Hartford School District Newsletter

November 7, 2025

Dear Hartford School District Learning Community,

I am including a lot of information about a variety of topics, macro, micro, and everything in between! There is a lot going on in the state in relation to the redistricting conversation and the AOE's work on Proficiency-Based Graduation Requirements that demand our attention.

Below, you will find related information, articles, and opportunities to engage in this work through survey input and public comment. Please take advantage of these precious opportunities to share your thinking and perspectives, as the stakes are so high when it comes to educating the young people in VT, and particularly, in the Hartford School District!

Speaking of our wonderful district, as promised, we are going to continue to ground our work and what we share with all of you in the collective, communal work we accomplished with all of you last year when we developed our "Vision of a Graduate" draft.

In this newsletter and in future communications, you can expect to see us bringing the "Vision of a Graduate" to life in the district: how are we realizing the vision and focusing our work on student outcomes and experiences in relation to what we determined we wanted for the students in the HSD as they move through our school district and we prepare them for what is next in their lives after they leave our hallways?

This newsletter is dedicated to the components of our vision related to "Learn, " and more specifically, what we are doing in the district to support students to learn how to be careful, joyful, erudite, and voracious consumers of text in all of its varieties and genres!

In Hartford, we learn together and about one another and the human condition through reading. To read is to build a strong foundation that allows a student to access their learning in profound, meaningful, and innovative ways.

Please enjoy all that our educators and students do to ensure that reading becomes a vibrant part of our academic and personal lives, and as always, please do not hesitate to be in touch if you would like to share your questions, reflections, and ideas. We're all ears!

Warmly,

Caty Sutton

Superintendent

Hartford School District

suttonc@hartfordschools.net

Act 73 requires the Agency of Education to recommend statewide graduation requirements to the State Board of Education by January 1, 2026, in the form of a report. The State Board of Education then has until July 1, 2027, to finalize their decisions about the statewide graduation requirements, and the AOE will be available to provide ongoing support to them during this decision-making period.

The purpose of this survey is to gather input from a variety of stakeholders and your responses will help inform the recommendations the AOE makes in their December 2025 report. The survey will be open through Friday, November 14th, 2025

The school and district leaders in the photo below attended the AOE's Strategic Planning Retreat, where the latest information was shared with us, including the two models below.

Perhaps more important than the redistricting conversation and the way in which we configure ourselves in the system, is what we teach, how we teach, and most importantly, the impact of this on our students.

Please take a moment to review the materials below and fill out the related survey.

Pursuant to H.454 (Act 73), the School District Redistricting Task Force was created to recommend new school district boundaries and configurations to the General Assembly.

As the article below indicates, there are three maps currently under consideration: one (see visual below), redistricts based on CTEs and creates 13 districts across the state. Another creates districts that are reflective of boards of cooperative educational services (BOCES) and is focused on creating opportunities for districts to share resources, like special education and mental health services, and one that creates regional high schools.

Notably, the article also highlights the ongoing debate over school choice and emphasized the concerns that board chair, Debbie Singiser, who serves on the Barstow school board, shared that "in the past five years, half of the 122 students who received public funding to attend private schools through Barstow Unified Union School District did not graduate from Barstow Memorial School’s 8th grade. And nearly half of the students using the tuition system from Barstow’s district in the past five years attended Killington Mountain School, a ski academy.

The data, compiled by task force members, supports Singiser’s comments at the public forum suggesting families are “moving into our school district to take advantage of that school choice and the tuition for high school.” That raises costs of taxpayers statewide, task force members argued.'"

None of the map proposals explain how these districts would be governed, or identify a funding source in the event that new regional high schools need to be constructed.

As expressed in the article, "time is limited. The task force has only two meetings left before it is required to finalize a report with three maps. Rep. Edye Graning, the co-chair of the task force, on Tuesday called it a “herculean” task for the body."

Want to get involved and provide crucial input into these decisions? Join the next meeting and provide public comment!

Or, contact the taskforce via email: All communication can be sent to ADM.Redistricting@vermont.gov.

Next Meeting Details:

Date/Time: Monday, November 10, 2025, 9:30 AM - 4:30 PM

Location: Cherry Conference Room, Waterbury State Office Complex, Waterbury, VT

AGENDA

Join the meeting now link - for attendees who would like to participate in public comment at this meeting

ORCA will be live streaming the meeting, please follow this link: https://www.orcamedia.net

Remaining Meeting Dates:

• November 10, 2025
• November 20, 2025

Map 1: CTE Map with 13 School Districts

Map 2: Regional Comprehensive High Schools Map

Map 3: Board of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES) Map

Believe it or not, Winter weather is on its way!

So, inquiring minds want to know: how do we make a decision about whether to close or delay school?

