The Colchester School Board will be meeting twice next week.

· December 17, 2013 (regular meeting) in the Colchester High School Media Center; general session begins at 7:00 p.m.
· December 19, 2013 (teacher negotiations) in the Colchester High School Media Center at 7:00 p.m.

Both meetings are open to the public. To view the agendas and information packet, please visit our website: www.csdvt.org/agendas

And as we mentioned in our December 2 article, Colchester School District and the Colchester School Board are spearheading a new approach to further encourage community involvement and engagement. (In fact, the Colchester School District Vision and Strategic Plan 2012–2017 includes a pathway entitled “Commitment to Effective Communication.”) Click here to submit a question (or e-mail SchoolBoardQuestions@csdvt.org) and enter your contact information and question.

As a reminder, during the meeting on the third Tuesday of every month, the school board will review the top questions and themes submitted.

If you are unable to attend the school board meetings but would like to stay informed and/or to hear the response to your question, you can read the meeting minutes on www.csdvt.org, or watch the meetings on Lake Champlain Access Television (LCATV) on Saturdays at 6:00 p.m. and Sundays at 7:00 a.m. The school board meetings also stream at www.lcatv.org.

If you would like more information, please call our administrative offices at (802) 264-5999, or stop in to see us at 125 Laker Lane.

Your schools and your town government are working hard to engage our community. Please encourage your friends and family to subscribe to The Spotlight. When we’re all informed, we make a stronger community!

The Colchester School Board will meet December 19, 2013, for teacher negotiations in the Colchester High School Media Center at 5:00 p.m.

The meeting open to the public, and citizen attendance is encouraged. To view the agenda, please visit our website: www.csdvt.org/agendas

And as we mentioned in our December 2 article, Colchester School District and the Colchester School Board are spearheading a new approach to further encourage community involvement and engagement. (In fact, the Colchester School District Vision and Strategic Plan 2012–2017 includes a pathway entitled “Commitment to Effective Communication.”) Click here to submit a question (or e-mail SchoolBoardQuestions@csdvt.org) and enter your contact information and question.

As a reminder, during the regular meeting on the third Tuesday of every month, the school board will review the top questions and themes submitted.

If you are unable to attend the school board meetings but would like to stay informed and/or to hear the response to your question, you can read the meeting minutes on www.csdvt.org, or watch the meetings on Lake Champlain Access Television (LCATV) on Saturdays at 6:00 p.m. and Sundays at 7:00 a.m. The school board meetings also stream at www.lcatv.org.

If you would like more information, please call our administrative offices at (802) 264-5999, or stop in to see us at 125 Laker Lane.

Your schools and your town government are working hard to engage our community. Please encourage your friends and family to subscribe to The Spotlight. When we’re all informed, we make a stronger community!

What a generous, warmhearted community this is.

Colchester High School hosted its eighth-annual gingerbread house competition on December 19 as an engaging opportunity to make a positive impact.

Members of the CHS community deliver gingerbread houses to the Vermont Children’s Hospital

The competition—which spreads cheer throughout the community—involves teams of students in grades 9–12 collaborating on gingerbread houses. The finished products are then judged in three categories—traditional, open, and people’s choice. In the traditional category, the entire structure must be made of edible materials, and in the open category, up to 25 percent of the materials used in the construction and decoration can be inedible.

Church Street!

A farm

Some of the faculty members and students later delivered the gingerbread houses to area organizations, including Cathedral Square Corporation (Heineberg Senior Housing, McAuley Square Senior Housing, Ruggles House Shared Housing, Holy Cross Senior Housing, Whitcomb Woods Independent Living, and Grand Way Commons Independent Living), the Ronald McDonald House, Starr Farm Nursing Center, Green Mountain Nursing Home, COTS Firehouse Family Shelter, and the Children’s Hospital at Fletcher Allen Health Care.

(Fun fact: Gingerbread houses are a German tradition stemming from the nineteenth-century Brothers Grimm fairy tale Hänsel and Grethel in which a young boy and girl discover a cottage in the woods built of gingerbread. Gingerbread house events—be they competitions or simply jovial team-building affairs—have been enjoying steadily increasing popularity all over the country.)

A representation of the four seasons

Gingerbread houses were not the only cheery items delivered to area organizations to help spread holiday magic. In addition to calling in a $100 donation to Camp Ta-Kum-Ta on behalf of the team, the Laker Boys Hockey Team sponsored its second-annual toy drive at the Beech Memorial Tournament at the Leddy Park Arena this year. Fans received free admission to the game with a donation of a toy. The drive—which was widely promoted and supported by the team’s twenty-one members—was very successful, and members of the team delivered the more than 150 toys to HowardCenter.

