THE CCS NEWSLETTER

CCS Community,

We hope you’ll join us for Circus Night this Wednesday, September 16, from 6:00–7:30 PM in the CCS gyms! This community event is part of our five-day Circus Artist-in-Residence week, which begins Monday.

As with all afternoon and evening events at CCS, children must attend with a parent, caregiver, or another adult who has agreed to supervise them throughout the event. That adult assumes responsibility for the child while they are at CCS. Whether it’s Circus Night, a concert, the Fun Run, or another community gathering, these events are designed for children to attend with their families. We are not staffed to supervise children who attend on their own, and in the past, unsupervised students have led to safety concerns involving both other students and our facility.

Please help us Take Care of Each Other and Take Care of This Place by following this expectation. And please arrive promptly at 6:00 PM so our Circus Artists-in-Residence can provide instructions before the fun begins!

On a different note, our 5th graders hosted the first All-School Meeting of the year this morning! These monthly gatherings are hosted by a different grade level, with parents and caregivers from that grade invited to join us. Today, our 5th graders welcomed nearly 400 people with a partner greeting, shared We Don’t Eat Our Classmates by Ryan T. Higgins with the whole school, and ended with an all-school game built around our CCS motto: Take Care of Yourself, Take Care of Each Other, and Take Care of This Place.

And one more date to mark on your calendar: CCS Open House is Tuesday, September 29, from 5:00–6:00 PM. We’re excited to have so many opportunities this month to welcome caregivers into the building—Circus Night, Open House, and today’s All-School Meeting!

Tim & Lauren

Tim O’Leary, Principal

toleary@cvsdvt.org

Lauren Goracy, Assistant Principal & Director of Special Services

lgoracy@cvsdvt.org

In preparation for next week’s Circus Artist-in-Residence, students in Mrs. Poirier’s class explored the incredible wire art of Alexander Calder. After studying the dynamic poses of real circus performers, students twisted and shaped colorful pipe cleaners into their own miniature acrobats—balancing on tightropes, swinging from trapezes, and capturing all kinds of movement. 🤹‍♀️✨

We can’t wait to see even more circus skills come to life at CCS next week! 🎟️🎪

Every Wednesday School Is in Session — Early Dismissal, 1:45

Week of Sept. 14 — Five-day Circus-Artist in Residency with Big Top Adventures

Mon., Sept. 21 — No School: Yom Kippur

Sat., Sept. 26 - *Save the Date* Spirit Day at CVU - full day of sports, food, and fun

Tues., Sept. 29 — Open House, 5:00–6:00 - The CCS PTO Potluck will be scheduled for another date this year, rather than be combined with the Open House. Potluck Date TBD.

Wed., Sept. 30 — Picture Day at CCS (details will be sent to families from Beltrami Bsnap)

Fri., Oct. 2 — Dance! Grades 6–8, MPR, 6:30–8:30

Tues., Oct. 20 - CVSD School Board Meeting, 6:00 - 8:00

Fri., Oct. 23 - No School: K-12 Conferences

My hope is to connect with families each week through the newsletter to provide information and resources to support kids and families. As always, please reach out if you need anything, have questions, or if I can help in any way.

It has been wonderful having kids back in the building this week! For me, getting back to routine is good, but the hustle of the school year can also be an adjustment!

Common Sense Media has some great tools and resources for thinking about navigating tech as we enter a new school year:

Digital Stress Test - is online life stressing your child out?

Family Device Agreements - Elementary School, Middle School, High School

Bus, Bell and Beyond: Back to School with AI and Tech - Join this live webinar on September 15th at 3pm to hear experts break down where phones and AI help, distract, connect or add pressure throughout a typical school day.

Resources, Food for thought (and maybe some conversation starters)

Chittenden County Food Resources - list of free food resources throughout Chittenden county, with information about hours, location, accessibility and eligibility requirements.

Calm and Connected Podcast - This is a great resource on all topics related to children and families. Whatever the age of your child, there are topics to support you - ways for kids and teens to practice coping skills, self regulation and ways to connect, make friends and work on social skills. It will help guide you through all the stages of child development. There are also many resources and tools to dive into as well!

