Superintendent's Message
Violet Nichols
March 21, 2024
Dear Parents/Guardians and Staff,
It’s officially spring, even though it has not looked like it this week! Along with the new buds trying to poke their way through the snow, some new hires will be starting in the coming months and I wanted to share those details.
I’m pleased to announce that Jody Vaillancourt will be our new Executive Director of Learning beginning July 1st. Jody is currently the Curriculum Coordinator for Literacy and has facilitated the process of reviewing, evaluating, and piloting comprehensive literacy programs for grades K-5. She has selected a common assessment to monitor student progress with reading foundational skills such as decoding, fluency, and comprehension and trained all K-5 teachers to administer and score it. She has also provided professional development and instructional resources for all K-5 teachers for evidence-based instructional practices aligned with structured literacy and worked with middle and high school teachers to coordinate curriculum as required by the VT Education Quality Standards. Finally, she collaborated with K-12 literacy specialists to refine progress monitoring of intervention cycles.
Her goals in her new role include implementing a common K-5 comprehensive, districtwide literacy program with integrity, ensuring a coordinated curriculum in all content areas establishing an ongoing curriculum review cycle, creating a multi-year plan for professional learning that will be aligned to institutional goals and collaborating with administrators to ensure an effective Multi-Tiered System of Supports. Congratulations Jody!
This news is bittersweet as it also means saying goodbye to our current Executive Director of Learning at the end of this school year when she relocates to Florida to be with her family. Alysia Backman has worked for South Burlington School District for 20 years and will be greatly missed.
2024-2025 District Calendar
We have made further adjustments to the district calendar due to a need to align with the region and the board approved it last night. You can see the full 2024-2025 calendar here.
Here is an At-A-Glance calendar for 2024-2025 that shows key dates for the year.
You can find these calendars as well as the current year’s district calendar on the website.
FY25 Budget
We have been continuing to share information about the revised budget with staff and the community with this presentation. It outlines the reductions we will be making for the new budget of $69,530,000 and a tax rate increase of 14.5%.
This chart shows the Full Time Equivalent (FTE) changes made for the March 5th budget. With that budget, we had anticipated an addition of 0.6 FTEs. You can see that in column 2. After the vote, we made additional adjustments and reduced an additional 4.4 FTEs (column 3). Those combined actions bring us to a net reduction of 3.8 FTEs across all five schools and at the district level compared to the current FY24 budget (column 4).
This chart shows the non-FTE changes across the district, which make up the balance of the reductions.
The re-vote will take place on Thursday, April 4th. If you requested an early ballot for March 5th, you do not need to request a new one; one will be sent to you. You can do that here if you have not yet registered to vote.
Teachers who are interested in placing calls to community members the night before the vote can reach out to Geoffrey Bennett (gbennett@sbschools.net)
We will be holding a pre-vote hearing at the April 3rd board meeting (similar to the Pre Town Meeting Day meeting at City Hall). I will share more details on that soon.
School Board Update
There is still a week to submit your application for the open school board seat. Candidates can apply now and will be interviewed by the board during an open board meeting on April 3rd. Board members will then discuss the candidates in an executive session immediately following, then return to an open session to announce their decision.
Applications are available at www.sbschools.net/schoolboard. They will be due no later than 4 pm on March 27th. Please send to Delina Gilroy at dgilroy@sbschools.net. Applications received after that time will not be accepted.
Orchard Principal Search
First interviews for the new Orchard principal will be held on Monday, March 25, 2024, and Monday, March 26th from 9:00 - 3:30 pm. The second round of interviews will occur on April 1st and will include site visits.
A community forum will take place on April 2nd. Candidate 1 will be interviewed at 5 pm, Candidate 2 will be interviewed at 6 pm and Candidate 3 will be interviewed at 7 pm. These will be held via Zoom and Zoom links will follow when we closer to the date.
In advance of the forums, we are looking for feedback from the community. Please fill out this survey by Monday, March 25th at 5 pm.
OR Community Forum Questions Form
Final interviews will then be held on April 5th.
FHTMS Principal Search
We are looking for a new principal for the start of the 2024-2025 school year. The full job description can be found here. The committee will aim to bring a recommendation to the school board by April 17th. I invite everyone to apply to join the search committee. Applications are due by March 22nd at 4 pm.
All relevant dates are included in that form. I know this is a big time commitment, so we wanted folks who are considering applying to have the dates in advance.
