August 23, 2024
Dear BSD students, families, and staff,
In just a few short days the 2024-2025 school year will begin and students will once again be in all of our buildings! As I made my way around schools this week to visit with teachers and staff, the excitement was palpable. I am so grateful to work in a place where people are excited to come to work and looking forward to being around students.
One of the exciting things I have been sharing with staff is that we are seeing real bright spots in our literacy data. Specifically, our Literably assessment (one of the many ways we measure literacy growth) is showing that we have had a 10 percentage point increase in reading proficiency over the past two years in Grades K-5. This is a huge testament to how hard our teachers, paraeducators, coaches, and school leaders have worked to prioritize student learning, use our new curriculum, and shift teaching practices around literacy. Reading has been one of our key equity and anti-racism goals to set the foundation for deeper learning and I am thrilled to see the progress showing up so clearly. We have plenty of work to do, but it’s really important that we celebrate this bright spot and many other Ms happening in our district!
On a more personal note, this year will be bittersweet for me as I consider my role as a father of students in our schools. First, I no longer have any children in elementary school, as my youngest daughters have stepped up into middle school! Second, in an interesting turn of events, my oldest daughter was recruited to attend a hockey academy in Canada. As a proponent of public education, a big fan of BHS, and her dad(!), it was a difficult decision to support her desire to pursue this opportunity away from home. Ultimately though we decided that it was too big to ignore and the right thing to do to support her dreams. Please know that this decision was in no way a reflection of our schools; time and time again I have said that BSD schools are the best schools I have worked in, and I believe that more than ever today. It will be sad for me sometimes to navigate this year knowing that we won’t be able to share small moments of connection and communication in the halls or her classroom, but I am excited for her to have this opportunity.
Lastly, we are ready to go and eager to see you all next week. I am hugely grateful to our educators, staff, and leaders for everything they have done to get ready for the year. Here we go!
In partnership,
Tom
Student Transportation – BSD has worked out an agreement with GMT that will allow all students to ride GMT buses for free without having to show a student ID! This is a change from previous years and we are excited to make accessing transportation a little bit easier for students and families.
Returning Student Registration – 24-25 Returning Student Registration forms are now open for all students. To maintain the most up-to-date information about our students, each year we ask families to verify and update the information of all returning students. Please complete the Returning Student Registration forms in the PowerSchool Parent Portal no later than August 26, 2024 (and if you have 10 minutes to complete this today, that would be great!). You can complete the Returning Student Registration on a computer or you can download the PowerSchool Parent app on your mobile phone. Need help logging into your Parent Portal Account? This video will walk you through the process. You can also reach out directly to your school’s administrative assistant. Thank you for your help completing these forms before school starts!
Hiring – Please join us in welcoming our new elementary teachers!!! We are thrilled to have you all in BSD.
As we gear up these next few days, here’s a friendly reminder that there is still time to “Join the Journey” in BSD! Check it out:
Associate Director of Teaching & Learning: https://bsdvt.tedk12.com/hire/ViewJob.aspx?JobID=3008
Athletic Liaisons: https://bsdvt.tedk12.com/hire/ViewJob.aspx?JobID=3037
Occupational Therapist: https://bsdvt.tedk12.com/hire/ViewJob.aspx?JobID=3039
Secondary Special Education Paraeducator: https://bsdvt.tedk12.com/hire/ViewJob.aspx?JobID=3029
Middle School Special Education Paraeducator: https://bsdvt.tedk12.com/hire/ViewJob.aspx?JobID=2979
Elementary School Special Education Paraeducator: https://bsdvt.tedk12.com/hire/ViewJob.aspx?JobID=2897
School Psychologist: https://bsdvt.tedk12.com/hire/ViewJob.aspx?JobID=2864
Special Education Homebound Instructor: https://bsdvt.tedk12.com/hire/ViewJob.aspx?JobID=2865
AND MORE! Check out all of our open positions and apply today! https://bsdvt.tedk12.com/hire/index.aspx
School Safety Drills – As part of our ongoing work to keep our schools, and in accordance with the VT Agency of Education (AOE) requirements, all BSD schools will practice a variety of State required-emergency preparedness exercises throughout the year:
- Fire drill/evacuation drills where the whole community exits the school.
- Relocation drills, with a complete evacuation of the building where people move to an established relocation space.
- Options-based response protocol to an active threat (Run, Hide, Fight).
The options-based drill discussions are mandated by the AOE and federal agencies and are designed to empower staff with options using their Situational Awareness during an active threat. For us, this means teachers will be leading age and grade-appropriate discussions about what it looks like to keep yourself and your community safe in an emergency. The practice, which will begin with an announcement that the school is going into a lockdown drill over the intercom, is intentionally designed to be as low-stress an activity as possible for both adults and students, and to not cause any harm. Again this year, BSD is using a District-wide approach to drills by practicing them during the same week at every school (a draft schedule is linked above). Families will be informed which drill will occur during which week, but not the exact day or time, as per the guidance of the AOE and School Safety Center.
Cell Phone Use in Schools- This year we will have new cell phone procedures at BHS and Eagle Bay, and updated guidelines at BTC, that bring consistent expectations around phone use and clarify the expectation that phones are not in use during instructional time. To create these, we drew upon our work in this area in middle schools, where we set these expectation last year. BHS also surveyed families, staff, and students, and I believe we are taking a measured, appropriate, and needed first step with these procedures and that this will be a big step for our schools and set our students up for success. Be on the lookout for the new procedures if you haven’t seen them already!
