ACSD Newsletter

In this issue: It's Teacher & Staff Appreciation Month - share a shout-out for them, students as citizens across our schools and community, new (& free) preschool spots in Shoreham, our focus on Literacy & Math, updates on Bridport & Shoreham progress and the Ripton School Building, Legislative Updates; and more!

Dear ACSD Families,

Our strategic vision aspires to prepare students to enrich their current and future communities. This Spring, I have witnessed many impressive examples of how our students and staff show up as thoughtful citizens in classrooms, schools, and communities. It is a joy to see that this is not a distant ideal. Public service and civic contribution are practices our youth are already demonstrating each day as they learn, which is one of the many reasons I feel privileged to be a part of our community.

As the Vermont Legislature grapples with the future of public education in Vermont, I have also observed and appreciated evidence of a call for a return to collective problem-solving among. Should they visit our schools, our State level leaders would see how students of all ages act, lead, and problem-solve with others in mind. Your children show up with curiosity, a willingness to engage across differences, excitement about personal and collaborative projects, and the courage to reframe difficult challenges. They are proof that dedication to community can take root in small, everyday moments of engagement that often lead to something extraordinary.

As we kick off ACSD’s Teacher & Staff Appreciation Month, it is clear that the grownups in ACSD deserve immense gratitude for actively cultivating these qualities in our children. While they are focused on academic success, they also weave in the skills necessary to build a life of meaningful engagement with others locally, nationally, and globally.

Strong communities are built when each of us sets aside the pursuit of personal achievement and makes room for what we can accomplish together. In the final weeks of school, we will each have opportunities to show up as citizens for the collective good.

I hope you will join me in celebrating our teachers on the appreciation forms below and cheering on our students for all they have accomplished this year.

In partnership,

Wendy

Wendy Baker, Superintendent

At ACSD, we turn National Teacher Appreciation Week into Teacher & Staff Appreciation Month.

You can help! Use this form (by 3/31/26) to share an appreciation for a teacher or staff member, and we will share these positive comments with them:

• Parents: Ask your child if a teacher or grown-up has done something to make their school day better. Fill out the form together or have them write their own appreciation!
• Students: Our teachers and staff REALLY love hearing how they make your days better.
• Colleagues: you see the good work of colleagues that isn't always visible to others.
• Community partners: your collaborations with our teachers bring learning to life!

Each year in August, we recognize an Elementary and Secondary Teacher of the Year with our annual Outstanding Teacher of the Year and staff with the Barbara Whittemore Support Staff Award. You can help us nominate them now!

Fill out this form by May 31st 2026. The awards are presented in August 2026 at our Welcome Back celebration.

Mary Hogan School staff and Principal Jen Kravitz were celebrated at Middlebury College's Public Service Awards with the Engaged Partnership Award. The award celebrated "Jen’s leadership and the dedicated teaching team. Mary Hogan Elementary School has been a generous community partner with college students for many years. From partnering with the student-led group Nutrition Outreach and Mentoring (affectionately known as NOM), hosting monthly Zoom cooking classes with families, welcoming the Language in Motion program into their classrooms, where Middlebury students share lessons on culture and language acquisition, to hosting Middlebury College student-teachers, expanding their Farm to School program to include Middlebury College Students to partnering with athletic teams as recess buddies."

Do you need child care for your 3 or 4yo? Our new Shoreham preschool has openings for children who will be 3 by September 1, 2026! Our Shoreham preschool program will open in Fall 2026. It runs for 35 weeks per year and is FREE for all participants. The program has 2 licensed teachers and is open to all students. Read more about our ACSD preschool program here and fill out this form to apply. Share this link with friends and neighbors with young children!

Principals Jenny Urban and Lashawn Whittmore-Sells have done amazing work this year as we plan to bring the students in the Bridport and Shoreham communities together at Bridport Central School next year. We are happy to report that BCS is fully staffed for the 2026-2027 year, and principals have shared the staffing assignments with families in both communities. School and district staff and community members have worked to ensure that facility and tech needs are addressed while creating solutions for transportation, logistics, and coordinated events for students and staff to get to know each other. The school and district leaders have also been working with the Agency of Education on the status of accountability for this school community, and they have been impressed with the level of planning and staffing in place for the 2026-2027 school year.

