bobcat Bulletin 9/27/19

School News:

Ms. Hopper and Mrs. Puffer's 5/6 classes had an amazing opportunity to participate in a livestream presentation by a WWF conservation biologist in the Northern Great Plains.  Kristy Bly, who happens to be RaeAnne Lacroix's sister, works with black-footed ferrets who are an endangered species.  Students learned more about the black-footed ferrets, why they are endangered, and what we can do to save them.  

Notes from the Health Office

•  Ticks and Lyme Disease

Please check out the beautiful new food service website: food.huusd.org
You can see menus, pay for lunches on the efunds website, apply for free and reduced lunch all in the same place.  Use these links (underlined and blue) to get there.


A reminder: Open House is next Thursday October 3, for preK-6th grades at MES.  Please join us for the Spaghetti dinner between 5:00-6:00 and fill your bellies before you visit the classrooms :)  The suggested donation is $6 per person or $25 per family.  It is a fundraiser for our 6th grade trip at the end of the year.

PTO

Mark your Calendars! October 4th is our first COFFEE CONNECTION of the year! Coffee connection is a time for adults to grab a FREE cup of coffee and a danish and chat with others prior to starting your day. We will start serving coffee around 715 AM and will be around until 8 AM. Bring your mug and see you there!

Community News

For Students and families:

Come be a part of the holiday magic of Vermont’s longest running Nutcracker performance with Albany Berkshire Ballet. Student Dancer Auditions will be held:

Burlington, VT - September 29, 2019
Flynn Center for the Performing Arts – Flynn Space

10:00 am Ages 4-5
10:30 am Ages 6-8
11:30 am Ages 9-11
1:00 pm Ages 12 and up

Audition fee of $20

Shows will help kick off the holiday season Thanksgiving weekend November 30 & December 1, 2019. Children are generally in one show. For more information contact Lori Preiss at abbvermontnutcracker@gmail.com.

The super popular ice hockey program CHICKS WITH STIX is back this winter!!  Lots of fun for 7-12 year old girls wanting to learn and play ice hockey.  Mondays at Stowe Arena 5-6pm November through February for only $120! Please see the Registration Form in the Green Letter attachments.  Call or email with questions - Clea 802-324-2724, bareau@hotmail.com.

The Mad River Valley and Waterbury Rotary Clubs and Harwood Union’s Interact Club are collaborating to produce this event, which will be held at noon on Saturday, October 19th at Harwood Union High School. We’re hoping to sign up 100 community members to volunteer for two hours to package 20,000 rice-based meals. The meals will be distributed to school feeding programs, most likely in Africa, via our partner, Rise Against Hunger. If you would like to volunteer go to www.mrvrotary.org.

School Board

Subject:  HUUSD Board Meeting Recap 9/25

Dear members of our six town community,

First - upcoming events:

• Community engagement and conversation around PreK-12 redesign. We invite you to join us for a presentation about the change models being considered and then share your thoughts in small group conversations led by school board members.  Please contact Torrey at tcsmith@huusd.org if you would like to use the childcare available at the events.
• Tuesday, October 1st, 7-9pm at Harwood Union
• Monday, October 7th, 7-9pm at Crossett Brook
• Please also visit https://huusd.org/prek-12-bond-plan to complete a brief survey on how the board should approach its decision on our PreK - 12 plan

At our last meeting on September 25, 2019, the Harwood Unified Union School District (HUUSD) Board heard a presentation on possible change models for the district’s PreK - 12 configuration.

The board took action on the four (3) items below (listed in order of the time in the meeting when the vote occurred):

1. Adopted: A motion to direct administration to add modeling option D(c) in time for the first community meeting on October 1

2. Approved: HUUSD board protocols 

3. Approved the following items as part of the consent agenda:  Approved: Minutes of 9/11/19; Accepted: Vouchers 1065, 1066, and 1067 equaling $640,842.63; Approved: Out of state field trips; Approved: Bid for Harwood Auditorium HVAC Replacement from VHV in the amount of $284,923.10 funded from the Maintenance Reserve Fund; Accepted: Final Vision Process Report

Our next meeting is Wednesday, October 16th at 6:00 pm in the Harwood Union School library. 