Calendar Handbooks – The 2024-2025 Calendar and Family Handbook has been printed and will be delivered to schools on Monday! We will work hard to make sure you get a copy next week. In the meantime, you can find an electronic version of this on your school’s calendar webpage.
Code of Conduct Updated – The Restorative Code of Conduct has been updated based on feedback received and administrator experiences over the last school year.
Facilities Update –
BHS/BTC If you haven’t driven down North Ave lately, do yourself a favor and check it out! In the next few weeks, we will celebrate the completion of the steel superstructure with a steal beam “Topping Off Ceremony” sponsored by Whiting-Turner. They will have the final beam delivered in the next week and will invite the community to sign it before it goes into place. Stay tuned for more details!
PCB Reimbursement – Based on representations from the Department of Environmental Conservation, we anticipate that we will receive the full $16m when the reimbursement process is complete. We have already received $13.8m of these funds and are in the process of submitting additional expenses resulting from the work of our environmental consultants!
Track and Field The track and field project is off schedule due in part to the recent flooding that hit VT. Most of the state’s trucking capacity was diverted to road rebuilding efforts. As a result, the Athletics Department is working to find alternate locations for practices and games including using spaces in other districts, at our middle schools, and the fields located at Starr Farm Road.
St. Marks and IAA The move of IAA into St Marks has been very busy, with lots of unpacking and furniture moving. The playground is in place along with the new fence. We were able to salvage all of the top rails and enough metal fabric of the fence from the HS track to build the fence at St. Marks!
HMS The renovation of the former Home Economics room at Hunt is looking great. We were able to salvage a unit ventilator from IAA and the folding wall from the old high school to support this project!
EMS The HVAC project at Edmunds for the Band and Chorus looks great! The new ceilings, lights, and carpet have been installed. This is a huge improvement for the air quality and comfort of these spaces.
IAA The IAA project is on schedule. The abatement work in the 1963 wing is nearly complete. The wells are complete and the stormwater work has begun!
DT BHS We have completed many small but important security upgrades in the form of local door alarms and rekeying of door alarm units. In addition, we are implementing new safety procedures for checking and inspecting exterior and interior doors.
Eagle Bay Academy We are putting the finishing touches on Eagle Bay Academy, which will open the week after Labor Day! The spaces are looking great, we have completed the website, and a new logo for Eagle Bay Academy has been selected… check it out!
Music Drives Us – BTC’s Digital Media Lab teacher, Jason Raymond, received a $10,000 Music Drives Us grant to continue his efforts to make connections with middle students who are interested in music and music production through his Make Music club. The Make Music Club is in partnership with BSD’s Expanded Learning Opportunities and hosted at BTC with Future Fields Recording Studio. Middle school students are mentored by professional audio producers, and supported in their audio production work by high school students from the Digital Media Lab (DML) program. The funding from Music Drives Us will be used to provide additional equipment for this program (specifically multi-input audio interfaces, hardware for sampling and beat making, and additional headphones and cabling). Funding from Music Drives Us will also be used to pilot a new initiative with Future Fields Recording Studio to develop a semester-long artist and producer apprenticeship cohort, developing mentoring with professional audio producers and artists to benefit students in areas of artistic, technical, and relational development.
ELO Afterschool Updates – All ELO Site Director and Assistant Site Director positions are filled for the start of the school year! While we are still looking for additional Core Staff (search for afterschool here!), all afterschool programs are set to start on the first day of school EXCEPT for kindergarten, which starts on Tuesday, September 3rd, the day after Labor Day.
Summer Meals – Between June 26 and August 16, the Burlington School Food Project will have served over 25,000 meals (breakfasts, lunches, snacks and suppers) to the children of Burlington! We worked with many longtime community partners and had some area farms provide some of our produce too! All these meals were produced from two of our schools. Great job team!!!
All-Stars – The Burlington American Little Leaguers won the Vermont State 10-12 year old tournament. They traveled to Connecticut to play in the regional tournament this week. It was a lifetime achievement for the players involved.
Champlain Book Club – Family members are participating in a book club with Principal Resteghini, reading How to be an Antiracist. This experience, the importance of the topics discussed, and the reflection involved has been important and looks to widen the circle of folks committed to this work in our community.
BTC UPDATES
BTC’s high school and adult aviation programs hosted an aviation camp in conjunction with our community partner, Vermont Works for Women. Rising 8th and 9th graders were introduced to aspects of aviation maintenance, visited Heritage Aviation and BETA Technologies, and ended their week by flying with the Vermont Flight Academy! We plan to expand the camp in the summer of 2025.
Health Sciences and Introduction to Health Care students attended the HOSA Future Health Professionals International Leadership Conference and Competitions in Houston, TX from June 6/25 to 6/30. It was a week packed with medicine-related workshops, exhibits, and keynote speakers. Students also qualified to compete by winning the Vermont competitions at UVM back in March. They competed against students from across the country, and as far away as China and South Korea, in the following categories: Pathophysiology, Medical Terminology, Research Display, Prepared Speaking, Behavioral Health, Nursing Care, Health Career Display.
