The Lamoille Ledger
Superintendent's Monthly News - October 31st, 2025
Important Dates / Resources
November 4th - SSD Board Meeting (SES@5:30PM)
November 11th - NO SCHOOL (Veterans Day)
November 18th - EMUU Board Meeting (MES@5:30PM)
November 24th - 28th - NO SCHOOL (Thanksgiving Break)
Monthly Update
Dear Lamoille South Community,
It's been an exciting day as I circulate the schools. The high energy and creative costumes remind us how fun and memorable these days are for our kids. Hopefully, the weather will hold as students prepare for any nightly events. The Red Cross shares important safety tips every year that are good reminders for parents and community members when children are out in the dark.
Below, you will find some updates regarding our strategic plan initiatives and legislative updates. I would like to congratulate all of our fall athletic teams on an excellent season. A special congratulations to our PA boys and girls soccer teams that will compete tomorrow in the state championship! The girls will play at 11 and the boys play at 1:30. The picture below says it all. Go Wolves!
Have a wonderful weekend,
Ryan Heraty
Superintendent
Lamoille South Supervisory Union
802-888-4541
ryan.heraty@lamoillesouth.org
Photo Credit: Diane Lepikko
Strategic Goal Update: Academic Excellence
As noted in last month's communication, every LSSU school has created an annual one-page document that makes our strategic plan more actionable. Throughout the year, I will keep you updated on the high-level steps we are taking to address these goals.
In November, we will be presenting our academic data to each school board. These presentations will include our standardized test data, local screening data, and other metrics we use to monitor student performance over time. We will be breaking down this data to see how students perform in all categories. The Agency of Education has just notified us that they are allowing districts to share this data earlier than usual, which is a step in the right direction.
Looking at trends across our schools, we are noticing significant increases in literacy scores. We have invested in literacy professional development over the past two years and it is showing great returns. Students in third grade at Morristown Elementary raised their proficiency levels by 12% in third grade and 16% in sixth grade. In Stowe, students performed well above the state average with 8th grade students reaching 92% proficient, the highest level we have experienced since the VTCAP assessment has been administered.
In Math, there are also areas to celebrate with significant gains again at Morristown Elementary with students showing 13% growth in third grade and fourth grade students at Stowe Elementary reaching 64% proficient compared to a statewide average of 34%. In sixth grade at Stowe Middle School, students reached 75% proficient compared to a statewide average of 48%.
There are always areas to improve as well as celebrate. We saw declines in math performance at Peoples Academy Middle Level in grades 5 and 6 and at Stowe Elementary in grade 3. Specific actions steps have been taken to address this which will be discussed in detail at our next SSD and EMUU meetings.
Legislative Update
This week, the Vermont Redistricting Task Force met to discuss several new proposals for district merging and consolidation. The task force will vote on their final maps at the next meeting on November 10th. This task force operates in an advisory capacity and has no authority to merge districts. At the last meeting, task force member and former Secretary of Education Rebecca Holcombe presented extensive research indicating that district mergers would not save money and could cost the state millions of dollars in costs such as the leveling of labor contracts and additional transportation needs. We have brought up these concerns for months and it was great to hear more people are paying attention to these realities. Holcombe expressed she was not willing to bring forward a map that would potentially cause harm and noted they have very limited data to support that large-scale mergers would save money or improve education.
Later that evening, the Essex-Westford School Board chair noted in a public forum that preliminary calculations in Chittenden County alone, indicate the leveling of teacher contracts would cost at least $25 million.
The bottom line is that legislators, board chairs, and community members are now paying attention, realizing that rushing mergers without careful consideration and modeling will result in many unintended consequences. It appears that the Act 73 legislation is quickly losing momentum.
Gone Guys Film
Over the past fifty years, boys and young men have steadily disengaged from school, work, and broader society. They’re falling behind academically, struggling with loneliness and isolation, and facing rising rates of substance abuse and suicide.
This 45-minute documentary draws on the influential work of Richard V. Reeves’ “Of Boys and Men”, illuminating these challenges through powerful data and compelling personal stories. Many of us have experienced these issues first-hand, but it can be difficult to talk about them. It’s not zero-sum: caring more about boys and men does not mean caring less about women and girls.
Set in rural Vermont, the film brings national data to life with engaging animation accompanying lived experience featuring young men, educators, mentors, and trailblazing programs that are working to re-engage boys and young men in their communities and reshape their futures.
Content advisory: This film includes references to substance use, suicide, and mental health struggles.
More information & to WATCH THE TRAILER visit: www.GoneGuysFilm.com
