Dear BSD Community,
Welcome Back to School!
It was so great to welcome students and families back yesterday. Since my first year teaching in 1999, I still get a little nervous before school starts. I wonder what the year will be like and how everything will go. But on the first day, that nervousness turns into excitement, joy, and hope. I felt that again yesterday as I gave high-fives to students at IAA, who were returning to a beautifully renovated building full of clean air and natural light. I feel very lucky to lead, work, and parent in a place like Burlington, where we value and invest in education so deeply.
This past week, as I welcomed our staff back and felt a strong, positive energy in every building. We looked at data showing that more families feel a sense of belonging and care. In fact, 88% of families said their school cares about their child’s well-being! We also reviewed student behavior data, which showed that suspensions are way down. Even more important, we’ve eliminated the gap in suspension rates for students of the global majority. This has been a goal of the District for decades, and the progress we saw last year is thanks to the hard work and commitment of our educators and school leaders – they are putting our anti-racist, restorative commitments into action. It’s also because our community supports our work. Thank you!
This year, we’ll keep focusing on belonging and well-being, and we’ll continue using restorative practices to build strong, caring, and relationship-based communities. And we’re also going to increase our focus on deeper learning across the District. We’ve co-created a learning framework with the help of students, educators, and school leaders to help us make sure that every student feels challenged, empowered, and fully engaged in their education.
I hope to see you soon, and I’d love for you to join me at Playing Fields on September 12th (more below).
Sincerely,
Tom
School Safety – While we are all excited for the first days and weeks of school, I know many of you are thinking about the two students who died and many others who were injured in another senseless school shooting yesterday in Minnesota. I know that school safety is in all of our minds. I want to assure you that we continue to keep safety at the forefront of all we do in BSD. In addition to having secure doors, requiring identification, safety drill schedules, safety teams at every school, and regular district-wide safety meetings, we have also entered into a new Operational Understanding Agreement between BSD and BPD. Our partnership with the BPD is very important, and this agreement strengthens our relationship and communication channels to ensure our schools are safe.
Options-based Drills – In addition to the items mentioned above, we will also hold our third annual District-wide School Safety Week from September 15-19. This week allows us to connect with every student around bullying, hazing, and harassment, to practice our drills, and get refamiliarized with our standard responses and our options-based responses (Run, Hide, Fight) to crises. Please see this document to learn more about our student-centered and restorative approach to teaching options-based responses. Hopefully, this helps reassure you that we are taking safety seriously every day.
Bus Drivers Needed! Burlington, we need your help! Join our team helping students get to and from school safely and earn between $30-$34 an hour… Apply today!
Returning Student Registration – We are only a few weeks into launching Returning Student Registration (RSR), and we are doing great. 60% of all student forms have been received, with SA families leading the way with a 77% completion rate. Please help us get to 100% by completing these forms in the PowerSchool Parent Portal today if you haven’t already.
Pride Parade – We’re excited to let you know that BSD will once again participate in the Pride Vermont 2025 Parade on Sunday, September 7th! This year’s theme is “Power in Resilience”, and we can’t wait to see how you bring it to life. For now, here are details:
Lineup Location: St. Paul Street between Main & College (same as last year)
Lineup Time: 10:00 AM – 12:00 PM (Look for HMS Assistant Principal Megan Munson-Warnken!)
Parade Start: 12:00 PM
Playing Fields! Join us on September 12 at 6:00pm for another edition of the Playing Fields Project! Our fourth annual collaboration with The Flynn will be held at Edmunds this year and will feature Les Girafes, created by Compagnie OFF, an exciting and dynamic street theater troupe from France. Playing Fields is a free back-to-school celebration presented by the Flynn and BSD. Bring your friends and family to Edmunds Elementary & Middle School for an awe-inspiring evening of circus and giant puppets.
Family Handbook and Wall Calendar – This year’s family handbook and wall calendar is at schools and should be headed home with your students this week. Please remember you can always ask your school for another calendar, and you can find the digital version here.
