Super News
March 2025 Issue
Super Message
It’s March and we’re deep into the legislative season in Montpelier. There are so many bills relating to public education right now, it’s hard to track them all, but this past week, the governor released a draft of his bill to transform public education in Vermont. This bill is being considered by the Education Committees in the House and Senate and if passed as is, will create only 5 school districts in the state. WCSU would be merged with 8 other existing supervisory unions/districts to form the Southeast Vermont Unified Union School District. This new district would extend from Hartford and Woodstock in the north, to Vernon and all the way to Stamford in the south. The new school board would have 5 members representing 5 “wards” created based on equal population representation. As you might imagine, that would leave our small (by population) SU with pretty minimal representation. While most people acknowledge that our current governance structure lacks efficiency, this proposed shift is a pretty significant one with “local control” implications. I will continue to monitor the progress of this (and other) bill(s) but as residents of our region, you may certainly reach out to your state reps and state senators to give input on this shift.
Cell Phone Usage in Schools
One of the biggest challenges facing parents today is the use of technology, specifically cell phones, by our children. The research is pretty clear about the impact, and the Vermont Legislature currently has a bill about banning cell phones in schools. Parenting is really hard (I have seven children myself, ages 13-28) so here are some resources for parents as they think about cell phones and children:
REMINDER: School Budget Votes
The Districts of the WCSU will be meeting to vote on school budgets in the coming months. Please refer to this schedule. See your town or district warnings for specific times and locations.
West River - 3/25/25 Annual Meeting (L&G)
River Valleys - 4/29/25 Annual Meeting (Wardsboro)/ 4/21/25 Informational Meeting (Dover)
Marlboro - 3/4/25 (Town Meeting Day)
Windham - 3/4/25 (Town Meeting Day)
Stratton - 3/4/25 (Town Meeting Day)
National Read Across America Week {March 3-7}
Dear WCSU Families,
Get ready to embark on a week-long adventure into the wonderful world of books! We're thrilled to announce that this week is National Read Across America, from March 3 to March 7!
This national event is a fantastic opportunity to ignite a passion for reading in our children and to celebrate the joy of stories together. We believe that reading is a gateway to knowledge, imagination, and endless possibilities. So, let's join hands and make this a week filled with literary fun!
*Send a picture of your child reading, to share on our Facebook page, to Sue Haskins: shaskins@windhamcentral.org and they will be entered in a drawing to win a prize!
Jen Aither, Building-wide Behavioral Paraeducator, NewBrook School
Jen Aither has been working at NewBrook Elementary School for 14 years. She began as a 1:1 paraeducator, working with students with intensive needs who required on-going adult support. Since then, Jen's position has changed, and now she is NewBrook's building-wide behavioral paraeducator, managing our Thinking-Feeling Room (TFR). NewBrook's programmatic needs changed, and Jen was the perfect fit because of her unique aptitudes, her strong personal interests, and her dedication to supporting every child.
In the five years that she has been in her current position, Jen has been able to have a sweeping impact on our school and the manner with which we address unexpected behaviors in our students. We have seen a reduction in behavioral incidents and time out of class. As a staff, we all feel thankful that Jen is able to effectively teach our behavioral expectations in every venue, to support our students when they need a hand, and to teach replacement behaviors that curb recidivism. Jen's job includes scheduled breaks and SEL interventions for children, as well as real time response for children in crisis. So, she is BUSY!
As a member of our Positive Behavior Intervention and Supports (PBiS) Team, Jen works diligently to teach and model the incentivization of positive behaviors. Under Jen's watch, we now have a smoothly run building-wide incentive system. Each month, we choose focus behaviors, and our students, as a group, earn celebrations together based upon their positive behaviors. Each classroom has a piggy bank, and they can earn "pennies" that we tally. Our PTO has collaborated with us, and they donate the equivalent money to a local charity. So, our students' positive behaviors earn all of us a special occasion, and allow us to give back as well!
On top of all of these critical functions, Jen also acts as our PTO Liaison. She supports their work by communicating between the PTO and the school staff and administration, and by being the staff person that can work on their school-day tasks. Jen is our building's Wellness Representative as well. She is responsible for our staff engagement in all of our wellness activities, including our annual VEHI Path Adventures, our regular staff potlucks, and other wellness activities.
Jen is a blast! She is fun during recess, and she is an INCREDIBLE party planner! We all feel very lucky to get to work with her. Her efforts are deep and on-going, and her dedication to every child and to our programming at large are evident in every space in our building.
Thank you Jen Aither for all that you have done for NewBrook, for our students and our staff!
Renee Merluzzi has been a regular face in our school communities since 2019 when she started at TES as an Academic Support Teacher. She then transitioned into the Principal at TES for two years and now is tackling the new role of Curriculum Coordinator for the SU. In this role, she meets and supports principals, teachers, and paraprofessionals with our Multi Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS) work and is leading our district K-8 with the adoption of our new literacy curriculum, EL Education. Much of her work includes; coordinating EL Education professional development days for K-8 teachers, training new staff on existing targeted intervention programs, leading the district mentoring program, conducting coaching cycles with teachers, setting up school site visits so we can learn from local schools, and lots more!
In her personal life she has lived and taught in three states; NY, Colorado, and now Vermont and has worked in education for 20 years. Renee enjoys skiing, spending time with her son and husband, and going to see live music as much as possible.
