School Board News -- January 2023

From Victoria Jette

ACSD Board Chairperson

Happy New Year and welcome back! I hope everyone in the ACSD Community had a happy and healthy holiday season. The Board jumped right back into its work, focusing primarily on budget development for FY24. The ACSD continues to benefit from significant federal COVID relief money, which has enabled us to provide additional academic intervention and behavioral support in our schools the past two years. This funding will sunset in FY25, which will force the District to make difficult choices on which supports are critical and effective enough to be maintained through the District’s operational budget in the future.

The Board concluded its goal-setting for the District’s Strategic Plan for Equity in December, and is handing the baton to the Strategic Planning Action Team to translate Board Goals into actionable steps with measurable outcomes. The Action Team includes a diverse group of ACSD stakeholders, including students, parents, teachers, administrators, and community members. Together they will develop the details of the final Strategic Plan for Board approval in June 2023. Please continue to check here for ongoing opportunities to engage in the process.

As many of you know, Superintendent Peter Burrows has accepted the Superintendent position with Milton Public Schools in Milton, Massachusetts, and is anticipating transition to his new role in July 2023. While we will be sad to see him go, we are proud of the accomplishments ACSD has made under his leadership, and understand his desire to explore new challenges in a larger, more diverse setting. The Board acknowledges the significance of this upcoming change, and is committed to conducting a thorough Superintendent Search process to find a great fit for our District.

Many of you may have also heard about the recent petition the Board received from Save Our Schools, LLC regarding a change to Article 14 of ACSD’s Charter. This petition requested the Board to warn a vote, allowing voters to directly amend Article 14 by asking the electorate to either add a town vote or a district vote requirement to the existing supermajority Board approval needed to close any ACSD school. The Executive Committee sought legal counsel on the Board’s legal obligations concerning the SOS petition, which concluded that the Board was not legally required to accept the petition and warn a vote.

I know this is a confusing and emotional issue for our community, which is why so much time has been spent contemplating a Charter change. Ultimately, the State statute that governs amendments to articles of agreement  classifies ACSD’s Article 14 concerning school closure as a matter for the Board to decide, because it was not included in the originally warned articles for the District’s unification.  And the Vermont Supreme Court has already ruled in a prior case that a school board is not obligated to act upon a petition concerning a matter over which the voters have no authority. We were advised that a vote warned per the SOS petition would be for informational purposes only, and some members were concerned that it would not allow voters to express a preference to not amend Article 14.  

Still, the Board discussed the matter at length during its January 9, 2023 meeting, but ultimately decided not to accept the petition. Instead, as you will read below, the Board has charged the Ad Hoc Charter Research Committee with creating specific language for the Board to consider using to amend Article 14 itself.  The continued discussion and possible action to revise the Charter is scheduled for the February 13, 2023 Board meeting.

We said goodbye and thank you to our Board colleague, Peter Conlon, as he is resigning his position from the Board in order to fulfill his commitment to the Education Committee of the legislature. Peter has been an extraordinary member of the Board for the last 17 years and his deep knowledge of Vermont and its educational system will be missed. The Board announced his vacated seat at its meeting on January 9th. Anyone interested in filling the Cornwall seat until Town Meeting Day should send a letter of interest to the Board via vjette@acsdvt.org and be prepared to join us at our meeting on 1/23 for Q and A. Whomever is appointed may then run for a 1 year seat to be voted on Town Meeting Day.  

Highlights of Board and Committee work since the October 2022 Board Update include the following:

• The Ad Hoc Charter Research Committee presented its findings to the Board regarding how other school districts in Vermont have addressed school closure in their Articles of Agreement. The Board discussed amending Article 14 during its November 14, 2022 Board meeting but members did not feel prepared to vote at that time. In the wake of its decision regarding the Save Our Schools petition, the Board has charged the Ad Hoc Charter Research Committee with crafting language for two possible ways for the Board to consider amending Article 14 itself, including: 

  • Adding a town vote in addition to the supermajority approval of the Board currently required to authorize any school closure; or 

  • Adding a District-wide vote in addition to the supermajority approval of the Board required to close a school. 

The Ad Hoc Research Committee will present its suggested motions to the Board at the February 13, 2023 Board meeting.

• In early December 2022, the Communications and Engagement Committee hosted two Community Conversations on the District’s Strategic Plan for Equity. During the conversations, the Communications and Engagement Committee presented the strategic planning process completed so far, shared the Board’s strategic planning goals, and invited questions and feedback. A recording of the December 7th virtual conversation is available here, and links to the Community Conversation Slide Show and Feedback Form can be found here. Feedback from the conversations will be compiled and given to both the Board and Strategic Planning Action Team for consideration in ongoing Strategic Planning work.    
  
