Washington Central Story
WCUUSD Community Newsletter - January 12, 2024
Happy New Year!
It feels a bit as though 2024 has been here for weeks, and yet we are just a few school days into the new year. I'm always amazed at how quickly we jump into our routines after a break. It's hard to imagine while we are on a vacation, but routines tend to help us all transition back to things - so it really is a good thing that we feel this way. I hope you all were able to rest, rejuvenate and spend time with loved ones over the break.
This coming Monday we celebrate and acknowledge Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. We talk often about using "holidays" like this one as opportunities to think and reflect. I enjoyed looking at some ways to take action this MLK day from Teach for America:
- Explore the Idealist website for volunteer tasks, and other locally-based volunteer opportunities.
- Search MLKDay.gov. Spearheaded by AmeriCorps, the site allows you to search MLK Day virtual and in-person volunteer opportunities in your community and explore numerous other resources.
- Find ways to support the National Civil Rights Museum or get involved with your local historical society.
- Grab a few friends and join a local chapter of one of these civil rights organizations.
- Visit, donate to, or volunteer at a civil rights museum near you.
- Champion everyone's civil rights by becoming an election worker or helping people register to vote.
We have already had some wild weather this year! I have to extend gratitude to the many members of our team who are up very early in the morning to make sure we are ready to be safely open for students. This Wednesday's storm added a layer of power outages to our usual assessment of road conditions, which meant that our maintenance crews had to trek out to their respective schools to check whether the power was on. Our bus company, road commissioners and district operations manager are all part of this process. I'm grateful for all of their efforts!
We have only just barely kicked into gear, but still some things to share. Enjoy!
- Meagan Roy, Superintendent
In this issue...
- Humanity & Justice - Thinking About Change
- School Happenings
- Strategic Planning Updates
- Celebrating Educators
- Welcoming a New Face to Central Office
- Upcoming Board meeting information
Humanity & Justice Corner
Change
Shelley Vermilya, equity scholar in residence
“The only lasting truth is change,” wrote Octavia E. Butler, science fiction writer, African
American seeker of future’s truths. Every time I walk into my office this quote follows me in. A
photo of an axolotl, a charming Mexican amphibian, is also on my door.
Change. We are in it! How do we stay supple, curious, and prevent anxiety from nudging in?
The wild and unpredictable weather is giving us training in our agility for change. Snow suits or
rain gear? New Englanders are infamous for their weather savvy.
Change is good, change leads to new learning, new ideas. Fresh starts. Yes, and it can also take
us a minute (or much, much longer) to adapt. Switching footwear is one thing, changing
schedules, colleagues, bosses, or location is a whole bunch of things. Changing any of these,
and especially a point of view, can be daring and courageous and daunting, and often sad.
Robert F. Kennedy said, “Few will have the greatness to bend history itself, but each of us can
work to change a small portion of events, and in the total of all those acts will be written the
history of this generation….”
We may be more familiar with what Martin Luther King, Jr. said “We shall overcome because
the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice.”
King and Kennedy advocated for change, trying to bend the moral universe’s arc during the
Sixties’ Civil Rights era. Both men were assassinated in 1968. One in April, the next in June. We
are still working to create the lasting change they called for, change that will allow everyone to
learn and grow and thrive.
Many days of change are ahead in 2024. My hope for all of us this year is that we work together
as a community for justice, truths, and meet changes gracefully.
School Happenings
EMES Buddies work together
Stage 32 Presents Peter & the Starcatcher
Rumney has a guest artist
Calais learns about who works in their town
Doty's all-school meeting
Berlin PE students enjoying the snow
Strategic Planning
The graphic above shows our updated timeline. We are rounding out Phase III - the Moving Toward Action phase. This is where the committee solidifies the core beliefs based on the feedback and input to date, and then forms workgroups to identify specific goals and action steps the district will take to realize that Vision. This is really where things start to come together and it begins to "look like" a plan. The group had some great discussion about how many goal areas are needed to foster the five beliefs, and how to incorporate the existing work of the system. We have adjusted our timeline a bit, allowing ourselves more time to gather input and feedback on the draft goals and action step during Phase IV.
The Board will ultimately discuss and formally adopt the Strategic Plan. Tentatively, we are holding the March 13th Board meeting as the day to present the Plan. If you are someone who has been following this process, thank you! And I hope you can join us for this conversation and presentation.
Teachers to Present at the Great Schools Partnership Conference!
In past newsletters, you've read about some of the advocacy work our student groups have led (here's an image of a student-led professional development session that was facilitated for all of our WCUUSD educators last year).
U-32 Teachers Meg Allison and Steve Sheeler have been selected to present at a national conference about their work with the Seeking Social Justice groups. The Great Schools Partnership's School Redesign in Action Conference takes place in March, and they'll be leading a workshop about SSJ. Here's how their workshop is described:
Birthed from a grassroots youth and adult partnership in 2017, Seeking Social Justice's roots are in actively creating, challenging, and cultivating a school environment filled with more justice and joy—and less hate and ignorance. When we activate the agency to be changemakers, students and their adult allies are capable of igniting tremendous changes. Seeking Social Justice has spearheaded a change in policy around hate symbols, organized walkouts, raised a Progress Pride Flag, designed professional development for faculty, and so much more. Seeking Social Justice has grown to become essential to the fabric of our community, a community committed to equity, humanity, justice, and joy. Participants will be empowered by faculty advisors and students from Seeking Social Justice to identify actions that disrupt injustice in their own communities.
Participants will:
- Learn to center social justice in their own schools and communities
- Center student voice and agency within equity initiates
- Leave with strategies to collaborate with young people to build action steps for a more just and joyful world
Congratulations to Meg and Steve for their work, and for past and current SSJ students. I look forward to sharing more about how things went!
Welcome, Heidi!
We would like to extend a warm welcome to Heidi Dimick, WCUUSD's new Director of Human Resources. Heidi joins our central office and leadership team after many years with the state of Vermont. We are excited to learn from her expertise and experience.
Our new website launched this past December! Check it out when you get a chance, if you haven't already. If you notice anything that needs attention or have suggestions please use the “contact the webmaster” link.
WCUUSD Final Budget Meeting
Come join us for this important step in the budget process. The Board will be finalizing the 24-25 budget for Washington Central at its meeting on January 17th.
If you haven't been able to join our past meetings, this is a great opportunity to see a summary of the process and hear about the proposal for next year. The Board and administration has worked hard to ensure that high quality student programming can be provided in a manner that is sustainable for our communities. There are many challenges within our system and statewide that made this a difficult budget process. Come join us to learn more.
Check out our website for more information (past presentations are available to view) and for the link to join virtually:
www.wcuusd.org/school-board/meeting-resources/board-meeting-resources
Wednesday, Jan 17, 2024, 06:15 PM
U-32 Middle & High School, Gallison Hill Road, Montpelier, VT, USA
Washington Central Unified Union School District
Website: https://www.wcuusd.org/
Location: 1130 Gallison Hill Road, Montpelier, VT, USA
Phone: (802) 229-0553
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/wcsu32