Sanchez, Superintendent

Champlain Valley School District

CVSD is embarking on a strategic planning process. We'll kick that off with an informational event to help folks know how they might get involved in the process. Please join us on Thursday, August 25 at 6:00 in CVU's library. Fill out this short survey to let us know if you can come and if you're interested in getting involved in some way.

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.

Our DEI director, Dr. Asma Abunaib provided this update.

We have hired the campus-based DEI coaches and they have been assigned to the schools. The DEI team will have 2 days of foundational training to develop a unified approach and framework for the year. The Equity Audit report will be concluded in September and we will use the recommendations to guide our work plan.

Campus-based DEI Coaches:

• Ainaka Luna will be working at both Hinesburg Community School and Charlotte Central School
• Bageshree Blasius and Christina Deeley will continue their work at Champlain Valley Union High School
• Lashawn Sells will be working at Shelburne Community School
• Michael Fife will be working at the Williston schools, both Allen Brook School and Williston Central School

In order to keep them safe, it is important that we have updated and accurate information about each and every student. If you are a parent/caregiver of a PreK-8 student, please take the time to log into your PowerSchool Parent Portal account and navigate to the “Forms” icon on the left-hand toolbar to review, update and submit the following forms for each of your children by August 19th. Click here for detailed instructions if needed.

Please note that your submission of the Health and Permissions forms are required before your child may participate in any off-site field trips.

1. Annual Student Contact Updates

2. Annual Student Health Update (required for field trip participation)

3. Annual Student Permissions Update (required for field trip participation)

4. Annual Student Transportation Update

If you have a child attending CVU, please note that the CVU Parent Portal will not open until 8/22. At that time, please update your CVU student’s forms as soon as possible!

(PreK is for those students physically attending our schools.)

If you have questions about how to access your Parent Portal account or how to submit the forms please contact your school directly.

Even though all meals will be free this year to all students it is very important to fill out an application for free and reduced meal benefits. There are many benefits to families including P-EBT funds that are tied directly to the applications. Our school district is also able to provide many services that are funded by grants tied to these applications. Read more about how it benefits you and the district in other ways.

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!

The Flynn is excited to present a new community project called Playing Fields, a free multimedia event held at local schools. Playing Fields is a "welcome back" party after the summer months that also celebrates schools as community centers. This project brings together music and public theater in an open field to create an exciting, communal atmosphere where students, teachers, staff, administrators, families, friends, neighbors, and anyone else in the community can join in the fun. This inaugural event features live music by the energetic world-music band Red Baraat and a simultaneous performance by the mysterious, luminous Birdmen, a large-scale street theater exhibition from the Dutch company Close-Act.
September 6 from 6:00-9:00 pm. at CVU

CVSD recently rolled out a new feature on our website in the spring. This is a communication tool for faculty/staff, students, families, and community members.

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

We've just added topics specific to each school. Please use this method to share your questions, feedback, suggestions, and compliments.

We invite folks from all of our communities to share kudos for a teacher, staff member, administrator, or anything or anyone having to do with our schools. These can be shared at any time and will be forwarded to the appropriate recipient. Look for the CVSD Kudos topic!

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

The new Amtrak service now travels through Charlotte and Shelburne on its way to Burlington.

It is critical that we all work together to educate everyone about track safety, especially students and young drivers. Stay Off the Tracks provides more information about the increased need for safety.

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.

Email: cvsdcommunication@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