When adverse weather is expected that could impact road conditions, the first thing the Superintendent and Assistant Superintendent are going to do is to initiate communication with the following team:

• The Department of Public Works, who tirelessly work to keep our roads safe for travel
• Butler's Bus Service, who safely drive our students to and from school every day
• The Hartford Police Department, who patrol our roads and keep us all safe
• Our Facilities Director, who works with subcontractors who maintain our campuses

The team above will communicate the evening before an expected weather event and then again very early the next morning.

During that time, the Superintendent is also in touch with regional Superintendents, both in VT and in NH, and receives reports from all of them about what the local weather and road conditions are looking like early that morning, what is expected throughout the next several hours, and whether anyone has reached a determination about whether to delay or close school.

It should be noted that we have students coming from different districts to attend both HACTC and The Wilder School, and in many cases, we also share a bus service, so we do or best to align our decision-making and communicate so we are as thoughtful as we can be of all stakeholders while holding safety as the number one priority.

Ideally and depending upon the local weather and road conditions, by 5:00 or 5:30 AM, we have made a decision, and if school is delayed or canceled, we use our School Messenger system to communicate with all of our families and staff in the district.

If expecting a larger, lengthier storm system, our weather team might determine that we are delaying or canceling school the evening beforehand, in which case we will communicate that information using our School Messenger system the evening before school is expected to be in session.

If the timing of the weather is going to impact afterschool events, the Superintendent and Assistant Superintendent will work with the team above as well as the Athletic Director to determine whether to cancel these activities and will do our best to communicate that with families and staff by 12:00 or 12:30 that day.

Note: It is important that we are clear that having shared all of the above information with you, a parent may and should always use their own discretion about whether to send their student to school on a day during which the weather is expected to be adverse, particularly when you are considering the safety of our student drivers, some of whom are traveling further distances.

Needless to say, we have become voracious consumers of weather reports and fancy ourselves as amateur meteorologists as Winter weather approaches!

To update your contact preferences, here are the directions on how parents, caregivers, and students can update their contact preferences to get text messages

If you have any questions about our process, please do not hesitate to be in touch.

The Superintendent, Assistant Superintendent, Director of Curriculum, Director of Special Education, HACTC Director, Director of Finance, and HHS grade 9 student Ezra Tane attended the Agency of Education’s Statewide Strategic Planning Retreat in Killington, VT. Everyone attended breakout sessions that were related to their field or interest.

HSD Director of Technology, Eric Christie, HMMS Library Media & Technology Specialist, Joe Jones, OQS STEAM Educator & Interventionist, Sarah Morlock, OQS Teacher & Library Media Specialist, Kari Amick, and Superintendent Caty Sutton, a Vita-Learn Board Member, attended the annual VT Fest, a conference that is "a premier event for K12 educators, technology IT professionals, technology integrators and coaches, and school librarians.

The conference features a variety of workshops and presentations that support participants in deepening their knowledge and skills to effectively integrate technology into their classrooms, libraries, and schools.

Participants will have the opportunity to:

• engage with experts in the field,
• share best practices, and
• explore new tools and strategies to enhance their educational environments.

The Vermont Fest Conference is designed to support classroom teachers, school librarians, technology integration specialists, and school IT professionals in their efforts to improve student outcomes and foster a culture of innovation in schools. Whether you’re a seasoned tech professional, school librarian, or a classroom teacher, Vermont Fest provides valuable insights and practical solutions to meet the evolving needs of today’s educational landscape."

In the spirit of “Read” from our Vision of a Graduate’s overarching theme of "Learn," educators across our district have been engaging in professional learning centered around two inspiring books: The Knowledge Gap by Natalie Wexler and The Writing Revolution by Judith Hochman and Natalie Wexler. These texts invite us to think deeply about how reading, writing, and knowledge work together to build strong learners, and the new learning gained is helping us strengthen literacy instruction for all students.

Throughout the year, some of our teachers are taking part in a year-long learning strand during district inservice days, led by our incredible ELA Committee made up of teachers and instructional coaches from our elementary, middle, and high schools. Together, they’re diving into these books, learning from one another, and bringing new strategies back to classrooms across the district, from our youngest readers to students at the Tech Center.

This work is supported by Title II grant funding, which helps us invest in high-quality professional learning for teachers. The focus is to strengthen understanding of best practices in reading, writing, and disciplinary literacy, ensuring that what educators learn through this “whole district read” directly enhances student learning and achievement.

We’re already seeing the impact. Students are reading and writing with greater confidence, making connections across subjects, and showing deeper understanding in their work. As our educators continue to learn and grow together, they’re helping students do the same and exemplifying the spirit of our Vision of a Graduate every day.