Every component of the standard search process for principals will be included in this search. There will be interviews with the committee, interviews with administrators, meetings with staff, site visits to meet with students and staff as well as a community forum.
Human Resources will be advertising on national job boards as well as School Spring and local media outlets. This timeline allows us to reach the best candidates so we can support students, staff, and families. I am confident that we will find an exceptional candidate to be our next middle school principal with this search process.
School's Out
Due to the School Budget Vote being held in our schools on Thursday, April 4th, School’s Out will not be holding programs for our elementary and middle school students that day. The School's Out Early Education class will still conduct a normal schedule.
The safety of your children is always our priority. As with past voting days, we do not feel able to host programs and maintain a safe environment, in reduced spaces, with the school being open to the public to come and go.
Here are the important dates to note:
Thursday, April 4: No Elementary and Middle School School's Out! Normal day for Early Education.
Friday, April 5: Early Release, School's Out will operate from dismissal until normal closing time, 5:30 for elementary schools and 5:45 for FHTMS. Normal day for Early Education.
Monday, April 8: No School/No School's Out for all ages.
Friday, April 12: Early Release, School's Out will operate from dismissal until normal closing time, 5:30 for elementary schools and 5:45 for FHTMS. Normal day for Early Ed.
Also, registration for School’s Out Summer Camp is open. Find more information here.
Transportation Update
A big shout out to Shanique Richards Harvey, one of our recent hires who was working towards her CDL and passed her final test on Wednesday! Shanique will be driving Bus 11 (Orchard) and Sandy Johnson will be moving over to drive Bus 18 (Chamberlin).
As I’ve previously mentioned when it comes to the budget, there are no planned cuts to the transportation department and we will continue our recruiting efforts to find new drivers.
I know there are frustrations surrounding communication about bus routes and cancellations. That is why in addition to keeping the bus driver positions open, we are also planning on hiring a Transportation Dispatcher who can assist the Transportation Supervisor (Kathy LaRock) and Transportation Coordinator (Sean McKenzie) by ensuring there is full-time coverage of the communication network between the drivers, schools, and families. We also expect this extra resource can help optimize scheduling and route planning, and even drive a van when required. While finding staff with CDLs is difficult, improving communication is something we hope to improve with this additional staff member. Please bear with us as we work to fill this vital role.
Another option that has recently been reopened is that Green Mountain Transit will resume charging bus fares on April 1st. Student/Youth fares are $1/trip or a daily cap of $2 (including transfers) or a $25 monthly cap. The district will sponsor those fares and students would just need to show their school ID to qualify for their free ride but it would be helpful for us to know how many students would take advantage of this.
If you haven’t already, please fill out this brief survey by March 29th about Green Mountain Transit student ridership. If you live close to a bus line, this could be an option that eases the burden in the face of cancellations.
New and Returning Student Registration
Both the New and Returning Student Registration is now open.
Families can access the Returning Student Registration form via the Parent Portal. Any new students who have enrolled since January of 2023 must be linked to parent portal accounts for parents/guardians to access the Returning Student Registration form. Pre K students must be 3 years old on or prior to March 5th and Kindergarten students must be 5 years old on or prior to March 5th.
On March 1st, enrollment will automatically notify families of currently enrolled students that the Returning Student Registration is open with a link to the Returning Student Registration webpage that contains translatable instructions and information.
Once registered, orientation sessions for kindergarten will be held at the elementary schools:
Orchard: April 16 and 17
RMCS: April 17 and 18
Chamberlin: April 17
Contact the schools directly for more information about the orientation.
PowerSchool and Staying Up to Date
The district uses PowerSchool and School Messenger to send out all updates and notifications. regarding school closures and other important information.
Please note that transportation updates are only sent to families who have subscribed to transportation services on PowerSchool.
Please make sure all your information is up to date in PowerSchool so you can receive all notifications as quickly as possible.
Covid Guidance Update
The South Burlington School District follows Vermont Department of Health Guidelines and their guidance recently changed to reflect the CDC ending the 5-day isolation recommendation for Covid-positive test result. When people get sick with any respiratory virus (including COVID, RSV or influenza), the updated guidance from the CDC recommends that they stay home and away from others. For people with COVID-19 and influenza, treatment is available and can lessen symptoms and lower the risk of severe illness (please contact your primary care for guidance on treatment options). With any respiratory virus, including Covid-19, the recommendations suggest:
Returning to Normal Activities After Respiratory Virus Symptoms:
After at least one day (24 hours) if:
Symptoms are getting better overall and
No fever for at least 24 hours (and not using fever-reducing medicines).