Calm and Connected

Get in touch with me!

blloyd@cvsdvt.org

(802)425-6604

Beltrami Studios is once again out photographer for CCS for Picture Day. Beltrami will be sending ordering information directly to caregivers via email. A limited number of order forms will be available to send home to families. Have your child(ren) stop by the office and pick one up.

Every student will have their picture taken whether a package is ordered or not and every student will receive a free class picture.

Please enroll to receive text messages from the district and/or our school. If you haven't done this yet or if you are new to CVSD, follow the easy steps on this flyer. We don't overuse this method of communication, but it is helpful for reminders and quick announcements. Don't miss out!

CCS has several opportunities for caregivers and community members to be part of our school community.

• Volunteer at CCS: Please complete the required volunteer forms and return them to Cindy LaWare at any time. Questions? Contact Cindy at 425-2771 or claware@cvsdvt.org.

• Mentor a student: If you are interested in mentoring a student in grades 5–8, please contact Jessica Phelan at jphelan@cvsdvt.org.

• Substitute at CCS: We are always looking for positive, energetic individuals to substitute teach in grades K–8. Please contact Naomi Strada at 425-6600 to learn more. You can also find additional information about substituting on the CVSD website.

Are you a parent of a student who received special education services between July 1, 2025 to December 1, 2025? If so, please complete this Special Education Parent Involvement Survey. Your feedback helps to improve special education services and student outcomes in your supervisory union or district and is completely anonymous.

If you have not yet completed this survey, please submit your response by September 15, 2026.

If you need your unique survey identification code call: (802) 828-1256

For additional information about this survey visit: VT AOE Special Education Parent Survey Webpage

The Fall/Winter Catalog of classes is open for registration!

This season we’re proud to launch with over 200 classes taught by 85 instructors. Whether you want to explore a new hobby, learn a language, unleash your creativity, take a cooking class, join an exercise class, or simply connect with the community, Access CVU offers a wide range of community classes for all ages and is open to all towns!

Newly Added! English as a Second Language (ESL) with Deborah Miuccio. With an increase in our growing New American population in Vermont, and at our schools, we are offering this opportunity to help families integrate into the community with ease and confidence. This 6-session course will run on Wednesday evenings at CVU, starting Sept 30th. If you know someone or a family that could benefit from this course please reach out!

Browse courses & register using our new and improved registration software- Arux: Visit https://accesscvu.arux.app/ (or Google, Access CVU, and select the "Arux Software" site). Log in with your previous credentials, or follow the prompts to sign up!

• New classes are added weekly - check back often! Tip: Adding access@cvsdvt.org to your address book will avoid us landing in your spam/junk folder. Sign up for our weekly NEWSLETTER to see what classes are running each week, and what's new!

• Prefer to register via email or phone? Contact us access@cvsdvt.org / 802-482-7194.

Interested in teaching or know someone? Complete the New Instructor Form or email us at access@cvsdvt.org. Currently seeking instructors for the following classes, and open to all suggestions/requests:

• Basket Weaving
• Drawing
• Quilting
• Holiday Wreaths
• DIY Home Repairs
• Macrame
• Baking

• Athletics
• Bus Schedules / Routes
• Calendars: 2026-27
• CCS & CVSD Handbook
• Connecting Youth Mentoring
• CVSD School Board
• Food Service and Menu
• Health Office
• MySchoolBucks
• Volunteer at CCS

The CCS Parent Teacher Organization (PTO) is a partnership between parents, teachers, and staff, working together to create enriching experiences for our students. Visit our website, Facebook, and Instagram pages for the latest and stay tuned for upcoming opportunities to get involved!

• Access Community Education Classes and Registration
• Charlotte Food Shelf
• Charlotte Public Libary

• Town of Charlotte

Tim O'Leary, Principal

toleary@cvsdvt.org

Lauren Goracy, Assistant Principal & Director of Special Services

lgoracy@cvsdvt.org

Find CCS on Instagram and Facebook, too!