Dear EMS Families,

Amidst a time in our world and nation of uncertainty and great sadness, I found hope in the actions of students and faculty at EMS this week.

• Our YPAR students worked in collaboration with faculty to hold space for the community to share feelings about the killing of George Floyd.

• Judy Klima and Lindsay McQueen supported students in expressing their feelings and voice through Protest Art. (See example at right)

As we all need somebody to lean on, let’s continue to look to each other and create space to care for one another. This coming week will certainly provide that for me; I am excited to see many of you from a proper physical distancing location and am practicing holding back my instinct to hug or fist pump.

Below is much information for the last week of school. Please read carefully for final details regarding:

• 7th grade transition information and Step Up Meeting - June 8th @ 1p.m.

• Celebration of Learning - June 9th @ 12 noon and 1:30 p.m.

• Drop off of School-owned materials and pick up of personal items procedures - June 10th - 12th

In continued partnership,

Meg

7th grade Transition Information and Step Up Meeting

June 8, 2020 1 p.m.

• We are excited for our rising 7th graders to meet their new teams. Join your teachers and some rising 8th graders by using the following codes.

Team: Evolution Code: EVO20

Team: Infinity Code: INF20

Team: Phoenix Code: Phoenix

Celebration of Learning

Tuesday - June 9th

12:00 Virtual Celebration Release

1:30 Faculty car parade

*Join us rain or shine

Please see below for details regarding the Celebration of Learning:

• Faculty Car Parade

• Please remember to practice proper physical distancing during the parade and to wear a mask!

• We invite you to join in the celebration with signs for our 8th graders. We will be passing along/through Calahan Park (bottom block only), South Meadow, Oakledge Park (entire length), Lakeside Park, Smalley Park, Roosevelt Park, Pomeroy Park, and Prospect St. side of the UVM green.

• See South End Route here. See North End Route here. We have designed the route with the hopes of getting to the neighborhoods of the majority of our students. For those students/families not on the route, please note the following:

• Those in the Grove/Patchen/Chase area: Please come to the Prospect St. side of the UVM green, Pomeroy Park, or Roosevelt Park to view the parade.

• East Ave.: Please come to the Prospect St. side of the UVM green.

• South End/Hill Section: Please come to Smalley, Calahan, or Oakledge Park to view the parade.

• Collection of Certificates

• In June families and students will have the opportunity to collect personal items and turn in school-owned materials. At this time, students will receive their Certificates of Completion!

Drop off of school-owned materials and pick up of personal items

The purpose of coming to the school during this time is to:

• pick up all personal items: retrieve belongings in locker, clean out gym locker, and pick up instrument and/or artwork (if applicable)

• drop off any school-owned materials - chromebooks, chromebook chargers, iPads, books, school instruments, Ellis music rental instruments, uniforms & algebra textbooks

• pick up any medications that were stored in our nurse’s office

When you come to school MAKE SURE YOU HAVE the following:

• Mask

• Hand sanitizer

• Library books

• Rental instruments - from Ellis or EMS

• Algebra book

• Uniforms

Time Slot Sign Up

Please sign up for a 20 minute period to pick up your personal items and drop off. We have created a pick-up schedule to best support the need to keep physical distancing . For this reason we have days assigned to specific teams to continuously provide distancing based on teams' locations in the school and number of students.

Wednesday, June 10th → Team Infinity, Team Voyager, and Team Quest

Thursday, June 11th → Team Evolution, Team Nia, and Team Vista

Friday, June 12th → Team Phoenix, Team Discovery, and Team Endeavor

Edmunds is utilizing the same resource we use for Parent-Teacher conferences to make signups as convenient as possible for this end-of-year process. In this resource it references this time as “conference,” and we want to be clear that the time you sign up for is the time you are supposed to be at the school to check-in. Please enter the following web address into your browser window: https://ptcfast.com/schools/Edmunds_Middle Once you follow this link you will be directed to select your child's team and then fill out the needed information (student name and parent email). From there you can select the check-in time.

Please note:

• If you are returning an Ellis rental instrument, please add a note inside your instrument case with your child’s full name, phone, and address. Also inform Ellis Music of the return by following this link: Ellis Music Instrument Rental Return Form

• Only one family member will be allowed into the building to collect personal items

• You will have 10 minutes inside the school to gather materials

• Please bring your own bag(s) to carry belongings out of the building

• Please bring your own mask to wear

• Prior to your arrival at school, please assess your family’s health.