Members of the Lakers Boys Hockey Team deliver toys to HowardCenter

It is both an honor and an inspiration to be a part of such an incredible community. Wishing our students a restful holiday recess, and happy holidays to you all!

Your schools and your town government are working hard to engage our community. Please encourage your friends and family to subscribe to The Spotlight. When we’re all informed, we make a stronger community!

The renovations project for Colchester High School’s science labs and instructional center continues to move forward!

The Colchester School Board has selected Wright & Morrissey as the general contractor that will manage the project.

While limited, preliminary work is scheduled to begin in February, more substantial renovative work will take place beginning at the end of April.

If you would like more information, please contact our administrative offices at (802) 264-5999, or contact the school board.

Your schools and your town government are working hard to engage our community. Please encourage your friends and family to subscribe to The Spotlight. When we’re all informed, we make a stronger community!

We have discussed this information before—including in the January 2014 issue of Currently Colchester—but it bears repeating.

What are the numerous considerations that must be carefully taken into account when determining whether or not to close or delay the opening of schools as a result of weather?

• Reports about road conditions from the Town of Colchester’s Public Works Department and Colchester Police Department

Colchester covers a vast and diverse geographic area; while some streets may appear clear, travel elsewhere in our community may be too dangerous for students and sufficient numbers of faculty and staff members to travel safely. We also must consider the fact that some high school students drive to school.

• Reports from the bus contractor about whether buses are able to transport students

While buses can drive through snow, downed trees and/or power lines or other vehicle accidents on the roads can prohibit successful transport of students to school. Additionally, many buses must maneuver into tight areas that may be rendered impossible by inclement weather. And snow is not the only concern; ice is always a consideration, and extremely cold temperatures may prevent buses from starting.

• The ability to provide clear and safe access to school buildings by clearing school parking lots, driveways, and sidewalks

Administrators must work with maintenance and custodial staff to determine whether these areas are safe.

• The amount of snow and ice that has accumulated and what is expected to accumulate

Administrators must also consider whether the conditions are expected to worsen based upon forecasts.

• Whether utilities in our buildings—electricity, heat, water, and so on—have been or are expected to be adversely impacted
• Visibility, temperatures, and wind-chill factors

Some students walk to school, and those who ride buses may have to wait longer at bus stops if buses are delayed.

Who makes the decision?

The decision about whether to close or delay the opening of schools—or to dismiss schools early—belongs to the superintendent of schools. While Superintendent Waters does pay careful attention to the actions of other districts in our area, because Colchester’s weather can vary greatly from the bay area to the hills around the village, he bases his decisions upon the above-mentioned factors as well as upon recommendations from CSD’s business and operations manager, who is in ongoing contact with the Town of Colchester’s Public Works Department, the bus contractor, and CSD’s maintenance foreman during inclement weather.

By when is the decision made, and how is the community notified?

Whenever possible, the decision about whether to close or delay the opening of schools is made by no later than 6:00 a.m. We notify the community of the decision via a number of avenues.

• The Power Announcement notification system is activated.
• The Vermont Association of Broadcasters disseminates the information to every radio station and television station in its directory; from there, the affiliated radio and television stations broadcast the information through their preferred means.
• The information is posted on Sovernet Communications school closings page.

It is important to note that parents always have the right to decide whether they feel travel is unsafe for their child/children and may choose to keep their child/children home during inclement weather.

Why not simply always cancel school during inclement weather?

The impact of numerous snow days upon the end of the school year is never a consideration. Rather, we are sensitive to the fact that school closures can present a number of challenges for parents, particularly with regard to child care; some young students may be without proper supervision during the day if schools are closed. And because an increasing number of students are eligible for free or reduced-price meals during the school day, school closures may also adversely impact these students’ food security. For these reasons, it is important to make as careful a decision about whether to close schools as possible given the information available. Safety of our students and staff is always our first priority.

How can parents and students prepare?

We recommend that all parents have a solid contingency plan in place to manage unexpected school closings and/or delays.

We also recommend that all parents prepare their children for cold and potentially dangerous changing weather conditions by providing warm winter clothing and footwear.

Information about school closings, delayed openings, and early dismissals can also be found on Colchester School District’s website. If you have any questions or would like more information, you may also contact our administrative offices at (802) 264-5999.

Your schools and your town government are working hard to engage our community. Please encourage your friends and family to subscribe to The Spotlight. When we’re all informed, we make a stronger community!