Please visit https://huusd.org/huusd-board to confirm time and place of meetings. You’ll also find all board and committee agendas, packets and minutes, and the link to board meeting videos. The direct link to watch this and other recent meetings is: https://mrvtv.com/category/school-board-meetings/. An archive of older meetings can be found here: https://archive.org/search.php?query=Harwood+Unified+Union+School+Board&sort=-date 

Thank you for your continued support and engagement.

Respectfully,

The HUUSD Board

Bobcat Bulletin 9/20/19

School News:

Open House and Spaghetti Dinner:
Our whole school Open House will be on Thursday October 3, from 5:30-6:30, with our Spaghetti Dinner fund raiser for the 6th grade trip, running from 5:00-6:00...  So join us for a delicious dinner and then stroll around and see the amazing things that happen here at Moretown School.  We can't wait to see you

Lunch:
Lunch funding is on the huusd.org website, top right menu under "how do I". It gives the choice for "access food and nutrition website".  This is how parents can access their accounting with the food service department. The direct link is below.

https://payments.efundsforschools.com/v3/districts/56016/

Preschool parents- use the number when signing kids up for lunch

Notes from the Health Office 

If you have not already please fill out this Health Questionnaire .  
Many thanks!

PTO

Mark your Calendars! October 4th is our first COFFEE CONNECTION of the year! Coffee connection is a time for adults to grab a FREE cup of coffee and a danish and chat with others prior to starting your day. We will start serving coffee around 715 AM and will be around until 8 AM. Bring your mug and see you there!

Community News

Barn Dance

Event: Sep 22, 2019, 2:00 PM to 5:00 PM

The Children's Room is hosting it's 29th annual Barn Dance this Sunday from 2-5 at the picturesque Beard's Barn in Waterbury Center! This event is geared toward our youngest community members (ages 0-8) and is great way to welcome the fall harvest season. We'll have hayrides, live music, dancing, lawn games, corn play, pumpkins, mums, a pie contest and more in store!

Admission is $20 per family (cash/check only)
1601 Barnes Hill Road, Waterbury Center
2-5 p.m.
Weather looks dreamy for Sunday!

Thank you to our generous supporters: Stowe Cider, Alchemist, Bourne's Energy, Fairfield Marriott, Stowe Beverage, Walker Construction, Java Joe's Coffee Equipment Sales & Services, Billings Mobil, Woodstock Farmers' Market, Cabot Cheese, Artisan Coffee, La Strada Bakery, Cold Hollow, Red Hen Bakery and Waterbury Pack and Ship.

Bolton Valley’s Ride for Children's Mental Health will support WCMHS's ongoing work to support families and their children in our community. Children, Youth & Family Services division (CFYS) of WCMHS is committed to serving all families in need across Washington county. CYFS works collaboratively with area school, pediatricians, daycares, DCF, and others to best support the wellbeing of our young people. CYFS offers wrap around supports, counseling, one-on-one providers, medication management and residential supports regardless of a family's ability to pay. With ever present funding uncertainties, CFYS is taking active steps to diversify funding for this critical work to ensure no one will be turned away, and that every child will have the opportunity to grow up healthy and safe. Bolton Valley immediately understood the importance of this story when we first met with them, and we are so excited to partner with Bolton Valley and all riders to make this event a great success!

See the flyer below for more details... Thank you for your support.

School Board

HUUSD Community Events Oct 1 and 7 on PreK - 12 Plans

Text: 

The Harwood Unified Union School Board invites you to join us Oct 1 or Oct 7 for one of our Community Forums. Open to staff, students, parents, taxpayers, residents...if you’re part of the HUUSD, you’re invited!  We'll be discussing possible scenarios to reconfigure our school district and meet the needs of our students, PreK - 12th grade.

Come to either or both meetings: Tuesday, Oct 1 from 7-9PM @ the Harwood Union Library OR Monday, Oct 7 from 7-9PM @ the Crossett Brook Cafeteria.

