CVSD Update

Hello CVSD Families and Caregivers,

As I look outside to the lengthening daylight, the more frequently shining sun, and the steadily rising temperatures, spring is right around the corner, and summer is not too far beyond that. With this being my first full year to appreciate the changing of Vermont’s seasons, I am so excited to experience it with my family, especially my children.

First, I would like to recognize that March is Women's History Month. International Women's Day has been commemorated worldwide on March 8th since 1911, and every U.S. President has marked March as Women's History Month since 1995. I would like to thank all of our board members, administrators, faculty, and staff who identify as female for their extensive and continuous contributions to the leadership and learning that takes place in the district every day. Additionally, I celebrate the mothers, grandmothers, and female caregivers supporting our students and our schools. For further information on International Women’s Day or Women’s History Month please visit the Library of Congress’ website.

Next, I would like to provide an update on some of our district-level Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) work. This week and over the next few weeks, I plan to attend Select Board meetings in each of the CVSD towns to inform everyone about the upcoming feedback opportunities for the Equity Audit and the development of the five-year strategic plan. In addition to surveys, there will also be opportunities for students, staff, faculty, and others to participate in focus groups on multiple topics. We will begin interviewing for the DEI director position in several weeks. The job description for the new full-time campus-level DEI staff is currently being designed and will be posted in April.

Finally, our 2022-2023 calendar was approved at this Tuesday’s board meeting. I encourage you to review it. The K-8 calendar can be viewed on our website and the CVU version is coming soon with much of the same structure. Students will have a long summer this year due to our region’s tradition of starting school on the last Wednesday of August. Because of that, the required number of days will send us later into June than this year. As I mentioned in my first paragraph, the approaching summer will be a great introduction for my family to how Vermont celebrates its long summer days. I hope you are looking forward to it as much as I am.

Rene

At this week's CVSD School Board meeting, representatives from Amtrak and the Department of Transportation shared a presentation about the new Amtrak service that will travel through Charlotte and Shelburne on its way to Burlington. Service officially begins in July, however, they have started qualifying and testing runs already.

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.

Our school nurses are definitely among the heroes in our schools, supporting all of us in so many ways. They have answered questions, adjusted to changing guidance, administered tests, coordinated vaccine clinics, and have lent many of us a virtual shoulder to lean on. As things quiet down, please remember that children may get a common cold, strep throat, or have symptoms of seasonal allergies. Our nursing staff is still available to help support students and families with health questions but we encourage you to contact your child’s doctor with health-related questions and concerns first.

A reminder: Students should continue to stay home when sick, regardless of whether or not they have COVID-19. Students may return to school when their symptoms improve.

As with other contagious illnesses, if your child tests positive for COVID-19, we ask that you inform your school’s nurse.

Symptoms of COVID-19 can be mild, moderate or severe and may include: Fever (100.4 °F or higher), cough, shortness of breath or difficulty breathing, chills, fatigue, muscle or body aches, headache, sore throat, new loss of taste or smell, congestion or runny nose, nausea or vomiting, diarrhea

Our schools have a supply of rapid antigen tests to be used at home. If you’d like some, please contact your school’s nurse or your child’s teacher. Additionally, our Health Offices have a supply of LAMP tests (rapid PCRs) that are available for on-site testing for symptomatic students. If your child is home with symptoms and you’d like them to get a LAMP test, please contact your school nurse to coordinate testing. Results of the LAMP test take 30 minutes and are as accurate as the traditional PCR test.

Effective March 14, 2022, the Vermont Department of Health has updated its guidance for Vermonters who have tested positive for COVID-19 and those who have been in close contact with someone who has tested positive for COVID-19.

As of March 14, masks are no longer required in schools. CVSD schools remain mask-friendly. Many of our students and staff must continue to wear masks to protect themselves or loved ones who are at high-risk for severe disease from Covid-19. This is an opportunity for adults and students alike to model kindness, acceptance, and care for the people around them.

The Agency of Education no longer recommends that schools notify parents/caregivers about presumptive contacts. For now, CVSD will continue to notify families/caregivers about positive cases in a classroom or school community. This is to help families with their decision-making and conversations around masks.

As mentioned in previous school newsletters, CVSD is excited to share that we will soon roll out a new communication method for our district and its schools. Families, caregivers, and staff will have the opportunity to opt-in to receive text messages. We promise not to overuse this feature and will not be flooding your mobile phone with text messages.

You can set this up yourself starting now. This flyer shows how easy it is! Your mobile phone number needs to be in PowerSchool for this to work.

For those that don’t set it up yourself, on March 28 we will send a text message out to all phone numbers that we have in PowerSchool. It will come from this short number: 67587. It will look like this:

“Champlain Valley School District alerts. Reply Y 2 confirm, HELP 4 info. Msg&data rates may apply. Msg freq varies. schoolmessenger.com/txt”

You can set this up yourself starting now. This flyer shows how easy it is! Your mobile phone number needs to be in PowerSchool for this to work.

In order for us to move forward, it is important that we have the most current contact information. If you have not yet set up your PowerSchool account, please do so as soon as possible. In addition, once you have set up your PowerSchool account, you will now be able to use the PowerSchool app on your mobile device to complete Annual Update Forms. Please contact your school if you need your initial access ID and password to create the Parent Portal account. The information on this document outlines the necessary steps.

Hello! I’m reaching out to introduce myself and let students, families, and staff know about CVSD’s new Family Outreach Coordinator position. This is a newly created role intended to provide a variety of supports to families experiencing instability or homelessness. My role includes working alongside your school support teams to facilitate access to housing support resources and make sure all members of the community have the information they need to ensure they are in permanent, safe, stable housing. I am available to work with anyone throughout the district who might be experiencing housing instability, is in temporary housing, or is experiencing homelessness in the school district.

There are no requirements to access housing support services in the school district. You do not need to join a program or fill out paperwork; the goal is to make sure the support services are as accessible as possible. You can call with one question and never access services again, or we can work together over a longer period of time that might require more in-depth support services. Every situation is unique and requires an individualized approach which we will figure out together.

You can access housing support services in a few ways. You can reach out to me directly via email at jedavis@cvsdvt.org. You can call me at 802-829-6257, or you can talk to a teacher, school counselor, or school social worker to let them know you are interested in connecting with these services and they will help you connect with me.

I have worked in the housing field in Chittenden County for many years and I look forward to getting to know more about the Champlain Valley School District over the next year. Please do not hesitate to be in touch with any questions.

Thank you!

Jennie Davis

Look for this image on our district and school websites to get to our COVID page.

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 use this form to share a question or comment.

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