• Those people with COVID-19-like symptoms or family members with COVID-19-like symptoms must stay home. These symptoms include fever or chills, cough, shortness of breath or difficulty breathing, fatigue, muscle or body aches, headache, new loss of taste or smell, sore throat, congestion or runny nose, nausea or vomiting, and diarrhea

• Upon arriving on campus, please

• Ensure you remain six feet apart from all others in the area

• Approach the table set up by the gym lobby doors

• There will be a one way circuit through the building

• You will exit out the side door on the Main St. entrance

• A faculty member will check you in upon entrance to the building

• Once in the building you will be asked to go directly to your locker

• In each hallway you will find trash, recycling, and an area to return books from your locker; please sort items accordingly

• A faculty member will check you out as you exit the building

• All personal items not retrieved from EMS by June 12th will be donated to GoodWill or discarded.

Measures to Control the Spread of COVID-19

• Students or a parent may enter the school to pick up their belongings. A parent must be present if medications need to be picked up. Medications will be labeled and placed at the chromebook drop off for ease of parent pickup.

• All individuals entering the building must wear cloth face coverings per CDC guidelines. Everyone entering the building is responsible for bringing their own mask.

• Six foot distance is required between people at all times.

• The number of people in an “area” of the building (e.g. grade level classrooms/lockers, cafeteria) should not exceed 10.

• You must enter through the gym lobby door and use hand sanitizer (provided) upon entry.

• Go directly to your destination and nowhere else in the building

• No one may congregate inside or outside the building.

• Do not use the drinking fountains.

• Cough or sneeze into your sleeved arm. Throw away the tissue after you use it and wash your hands.

• Avoid touching your eyes, nose, or mouth.

• Individuals must be excluded from the school site for the following reasons:

• They are showing symptoms of COVID-19 or have tested positive for the disease: fever, cough, shortness of breath, body aches.

• They have been in contact with someone who is being treated as if they have COVID-19, with or without positive test verification, within the last 14 days.

• They are at high risk: 65 years or older, pregnant, or have chronic health conditions.

Course Selection Process

• During this time of year, admin and staff are preparing for the following school year and building schedules and class lists. Part of this process involves getting student feedback regarding select classes; this requires 6th and 7th grade students to fill out an Exploratory Choice survey indicating their class preferences. We wanted to make families aware that this survey is going to be presented to their children on team, and that parents/guardians should be ready to support and assist students in the process and discuss the choices.

• Families and students alike need to be mindful that there are limitations to all schedules and that there may be a possibility that students will not get all of the classes they want. For this reason, we strongly suggest thinking over the class choices and trying only to select classes that fit within a student's capacity. We want to make informed decisions that help place students into classes they want and also classes that will best lead to overall success. This process can be done by considering what is a reasonable workload for students, interest in a class, and the needs of the student. If your decision leads you to drop a class, please email that teacher as well.

• Please follow this link to see a detailed description of the classes offered at EMS: course descriptions

Community Announcements

• June 8th - 12th: NO new learning at EMS. This week will be focused on celebration, transition and providing support and time to finish up all work for the 2020-2021 school year.
• A message from our YPAR students regarding Black LIves Matter hoodie orders:

Dear EMS families,

We would like to thank you for your generous donations for the Black Lives Matter hoodie initiative at EMS. Unfortunately, the organization that we hired to make the hoodies has closed its shop during this COVID-19 pandemic. We chose that company because they supported the movement and were willing to give us the merchandise at cost, and they are local. We have been attempting to contact the company for the past eight weeks and they have been unresponsive. Sadly, because of the new CDC regulations, we are at the point that we will not have enough time to have the hoodies made and distributed before the end of the school year, even if we go with another company. We are attempting to find a way to return the funds to those who have paid for hoodies and those who have graciously donated their money to help support those in need. That said, if you would like to use your contribution as a donation to help support another YPAR initiative, such as the banner to support the LGBTQ+ population at our school or supporting students in need during remote learning ,we would be happy to use your funds for either of those endeavors. However, if you would like your cash returned (we plan on destroying all checks unless asked) you will be given that chance during the Chromebook drop-off/locker cleanout day during the last week of school. The logistics of this day will be emailed by the administration next week. All cash not requested during that time will be used for another YPAR cause.




Thank you,

YPAR collective

• 8th Grade BHS Transition Support

• 9th Grade Night is scheduled for the last week of August (exact date TBD).

• Tentative 9th grade First Day - August 25

• 2020-2021 BSD Calendar
  






Friendly Reminders

• End of the year Report cards will be mailed home the week of June 15th
• Grading Procedures for quarter 4 and year end grades.

• Q1-Q3 grades will be averaged as usual. Teachers will add points to this accumulative yearly grade as follows:

• Not yet making satisfactory progress: average for Q1-Q3 remains as is.