Each session will include:

1. A presentation of change models being considered

2. Q & A for clarifying questions about data, models, and process

3. Small group conversations facilitated by Board members

We will be providing LOTS of information at the meeting, so everyone can participate in the discussion, even if this is all new to you.  If you also want more background before you come, please visit the HUUSD.org website and click on PreK-12/Bond Plan tab.   

Childcare will be provided.  We ask that those planning to use babysitting on site to please RSVP to Torrey by 9/29 at tcsmith@huusd.org 

Bobcat Bulletin 9/13/19

School News:

We had our fall bus evacuation drill this morning.  The students did very well listening to the drivers and were great helpers to one another!

School Pictures went super well, expecting them to be dynamite from what I saw. 
I'll let you know about prints and possible retakes as soon as I have the details.

I Heart Art:

Some self portraits from 6th graders....

...and some exploration of textures from kindergarteners:

Notes from the Health Office 

• Nurse Jean Andreson has finalized her schedule for the health office this year;
• Mondays and Fridays 7:30-12:30
• Tuesdays and Wednesdays 10:30-2:30
• and Thursdays Mrs. Butler will be here 

PTO

The Moretown School PTO will be meeting on the first Tuesday of the month.  Join us!

Community News

For Families:

Bake A Difference - Its Childhood Cancer Awareness Month!

The 7th Annual Vermont Cookies for Kids' Cancer Bake Sale will be held on Saturday, September 21st, at the Alchemist Brewery in Stowe, from 10am until we sell out. Last year, we raised over $3,000! You can help by baking cookies, coming to the sale, or making a tax-deductible donation. All funds go towards research to end this leading cause of death by disease of children.

To donate cookies, please drop your labeled cookies, in a container you don’t need returned, at one of our Cookie Donation Stations on Friday, September 20th: Office at Thatcher Brook Primary School or Crossett Brook Middle School, Drake home front porch on 5 Randall Street, or Flaherty home front porch on 414 Lonesome Trail. Sale favorites are Sugar Cookies, Chocolate Chip, Oatmeal Raisin/Chocolate Chip or Chocolate with Chocolate Chip. If your cookies contain nuts, please also clearly add this to the label.  ?s- call Madeline at 760-0611.

Can't bake? Make a "doughnation" at: https://www.cookiesforkidscancer.org/Fundraiser/alchemistbrewery2019

Click here for more details

For Students:

Harwood Youth Hockey Registration is now Open!

Come check out our programs! Our Learn to Skate program, for youth 3yo and up, skates on Sunday evenings from 5-6pm at the Ice Center in Waterbury, beginning of December through the end of January. Come have fun learning to skate and participating in fun on ice activities with our coaches and experienced players to help out!! 

Already know how to skate? Come check out our House Mites team for players 4-7yo. Practices are tuesday nights from 5:45-6:45pm and Sundays from 5:00-6:00pm. Learn the basics of the game with beginner stick work and opportunities to play against some of the areas teams.

Gear is available to use for the season with an opportunity to purchase at the end of the season. 

Visit our website at Harwoodhockey.org for more information or email Liza Sikora, LTS/House coordinator, at lsikora0730@gmail.com for questions about the program.

Musical Munchkins After School Program:

You can now extend the day of your 4 & 5-year-olds.

Offered now at Green Mountain Performing Arts, 37 Commercial Drive, Waterbury, VT.

3:15-4:15 p.m on Thursdays, beginning September 19th-  two 8-week sessions fall & winter, $132.

Children can ride Bus 11 from TBPS to Musical Munchkins at GMPA. Children at this age are very social and learning takes place with fun musical activities with their peers to develop music skills, coordination, self- concept and creativity, listening skills, as well as to promote self-esteem and leadership skills. Children will explore solo and echo singing, dances, acting out song stories, creative movement with scarves, streamers, puppets and props, orchestrating songs with varied instruments- drums, glockenspiels, percussion, and ethnic instruments. We will have a mini-performance at the end of each session.

