SCS Weekly Newsletter 1.17.23
Week of January 17, 2023
Principals' Message
Hello SCS Families and Caregivers,
Wow! What a fun week at SCS - there are so many things to be excited about these days!
You may have heard about our K-4 Celebration this past Wednesday, for filling the "S" container with cat coins. Adults in our elementary school monitor our use of providing students with positive feedback and acknowledgment when they demonstrate our community commitments (or expectations) of being Safe, Respectful, and/or Responsible. Classrooms collect their own cat coins in a container to have classroom celebrations, and they empty their filled containers into our collective "SCS" containers in the main lobby. Our 4th Grade Student Leadership Team worked hard to thoughtfully plan and provide a fun, inclusive, and differentiated celebration for all to enjoy. We invited our faculty and staff to dress 'comfy and cozy' on Wednesday, and delivered "Coffee & Carbs on a Cart" for adults in our elementary school. The 4th-grade students were also hosts of this remote celebration, playing "DJ" for a freeze dance, participating in the Cha Cha Slide dance, and helping be the "Callers" for a staff-themed BINGO game! We also provided each grade level/classroom with coloring sheets for students who would prefer to celebrate in a more quiet and mindful manner. Congratulations to Mrs. Nakhleh's and Mr. Tomaino's first-grade classrooms - both classes won BINGO and were awarded with a trophy full of cat coins and a $25 gift card to Amazon for their classrooms. We're already planning for our next schoolwide celebration when we fill the "C" container with cat coins in the main lobby! It was a blast planning and cohosting this event with the 4th Grade Leadership Team - what an amazing group of kids! (A HUGE thank you to our PTO for providing a PBiS budget for these types of memorable events for our school community.)
CVSD uses a platform called the School-Wide Information System (SWIS) to collect major and minor behavior referral data, so we can review data trends of student behaviors across our entire PreK-8 school system, grade level teams, classrooms, and individual student needs. Our grade-level teams review this data monthly, and our Student Support Team (SST) members review this data weekly. In January 2022, we had a total of 72 student referrals, so far, in January 2023, we have a total of 33. Across K-8, major behavior referrals decreased by 32% year-over year, from 394 at this point in 2022 to 267 so far this school year. Our goals related to this data are to 1. Provide proactive instruction and positive reinforcement to reduce unsafe and unexpected behaviors and 2. Meet the needs of students who are demonstrating they need more support - revise plans, interventions, environments, etc. Our hope is to end the month with fewer referrals than we had last year at this time of year.
Members of our Student Support Team (SST) have been busy working on piloting a new(ish) partnership with a local farm to bring an experiential social-emotional opportunity to SCS this spring - we can't wait to share more details with all of you once we solidify these plans. We are preparing to send out our annual student engagement survey for grades 3-8, which is another opportunity for students to inform teachers, counselors, and principals how they are feeling about their school experience this year. Our goal is that every child feels a sense of belonging at SCS, and this data point will help our teams to continue to work towards making this happen for all kids.
Members of our Multi-Tiered Systems of Supports (MTSS) have been busy refining our curriculum for universal first instruction with grade level and department teams, coordinating our intervention supports, and administering mid-year assessments to monitor student progress toward growth and proficiency. Our goal is that every child is demonstrating growth, and these data points will help us to monitor our progress toward meeting this goal. (We'll be sharing schoolwide data trends in this newsletter later in February, once we have all the results.)
We have quite a few upcoming fundraisers, events, and volunteer opportunities available. Please keep scrolling to read more details below.
Take Care,
Alison, Brett & Emily
Attendance/Tardiness & Dismissal Pick-Up Reminders
We love our students and love what we do, but we can't do our jobs without them!
Our dismissal times for students getting picked up on School Street are 2:50pm for Kindergarten students and 2:55pm for 1st-8th graders on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays. On Wednesdays, pick up is at 1:50pm for Kindergarten students and 1:55pm for 1st-8th graders. Please arrive early so the kids can find you quickly at the end of the day. Thank you!