  

• The Facilities Committee presented an updated summary of District-wide facilities needs at the November 28, 2022 Board meeting, based upon both the facilities assessments conducted by Truex Cullins in Spring 2022 and the Board’s prior Educational and Facilities Planning Report, Board members agreed that the District’s facilities needs are significant enough to warrant a bond for capital improvement projects, and charged the Facilities Committee with formally initiating that process. Over the next months, the Facilities Committee will identify and research consultants to assist with the bond process and help the Board define the scope of work for priority capital improvements. 
  
  

• Through the work of the Policy and Governance Committee, the Board has adopted and/or amended the following Vermont School Board Association (VSBA) recommended policies and policy updates: 

  • Policy A-6, Board Member Conflict of Interest

  • Policy A-21, Public Participation at Board Meetings

  • Policy B-5, Prevention of Employee Harassment 

  • Policy C-6, Participation of Home Study Students

  • Policy C-7, Student Attendance

  • Policy C-8, Pupil Privacy Rights

  • Policy D-6, Class Size

  • Policy F-2, Policy on Nondiscriminatory Mascots and School Branding

  • Policy E-1, Title 1, Part A Parent and Family Engagement Policy, approval date pending 1/17/22. 

The Policy Committee's work aligns closely with the policies vetted by the Vermont State School Board. Most are determined by state Statutes or Federal Laws.  ACSD Policies are ideally reviewed and amended on a three year cycle. New policies are determined by state requirements or at the direction of the ACSD School Board. The complete list of ACSD Policies and Procedures can be found here. 

 

• The Finance Committee has been working closely with ACSD’s Director of Finance & Operations Matt Corrente to develop the budget for the ‘23-’24 academic year. The draft FY24 Budget Book can be found in Board meeting materials here. Details of the proposed budget will be presented at the ACSD’s Annual Meeting on February 28, 2023.  
  
  

• With the help of the Negotiations Committee, the Board has authorized pay increases for both paraprofessional educators and custodial staff to help address vacancies in these positions within the District. The Negotiations Committee is also working with the Addison Central Educators Association to establish parameters around a paid sabbatical leave benefit in the master contract. The results of this work will require final Board approval, but will clarify the process by which ACSD educators may utilize this benefit.

As always, we welcome community input and participation. Currently scheduled meetings are listed below – but please check our Board and Committee Meetings page frequently, as new Committee meeting dates are continuously added to the calendar.

 

Sincerely,

 

Victoria Jette, Chairperson, ACSD Board

vjette@acsdvt.org

 

Upcoming Meetings

Board and Committee meeting dates, locations, materials, and virtual links can be found on the ACSD Calendar.

January 17, 2023 5:30 - 8:00 p.m. ACSD Board Meeting – 208 Charles Ave.

January 18, 2023 12:00 - 1:00 p.m. Facilities Committee Meeting

January 18, 2023 4:00 - 5:30 p.m. Policy & Governance Committee Meeting

January 23, 2023 4:30 - 5:30 p.m. Ad Hoc Committee Meeting

January 23, 2022 5:30 - 8:00 p.m. ACSD Board Meeting – Middlebury Union High School

February 9, 2023 9:00 - 10:00 a.m. Communications & Engagement Committee Meeting

February 13, 2023 5:30 - 8:00 p.m. ACSD Board Meeting – Middlebury Union Middle School

February 15, 2023 4:00 - 5:30 p.m. Policy & Governance Committee Meeting

February 28, 2023 6:00 - 7:00 p.m. ACSD Board Meeting – Middlebury Union High School

February 28, 2023 7:00 - 8:00 p.m. ACSD Annual Meeting – Middlebury Union High School

March 13, 2023 5:30 - 8:00 p.m. ACSD Board Meeting – Ripton Elementary School

March 27, 2023 5:30 - 8:00 p.m. ACSD Board Meeting – 208 Charles Ave.

 

It has been great to be back in ACSD school buildings!  The positive energy of both students and staff is palpable.  And the efforts of many in our community to connect and care for our students are also being felt throughout the district: From the fantastic MUHS Homecoming hay bale Tiger to the new MUMS Color Fun Run. From the beautiful new mural at Mary Hogan School and the ongoing tradition of the Ripton Ridge Run, to the Clear the Trails night at Salisbury Community School and Shoreham Elementary’s scarecrow-making event on the Town Green, our community is showing support for our students, staff, and schools.  We thank those of you who have gone out of your way to attend a game or event at any of our schools, who have donated to various student causes or participated in activities, volunteered in our schools or become substitute teachers.  It is helping us to once again bring joy into and around our buildings and let our kids know that they matter and we care.  