To register: www.musicalmunchkins.net

School Board

Dear members of our six town community,

First - upcoming events:

• Community engagement and conversation around PreK-12 redesign. Hear a presentation about the change models being considered and then share your thoughts in small group conversations led by school board members.  
• Tuesday, October 1st, 7-9pm at Harwood Union
• Monday, October 7th, 7-9pm at Crossett Brook

At our last meeting on September 11, 2019, the Harwood Unified Union School District (HUUSD) Board took action on the four (4) items below (listed in order of the time in the meeting when the vote occurred):

1. Adopted: Approved the new HUUSD vision statement
2. Adopted: Approved the SY2019-20 Board Goals as amended
3. Approved the following items as part of the consent agenda:  Approved: Minutes of 6/26/19 and 8/28/19; Accepted: Vouchers 1295, 1302, 1303, 1304 and 1306 for FY 2018-19 equaling $677,653.26; Accepted: Vouchers 1018, 1022, 1023, 1024, 1036, 1037, 1046, 1048 and 1056 for FY 2019-20 1009 equaling $2,045,144.60; Approved: HUHS overnight field trip to Burlington, VT on November 4th; Approved: Waitsfield Elementary School overnight field trip to Hosmer Point in Craftsbury, VT on September 25th
4. Adopted: A motion that James draft an Op Ed to communicate why we are doing this PreK-12 work at this time and use the Board’s communications process to finalize and share was seconded and adopted.

Additionally, the Board discussed possible Board Operating Protocols; our fall community engagement schedule; reflections on the process used thus far in preK-12 decision-making; and our evolving process for agenda requests.

Our next meeting is Wednesday, September 25th at 6:00 pm in the Harwood Union School library. 

Please visit https://huusd.org/huusd-board to confirm time and place of meetings. You’ll also find all board and committee agendas, packets and minutes, and the link to board meeting videos. The direct link to watch this and other recent meetings is: https://mrvtv.com/category/school-board-meetings/. An archive of older meetings can be found here: https://archive.org/search.php?query=Harwood+Unified+Union+School+Board&sort=-date 

Thank you for your continued support and engagement.

Respectfully,

The HUUSD Board

Bobcat Bulletin 9/6/19

School News:

• MES School Photo Day(s) 
• Picture Days are Tuesday and Thursday this week.
• We will have an all-school picture on Tuesday morning, and then Ms. Jenny's Maples, Ms. Heather's Willows, Kindergarten and Grades 3-6 will all have class and individual pictures on Tuesday as well.
• Ms. Jenny's Pines, and grades 1 and 2 will have class and individual pictures on Thursday.
• Here is an electronic order form if you need one

Musical Notes:

• A reminder for 5/6 graders to return their paperwork to Ms. Adams if they are interested in playing an instrument

Notes from the Health Office: 

• Nurse Jean Andreson has finalized her hours for the year.  She will be in the health office first thing in the morning on Mondays and Fridays, and later in the day Tuesdays and Wednesdays.  Mrs. Amy Butler will join us on Thursdays to help with health needs.

PTO:

• Join us for the first PTO meeting of the year Tuesday Sept 10, at 5:30 PM.

Community News: 

Please note that the opportunities/events listed below are not specifically endorsed or screened by school staff. As always, families should use their own standards and review processes to determine appropriate activities.

Middle School Volleyball Club Fall Open Gym   Sunday Nights, September 8th through October (possibly November), 5pm-7pm.This will be a great time for middle schoolers to try volleyball for the first time and for existing players to continue practicing. The club is beginner-level and co-ed. All boys and girls entering grade 5-8 in the HUUSD are eligible. We will focus on basic rules of the game, skill building, and match-like games. In March we will participate in the Middle School March Madness League/Tournament. For more information and to sign up go to https://tinyurl.com/cbmsfallvb2019

Fencing Lessons!

Adult and Teen Classes

Stowe, VT

(Adults and Teens)

When:  Tuesdays and Thursdays September 17 - October 17

6:30 PM-8:00 PM

Where:  Stowe Elementary School Gym

All classes start promptly at 6:30 PM and go until 8:00 PM.  Adult cost is $125.00, Student/teen, cost is $50.00 - $10 additional for non-Stowe residents.  (EACH Fencer must complete a USFA $10 membership (https://www.usafencing.org/membership) and bring proof of registration to class - or email Digger - this is a one time/yearly national organization fee).   You may use your own equipment, if I feel it passes a brief safety check. 

