J.E.S. Jag Journal
A weekly newsletter to the Jaguar community.
Important Dates and Events
- 10/23 Celebration of Learning Assembly (musical presentation)
- 10/23 No After School
- 10/28 Mobile Dental Services on Site
- 10/30 Fall Festival!
Letter from Mr. V
Dear JES Community,
I hope you are well on this lovely late Fall day! I will start this week's letter with a note on technology. We are, like many schools, a 1:1 chromebook/iPad site. This means that all K-6 students have their own device at school. I've talked here before about the research that has been coming out about student access to devices and the shifting sentiments about 1:1 tech around the country and in legislation. Today, I want to share our practice around how those devices are used.
Chromebooks and iPads at JES are used only for teacher assigned learning tasks or for state and local testing. As you know, students see them as a portal to non-academic activities, gaming being the most common. We have firewalls and blockers in place, but students can and do find their way around these, and our older students are the most skilled in this regard. For the reasons I have shared, I have asked teachers to keep devices stored in their charging carts unless they are being used for learning purposes. This may seem minor, but getting the device off of the desk keeps the temptation out of mind for students. Please feel free to get in touch with me to discuss this change or to talk about tech in schools more broadly!
Okay, back to Fall in Vermont. I reached out last week to let you all know about our upcoming Fall Festival on October 30th, and I will take this opportunity to plug that event again. If you are able, please head down to Main Street at 9:30 to watch our Jaguars parade through the streets in their carefully crafted masks for our 23rd annual Mask Parade! We were rained out last year, and I'm excited to see this event in full swing...I've even heard that street drumming has been a staple in the past. That evening, your child is invited to return for the Halloween Dance where student decorated pumpkins will be on display. See the flyer below for full details.
For Johnson,
Dane VanNosdeln
JES Principal
802-888-6728