 

I am pleased that Ripton voters have decided to stay within the ACSD educational community and hope that we can all come together as one district to focus on providing the best possible education to all of our students.  We will need to direct our collective energy toward addressing the challenges that staffing shortages, old infrastructure, decreasing enrollments, and increasing costs present to our learning community. Please keep reading below for details about the ongoing work of the Board. 

 

Highlights of Board and Committee work since the July 2022 Board Update include the following:

 

• The Board began work on the Strategic Plan for Equity in September. This work includes taking recommendations from the community-based Strategic Plan Advisory Committee and distilling them into foundational priorities for the District moving forward. A small group of Board members has been instrumental in organizing the full Board’s ideas into values and core beliefs, and clarifying the Board’s understanding of Educational Equity. The Board is currently reviewing its mission and vision through the lens of these core beliefs, and will continue its work to establish actionable goals for the Strategic Plan. The Board will be seeking community feedback in November prior to finalizing its goals and strategies. Work products from the Board’s Strategic Planning efforts can be found in the meeting materials for the Board’s regular meetings.    

 

• Given the community’s continued concern around the potential for school closure, the Board has agreed to consider revising Article 14 of its Charter to modify its provisions for school closure. In support of this effort, the Board created an Ad Hoc Charter Research Committee to research how other unified school districts in Vermont have addressed school closure in their Articles of Agreement. The Ad Hoc Charter Research Committee is compiling information about the spectrum of requirements found in other District Charters (e.g., town vote, district vote, and supermajority Board approval), as well as example language for varying combinations of factors.  Once the Committee has completed this work, it will present its findings to the full Board to inform the discussion regarding a potential Charter update. 

 

• The Facilities Committee has reviewed information from the secondary school assessments conducted by Truex Cullins in Spring 2022, and will present an updated summary of District-wide facilities needs to the full Board. Based on this information and the Board’s prior Educational and Facilities Planning Report, the Board will determine which capital improvement projects best support District goals and student needs. In the upcoming months, the Facilities Committee will be guiding the development of a bond strategy to fund priority improvements to ACSD facilities. 

 

• The Policy and Governance Committee has reviewed and is proposing adoption of the following Vermont School Board Association (VSBA) recommended policies and policy updates: 

  • Policy A-21, Public Participation at Board Meetings 

  • Policy C-5, Firearms 

  • Policy C-6, Home Study

  • Policy C-8, Draft Pupil Privacy

  • Policy D-6, Class Size

The Policy Committee's work aligns closely with the policies vetted by the Vermont State School Board. Most are determined by state Statutes or Federal Laws.  ACSD Policies ideally are reviewed and amended on a three year cycle. New policies are determined by state requirements or at the direction of the ACSD School Board. The complete list of ACSD Policies and Procedures can be found here. 

 

• The Finance Committee met in August 2022 to review the fourth quarter financial report, and reported a fund balance of just under $1.1 million, which was consistent with the projected balance. In the upcoming months, the Committee will begin working with ACSD’s new Director of Finance & Operations Matt Corrente to develop the budget for the ‘23-’24 academic year.   

 

• The Communications and Engagement Committee has been assisting the ACSD Administration in recruiting volunteers and job applicants to fill open positions in the District. The Committee is also working to identify ongoing opportunities for the community to engage with the Board beyond the brief public comment period during Board meetings. Some ideas that have been attempted include holding virtual office hours and having a school board table at community events. Other ideas under consideration include hosting regular informal Q&A sessions and providing recurring in-person updates via parent groups at our community schools.  If you have a suggestion for community engagement, please reach out to Mary Heather Noble at mnoble@acsdvt.org. 

 

As always, we welcome community input and participation. Currently scheduled meetings are listed below – but please check our Board and Committee Meetings page frequently, as new Committee meeting dates are continuously added to the calendar.

 

Sincerely,

Victoria Jette, Chairperson, ACSD Board

vjette@acsdvt.org

Upcoming Meetings

 

Board and Committee meeting dates, locations, materials, and virtual links can be found on the ACSD Calendar.

October 24, 2022 6:30 - 9:00 p.m. ACSD Board Meeting – 208 Charles Ave.