Here’s a recent example from a 6th grade ELA classroom: students read part of Temple Grandin's Calling All Minds and then wrote a complete sentence about something from the section with their group. Teachers gave students feedback on sentences before students then wrote individual words from their sentences onto index cards to create sentence scrambles, a TWR activity that teaches the boundaries of sentences. Students then swapped scrambles with another group, unscrambled them, and rewrote the sentences on whiteboards with correct capitalization and punctuation. This activity helped students review what they had just read in addition to practicing sentence structure.

DBS interventionists started a “Look Who Got Caught Reading” board to document the students and staff reading while at school! The board celebrates all of the time and attention given to practicing reading and getting immersed in a good book!

"You Otter Know": November 7, 2025

A love for reading and writing begins early, with a curiosity about letters and sounds and all that we can express with them! As our kindergarteners are learning the alphabet, they are already beginning to use their new skills to share about their families, to decipher their class morning message, and to read back captions about their forest illustrations. Way to go, kindergarteners!

The Howler: October 31, 2025

Grade 1/2 students writing compelling sentences through "The Writing Revolution" process– starting with a sentence Kernel (a who and a do) and expanding it with "where," "when," and "why"

Grade 3/4 PLC digs into reading data to better plan for instruction and support students' growing use of syllabication.

Students work on "Comparing and Contrasting" as a comprehension strategy and tool during ELA time– comparing our school to schools we’ve learned about through books.

In order to learn how to read, you actually need to have knowledge of the world around you. Grade 3/4 students studied local history and the impact of water (rivers, drinking water etc), as part of an integrated ELA unit. Students toured the town and created drawings of historical buildings as a part of building deep content knowledge.

Weekly Review: November 6, 2025

In middle school, reading does not often stand alone as a subject or skill. On Team Polaris, reading, writing, geography, and history are integrated and taught as “Humanities”. Students use reading to understand how people and places have changed over time. This fall, Polaris students explored the five themes of geography, ancient river civilizations, migration, and trade routes. Throughout the unit, students in grades 6 through 8 learned in multiage groups, reading from a variety of texts, taking notes, and discussing ideas to see how these topics connect.

For the culminating project, students formed new groups to create board games that demonstrated their learning across the whole unit. Families were invited in to play the games, ask questions, and learn alongside students. This celebration highlighted both the academic work and the sense of community that grows when students share their learning with others. It all took reading as the doorway into the development of many skills areas.

It’s time to sign up for Winter Sports! HMMS offers boys and girls basketball as well as practice opportunities with the winter high school track team for students in grades 7 and 8. All 6th grade winter sports are offered by the Hartford Parks and Recreation Department. Registration is located on Infinite Campus for grades 7 and 8.

Please use this link to access the HMMS Athletics page.

HMMS Newsletter: October 14, 2025

During the past couple of years, a number of Hartford High School students through their class(es) have interacted with elementary students from The White River School and Dothan Brook School. These opportunities benefit all participating students.

On the morning of Thursday, November 6, Hartford's "Hope Happens Here" chapter provided a free lunch to staff and students as they entered the building. This is just one example of the way that "Hope Happens Here" serves our community.

Hartford High Lites: November 7, 2025

Lots of reading happens at the HACTC and the reading is tied directly into our hands-on programs. In Building Trades, students read nonfiction books about tiny houses to get ideas for their tiny house project. They then building plans for their own tiny house idea. In our Health Sciences and Medical Assisting & Phlebotomy programs students read about various health conditions, careers in the health field, and much more. Our Cosmetology students do extensive reading about body systems, bacteria, and interacting with clients.

Word-parts wall in Health & Human Sciences.

Automotive Technology students engage in a great deal of digital and informational literacy!

Highlights from the HACTC: November 3, 2025

We read at The Wilder School. We are all about reading, whether it is reading the newspaper, menus, or poetry. We also love read-aloud! Our Elementary Group is currently reading the first book in the Harry Potter series as a read-aloud. Even when reading is hard, we know how important it is to learn to read. And, we love when our Autism Program teachers offer to teach our Alternative program students to read!

Books are essential for helping readers, particularly children, see themselves and others in stories. Mirrors reflect a reader's own life, culture, and experiences, providing a sense of validation and belonging. Windows offer a view into the lives of others, helping readers to understand different cultures, perspectives, and experiences, which fosters empathy and respect for diversity. Including both is crucial for creating a well-rounded, inclusive curriculum that helps students understand both their own identity and the world around them.

For Banned Books Week, several schools in the District participated in “Book Tastings” during staff meetings. Book tastings gave educators a chance to engage with picture books categorized into topics of some of the most marginalized populations, such as neurodiversity, gender inclusivity, mental health and wellness, diverse voices, and linguistic diversity. Educators were asked to find a book that celebrated the diversity of folks in our schools and community and to bring these stories into their own classrooms for a read aloud.

