SCS Weekly Newsletter 12/11/23

Dear Salisbury Families:

I hope you are well, and the kids had some fun with the snow today! It's awesome to have it feel like December, and it's amazing to think we only have 8 more days before Winter Break! They will be fun days too: we've got an in-school concert, the Holiday Dollar Store, and All-School Skating at the Memorial Sports Center coming up!

Two quick notes on the above topics:

1: We still are looking for donations of good items for adult males for the Dollar Store- that seems to be the place we tend to not have as many items. If you have something that seems good- bring it in!

2: Start looking for that hockey or bike helmet! In next week's newsletter I will also be asking if anyone has any helmets other students can borrow- so think about what you have stored! Any borrowed helmets will be properly labelled, and returned!

And on other topics, I imagine many of you read my email last week relating to the fact that I have agreed to also be the Cornwall Elementary School principal for a short time while their principal goes on a leave to take care of some health things. I am excited to not be doing it alone, though: ACSD Student Response Coordinator and former MUMS principal Michael Dudek has signed on to be the assistant principal during this time. Originally it was planned that Mike would be full-time at Cornwall, but after seeing the way travel back and forth will go, I am going to be making a slight adjustment to our original plan. During times where I will leave Salisbury School for Cornwall School for a long section of the day, Mr. Dudek will come to Salisbury and cover things here. If you see him, please introduce yourself and give him a warm Salisbury welcome!

You might well have questions about all this. If so, please reach out. I am pleased to be able to help out a colleague and school in need, and to be working with Mike, but I do want all of you to know that my commitment to Salisbury Community School is deep, and the education and safety of your children is top priority to me. I am confident we have the plan, the staff, and the system to keep those priorities well attended to.

Have a great week!

Bjarki

Important dates coming up:

Wednesday, December 13: United Way Presentations for 3rd, 4th, and 5tgh graders during the school day: Substance Abuse Prevention

Tuesday, December 19: Band concert at 11:10 (All school attends)

Wednesday, December 20: Holiday Dollar Store

Thursday, December 21: All School Skating- Depart at 12:20

Friday December 22: Winter Break Begins

This last week was the final week at Salisbury Community School for two of our student teachers from Middlebury College! Liza Obel-Omia worked in Jenn Larocque's 2-3 classroom, and Emma Doubman student-taught in Amy Clapp's 3-4 classroom. They, along with Francis Shiner in 1st grade, did a great job this fall, and really connected with students, and their cooperating teachers, very effectively. Student teaching is hard- it's most of the work of teaching, with less experience and resources than a full-time classroom teacher, for 0 money. Thank you for your hard work and commitment, Emma and Liza, and good luck in your next steps! Your students will miss you. Next week we will celebrate Francis finishing up!

On the last day before the winter break (December 21st), all of Salisbury Community School is going skating at the Memorial Sports Center in Middlebury! We will leave school around 12:20, and that will give us time to get skate rentals and tie skates before we go on the ice from 1:00-2:00. Parents are invited to come watch (and tie skates!) Parents will also be able to pick up their children directly from the Memorial Sports Center (we'll say more about how to communicate about this in next week's newsletter). So go find those helmets, and maybe skates if you have them! More specifics will be in next week's newsletter.

Thank you to everyone who came to our Spaghetti Dinner and Bingo Night! We had a great time- good food, good games, good prizes, and some great raffles at the end! Thanks so much to the Clark, Quesnel, Armstrong, Bowdish, Sheldrick, and McNeil families for making it happen! Also, a special thanks to our wonderful ACSD foodservice folks, Kathleen and Steven Marinelli, for whipping up such a delicious dinner. See you at our next Bingo Night!

If you are looking for help with gifts for your children for the holidays there is a HOPE Holiday Shop in Middlebury where parents can shop for free for new gift items for their children. Parents can stop by the HOPE office on 282 Boardman Street in Middlebury to fill out a short form and set up an appointment for that same day to shop. The Holiday Shop will be open until December 22nd, 2023. If you have any questions feel free to contact me at tammiejohnson@acsdvt.org or call HOPE at 388-3608.

Thank you,

Tammie Johnson

School Counselor

Cornwall, Ripton and Salisbury

tammiejohnson@acsdvt.org