November 3, 2022 9:00 - 10:00 a.m. Communications & Engagement Committee meeting

November 14, 2022 6:30 - 9:00 p.m. ACSD Board Meeting – Cornwall Elementary School

November 16, 2022 4:00 - 5:30 p.m. Policy & Governance Committee Meeting

November 28, 2022 6:30 - 9:00 p.m. ACSD Board Meeting – 208 Charles Ave.

December 12, 2022 6:30 - 9:00 p.m. ACSD Board Meeting – Mary Hogan School

December 19, 2022 6:30 - 9:00 p.m. ACSD Board Meeting – 208 Charles Ave.

December 21, 2022 4:00 - 5:30 p.m. Policy & Governance Committee Meeting

Dear ACSD Community, 

 

Happy Summer!  When VT is beautiful, it goes above and beyond. I hope that staff and families alike are getting out to enjoy our beautiful state with family and friends, away from screens and media. I hope that everyone finds time to decompress from this challenging year. I believe ACSD finished the year out strong, with many end-of-year events to celebrate both teachers and students in our community. Congratulations and best wishes to our retirees — we are so grateful for all the years of dedicated service you have given to our students. 

 

I had a prime seat for the MUHS graduation, which was a terrific example of this community at its best. The messages from our student speakers resonated for many of us, particularly learning to “trust tomorrow” in these uncertain times, and focusing on “being good” and “doing good” in our community rather than burning out in the pursuit of individual greatness.  

 

Like many districts across the country we have had higher than average teacher turn-over.  The Board recognizes these losses, as well as the confluence of issues contributing to these decisions. We are working with Superintendent Burrows to learn more through the exit interview process, so appropriate teacher supports can be prioritized moving forward.  Fortunately, we have had a strong applicant pool for most positions.  We look forward to welcoming this new group of educators and wish to thank those who have remained.  Several of these remaining teachers are coming together over the summer to work in groups on various projects that will help the district have a strong start to the next year. Thanks to ESSER (Federal pandemic recovery) funds, ACSD is able to compensate them for this important work, including development of an orientation program for new teachers. 

 

The one area where the district needs the community’s help is with filling paraprofessional positions. These positions are integral to a school running smoothly. A paraprofessional may assist a classroom teacher, or be paired with a student as a one-on-one aid. The Board recently approved a wage increase for these positions, so if you or anyone you know has ever been interested in working in a school to truly make a difference, please share this link which has all of our open positions and can be found under the “Employment” section of the acsdvt.org website.

 

Below you will find updates about the work of each committee. These committees are where a great deal of Board work gets done. This work of change, improvement and review is generally slow, steady work. Democracy in action: Board members from all member towns coming together to debate, listen and consider how to move forward in the best interest of all students.  

 

Finally, in the updates below, you will find a link to the Facilities Master Planning report. This document is a culmination of many years of work assessing ACSD buildings and considering the needs of all students and staff.  In combination with the Strategic Plan for Equity that is currently underway, we hope to be able to agree upon the best blueprint for investing our limited resources in both our infrastructure and programs so that ACSD can continue to provide a dynamic learning community for all students. 

Highlights of Board accomplishments and Committee work since the April 2022 Board Update include the following:

 

• The Board has updated and amended several policies to ensure consistency with Vermont statutes, including: 
• Board Operation Policies A-1 and A-2, which establish the Board’s governance commitment and Board member responsibilities; 
• Personnel Policies B-1 through B-4 and B-7, which address substitute teachers, volunteers, and prohibited substances;  and
• Student Policies D-1, D-3, and D-22, which address Proficiency Based Graduation Requirements, Internet Use, and Selection of Library Materials, respectively.

The Policy and Governance Committee is continuing its required review of existing policies for necessary updates, and is examining Vermont School Board Association (VSBA) recommended Policy A-21, Public Participation at Board Meetings. Upcoming committee work also includes reviewing required Policy C-5, Firearms, with assistance from Middlebury Police Chief Tom Hanley. The complete list of ACSD Policies and Procedures can be found here. 

 

• The Board has released its Educational and Facilities Planning Report to the community, which can be found on our website. Printed copies of the report will be available at the ACSD Central Office, each ACSD school, Ilsley Library, Sarah Partridge Library, Platt Memorial Library, Salisbury Free Public Library, and town offices of each ACSD member town. Printed copies will also be distributed to PreK programs serving ACSD families, including Addison County Parent Child Center, Bridge School, College Street Children’s Center, Mary Johnson Children’s Center, Middlebury Cooperative Nursery School, Otter Creek Child Center, and Quarry Hill School. Community members may contact the Central Office at 802-382-1274 to have a copy printed for personal use. 