With grant funding provided by the National Science Foundation (NSF), Colchester High School science teacher Kara Lenorovitz recently honored Colchester School District by presenting at the American Geophysical Union (AGU) annual fall meeting in San Francisco, having been selected to do so by the Research on Adaptation to Climate Change (RACC) program.

Ms. Lenorovitz joined teacher Tom Lane of Bellows Free Academy, Fairfax and St. Michael’s College’s Miranda Lescaze at the San Francisco meeting. (To read a brief feature about Ms. Lenorovitz’s San Francisco presentation, please click here, and to view her presentation materials, please click here.) More than 22,000 earth and space scientists, educators, students, and other leaders gathered to present groundbreaking research and connect with colleagues as part of the December 9–13 event.

“It was incredibly powerful and reaffirming to both attend and present at the AGU conference,” Ms. Lenorovitz said. “Having the opportunity to learn about cutting-edge scientific findings across the multifaceted disciplines of Earth science, network with researchers and educators from around the world, and to partner more closely with RACC colleagues represented unparalleled professional development. Learning more about the complexities of climate change and educator professional development opportunities offered by other national and international organizations truly highlighted that the broader RACC research focus and model of authentically integrating both high school teachers and students in a vibrant research community is a unique, dynamic, and effective model.”

Ms. Lenorovitz has participated in the Research on Adaptation to Climate Change (RACC) program, which is part of the Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR)—which is itself a NSF-funded collaborative research effort between university researchers, graduate and undergraduate students, and high school teams throughout New England, New York, and Puerto Rico—for four years. She also mentors CHS students in EPSCoR-related efforts; last school year, three CHS seniors focused their efforts on understanding how storm events impact phosphorus levels in streams in various areas of different land uses and were later recognized for their contributions to climate change research. (Read more about that impressive feat here!)

CHS has participated in the Streams/RACC project for all six years of the program’s existence (the name morphed to Research on Adaptation to Climate Change (RACC) after its third year). Because science teacher Will Warren led the CHS team for the first two years, two science teachers and thirteen students have been actively engaged in this research initiative over CHS’s six years of participation.

Why is this important?

Exceptional teachers and teaching opportunities best position our students for success. Teacher collaboration is a critical element of student success (please click here to read a Spotlight primer about it), as are strategic professional development opportunities. In addition to serving as an elemental component in CSD’s teacher evaluation model (please click here to access our three-part primer about it), professional development is also the foundational aspect of in-service days (please click here to read more about them). Students’ ability to participate in hands-on, experiential learning is critically important, and your schools work to provide as many hands-on opportunities as possible for students—from pioneering a first-of-its-kind sustainability initiative and partnering with UVM to conduct atmospheric research to working with a state official to design simple water filtration systems … and from seeking grant funding to support the construction of a human-powered generator to teaming up with Colchester Police Department to explore forensics, your schools work to align with the Colchester School District Vision and Strategic Plan 2012–2017′s many pathways, including Pathway A: High Standards, Expectations, and Individual Engagement for All Learners; Pathway B: Technology Infrastructure and Integration; Pathway C: Learning Outside Our Four Walls; and Pathway E: Parent, Community, and School Partnerships Among Lifelong Learners. And we are having an astronomical reach—literally; did you know that one of our graduates is a flight controller for the International Space Station?

Hands-on study and application of science is important because making real-world connections to abstract classroom learning piques student engagement and attention—thus encouraging out-of-the-box thinking and enhancing learning. It also strengthens students’ observational skills and allows them to actively engage in their learning, providing additional sensory activities and expanding their curiosity. Our students are busily preparing for careers that do not even exist yet, and as such, problem-solving and critical-thinking skills are of even greater importance; students must be able to translate the theories and concepts they learn now toward applications they will use in their careers that have yet to be developed. Facilitating an increased emphasis on hands-on education—and providing opportunities for leadership development and career preparation in the process—is an excellent example of the forward thinking that the district works hard to promote and encourage. In order to do that, we must have quality teachers. To have quality teachers, they must have relevant, meaningful, and ongoing professional development.

In short, expanded professional development for teachers equals enhanced experiential learning—and thus greater success—for our students.

For more information, please call CHS at (802) 264-5700.

Your schools and your town government are working hard to engage our community. Please encourage your friends and family to subscribe to The Spotlight. When we’re all informed, we make a stronger community!

The Thirty-First-Annual Colchester Winter Carnival will be held at Colchester High School on Friday, January 31 and Saturday, February 1, and the Colchester’s Got Talent Show will take place on Friday, January 31 beginning at 6:30 p.m. in the community theater at CHS!