ACSD has been working with the Town of Ripton to begin conversations about how to best transition ownership of the school building to the Town of Ripton. We anticipate that the transfer date will be July 1, 2026, and we will continue to work in partnership with the town to continue our good progress.

This year, the ACSD Board revised Board Policy C30, School Assignment and Intra-District Transfer, to offer more flexibility to ACSD families when choosing an elementary school for their child(ren). All students are first assigned to the school based on where their parents or legal guardians live. If families wish to request a transfer from that school, this new policy allows a fair, transparent, student-centered process for ACSD families to request a transfer to another K-5 school within ACSD. The Superintendent's office created a procedure and implemented the first application process this year. All families accepting placements have been connected with principals within their new schools, and principals have been notified of the students who will not be enrolling in their schools during the 2026-27 year. We surveyed families who participated in the process to gather information about their experience which will inform our procedures in the future.

We know that the most important evidence happens in the classroom every day, and we have focused on strengthening our evidence of student learning. This year, to support community understanding of our Math and Literacy curriculum and assessments, we have offered Board presentations on Elementary Math and Literacy. We are also investigating how the evidence of learning we have intersects with classroom and statewide assessments. If you'd like to learn more about our Literacy and Math work, you can click on the Board presentations below.

ACSD has been invited to join the New England District-Community Consortium, a collaboration between Great Schools Partnership and the Nellie Mae Education Foundation (NMEF). NEDCC is NMEF’s effort to put its vision into action: “strengthen the public education ecosystem by supporting community-rooted solutions, responsive state systems, and a connected regional narrative.” As inaugural participants in the NEDCC, ACSD will receive free hands-on coaching from the Great Schools Partnership, technical assistance, and a community of practice with other school districts in New England. We will also be working to develop a proposal that could lead to an opportunity for multi-year funding through the Nellie Mae Education Foundation. Our focus in this work relates to developing a system of collecting and sharing evidence of student learning (outside of quantitative assessments) in partnership with community stakeholders.

ACSD has been selected by the Golisano Foundation for Philanthropic Funding to further improve student attendance. Currently, ACSD maintains a district-wide chronic absenteeism rate of 8.44%—significantly lower than the national average of approximately 23%. To build on this success, the district will receive funds and technical expertise to facilitate a more intentional partnership with all Addison County school districts and Porter Pediatrics to develop a robust, cross-sector infrastructure. This collaboration provides the resources to implement multi-tiered policies that promote attendance and provide holistic support for at-risk students, addressing health and social needs to keep kids in the classroom. This work complements existing work of our school nurses in partnership with the Porter School-Based Health Center and our attendance committees.

This has been a busy session for education in the Vermont Legislature and we will continue to update the ACSD community when there are topics that will directly impact our district. For now, we recommend this recent summary of legislative activity by Campaign for Vermont. It provides good detail and an interesting perspective on where the conversations lie regarding education reform as well as other bills that intersect with education reform. Essentially, they describe four visions of education reform at play as we approach the last two weeks of the regular session:

May 25th - Memorial Day ~ no school

June 6th - MUHS Graduation
June 10th - MUMS 8th Grade Promotion

June 11th - ACSD Anticipated Last Day of School

Support our amazing staff! Housing can be hard to find for new (and current) staff. We have a new internal ACSD Community Bulletin Board where you can post available housing (and other resources) for ACSD staff to see. Click here to post.

Principals send school newsletters by email most weeks to help you stay informed about school specific news. Find them here:

• Bridport

• Cornwall

• Mary Hogan

• Salisbury & Ripton

• Shoreham

• Weybridge

• MUMS

• MUHS

We use our newsletter and social media to stay connected and give you a peek into our classrooms. For more regular connection and lots of photos, follow us: Insta: @acsdvtschools FB: @acsdvt