 

The Board intends to conduct additional community engagement to inform further ACSD facilities planning in the early fall of 2022. In the meantime, questions about the Educational and Facilities Planning Report can be directed to the Board at 802-382-1700, or emailed to Board Chair Victoria Jette at vjette@acsdvt.org and Facilities Committee Chair Jennifer Nuceder at jmnuceder@acsdvt.org. A Board member will also hold virtual office hours from 6:00 - 7:00 p.m. on Wednesday, June 29th, July 6th, and July 27th to take questions from the community. Please contact Mary Heather Noble at mnoble@acsdvt.org to request a zoom link for virtual office hours. 

 

• The Facilities Committee is reviewing information generated from detailed assessments of the MUMS and MUHS campuses, conducted by Truex Cullins this spring. This information augments the Educational and Facilities Planning Report, and will help the Board develop a bond strategy to support priority improvements to ACSD facilities. The final report from the assessments of our secondary schools is available HERE on our website.

 

• The Finance Committee continues its oversight of ACSD bills, and will be meeting in late July or early August to review the fourth quarter financial report.   

 

• The Communications and Engagement Committee continues its work on routine communications, and is currently researching best practices for community engagement to inform upcoming outreach associated with the Board’s Strategic Plan for Equity. The Communications and Engagement Committee will also be coordinating with the Facilities Committee to conduct additional community engagement around facilities planning in the fall.    

 

As always, we welcome community input and participation in Board and Committee meetings. Currently scheduled meetings are listed below – but please check our Board and Committee Meetings page frequently, as new Committee meeting dates are continuously added to the calendar.

 

Sincerely,

Victoria Jette, Chairperson, ACSD Board

vjette@acsdvt.org

Upcoming Meetings

 

Board and Committee meeting dates, materials, and virtual links can be found on the ACSD Calendar.

July 6, 2022 6:00- 7:00 p.m. ACSD Board Virtual Office Hours

July 27, 2022 6:00 - 7:00 p.m. ACSD Board Virtual Office Hours

August 8, 2022 6:30 - 9:00 p.m. ACSD Board Meeting

August 22, 2022 6:30 - 9:00 p.m. ACSD Board Meeting

September 12, 2022 3:00 - 8:00 p.m. ACSD Board Retreat for Strategic Planning

The ACSD School Board released the Educational and Facilities Planning - April 2022 Report to the Community. You can find an update of this report and links to read it in full here. 

From Victoria Jette

ACSD Board Chairperson

 

As we enter the final season of the academic school year, I am thankful for the effort that this community has made to take care of each other, and for everyone’s patience with the many unknowns of educating during a pandemic.  Since our last update, it has been great to see our students find joy in renewed traditions like the MUHS Winter Carnival and Unified Basketball, new traditions like volleyball March Madness at MUMS, as well as 100th-day-of-school celebrations and artist residencies at our elementary schools. I am thankful for our educators who have shown up everyday and been there for our students as teachers, mentors, coaches and advisors.  They have strived to offer calm and consistency to our students even when they might not have been feeling either themselves.  And to those who are signaling fatigue over this most challenging of years, we hear you.  It is clear that many of us are craving relief and community celebration.  I look forward to seeing some of you cheering our students on as they perform on the field and stage this Spring, work and play throughout the community, and celebrate their accomplishments towards the end of the school year.     

 

As we move for the moment from pandemic to endemic COVID, I would be remiss not to mention the extraordinary efforts by our lead nurse at MUHS.  Kelly Landwehr was thrust from the job of school nurse to leading the District’s efforts to keep students, staff and their families as safe and healthy as possible during an unprecedented public health crisis.  She shouldered the responsibility with grace, calm, methodical thinking and a smile.  Others have recognized her effort and she now finds herself as President-Elect of the Vermont State School Nurses Association. ACSD is so very proud of and thankful for Nurse Kelly! 

 

Much gratitude also goes to outgoing Board members Mary Culllinane, Betty Kafumbe, Amy McGlashan, and Lorraine Morse for their years of dedicated service on the ACSD Board.  The Board welcomes new members Brian Bauer, Joanna Doria, Jamie McCallum, and Steve Orzech; their bios can be found on the About the Board page of the ACSD website. 