Interested? Please click here to access the registration form! (Those interested may also pick up the form at the Colchester Parks and Recreation Department at 781 Blakely Road.) The registration deadline is Monday, January 13.

Here are the rules and regulations (which are also found on the registration form):

• All participants must be residents of Colchester
• Contestants can only be in one act
• Talent acts may only be five (5) minutes or less in length
• An official timekeeper will be on hand to time each act
  • One point will be deducted from the score for each five (5) seconds over the five-minute limit.
• No videos may be used as part of an act
• Deadline for entries is noon on Monday, January 13, 2014
  • No late entries will be accepted
  • Acts will be notified after the auditions if they have been accepted
• Each category will be awarded cash prizes for first, second, and third place
  • First place: $150.00
  • Second place: $75.00
  • Third place: $50.00
• No lip-syncing (singing or mouthing to pre-recorded music that already has the lyric track)
• If using a CD for singing, the lyric track must be removed so that it is only instrumental
• The first act chosen to perform a song is the only act allowed to sing that song

Auditions will be held Thursday, January 16 and Friday, January 17; audition slots will be scheduled on a first-come, first-served basis with a completed registration form.

The Colchester’s Got Talent Show is open to all ages and is divided into three categories:

• Youth (Ages 6–11)
• Junior (Ages 12–14)
• Adult (Ages 15 and older)

For additional information, please call the Colchester Parks and Recreation Department at 264-5640 or contact Program Coordinator Jenn Turmel at 264-5643 or via e-mail at jturmel@colchestervt.gov.

The Colchester School District Vision and Strategic Plan 2012–2017 includes Pathway G: Town + School = One Vision. We are working hard to build an even stronger, more cohesive community!

Your schools and your town government are working hard to engage our community. Please encourage your friends and family to subscribe to The Spotlight. When we’re all informed, we make a stronger community!

The Colchester School Board will hold a special meeting on Tuesday, January 14, at 7:00 p.m. in the Colchester High School Media Center. The purpose of the meeting is to discuss the superintendent’s recommended budget for FY 2015.

Did you know that you can view the budget materials on our website at any time? Please click here to access a wealth of school budget–related information!

The Colchester School Board encourages community participation. To view the agenda for the special January 14 school board meeting, please click here.

And if you would like to know more about what has been going on within the various departments of your town government, please click here to view the Town of Colchester’s update for the week ending January 10, 2014.

Your schools and your town are working hard to engage our community. Please encourage your friends and family to subscribe to The Spotlight. When we’re all informed, we make a stronger community!

Remember … you do not need to wait until Town Meeting Day to learn more about the budgets! Please click here to access a wide array of school-budget-related information. We are working hard to make the budget information as widely available and accessible as possible; we encourage everyone to review the budget materials and ask any questions you may have.

If you would like to know more about what has been going on within the various departments of your town government, please click here to view the Town of Colchester’s update for the week ending January 17, 2014.

When we’re all informed, we make a stronger community! Please encourage your friends and family to subscribe to the Spotlight.

The Colchester School Board will meet on Tuesday, January 21, at 7:00 p.m. in the library at Colchester High School, and the meeting is open to the public. To view the meeting information packet and agenda—which includes discussion about the FY 2015 budget—please click here.

As a friendly reminder, the district and the school board are working to further encourage community involvement and engagement. Click here to submit a question (or e-mail SchoolBoardQuestions@csdvt.org) and enter your contact information and question.

If you are unable to attend the school board meetings but would like to stay informed and/or to hear the response to your question, you can read the meeting minutes on www.csdvt.org, or watch the meetings on Lake Champlain Access Television (LCATV) on Saturdays at 6:00 p.m. and Sundays at 7:00 a.m. The school board meetings also stream at www.lcatv.org.

If you would like more information, please call our administrative offices at (802) 264-5999, or stop in to see us at 125 Laker Lane.

When we’re all informed, we make a stronger community! Please encourage your friends and family to subscribe to the Spotlight.

The Colchester School Board and the Colchester Education Association will meet on Tuesday, January 28, in the library at Colchester High School for contract negotiations. This meeting, which begins at 5:00 p.m., is open to the public. To view the meeting agenda and other information related to contact negotiations, please click here.

As a friendly reminder, the district and the school board are working to further encourage community involvement and engagement. Click here to submit a question (or e-mail SchoolBoardQuestions@csdvt.org) and enter your contact information and question.

If you are unable to attend the school board meetings but would like to stay informed and/or to hear the response to your question, you can read the meeting minutes on www.csdvt.org, or watch the meetings on Lake Champlain Access Television (LCATV) on Saturdays at 6:00 p.m. and Sundays at 7:00 a.m. The school board meetings also stream at www.lcatv.org.