Cell Phones in our Schools – The State of Vermont passed a new law last spring that will make all schools across the state cell phone-free by the 2025–26 school year. We’re proud that our district was one of the first in Vermont to set and enforce school-wide cell phone restrictions at the high school level in 2024–25. As a result, we saw a clear improvement in student engagement and a drop in behavior issues. For example, suspensions at BHS went down from 51 to just 15 last year, and the cell phone policy played a role in that progress. BHS will continue using the same procedures this year and is on track to be fully phone-free by the 2025–26 school year. Our middle and elementary schools will remain fully phone-free and have updated their procedures and communication with families about how they handle cell phone procedure violations.
Board Meeting Documents Moving to Diligent – BSD is using a new website to host Board Meeting agendas and minutes, and to warn meetings when they are scheduled. Check it out!
Central Office Roles and Responsibilities – This year’s version of our Roles and Responsibilities document is complete. If you have questions about job responsibilities or who does what, this will help. Please take a look and let me know if you have any questions.
IAA is Open! In case you missed it, IAA students recently returned to the building after a $17 million renovation closed the school for the last year. Students, families, and staff celebrated the grand reopening during a Ribbon-Cutting this week. Big thanks to WCAX, WPTZ, and MyChamplainValley for joining us!
Leadership Updates – I am thrilled to announce that current EMS Assistant Principal Antony Dennis will be the interim principal of Sustainability Academy beginning this September. He is stepping into the role to help us while Principal Oropeza takes maternity leave from SA. At EMS, Amanda Gustafson will be the Interim Assistant Principal for EMS for the 2025–26 school year. As many of you know, Amanda is a skilled and dedicated BSD educator with a deep connection to EMS and a strong commitment to equity, student well-being, and fostering a sense of belonging. I hope you will join me in thanking Antony and Amanda for stepping up during this time!
BSD Athletics – Athletics Registration will now be completed through PowerSchool. Registration is now open and can be accessed when you are registering your children for school – now a one-stop shop for our families. Instructions attached. There’s still time for high school students to join teams! Check out Athletics Newsletter #2
Congrats Sam Jackson! On June 26th, the Vermont School Custodial & Maintenance Association honored long-time Champlain custodian Sam Jackson as Facilities Person of the Year! Joe R. gave a beautiful speech and presented Sam with the award in front of a crowd of about 275 people. Sam received a standing ovation and lots of love from the many Champlain and BSD folks in attendance. We are lucky to have Sam in our district and are very proud of his achievement.
BHS Students Grow Skills & Give Back Through VYCC Partnership – This summer, about 15 Burlington High School students participated in programs through the Vermont Youth Conservation Corps (VYCC), combining hands-on learning with meaningful service to the community. Through two four-week sessions, students in the Farm Crew program learned sustainable agriculture practices—preparing beds, planting, weeding, harvesting, and processing chickens. The food they grew, produced using organic methods, was packaged into healthcare farm shares for individuals whose medical conditions benefit from fresh, healthy food. Meanwhile, four Burlington High School Students took part in the Conservation Crew, partnering with Burlington Parks & Recreation to improve local green spaces. Their primary project—constructing and renovating a bog bridge in the Burlington Arms Forest—enhanced trail access while helping to protect sensitive wetland ecosystems.
These programs not only provided practical skills but also encouraged teamwork, problem-solving, and leadership. The experiences gained this summer will serve students well in school, future work, and beyond.
BHS Student Donates 500 Boxes of Legos – From the UVM Children’s Hospital Facebook page: The building blocks of fun and healing. On Friday, Niko Chernyshov and fellow Scouts from Troop 611 in South Burlington, Vermont, made a huge donation to UVM Children’s Hospital: 500 boxes of new Legos! Niko collected the Legos as part of his Eagle Scout Project. But it’s also a personal mission for Niko, who has been undergoing cancer treatment and knows how much it can mean to do something fun and creative at a really difficult time. Play can be a foundation for emotional well-being and resilience. We’re grateful for Niko’s thoughtful donation, which will help brighten the day for our patients and their families.
