Principal's Report

During the month of January our Interventionist and classroom teachers were busy assessing students are a variety of different assessments. That information will be used to inform group and individual instruction for students for the remainder of the school year.

Our students have spent the last three Fridays participating in winter activities. We were once again welcomed to the Gold Crown Bowling Alley in St. Johnsbury and to Fenton Arena for ice skating. Students also made the first trip back to Checkerberry for sledding since Covid. Thank you to the Gonyaw and Labun families for making this tradition a possibility again.

Abbey/Whitson's will be hosting the food service council meeting on February 18th from 12-1pm. Students, staff, families and community members are invited to attend the council meetings to share their thoughts, suggestions and concerns about the food service program at NES. If you wish to attend please contact the main office so that we know that you would like to participate.

Of course the school budget has been at the forefront of our thoughts. Below is information about what was within administrative control and what increases were not. Of the twenty percent increase roughly seven percent was within administrative control. I look forward to learning what priorities the board and community have in regards to the FY 27 budget, this will inform any revisions that will need to be made in the next draft of the budget.

Respectfully Submitted,

Loretta R. Cruz

Principal

Classroom teachers Bethani Winchester and Emily Ross, along with special educator Chris Crane are participating in Vermont Math Institute course Math as a Second Language. Teachers that take part in this course will be given priority in entering the VMI graduate program. Long term subs Tad Robinson & Charles Simmons have participated in math trainings provided by All Learners Network. By supporting teachers in math professional development we hope to improve Tier I math instruction.

During the month of January a number of assessments are given to monitor student progress. Students participated in STAR early literacy, reading and math assessments, along with POA, PNOA and ENOA. Reading assessment results show significant growth by students, which should be celebrated. Student grew an average of four reading levels between fall and winter on the benchmark assessment. In the fall 55% of students were proficient on the STAR reading assessment. Our math results are not as strong as we would hope, which has lead us to evaluate what we can do to bolster Tier I instruction. Only 46% were proficient in math on the winter STAR math assessment.

On January 27th fourth grade students participated in the NAEP assessment. The assessment is often referred to as the National Report Card. We will not receive individual or school results for participating in this assessment. Instead the information will be used to report how students are doing nationally on reading and math.

Kindergarten: Oxbow Grad and recent college graduate Charles Simmons is settling in as Cassi Harmonay’s long term substitute teacher. Having him shadow Cassi for two weeks really helped for a smooth transition. A kindergarten parent shared that her son, excitedly tells her each morning that he can’t wait to see Mr. Charles when he gets to school. We would like to congratulate Ms. Harmonay and her husband Colin on the birth of their daughter Madeline Rose. Ms. Harmonay will be returning in June.

First Grade: Students are also continuing to practice their handwriting daily. They are working on perfecting our letter formation, sizing, and spacing. Students handwriting has improved drastically throughout the school year! Our current math unit is focusing on helping students master their partners to ten

Second Grade: Students have been working on their habitat writing over the last week. In math class they have been working on measurement skills. If you happened to stop by the classroom this week you might have seen the students measuring reptiles like lizards and iguanas.

Third & Fourth: One of the many goals of Interactive Read Aloud lessons is to get students discussing books. The third graders have been reading books related to realistic fiction and identifying what makes a book realistic fiction. During Interactive Read Aloud this week the 4th graders kicked off their study of poetry. They spent time listening to poems and creating a definition for poetry. As part of this study students will be reading and writing a variety of styles of poems as well as learning about figurative language.

Fifth & Sixth: Students have been learning about ancient Egyptian Civilization through reading and working with maps. Fifth grade math students have begun working on Unit Four and sixth grade students took a brief break from math on Friday to share proposals for repurposing the fish tank in the classroom to principal Cruz.

The Vermont Agriculture Kids Calendar held its 2nd annual art contest for all local K-4 schools. The theme was Vermont farming and food. There were over 100 entries, and Lennox Tipton won a spot in this year's calendar! Pictured with Lennox is NES Art teacher Brigitte MacMillan.

This is the second year in a row that an NES student has been featured.

Wednesday February 4th Newbury hosted a meeting of all of the OESU Buildings Operations Supervisors. The meeting covered the procurement process and discussions around capital improvement projects. OUUSD BOS discussed working more collaboratively to come up with a systematic method to prioritize facilities projects within the district. We currently have no large projects, although we are investigating replacing flooring on the ramps outside of the gym and cafeteria and potentially adding the antifreeze to our closed heating system this year. We recently ran into a problem getting pellets for the boiler, due to production issues. This meant that we have had to rely on our back up #2 boiler a bit more during this recent cold spell.

Upcoming Events

February 18th Food Service Advisory Council 12-1pm
February 20th Read-a-Thon
February 20th Winter Carnival
February 21-March 3rd Winter Break
March 19th Math & Literacy Night With Author Visit
March 20th End of Trimester
March 25th Early Release
March 27 Susie Spikol Author Visit
March 27 Report Cards Go Home

It is time! The NES Knights are heading home today with their Read-a-thon 2026 pledge sheets. We are hoping to raise $1000 for author visits.

On February 20, the school will gather to read for 80 minutes. Between now and then, students will be out and about collecting pledges. You can support students with a per minute pledge or a lump sum total pledge, and all pledges will be due back on March 6. Thank you for your support!