If you would like more information, please call our administrative offices at (802) 264-5999, or stop in to see us at 125 Laker Lane.

When we’re all informed, we make a stronger community! Please encourage your friends and family to subscribe to the Spotlight.

On Friday, February 7, the Colchester High School music program is holding its annual Spaghetti Soiree—a night of dinner and music provided by CHS choral and instrumental groups—in the CHS cafeteria. Online bidding is also now open in a silent auction featuring dozens of items donated by area merchants to help raise money for the group’s upcoming trip to New York City (please click here to read more about the trip). (For a complete listing of items to bid on, please visit the Friends of Colchester Music website.)

There will be seatings for the spaghetti dinner at 5:00 p.m. and at 7:00 p.m. Tickets for either seating are available for $12 each (for those 13 and over) and $8 each for children age 3 to 12. To pre-order tickets for the soiree, please call Evan Peltier or Melissa Towle at (802) 264-5742, or contact them via e-mail at peltiere@csdvt.org or towlem@csdvt.org. Please specify which seating time you prefer. Because of the popularity of this event, pre-ordering of tickets is encouraged. However, tickets can also be purchased at the door if there are remaining seats.

Union Memorial School will perform the musical Too Much Noise! An Eastern European Folktale, retold with original music by Brian Hiller and Don Dupont, on February 12 and 13 in the community theater at Colchester High School. The performance is a culmination of several weeks of learning for the students that includes reading the script as well as learning songs, speaking parts, and dances.

Half of the students will perform on Wednesday, February 12, and the other half will perform on Thursday, February 13. Both performances start at 6:30 p.m. and will last approximately thirty minutes.

“Musicals provide a great opportunity for the children to learn and explore on so many levels,” said Martie Mutz, CSD music teacher at Union Memorial School and Porters Point School. “There will be speaking and dancing parts, and every child will be a part of the chorus … for many of our children, this is their first time on a real stage.” For more information about the UMS production of Too Much Noise!, please click here.

On Tuesday, February 18, Malletts Bay School will host its third and fourth grade winter concert in the MBS gymnasium. The third grade concert will begin at 6:00 p.m., and the fourth grade concert will begin at 7:00 p.m.

On Wednesday, February 19, Malletts Bay School will host its fifth grade band and chorus concert in the MBS gym from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m.

All performances are open to the public. Please join us!

When we’re all informed, we make a stronger community! Please encourage your friends and family to subscribe to the Spotlight.

We are thrilled to announce that Colchester High School has been awarded another $10,000 grant in order to support its work in developing personalized learning grants (PLPs) for its students!

The grant funds from the Vermont Agency of Education will accelerate and further build CHS’s capacity to develop PLPs, allowing for additional professional development and training as well as facilitating collaboration with other schools that have successfully implemented PLPs. CHS’s goal is to begin implementing personalized learning plans with all seventh and ninth graders beginning in the fall of 2014.

A key component of personalizing the educational experience for all students at CHS involves reviewing school-wide performance data; CHS’s Leadership Team regularly analyzes performance data in order to assess and implement necessary changes at CHS in order to ensure the success of our students. This grant funding will support further development of these systems and structures to refine understanding of each students’ learning progress throughout their CHS careers. It will also provide greater access to resources—including trainers, time, and technology—to build a more cohesive, personalized learning system and to more effectively personalize individual students’ learning.

This most recent award boosts CHS’s grant awards to $30,000 for this academic year alone; in December, we announced another $10,000 grant supporting classroom technology (please click here to read that article and to view a short film about it!). An additional $10,000 grant to support PLPs was also recently awarded.

Colchester School District actively pursues alternative funding opportunities in order to augment programs and services for the students and community it serves. The district has investigated, sought, and received grant funding to support programming in the areas of science and technology, mathematics, literacy, early education, career exploration and preparedness, nutrition, physical education, music, environmental sustainability, and supplemental instruction.

To learn more about personalized learning plans, please click here to visit the Vermont Agency of Education’s page about them. And for more information about CHS’s instruction, please call (802) 264-5700, or call our administrative offices at (802) 264-5999.

When we’re all informed, we make a stronger community! Please encourage your friends and family to subscribe to the Spotlight.