Pre-Registration is REQUIRED for Stowe Fencing.  Please visit the Stowe Rec Department’s Stowe FALL/WINTER PROGRAM GUIDE at: https://www.stowerec.org/program-guide/fallwinter-program-guide/ to pre-register.  Teen class participation is limited to 6-10 Fencers and Adult class participation is limited to 4-8 Fencers. 

Contact Digger at midvtfencing@gmail.com

Bobcat Bulletin: 8/30/19

School News:

Bataille Bulletin:

• The right footwear is an important part of the PE class experience.  Please note which days are PE days for your child(ren) and have them wear or pack their sneakers.

Musical Notes:

• MES welcomes Ms. Carolyn Adams to our music room.  Ms. Adams will join us on Wednesdays and Fridays for Band and Instrumental lessons, as well as, 5/6 general music class.
• Mr. Hill will be here at MES on Tuesdays for prek-grade 4 music classes!

Notes from the Health Office

• Please be sure to return pink Health Forms to your child's teacher!  Thank you.

PTO

We are continuing to collect Box Tops for Education.  Last year we were able to raise over $200 for the PTO!  Please snip, clip and drop themby the collection box at the main office.

Vermont- Morefest is excited to announce that this year will be another great local

community event. Touch-a-Truck will replace the car show from last year and other incredible

old fashioned games for kids of all ages will be running all afternoon. Live Music, food trucks

and local artisan vendors round out the exciting offerings to spend an entire afternoon

beginning at 3:00 p.m.  The PTO will once again sponsor a beverage tent.

Community News

Please note that the opportunities/events listed below are not specifically endorsed or screened by school staff. As always, families should use their own standards and review processes to determine appropriate activities.

Middle School Volleyball Club Fall Open Gym Sunday Nights, September 8th through October (possibly November), 5pm-7pm.This will be a great time for middle schoolers to try volleyball for the first time and for existing players to continue practicing. The club is beginner-level and co-ed. All boys and girls entering grade 5-8 in the HUUSD are eligible. We will focus on basic rules of the game, skill building, and match-like games. In March we will participate in the Middle School March Madness League/Tournament. For more information and to sign up go to https://tinyurl.com/cbmsfallvb2019

School Board

Subject:  HUUSD Board Kicks off School Year

Dear HUUSD Community, 

As we prepare for the start of the 2019-20 school year, I want to offer an update from the HUUSD board and share with you what we expect in the coming months. 

The HUUSD board is in the midst of developing a long-term PreK - 12 plan for our district to address our schools’ current and future needs. In establishing this plan, we are fulfilling our promise from the Act 46 merger to provide expanded and equitable educational opportunities while operating more efficiently. We expect to finalize the plan in mid-November and then finalize a bond proposal for the community’s consideration at Town Meeting in March of 2020.

I invite you to follow our progress and offer your input along the way. Here are a few ways to learn more about our current work:

1. Visit https://huusd.org/prek-12-bond-plan. This page of our website is a great place to get oriented and see the data the board has been working with. It includes the history of our work on this over the last 6 months, links to relevant documents and data, as well as a detailed FAQ.  

2. We expect to finalize our plan for this fall’s community engagement and feedback about the PreK-12 planning by early September. We’ll be sharing that information on FPF, through the schools and in the papers, and hope that you’ll help us to spread the word. Stay tuned! 

3. At our September 25th meeting, the administrative team will present the models we asked for last spring. So, if you’re wondering what happened to all that talk of models and scenarios, know that it’s coming!

We are tremendously excited about the opportunities that a comprehensive PreK - 12 plan could offer us, as well as keenly aware that times of change are challenging. Our HUUSD board remains committed to the challenging but vital task of providing the best possible PreK-12 education for all of our students with the most prudent use of our public tax dollars.

I want to thank our incredible school leaders, faculty and staff as they prepare to welcome our students on August 26th for the first day of school and another great year of learning and growth. Thank you to all of our community members for your ongoing support of our incredible schools.  

With appreciation,

Caitlin Hollister, Chair
Harwood Unified Union School Board