 

Highlights of Board accomplishments and Committee work since the December 2021 Board Update include the following:

 

• The Finance Committee worked with Superintendent Peter Burrows and Business Manager Logan Price to develop the FY23 budget, which maintains current programming, equips ACSD elementary schools with literacy and behavioral intervention support services, and provides additional staffing at MUMS to address student needs. Many thanks to the ACSD Community for supporting the FY23 budget! We are particularly grateful for Federal ESSER funds and the suspension of State education spending controls to enable this comprehensive support for our students during the pandemic, and are closely watching proposed changes to the State’s special education funding and pupil weighting systems to anticipate the financial impacts on ACSD in the future.   

 

• The Board has adopted Special Education Policy D7 – which formalizes ACSD’s commitment to students with disabilities under the Federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), and specifies guidelines regarding special education. The Policy and Governance Committee is continuing its work of reviewing dated policies for necessary updates and consistency with State statutes. Current policies under review include the following: Board Operation Policies A-1 through A-9, Personnel Policies B-1 through B-7, and Student Policies C-1 through C-11. In addition, the Policy and Governance Committee is working with school librarians to develop policies related to materials selection and instructional texts and resources. The complete list of ACSD Policies and Procedures can be found here. 

 

• The Negotiations Committee successfully negotiated a 3-year contract for ACSD education support personnel; the ACSD/ESP agreement was ratified by the full Board on December 13, 2021, and includes the current academic year. 

 

• The Facilities Committee has completed the Facilities Master Plan Report – which will be released soon, pending final formatting edits. The purpose of the report is to summarize the driving forces behind the Facilities Master Planning process, review the work that has been completed, update the communities we serve on the Board’s findings to date, and outline the work that remains to be done. 

 

While we still have a number of challenges to resolve and questions to answer (e.g. following our COVID-19 recovery plan and determining what the impact of changes to Vermont’s education funding system will be on our learning community), the body of work confirms that we must take action to address our infrastructure, equity, and educational adequacy needs. The final report will be made available through multiple outlets, and will be followed by additional community engagement to discuss the best way forward to achieve our vision for creating the best sustainable learning environments to deliver our curricular programming. 

 

• The Communications and Engagement Committee continues to update the Board’s website, has implemented systems to improve routine communications with the ACSD community (e.g., responses to email inquiries, Board updates, etc.), and has established a dedicated Board Voicemail line to receive telephone inquiries about Board work. All ACSD stakeholders may directly contact the Board at 802-382-1700; messages will be directed to the appropriate Board member(s) for a response.    

 

As always, we welcome community input and participation in Board and Committee meetings. Currently scheduled meetings are listed below – but please check our Board and Committee Meetings page frequently, as new Committee meeting dates are continuously added to the calendar.

 

Sincerely,

Victoria Jette, Chairperson, ACSD Board

vjette@acsdvt.org

 

Upcoming Meetings

 

Board and Committee meeting dates, materials, and virtual links can be found on the Board and Committee Meetings page on our website at www.acsdvt.org/schoolboard.

April 7, 2022 8:45 - 9:45 a.m. Communications & Engagement Committee Meeting

April 11, 2022 6:30 - 9:00 p.m. ACSD Board Meeting

April 25, 2022 6:30 - 9:00 p.m. ACSD Board Meeting

May 9, 2022 6:30 - 9:00 p.m. ACSD Board Meeting

May 23, 2022 4:00 - 5:30 p.m. Policy & Governance Committee Meeting

Mary 25, 2022 6:30 - 9:00 p.m. ACSD Board Meeting

From Mary Cullinane

ACSD Board Chairperson

 

As we draw closer to the end of the calendar year, I want to acknowledge the extraordinary efforts of our educators and administrators to carry out the ACSD’s mission into a third COVID-focused academic year. The heart, grit, and resilience of the professionals who show up everyday to guide and teach our youth are unsurpassed, and for that I am truly grateful. Please consider taking a moment to thank an educator in our community -- whether with a note, an email, or even a quick “thank you” the next time you see them in the grocery store line. Their work is so important to our collective success, and our acknowledgement means a lot. 

 

This year the Board has been largely focused on supporting the District’s efforts with COVID recovery planning, navigating the uncharted waters of Ripton’s efforts to withdraw from the District, and filling key leadership positions as educators prepared for another year of pandemic-impacted instruction. Adding to the challenges are significant uncertainties around how the State will restructure its education funding formula, and the impact of proposed changes to pupil weighting factors on the ACSD’s long-term financial outlook. We are grateful for Federal Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) funding in the short term, and are keeping a close eye on the State’s progress toward a final funding formula. In the meantime, the Board continues to focus on its essential work, and I am pleased to share some of its recent accomplishments:

 

• Thanks to the work of the Policy and Governance Committee, the Board has adopted several policies around personnel recruitment and background checks, the use of security cameras in schools, ensuring access to education and services for homeless students, and raising flags on school grounds, among other topics. The complete list of ACSD Policies and Procedures can be found here. 

 

• On October 11, 2021, the Board voted to raise the Black Lives Matter flag on the high school government flagpole, in solidarity with the MUHS Student Coalition on Human Rights. A video of the flag-raising can be viewed here. 

 

• The Negotiations Committee successfully negotiated a 3-year contract for ACSD teachers; the ACSD/ACEA agreement was ratified by the full Board on October 25, 2021. 

 

• The Communications and Engagement Committee has updated and reorganized several pages of the Board’s website, and has drafted a plan to streamline and improve routine communications with the ACSD community. 

 

• The Finance Committee has welcomed ACSD’s new Business Manager, Logan Price, and is working with the administration on a budget for the next fiscal year that will maintain current programs and address staffing needs at MUMS and elsewhere.

 

• The Facilities Committee has resumed its work on the Facilities Master Plan -- an update from the committee follows.

Be well,

Mary Cullinane

 

Update From the ACSD Board Facilities Committee:

Dear Community,

 

As you know, the ACSD Board paused its Facilities Master Planning (FMP) process in January 2021 in light of operational challenges caused by the pandemic and the strain it was placing on ACSD.  With significant student needs requiring all available resources, it made sense to focus our energies as a community on those needs.   

 

Much has happened during this calendar year. The COVID variant continues to impact our learning environment, the timeline for Ripton’s withdrawal from the District has been extended, and the State of Vermont has paused the spending threshold. The State has yet to finalize its pupil weighting study and proposed changes to its education funding system -- all of which underscore the uncertainty clouding the Board’s planning efforts. As the Facilities Committee resumes its work to identify the best long-term educational footprint for the District, we want to update the community on how these factors will influence the final plan.

 

Status of the FMP

The investigative work of the FMP has been exhaustive, and is summarized in “Our Facilities Master Plan Journey" on the ACSD website. The Facilities Committee has analyzed information on the District’s demographic and enrollment forecasts, the capacity and condition of facilities, community feedback, and a host of other variables. In addition to concerns about the long-term sustainability of our current educational footprint, the FMP process has identified a number of equity issues between some of our schools that require further investigation. 

 

The Board has examined potential options through the lenses of student success, equity, and financial responsibility. However, given current uncertainty around the State’s new education funding formula and how updated pupil weighting factors will impact the ACSD’s budget, we do not have enough clarity around the District’s financial forecast to support any specific recommendations regarding the exact configuration of elementary schools at this time. As a result, the final FMP will not be as prescriptive as some may have anticipated. But the equity concerns identified during the FMP process will be probed further in the upcoming Strategic Plan for Equity. Addressing those issues will be an integral part of designing the District’s instructional footprint. 

 

Moving Forward

The Facilities Committee is currently working to complete the FMP and examine the final elements in the process, including identification of facility investment priorities, solidifying a vision for sustainability, and outlining some guiding principles for bonding. The Committee anticipates completion of the plan by the end of 2021, and will issue a final FMP Report shortly thereafter. 

 

The final report will provide a summary of the Board’s findings from data compiled and analyzed during the FMP process. It will outline the Board’s values and priorities regarding student equity, guiding principles for a model school, sustainability and energy efficiency, and responsible investment in shared resources to provide the programming and services that all ACSD students deserve. The FMP will serve as a supporting document for implementing the District’s Strategic Plan for Equity, so that when circumstances clarify the ACSD’s financial forecast, the Board can use the plan to guide efficient decision making about its resources.

 

As always, the Board welcomes the community’s involvement in this important process, and invites both written feedback through email and public comments during our Board and Committee meetings. Dates and agendas for upcoming meetings can be found here.

 

Sincerely,

ACSD Facilities Committee 

 

Upcoming Meetings

Board and Committee meeting dates, materials, and virtual links can be found on the Board and Committee Meetings page on our website at www.acsdvt.org/schoolboard.

 

Dear Community,
 
Over the last few months, we have continued to work through our challenges and celebrate our successes as a community. We have done so by respecting different perspectives, empathizing with others whose burdens are different than our own, and believing in the good intentions of our neighbors.