SCS MathCounts Team Competition
A Note From SCS SAGA (the Sexuality and Gender Alliance)
Dear SCS Families and Caregivers,
We are excited to announce that SAGA has been given permission to fly the Inclusive pride flag in the SCS bus circle. This comes after many months of planning and preparation, including giving presentations to 5-8 teams about pronouns and why they matter, and presenting about the importance of raising this flag at a School Board meeting in December. We have been actively working to make SCS a more inclusive and welcoming place for all students and community members, especially those who frequently feel unseen. We are hoping to officially raise the flag later this month. If you have any questions about the history or significance of this flag, we encourage you to view the following slide show that we presented to the Red, Yellow, Green, and Blue teams on Wednesday, January 11.
SCS Schoolwide Open House - January 26th, 2023 5:30-7:00pm
You'll also get to see the awesome extra-curricular experiences our school provides our SCS students such as SKAT programs, DEI committees, PTO, SCS Food Smart, Everybody Wins Mentoring, Nearby Nature, and so much more.
Parking for families will be on-site on a first-come-first-serve basis. You're welcome to park at Davis Circle as well. You can stop by for 10 minutes, or stay with us the full hour and a half - this is intended to be casual, interactive, and exploratory.
We hope you enjoy and we look forward to seeing you!
CVSD DEI Committee - ~VOLUNTEERS NEEDED~
CVSD is looking for volunteers to sit on a feedback committee to give feedback on the shared vision/ understanding for the Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI) .
We hope to have 17-20 members on this committee from teachers, students, parents, community, support staff, and admin.
If you are interested or have any questions please feel free to contact Lashawn Sells SCS DEI Coach at 802 985-3331 or email me at lsells@cvsdvt.org. The committee is looking to start in February .
Community/Family Volunteers Needed
SCS Walk to School Event - February 1, 2023 at 7:30am in the center of Shelburne
SCS is so excited about our upcoming Walk to School event with LocalMotion! We are encouraging all to join us to walk (or roll) to school on Wednesday, February 1st, starting at 7:30am in the center of Shelburne at 'the green'. We are thrilled to already have 10 community volunteers helping us to make this a safe event for all - thank you for your support! Each of our school bus drivers will provide the option for students to get off the bus at the green and join us for the walk to school event. Here is an “opt-out” letter for families to choose not to participate in this program Opt-Out Form.
I wanted to share the perspective of Amy Brewer, one of our Regional Coordinators, who works for Northwest Regional Medical Center, and coordinates quite a few Park & Walk events:
“School-age kiddos learn lifelong skills and build the foundations for their healthy behaviors each day at school. Learning to safely navigate their communities, becoming responsible citizens, and learning the rules of the road as a pedestrian or bicyclist should be successfully taught and practiced during the school day. All around Vermont, in rural, urban, and suburban communities, students safely walk to school in a variety of weather.In communities such as Enosburg, St. Albans, and Williston, students walk with volunteers (school staff and community volunteers) to walk to school regularly. Crossing guards and/or law enforcement are present to ensure identified intersections are safely navigated. We’ve even had local pediatricians and other local “celebrities” join the walks! Volunteers both lead and follow the walkers and rollers to ensure all students arrive to school. Older students have been recruited to help lead as well, which helps them to develop their sense of responsibility.
In fact, some of the very important reasons to encourage walking and rolling to school are to reduce car traffic at and around school – between the distracted drop offs and pick ups and students exiting and entering vehicles – all students (no matter how they got to school) are actually at increased risk of being struck by someone driving a vehicle during those times. Having fewer cars arriving at a school makes kids safer (motor vehicle deaths are a leading cause of death for kids in Vermont). Additionally, idling can increase pollution and exacerbate asthma symptoms. Lastly, it has been shown again and again that students who walk to school are more focused and ready to learn. They also really enjoy it!
Many VT communities have implemented this model safely and regularly. With a whole school bus drop off event, it’s possible to break into smaller groups making it easier to track students, and students could receive a small token when they arrive at school after an adult checks them in (making tracking easier).”
Remote drop-off events are quite common and are one of Safe Routes to Schools’ core programmatic events to make walk & roll to school events feasible for rural areas, or for students with equity barriers.
There are many safeguards in place for these types of events–with many adults in place to ensure student safety. A good ratio of adults to children is around 5 students per adult, but that ratio depends a lot on many variables, and that number can range anywhere from 4 to 10 children per adult.