Colchester High School will host a first-ever Variety Night in March that will be open to the entire Colchester community. Why? Because it is yet another avenue to foster community spirit and a sense of unity among our friends and neighbors. Along with promoting greater opportunities for meaningful and powerful learning experiences, positive learning environments help to foster healthy relationships and a sense of community and fair play. Community members—both within and surrounding the school—can develop a greater sense of pride, which in turn encourages neighborly relationships in which everyone gets to know and looks out for one another, thereby creating safer places to grow and learn. Research has indicated that students are more likely to succeed in school when they experience a positive sense of belonging and when they feel that they are part of something greater, and parents and citizens are more likely to take active roles in their schools when they feel that the overall atmosphere is positive, inviting, and inspiring. Working hard to improve school climates has important, far-reaching implications for entire communities.

As a preliminary activity to the upcoming Variety Night, the CHS faculty introduced a twenty-five-minute skit—which included singing and dancing!—to CHS students as a way of encouraging them to craft their own class skits for the Colchester community. The project was brainstormed by CHS teachers Aimee deLaricheliere and Dennis Akey, who wrote the script and organized the CHS faculty for the project. “It was most definitely a group effort—over thirty faculty made our production happen,” Ms. deLaricheliere said.

Ms. deLaricheliere and Mr. Akey first proposed the Variety Night concept, which is based upon South Burlington High School’s Talent Night, nearly a year ago as another school spirit activity for CHS. “Faculty members have volunteered to sponsor each of the classes to help them with the process,” Ms. deLaricheliere said. “I’ve been hearing lots of good buzz from the students thus far.”

There are quite a number of requirements and guidelines for participation, which entails the four CHS classes competing against one another. For example, the Variety Night productions must be original skits, and the writing, scenery, choreography, and direction must be done by the students. The skits must embody the elements of respect, responsibility, and pride. There are time requirements, props requirements, script requirements …

“The ultimate goal for the students should be self-rewarding, learning to work together, developing class spirit and unity, and a sense of accomplishment,” state the guidelines. The performers will be judged based upon their compliance with the requirements, and there will be awards for a variety of categories.

Members of the CHS faculty following their school spirit event

The CHS faculty’s skit for the students was a well-kept secret … and it is certainly not the first time that the CHS faculty has come together in the interest of promoting school spirit. Students attending a pep rally last year received a hilarious surprise when the faculty unveiled a flash mob involving a choreographed dance. (Please click here to read more about it and to watch a video of the faculty in action!) CHS has also hosted a charitable hair-cutting event; community tailgate celebrations; fundraising, gift drive, and food drive events; and more.

Every single one of your schools, in fact, actively engages in community-building and community-supporting activities. Both Colchester High School and Colchester Middle School participate in the Burlington Penguin Plunge, and CMS boasts student-created murals throughout the school. CMS also hosts other community-building events, such as anti-bullying campaigns, participation in National Mix-It-Up at Lunch Day, throwing a surprise birthday party for a beloved cook, and more.

Malletts Bay School has a mindfulness curriculum in place and is home to the community gardens.

Porters Point School successfully implemented Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) into its curriculum as part of its strategy to enhance school climate, and Union Memorial School has hosted the NED Show, the ultimate purpose of which is to assist with improving schools’ overall academic climate in a variety of ways. The principals of PPS, UMS, and MBS even good-naturedly offered themselves up as dunk-tank bait for a little league hit-a-thon event last year.

We’re all in this together.

And we’re looking forward to Variety Night on March 14 beginning at 7:00 p.m. at CHS … mark your calendars!

When we’re all informed, we make a stronger community! Please encourage your friends and family to subscribe to the Spotlight.

Colchester School Board Chair Michael Rogers offers the following letter to the community regarding school budgets.

Dear Community of Colchester,

The school budget is put to bed, so to speak, and we hopefully await Colchester residents’ support of our efforts. Reflecting back on our work, I recall a well-written article by Emerson Lynn, co-publisher of the Colchester Sun. In his January 2 article entitled “An Opportunity, Not a Crisis for Vermont,” he stressed the need for school districts to find constructive ways to fund education—to reorganize, to do more with less, and to reinvent the way we work, not only for cost savings but also for the betterment of our students. As a board member who has been looking at the numbers over the past few years and more recently during this year’s budget process, I ask how?

I have been observing or have been involved in Colchester education for the past thirty-five years. I’ve seen smarter and more energetic individuals come before me to serve the community, and now, as the chair of the Colchester School Board, I am walking the same path, examining the same issues, and dealing with the same taxation issue as those who came before me. Why? There seems to be a perception among taxpayers that the school board has absolute power with regard to the operation of the schools—but in fact, many of the school board’s decisions are predicated on guidelines mandated by the federal and/or state government. In the past, some have pointed fingers at school boards and suggested this or that as the source of a problem. However, unless the state legislators formulate changes to schools’ operation and funding, I see little flexibility to make major changes in the local school budget.