After returning to normal activities, consider these extra prevention steps for the next 5 days:
Practice good hygiene
Keep physical distance with other people as much as possible
Improve air quality (bringing in fresh air, air filter)
Wear a mask
Contact Katie Darak at kdarak@sbschools.net or your school nurses know if you have any questions or concerns.
Notable Items
the 6th Grade band concert is on Tuesday, March 26 at 7:00 PM. Those are both at the SBHS Auditorium. Best of luck to all performers!
For the 4th year in a row, Vermont Attorney General Charity Clark wants to hear young Vermonters’ thoughts on the future of environmental advocacy and is holding an Earth Day Essay Challenge for fifth and sixth graders. The Challenge is currently open through April 5th. For more information and how to submit an essay, visit the Earth Day Essay Challenge website.
A special message from Common Roots - who brings our children Farm to School lessons (preschool through grade 5) at no cost to our district, and 4 other South Burlington community programs (16 years):
You have probably heard that Burlington VT will be a focal point of much activity during the Total Solar Eclipse on Monday, April 8th. Children in the South Burlington Schools will be released by noon on that day and there will be no School's Out program.
Common Roots has designed a special Eclipse Party with families and children in mind! They have NASA-approved glasses for each ticket holder.
The Common Roots' Eclipse Party is designed to engage all ages with healthy food, live music by Chad Hollister (including the song he wrote for Common Roots Nourish to Flourish that some children know well and will be invited to sing with him), movement, exploration in Wheeler Nature Park, and lots of games from Big Blue Trunk! A memorable day of fun ~no one should miss~ during this once-in-a-lifetime astrological occurrence!
Dress for the weather, rain, snow or sunshine! Common Roots will have an Event Tent on site.
For more details, go to the Ticket link through Seven Days COMMON ROOTS ECLIPSE PARTY TICKETS
Common Roots will give limited free family passes to each principal.
Should you have any questions--please contact Liz@commonroots.org
Our Common Roots Team looks forward to seeing the Solar Eclipse with you!
Here are some family friendly events the South Burlington Recreation Department is hosting:
FREE Spring Arts/Crafts & Gardening:
Enjoy an afternoon with the family for a spring arts & crafts and gardening event sponsored by Northeast Delta Dental on March 16th from 1:00-3:00pm at the UMall (storefront next to Target). Design and decorate your own planting pot and receive seeds and soil before you leave! Will also have DIY wooden birdhouse kits, paper pinwheel decoration and more!
FREE Egg Hunt:
Who is ready for an egg hunt? Join us at City Hall and Rick Marcotte Central School on March 30th from 1:00-3:00pm. Bring the family and enjoy an egg hunt for all ages, arts and crafts, complimentary face painting, music, food and refreshments courtesy of Sommers Chiropractic. First 250 kids in attendance will receive a reusable bag to color and decorate! (RMCS is not affiliated with this event, only allowing the city to use the space.)
No advance registration is necessary for any of these events.
And some great events happening at the South Burlington Public Library!
Employment Opportunities
The district is hiring! Please follow the links to read the full descriptions for these roles.
Bus Drivers (and Bus Aides)
Training available obtain Commercial Driver's Licenses to eligible candidates, full and part time positions available as well as van drivers and bus monitors
Special Ed teachers:
Frederick H. Tuttle Middle School
Lunchroom:
Full job descriptions are available on School Spring. If you have questions on hiring processes or on employment, please contact Elissa Galvez, Employment Specialist, egalvez@sbschools.net (802) 652-7247.
Notable Dates
April 4-5: Family Teacher Conferences, Half Day
April 8: No School (for Solar Eclipse)
April 9: No evening activities
April 12: MS/HS Late Start at 10:35 am
Elementary Early Release at 12:30 pm
April 22-26: Spring Break, no school
Thank you for reading!
Violet
SBSD App
Along with the website, the dedicated app will be your best resource for updated menus, schedules and other important information in the event of school closures and delays.
Download the dedicated SBSD app (or scan the QR code )!Stay in the loop with our Live Feed
- Access breakfast and lunch menus
- Get your daily dose of news
- Stay updated with the events calendar
- Connect with our staff directory
- Receive important notifications, like school closures
We’d love to hear your thoughts on both the app and the website so please email any feedback to website@sbschools.net.
The South Burlington School District is on Social Media! Please follow us for updates and District happenings:
