I applaud all of you for continuing on, for supporting your kids' learning, and for partnering in this uncertain and totally upside-down time. I am proud of the work our teachers have done, and so impressed with our students, your kids.
Community News/Opportunities
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.
The Vermont Foodbank is thrilled to announce the Farmers to Families Food Box Program. We will be partnering with The Abbey Group, the State Emergency Operations Center, and the Vermont National Guard to distribute boxes packed with fresh, nutritious food to people in need from May 15th through the end of June, with the possibility to continue beyond that.
The Abbey Group will provide boxes of chicken, produce, and dairy products for the distributions held by the Vermont National Guard throughout the state. They will provide enough food at each distribution to serve 1000 households.
For the first several distributions, they will also provide non-perishable food boxes from FEMA. Distributions are currently scheduled through the rest of May in Berlin, Peru, Middlebury, Thetford, Morristown, Burlington, Brattleboro, Swanton, and Lyndonville.
We need your help promoting locally! Please click here to see the full schedule and help us spread the word to anyone who could use this assistance. We would prefer that you direct people to that link for the most up to date distribution details as this is a new program and details are emerging as we speak. This will ensure that everyone has access to the most accurate information possible.
Thank you!
• Green Up Day is Saturday May 30 and we encourage all to get outside and Green Up!
Please encourage kids and teachers too join the fun and make a lesson out of it by reporting how much trash kids picked up = how much weight = how they helped their environment. If schools report their data to me including the following - I will run the data and give an environmental champion report card to all schools who participate and a prize to the school with the most trash picked up! Just have your teachers email the data to greenup@greenupvermont.org
SCHOOL
TEACHER
HOW MANY STUDENTS
HOW MANY BAGS OF TRASH COLLECTED
Pick up Green Up bags at your town designated locations found here: https://greenupvermont.
• Green Up Day Love Video Contest
Do your students love to be in front of the camera? Have individuals or small teams (allowable by safe governance) create their own Green Up Day 30 second commercial, or statement on what Green Up means to them, or how they participate in Green Up Day. Email the movie files to greenup@greenupvermont.org
• An APP for working together while apart!
Green Up Vermont has an app that allows Vermonters to build teams, connect with instant messaging, plan trash pick up routes, drop trash pins on roads they have picked up, and even a leader board for friendly competition on how much trash has been picked up by team. This can be done as classes or a groups - anyway you like. It is socially distant. Find the apps here:
Google Play: https://play.google.com/
• Plogging for those who love to run!
Plogging is a Swedish activity (developed in 2016) that combines the act of picking up trash and jogging. Have kids with lots of energy or who would normally be running track, playing lacrosse, spring soccer, softball, baseball or any other sport this spring season try their luck at Plogging. Encourage teams to use the APP mentioned above and reach out to other schools for a Plog-off. Just think of how many miles of VT roads we could get cleaned up and how FUN it would be. Encourage teams to log their miles and send them into this email greenup@greenupvermont.org and I will report the results in marathon fashion.
VT PBS Resources:
NASA Kids Club (PreK- Grade 4; STEM). On this site, you will find games of various skill levels for children pre-K through grade 4. These games support national education standards in STEM -- science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
NASA Aeronautics for PreK (PreK; STEM). A collection of six STEM learning modules based upon children’s books. Each module focuses on a single children's story book, followed by a STEM thematic lesson, including topics associated with gliders in nature (form and function), balloons (sinking and floating, weight), parachutes (fluid thickness and drag), kites (surface area and lift), helicopters and airplanes (force and thrust), and world flyers (geography and global trade).
Recommended Space Books for Kids, 2019 (Birth-Young Adult; STEM and ELA) The 2019 recommended space-themed book list for kids of all ages from Planetary Society's Senior Editor Emily Lakdawalla.
Storytime from Space and Space Station Explorers (PreK-Grade 3; STEM and ELA) Astronauts read children’s books about space from space to children on Earth!
From Local Motion:
Want to bike more, but not feeling "right" about taking your kids on a bike with you? A little concerned about safety, their behavior, being prepared, or what gear you need?
We'll cover riding with all ages. We've got a great interactive (and short!) webinar for you on Wednesday, May 27 at 12-12:30 pm! You can ask questions and get answers from seasoned "bike parents"--Doug, from SKIRACK, and Melanie, the Founder of Bristol's human-powered parade and member of the Bristol Safe Routes to Schools Task Force. They will have great tips and tricks and loads of experience with their own children, and will also talk about the bike gear they use to keep their kids safe. FREE!
Register here: https://bit.ly/FamilyBike1
School Board Updates
Dear HUUSD Community,
The HUUSD school board met remotely on Wednesday evening, May 13 and made several big decisions that we’d like to share with you.
1. The Board will present a budget for voter approval on June 16th.
Although there had been some conversation in the VT legislature over the last several weeks that would allow school districts to adopt a default budget without a public vote, it appears that such initiatives have stalled, probably through the summer. The HUUSD Board decided to hold an election, in accordance with the COVID guidelines published by the Secretary of State’s office, on June 16th. We will be strongly encouraging early voting (requesting ballots by mail) and will be sharing more specifics about how to safely access your ballots in the coming weeks.
Although there had been some conversation in the VT legislature over the last several weeks that would allow school districts to adopt a default budget without a public vote, it appears that such initiatives have stalled, probably through the summer. The HUUSD Board decided to hold an election, in accordance with the COVID guidelines published by the Secretary of State’s office, on June 16th. We will be strongly encouraging early voting (requesting ballots by mail) and will be sharing more specifics about how to safely access your ballots in the coming weeks.
2. The Board approved a budget for FY21 (the coming 2020-21 school year) of $39,772,342 to put before voters.
In budget conversations in the last couple weeks, the Board sought to balance the enormous financial pressure caused by COVID with the need to preserve core programming in the schools, and to do so without significant changes to our current service delivery model. This budget results in a lower increase in total expenditures over FY20 than the current statewide average and will allow us to provide essential education opportunities to our district’s students next year. The Board is developing a budget fact sheet and list of frequently asked questions to share in the coming weeks.
In budget conversations in the last couple weeks, the Board sought to balance the enormous financial pressure caused by COVID with the need to preserve core programming in the schools, and to do so without significant changes to our current service delivery model. This budget results in a lower increase in total expenditures over FY20 than the current statewide average and will allow us to provide essential education opportunities to our district’s students next year. The Board is developing a budget fact sheet and list of frequently asked questions to share in the coming weeks.
3. The school board approved issuing annual letters of employment to all support and licensed teaching staff for the 2020-21 school year.
When the first budget vote failed at Town Meeting Day, the district issued Reduction In Force (RIF) notices to all employees, in accordance with the Collective Bargaining Agreement. Typically these would remain in place until a budget is passed. COVID has slowed the district’s ability to pass a budget even as it has asked more of our staff. Issuing these letters of employment now allows our schools to begin planning for next year -- to bring some level of certainty to these uncertain times.
We encourage you to share your thoughts with the Board via email to the full Board at cen-huusdboard@huusd.org. We also welcome public comments at the beginning of each meeting (but sometimes there is not time to hear from everyone).
The Board’s next meeting is Wednesday, May 20th at 6:00 pm online. Please visit https://huusd.org/huusd-board to confirm time and place of meetings and to find all board meeting agendas, packets and minutes.
Thank you for your continued support and engagement.
Respectfully,
The HUUSD Board
HUUSD School Budget Vote - Request Your Ballots!
On June 16th there will be a special district-wide election to approve a new school budget for next year. In person voting will be available in each of the six towns, but given current public health concerns, voters are strongly encouraged to request ballots in advance by mail from their town clerk. To request your ballot, please use the following contact information:
Duxbury: call 244-6660 or email duxtc@myfairpoint.net
Waterbury: call 244-8447 or email clawrence@waterburyvt.com
Thank you in advance for your participation, the HUUSD Board
