Program Newsletter

“Someday we will become something we haven't even yet imagined.”

― Yuyi Morales, Dreamers

The December Multilingual Family Event was planned by a committee and hosted by the EWSD Multilingual Program and Spectrum. EWSD families shared potluck food and enjoyed live performances which included several Nepali dances and drumming from the Green Mountain Korean Culture School. Thank you to everyone who volunteered and made this event special!

On January 5th, we will hold a small group conversation about instruction with multilingual community members in the EWSD.

Goal: Collect your feedback to help decide the skills we want students to have when they graduate. This feedback will be a part of the district-wide Portrait of a Graduate work.

Date/Time/Location: January 5th from 5 pm-7 pm in the EHS Library. There will be snacks and toys. Children are welcome!

RSVP: Please complete the Google Form RSVP for each person who would like to attend.

EL teachers are now in the process of sending translated letters home to families about ACCESS testing.

Ahead of the test window, EL teachers will make testing schedules for their students. This year the ACCESS Test window is from January 5th, 2023 to March 10th, 2023.

During ACCESS testing, I will be coming around to visit EL teachers and observe some of the testing sessions. If you are an EL teacher, please fill out this Doodle poll, so I know the best time to stop by your school.

Thank you to all who filled out the needs survey! We continue our partnership with Howard Center, AALV, and Connecting Cultures to launch Trauma Systems Support Therapy for Refugee and Immigrant groups in the EWSD. Multilingual Liaison Prem Bhattarai is collaborating with Choeden Lama to do outreach to families. Families will then be invited to an information session, and we will gather what they say about their specific needs. From there, Thrive & Succeed after school groups will be offered for both families and students. Video credit: Connecting Cultures.

Spectrum's Multicultural Youth Program has a Multicultural Help Desk at both Essex High School and Essex Middle School. A big thanks to Daris Hayer for making field trips, afterschool groups, and affinity spaces available to EWSD students. Through Spectrum, students and families can also access a Driver's Program, support with forms, temporary housing, skills programs, health programs and so much more! Photo credit: Spectrum website.

We continue to explore the ticketing system used in the Burlington School District for translation and interpretation requests.

Noor Bulle (Multilingual Liaison) and I made a 25-minute video to share what we learned about the ticketing system with you. In case you don’t have time to watch the whole video, here are the notes.

Here is a link to the survey. We would love to hear your thoughts and questions. Our SysAid rep will be joining the next two EL PLC meetings as well.

Sometimes it's hard to tell if a student has a learning disability or a learning difference. In this document from the US Department of Education, you will find charts that can help with conversations about whether a student is experiencing an issue due to a learning disability or if the challenge comes from the process of acquiring the English language.

This series of workshops on Linguistic Diversity is offered by Branch Alliance for Educator Diversity and recommended through UVM. Register through www.educatordiversity.org/events.

Email: tparks@ewsd.org
Website: https://www.ewsd.org/Page/2518
Phone: 802-878-8168