I would love for Governor Shumlin and Emerson Lynn to come into our Central Office with their best bean counters and try to find more than bubble gum money that we are overspending in our school budget. I believe the school board members and the district’s administrators take pride in the educational accomplishments here in Colchester. Our per-pupil spending is below state average and one of the lowest in Chittenden County. Our test scores are some of the best in the state. We have done more with less, which speaks very well for the district’s employees. Those who have examined our operation have remarked about our efficiency—including Lawrence O. Picus and Associates, who conducted an extensive case study of Colchester High School at the request of the Vermont State Legislature in order to ascertain how such improvements in academic performance were accomplished without high spending and without high teacher salaries. The report regales CHS as a model for other high schools across the state.

We have to play by the rules laid down for us, and these rules cost money. To lower the cost of doing business in the Colchester School District, our legislature needs to change the rules. My fellow board members and I live in this community and have families in this community … friends and neighbors that we see daily. If we had a magic wand to lower taxes while continuing to offer the same quality of education and still follow the guidelines established by the federal government, would we not shout out to the world that we had found the secret to budgeting?

I do not serve as the school board chair for the money or the power; I suspect that most of the folks in Colchester would not recognize me on the street. I serve because, when the students of Colchester enter the work force or apply to Saint Michael’s College, Middlebury College, or any other college of their choice, I hope that our efforts within the school district allow them to excel in such endeavors.

Sincerely,

Michael H. Rogers
Chair
Colchester School Board

When we’re all informed, we make a stronger community! Please encourage your friends and family to subscribe to the Spotlight.

CHS sophomore Alex Gardner accepts her award from CHS Spanish teacher Carrie Robinson

Colchester High School sophomore Alex Gardner was recently awarded top honors in the Vermont Foreign Language Association’s 2013 Poster Contest. Alex’s submission was judged on its visual impact and overall appeal, its relevance to the theme (which was “Foreign languages: They Nourish the Brain!”), neatness, originality, accuracy, and conforming to size requirements. She and her fellow winners from around the state will be honored at a reception at the Vermont State House in Montpelier in the spring.

CHS teacher Carrie Robinson offered flan and other Spanish-themed celebratory foods for the occasion

Alex Gardner with her award and prize

Why is the study for foreign languages important?

There a countless benefits associated with studying foreign languages. It can open up additional career opportunities, deepen cultural understanding and appreciation and acceptance of diversity, facilitate traveling, dramatically improve communication and listening skills, and much more. There are even numerous cognitive and neurological benefits associated with learning new languages.

For more information, please contact CHS at (802) 264-5700.

When we’re all informed, we make a stronger community! Please encourage your friends and family to subscribe to the Spotlight.

The Colchester School Board will meet on Tuesday, February 18, at 7:00 p.m. in the library at Colchester High School, and the meeting is open to the public. To view the meeting information packet and agenda—which includes discussion about the FY 2015 budget—please click here.

As a friendly reminder, the district and the school board are working to further encourage community involvement and engagement. Click here to submit a question (or e-mail SchoolBoardQuestions@csdvt.org) and enter your contact information and question.

If you are unable to attend the school board meetings but would like to stay informed and/or to hear the response to your question, you can read the meeting minutes on www.csdvt.org, or watch the meetings on Lake Champlain Access Television (LCATV) on Saturdays at 6:00 p.m. and Sundays at 7:00 a.m. The school board meetings also stream at www.lcatv.org.

If you would like more information, please call our administrative offices at (802) 264-5999, or stop in to see us at 125 Laker Lane.

When we’re all informed, we make a stronger community! Please encourage your friends and family to subscribe to the Spotlight.

We think you’re really going to want to see this mini-film.

An engaging inside tour of your schools … surprising facts about school funding … a helpful discussion about what the budget might mean for you …

Please click here to watch the film.

This film is also streaming on LCATV; you may click here to view it, or tune into LCATV’s Channel 16 to catch one of its ongoing showings.

We are working hard to make the Colchester School District FY 2015 budget information as widely available and accessible as possible. We ask everyone to review the budget materials, ask questions, and generate dialogue as you consider your vote.

All of this information can also be found on Colchester School District’s website. You may also call our administrative offices at (802) 264-5999 or stop in at 125 Laker Lane to request copies of the materials and ask questions.

We are working to continue the critically important work of strengthening our schools and our community. Please vote on Tuesday, March 4.

When we’re all informed, we make a stronger community! Please encourage your friends and family to subscribe to the Spotlight.

Wellness efforts in your school can be heartwarming.