• Making satisfactory progress: Students showed growth that is consistent with previous quarters; teachers use discretion in leaving the average for Q1-Q3 as is, or “bumping” up to ⅓ letter grade (example: from B to B+).

• Making exceptional progress: Students making exceptional effort and growth relative to previous quarters; teachers use discretion adding up to 1 letter grade (example: from B to A).

• Semester classes - Students have not had sufficient time to demonstrate a body of evidence of learning for second semester courses. Thus teachers may not be able to provide accurate scores for learning targets in second semester courses at this time, so students will receive one of the following scores:

• Not yet making satisfactory progress

• Making satisfactory progress

• Making exceptional progress

• Classes that are typically pass/fail for the year will continue to use this language in their final year end grades.

“Movement Monday” is being combined with “What you got?”

On MONDAY Ms. Brady, Ms. Sharon, Ms. Emily and Ms. Angela will all be available to say goodbye for the summer!

2:00pm code: EMSMeet

8th place = Kenya 38 medals

7th place = Nepal 43 medals

6th place = USA 44 medals

5th place = Greece 45 medals

4th place = Australia 50 medals

3rd place = Brazil 60 medals

2nd place = Ireland 64 medals

1st place = Netherlands 65 medals

Thank you to all staff and students who sent exercise/being active pics and videos to Coach Thrane to earn medals for their country since mid March. Congratulations Netherlands!

Dear Friends of the Burlington Partnership for a Healthy Community (BPHC),

BPHC is committed to our goals of implementing effective substance misuse prevention strategies in Burlington. As part of that work, it is crucial that we support an environment where everyone in our community feels safe, connected, and valued.

This week, people who live in Burlington will find a copy of our paper newsletter in your monthly issue of North Avenue News. We had intended to also distribute the next issue of our monthly e-newsletter sharing some of the same articles this week. However, we have decided this is not the week to highlight our own work. It is a time for us to be silent to honor other people doing crucial work to support health, safety and wellbeing right now.

We suggest that this week (and for many more after) our followers spend time to seek out, listen to, and support the advocates and organizations leading the hard conversations and supporting action to address racism, racialized violence and systems reform. We’ve listed a few of the VT organizations below – this is by no means an exhaustive list, but merely a starting point (please reach out if there are others we should share!):

• Black Lives Matter VT & Black Lives Matter of Greater Burlington
• American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Vermont
• NAACP – Rutland Area Chapter & Champlain Area Chapter
• Vermont Racial Justice Alliance
• Vermont Coalition for Ethnic and Social Equity in Schools
• Showing Up for Racial Justice – BTV chapter
• Vermont Peace & Justice Center

Our staff and board are committed to listening to others, learning, and examining ways we can connect our mission to the important work of those addressing systemic racism and elevating the voices of people of color in our communities and nation. In light of the death of George Floyd and so many other victims of racist violence, we created space this week for youth of color in our student prevention groups to come together for support and will continue to working with local youth to provide opportunities to help them use their voices for positive change.

For people looking for resources to have discussions with kids about these issues, here are just a few of the many great resources out there that we like:

• Center for Racial Justice in Education - list of resources for talking with kids about race, racism, and racialized violence: https://centerracialjustice.org/resources/resources-for-talking-about-race-racism-and-racialized-violence-with-kids/?fbclid=IwAR2PKkgEV2im6GRKAhY5dQxu4AePKJhOrouWj32_rISlPsXo5BvzIo8vpPw
• 31 Children's books to support conversations on race, racism and resistance: https://www.embracerace.org/resources/26-childrens-books-to-support-conversations-on-race-racism-resistance?fbclid=IwAR18zbKHsSJUH8KO9wt2UWJXhdRAk38znHFIt-XncqcW-sLPDdxEhwFQU9c
• Resources for Discussing Traumatic Events with Youth: https://macmh.org/resources-for-navigating-conversations-with-young-people-about-traumatic-events/?fbclid=IwAR1H5CMVX3z-Hw8WKqRP53QyHHeUWbdBPF4nc0eAzYsj6d6IyHikN4X5dcM
• How White Parents Can Use Media to Raise Anti-Racist Kids: https://www.commonsensemedia.org/blog/how-white-parents-can-use-media-to-raise-anti-racist-kids

Respectfully,
The board and staff of the Burlington Partnership for a Healthy Community

We were in the midst of preparing projects for our climate summit when the pandemic shut down school and sent us home. Projects proved difficult to complete during remote learning, but we do have a collection from the three 7-8 teams we would like to share. When you have a few minutes, please visit this website to see what climate issues are important to our youth and the voices of the future. There is amazing work being done!

EMS Climate Summit Projects Website