~ Mary-Catherine Graziano (Local Motion)
Safe Routes to School Grant Proposal Approved!
Here's a note from the VT Agency of Transportation;
Congratulations on your project’s successful application to the 2022 Safe Routes to School Infrastructure Program. Your project was approved to improve the sidewalk improvements and pedestrian crossings at the Shelburne Community School in Shelburne. Your project was selected from among seven applications statewide.
As indicated in the application guide, these improvements will be designed, put out to bid and overseen by VTrans. The Town will be required to sign a grant agreement that will allow the state to perform work within town highway Right of Way and committing to maintaining the improvements once constructed. Your project will be governed by the terms of the Grant Agreement with VTrans, including all applicable State and Federal program requirements.
I will be your main contact at VTrans and will coordinate with the town as necessary. We anticipate having our engineer begin working on the project no later than March 2023. We look forward to working with you and your community towards successful implementation of your project.
Pre-K Lottery is Now Open
The CVSD Early Education Program is now accepting applications for a random preschool lottery drawing for the 2023-24 school year. This lottery is for an opportunity to enroll in one of our school-based classrooms which run 10 hours per week. Our school-based preschool classrooms are 5 STARs, licensed early education programs that provide play-based, developmentally appropriate environments for all children in an inclusive setting. Please visit this page for more information. Applications are due by February 3.
SCS Kindergarten Registration (for 2023-2024) Opens February 1, 2023
All children who will be 5 years old by September 1st, 2023 should be registering for Kindergarten for the 2023-2024 school year. Registration will be completed via PowerSchool online - please reach out to Patty Spagnolo at pspagnolo@cvsdvt.org with any questions, she's more than happy to help!
SCS Penguin Plunge! - Saturday, February 4th, 2023
To sign up:
1. Click Here
2. Press register
3. Press Join a team
4. Look up Shelburne Community School Plungers
5. Click it and sign up!
Taking Things Apart!
Learn how everyday things work through the simple act of taking them apart. We teach
safety and how to use tools, then you dissect real machines with the help of our
friendly engineers and volunteers. Enjoy taking things apart and making a mess at the
library, without getting in trouble. Great for girls! Lead by a female engineer. More info is available here.
Saturday, Jan 21, 2023, 10:30 AM
Pierson Library, Shelburne Road, Shelburne, VT, USA
8th Grade Family Night
Wednesday, Feb 8, 2023, 06:30 PM
Champlain Valley Union High School, C V U Road, Hinesburg, VT, USA
CVSD Intra-District Choice
SCS Yearbook Orders
The 2022-23 SCS Yearbook is now on sale! The cost is $32. All students at SCS are included in the yearbook. Orders can be submitted to your child's classroom teacher or on-line until April 7th. Order forms went home last week.
You are also welcome to order online anytime until April 7th. The link to order on-line is: Yearbook sales
Access CVU
ACCESS CVU, your community education program, is pleased to announce the Winter/Spring 2023 Catalog is now open for registration! With over 170 classes (online and in-person) and 80 instructors there is something of interest for all ages and for all towns. The semester runs from Feb 1-June 2, and is packed full of exciting classes from popular favorites to 39 brand new courses!
Sign-up for the ACCESS CVU Newsletter HERE and follow us on Instagram @ACCESSCVU.
CVSD Budget Development
CVSD invites all community members to learn about and join in on the budget development process by attending upcoming School Board meetings. All members of the CVSD community are always welcome to attend Board meetings. See the topics and schedule on the Budget page of the district's website. Links to join the virtual meetings will be available on that page and on the website calendar. We will also post the presentations on the Budget page afterward for those that cannot attend.
Let's Talk
SCS PTO
Still Need More Information?
Website: https://www.cvsdvt.org/shelburne
Access Information on the CVSD Website
See the year at a glance on the 2022-2023 K-8 School Year Calendar.
The CVSD Mission is to develop citizens who learn, think, live, contribute, and pursue excellence. See The CVSD Story.
Shelburne Community School Administration
Brett Cluff, 5-8 Principal
Emily Cogan, Director of Special Education