Superintendent's Message

Dear Parents/Guardians and Staff,

This week, there was a meeting of the Street Naming Committee at Rick Marcotte Central School. The South Burlington City Council has given the school the opportunity to name its driveway into the school. Every grade provided options and they were grouped those options together by theme. Students were given 10 stickers to vote for the options they liked best. Principal McDonald reminded the students that they shouldn’t be influenced by what their friends were voting for or what had the most votes, but should pick what they really liked. Next the whole school will vote on the top 10 names and then the committee will bring their choices to the City Council for approval. The choices are as varied as our students, but representative of what Rick Marcotte stands for, everything from Marky Way to Bookworms Street to Assertive Circle. This has been a terrific lesson in civic engagement, debate, cooperation and the importance of using your vote to have your voice heard. More to come on this as the committee finishes up their process!

We are a week away from the budget revote on Thursday, April 4th. This morning Tim Jarvis, Senior Director of Operations and Finance, and I met with the South Burlington Rotary to review the budget. We have been grateful for the opportunity to present this budget to community members directly and we are optimistic, given the feedback we’ve heard. This budget answers the concerns of the community and while the reductions we have made are impactful to students and staff, we are hopeful that we won’t need to make any further.

Here is a refresher on the revised budget:

• Budget=$69,530,000

• Tax Rate Increase=14.5% (down from 23.25% on March 5th)

• Average residential homeowner will see an increase of about $71 per month

• Average condo owner would see an increase of about $48 per month

• 60% of SB homestead owners pay a lower rate by receiving a property tax credit based on household income and home value. (To apply for a tax reduction, contact the Vermont Department of Taxes at www.tax.vermont.gov/property/tax-credit or call 802-828-2505)

• The budget:

• Prioritizes student-facing positions

• Includes important school safety enhancements

• Supports social and emotional learning needs of students

• Provides structured literacy programming

• Features funding for critical future facilities needs

• Increases multilingual supports

• In addition to the $2.27 million surplus from 2022 back into the budget as revenue, the district will see:

• $848,186 reductions in staffing and programs

• $814,705 reductions in allocation to Capital Reserve Fund (from $1.9 million to $1,085,295)

• Net reduction of 4.4 FTEs (Full-Time Equivalent)

• This presentation summarizes everything

Please vote 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. If you don’t know where your polling location is, check this link and then use this map.

Several of the polling locations are schools (Chamberlin, Orchard and FHTMS), so if you are attending a family/teacher conference on the 4th, double check if you can vote at your school and you only need to make one trip!

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). Here is the agenda for that meeting, with the budget being agenda item X. You can attend in person or via Zoom.

I want to directly address the March 28th article in The Other Paper regarding the Vermont Human Rights Commission civil complaint from the 2018-19 school year. I want to reaffirm our commitment to anti-racism and to our equity policy. We have been carefully looking at our reporting systems so we can actively address racism in our schools and are here to support you. If you want to share your personal story or have questions or comments, please contact our Director of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Anti-Racism and Social Emotional Learning, Monica Desrochers, at mdesrochers@sbschools.net.

All applications for the school board seat have been received. Candidates 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.

The search committee is in place for the middle school principal search and they are aiming to bring a recommendation to the school board by April 17th.

The first committee meetings are scheduled to be held March 29th and April 3rd with interviews being held April 9th. Administrator interviews, site tour, student and staff meetings as well as the community forum will be on April 16th and executive team meetings will be on April 17th. Details about the community forums will be available soon.

If you have any questions regarding the process, please reach out to Elissa Galvez, Employment Specialist, at egalvez@sbschools.net.

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.

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.

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!

A family friendly event that the South Burlington Recreation Department is hosting:

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!

The district is hiring! Please follow the links to read the full descriptions for these roles.

Principal, FHTMS

(this position closes Friday, March 28 at noon)

Assistant Principal, SBHS

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:

Middle School

Elementary

Traffic Monitors

Substitute Teachers

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.

Thank you for reading!

Violet

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