Here is a short video from Dav Pilkey about banned books, including his own, Captain Underpants. He explains how you can express concern about a book without undermining the freedom to read of those around you.

David Levine, Founding Director of Teaching Empathy Institute (TEI) in the Hudson Valley of New York, is an educator, author, recording artist, and documentary film maker. He has 40 years of experience working in a multitude of educational settings as a classroom teacher, instructional coach, workshop facilitator and systems-change planning specialist. TEI works with schools across the country and around the world seeking to create caring and compassionate school cultures where social and emotional learning and emotional intelligence are foundational belonging and relationship-building practices.

David has published numerous articles on belonging, empathy, and classroom culture building and has written six books, including A Year of Belonging and Field Guide to a School of Belonging, both of which were recipients of the Nautilus Book Award, American Book Fest Best Book Award and Indie Book Award in successive years (2019-2022). Two of David’s original recordings, Dance of a child’s dreams and Can you hear me? were Parents’ Choice Award Winners, and his film Finding Howard: The Legacy of a Song won the award for “Best Film on Youth Welfare” at the Helsinki Education Film Festival International in 2021.

At his core, David is an empathy educator and an artist whose expression is grounded in honor for self and others, communicating with compassion, and practicing honor for all children – seeing them as “Sacred Beings” filled with the potential for not only achievement, but also empathy for themselves and their fellow human beings.

Please see the latest Equity Updates in this newsletter!

A link is here for your convenience!

Hartford Athletics

Jeff Moreno, CAA

Athletic Director

morenoj@hartfordschools.net

Home sweet home! Did you know that 5 Hurricane teams (girls soccer, boys soccer, girls volleyball, field hockey & football) hosted a playoff game this fall? This has never happened before in the history of HHS! 4 Hurricane teams had each hosted playoff games in 2017, 2016, and 2012 which had been the record until this fall. Well done Hurricanes!

Junior Sylvia Johnson had a tremendous season for the Hurricane girls XC team. She ran a personal best 20:22.5 on October 17th as she gets awfully close to breaking the 20:00 barrier for the 5k! She was 3rd at the SVL championship last week and finished 7th in all of D-II at the state championship last weekend.! She has a 1st, two 2nds, and a 3rd place finish so far this season and has qualified for the New England Championship in Hopkinton, NH in November. Well done Sylvia!

Winter sports are right around the corner! Hartford offers ice hockey, indoor track, and basketball. Register through Infinite Campus and plan on attending the winter sports student-parent-coach orientation on November 17th in the HHS auditorium at 7:00

The girls volleyball team earned the #2 seed in the state tournament…after running up an impressive 12-2 record in the regular season. In those 12 victories the girls won an eye-popping 36 of the 39 matches they played in (varsity volleyball plays a best of 5 series). In their only two losses of the season the girls took those matches to a 5th match, losing 2-3 both times. That equates to an astounding overall match record of 40-9. That is a school record that will be tough to beat!

Natasha Niffka has done a fantastic job in her first year as varsity coach for the girls volleyball program. She grew up all over the U.S., mostly along the coasts before landing in Sharon, Vt. where she attended Woodstock Union High School and the University of Vermont as an engineering student. After college, She moved to Hannover, Germany, where she played soccer and rugby. In 1994, she competed in a historic tournament in East Berlin against the Russian National Women’s Rugby Team—the first-ever match between Russia and a Western nation. Outside of owning and running her own company in Sharon she has completed a marathon, several half marathons, a sprint triathlon, and two 500+ mile charity rides across New York State to raise funds for cancer research. When she learned volleyball was becoming a varsity sport at Hartford High School, she knew I wanted to be part of it. Competition, leadership, and team culture are what she brings to the table. She is thrilled and honored to coach this incredible group of athletes. Entering the playoffs in second place this year, this team is truly special and she believes these young women will continue to excel long after the season ends.

If you would like to contact the school board, please access their page on our website.

To watch recordings of past meetings, including our last special meeting on July 30, please access this link.

We also created a new email address that will allow you to send one email that will go to all five board members (thank you again, to Eric Christie!):

To reach all members of the school board collectively, email schoolboard@hartfordschools.net

The Hartford School District is looking for a second shift custodian.

Full time benefits eligible position available at Hartford High School starting at $20.hr.

We welcome applicants who want to contribute to our educational community by ensuring a clean, safe environment for our students and staff.

For more information please contact Jonathan Garthwaite, Director of Facilities, at 802-359-4610 or garthwaitej@hartfordschools.net.

Here is the link to apply: www.gobeacon.com/careers

http://www.gobeacon.com/careers

A big thank you to Eric Christie, HSD Director of Technology, for figuring out how individuals can subscribe to the HSD Newsletter!

To subscribe to be on our list of newsletter recipients, please access this link (the link is also on the front page of our website)!