Malletts Bay School has won $3,700 in grant funding from the New England Dairy & Food Council and Fuel Up to Play 60!

MBS student committee

MBS will use the grant funds to bolster its “Breakfast in the Classroom” program—where students enjoy a healthy breakfast at the start of the school day—and to initiate a program where students will have “classroom stretch breaks” using Yoga4Classrooms Card Decks. (To read the formal press release from the New England Dairy & Food Council about this grant award, please click here.)

“Students who are able to have a healthy meal at the start of the day are better able to focus and learn throughout the day, and taking short breaks between lessons helps rejuvenate their bodies and minds,” said Jaycie Puttlitz, CSD’s wellness coordinator. “We support our students’ wellness and promote the importance of leading healthy, active lifestyles. We are proud of our Fuel Up to Play 60 student committee, which actively participates in implementing nutrition and fitness ideas for a healthier school environment.”

MBS student committee members create heart-shaped pancakes

The idea for heart-shaped pancakes for the Valentine’s Day-themed event came from the student committee, and the idea was implemented in every school in the district.

Members of the student committee with Principal Benay, Wellness Coordinator Puttlitz, and Director of Nutrition and Food Services Davis

This isn’t the first time that the New England Dairy and Food Council has supported your schools. Last spring, the organization sent NFL alum Lamar Mills to Colchester Middle School to honor CSD’s Director of Nutrition and Food Services Steve Davis with its Program Advisor of the Year award and to encourage students to live healthy lifestyles (please click here to read that story and watch WCAX’s story about it).

Nutritious eating campaigns are not new to your school district, either; in addition to such initiatives as healthy recipe contests, a sweets-free celebrations pilot, and engaging multimedia presentations, Porters Point School’s grant-funded “In Shape and In Season program was a huge success, and the district has pursued and won grant funding to support a number of other nutrition-related initiatives, including a farm-to-school grant. Colchester High School’s “Food: From Soil to Stomach” class has also garnered significant acclaim.

And as we’ve mentioned before, CSD’s food service program has been steadily making impressive improvements in recent years all while battling rising global food costs.

Wellness is a major component of the Colchester School District Vision and Strategic Plan 2012–2017. Would you like to know more about what your schools are doing to promote and facilitate wellness? We have more than eighty Spotlight articles relating to wellness in our Wellness category, and we also have our aforementioned Wellness at CSD blog. Check them out!

For more information, please e-mail CSD’s wellness coordinator, Jaycie Puttlitz, at puttlitzj@csdvt.org.

When we’re all informed, we make a stronger community! Please encourage your friends and family to subscribe to the Spotlight.

Happenstance will allow for our students to perform with legendary musicians, bring world-renowned talent to Colchester, and support the CHS Theater Restoration Fund all at once!

A last-minute scheduling change will bring the Count Basie Orchestra to Colchester High School on Wednesday, March 5 at 7:00 p.m.!

Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

This world-renowned, eighteen-piece ensemble has released hundreds of recordings, won nearly twenty Grammy Awards in its decades-long history, and collaborated with such singers as Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, and Ella Fitzgerald. In addition to performing at one of JFK’s inaugural balls, the ensemble has appeared in a number of movies and television productions and has won respected jazz polls. Some of its former members include Billie Holiday, Lester Young, and many others.

And to add an additional layer of excitement, the CHS jazz band will also have the opportunity to play along with the orchestra during the program’s finale!

The two-hour performance (with intermission) is open to the public, and any profits from ticket sales will go to the CHS Theater Renovation Fund. Tickets prices are as follows:

• $20 for general admission
• $15 for teachers, students, and senior citizens
• $55 for a family of 4
• $12 per person for groups of 20 or more

Pre-ordering of tickets is strongly recommended! To pre-order tickets, please call the CHS box office at (802) 264-5729 and leave the following information:

• your name
• your phone number
• the number of tickets you would like
• your method of payment (credit cards are not accepted—checks can be mailed, or payment can be made at CHS)

The CHS box office is open Monday through Friday from 2:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Checks made payable to Colchester High School may be mailed to:

Colchester High School
131 Laker Lane
Colchester, VT 05446
Attn: John Coon

Tickets for those paying by mail will be available at the “will call” table on the night of the performance. The last day to pre-order tickets is Monday, March 3.

Special thanks to John Coon and the Colchester Theater Company for making this event possible. For more information, contact Evan Peltier, CHS Director of Bands, at (802) 264-5742 or via e-mail at peltiere@csdvt.org.

Join us for a once-in-a-lifetime performance!

Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

When we’re all informed, we make a stronger community! Please encourage your friends and family to subscribe to the Spotlight.