As many of you know, the work of the Board has focused on supporting ACSD as we find our way through the pandemic and ensuring the necessary policies and practices are in place, enabling us to meet the needs of our students today and in the future. These past few months have continued to stress the overall underpinnings of our district. Our teachers, our families, and our students continue to deal with instructional environments impacted by Covid. Our middle school continues to work towards bringing our 6^th grade community to the MUMS campus. With changes in staff, our administration is working towards filling important positions in service of our community. The town of Ripton has voted to move forward with the seccession process. And as the state continues to evaluate our system of funding based on the weighting of student needs, we recognize the need for, and anticipate changes in, how funds are allocated.

This is a lot.

The entire community of ACSD is committed to this work. The leadership team, our educators, the staff, … everyone. As a board member, it has been an honor to support these efforts.

In light of where we find ourselves as a community, the uncertainty of how the pandemic will progress in the near future, and tremendous strain being placed on the district, we, as a board, have decided to suspend work on the Facilities Master Plan process. It is our intention to reinvigorate our effort once we have some of these challenges behind us and anticipate this timing to be around September of this year.  At that time, we hope to be able to once again, work with our community, in person, to finalize our plans for stabilizing our financial foundation so that we have the necessary resources to support students and families.

Our challenges are not going away, but right now, we must focus on the immediate needs of students and do so with full attention and purpose.

We will continue to maintain the FAQ on the Facilities Master Plan and if you want to learn more about where we are, and what has been accomplished to date, please visit, https://www.acsdvt.org/fmp.

As I have shared before, we will get through all of this, stronger together.

Thank you,
Mary Cullinane
Chairperson, ACSD Board

Dear Community,

The Facilities Committee met on Wednesday, September 23rd to hear from ACSD administrators Vicki Wells and Caitlin Steele about their long standing work on redesigning our system of delivering ACSD's academic program and special services to students. They gave us an overview of the IB experience, student supports and the educational vision for ACSD as it relates to the Facilities Master Plan (FMP).   We had asked them to present how their work would look in both the three and four school model.  It is a powerful presentation that I encourage anyone interested in understanding the educational impacts of consolidation to view the meeting recording posted on the Board and Committee Meetings page on the ACSD website at www.acsdvt.org/schoolboard.  It was encouraging to hear how promising they feel the three school model is and great to be able to begin to imagine the dynamic school communities that we aim to create.

The next big step in moving forward with the development of the FMP is to perform a transportation study to ensure that we will be able to provide transportation services with reasonable ride times while building the diverse communities we seek.  We will be focusing on this over the next few weeks.

The Porch Conversations have been well attended. It is inspiring to see people show up with thoughtful questions, listen and learn about the challenges facing ACSD. We are not alone in trying to figure out how to position ourselves for future success and stability in a time of rising cost and downward demographic trends.  

Thank you,
Victoria Jette

 

(This letter appeared in the School Board Newsletter on October 14, 2020. The full newsletter can be viewed by following this link)

Last week the Board had an in-person retreat to touch base, catch up and discuss how we are all feeling about Covid, reentry plans, consolidation, equity and our work around anti-racism.  It was long but truly engaging.

The members of the Board are concerned about the impact of Covid on all district families.  We worry about the students this district is charged with educating and caring for.  We worry about their teachers.  We worry about their parents and their parents' livelihoods.  We worry about surviving this storm as a whole community and we appreciate the strength we see in our leadership, our teachers, our parents and students.  As Bill McKibben so eloquently wrote in The New Yorker, we are lucky to live in VT.  We know our neighbors and the tradition of looking out for one another.  We want to thank everyone who is working hard to support this unprecedented start of school.
 

Many have shared concerns regarding timing of this work and the pandemic. We believe it is important to clarify the timeline we are currently working towards. We hope to have a comprehensive first draft by the end of the year.  We will be seeking feedback and redrafting through the winter, as we are aiming to have the final draft ready by town meeting day in March.  The implementation date will depend on the plan and future financial realities but our best guess is 2022/2023 school year or beyond. I believe that we would be shirking our responsibility as a Board if we allow the pandemic to paralyze us.  Is it going to be easy?  No.  But as we discussed at our retreat, the Board is unanimous in its desire to keep going.  We believe that the financial condition of the state is going to result in substantial cuts to school budgets.  For the ACSD board to ignore these signs and not prepare the district to mitigate some of the harm those cuts will cause would be irresponsible.
 

Knowing and understanding the communities that make up the ACSD is the never ending work of the Board and our administrators.  As a consolidated district this work started in earnest 5 years ago with the strategic plan when community members from across the district came together to create a vision.  This vision led us to the International Baccalaureate initiative.  As our school communities grappled with and embraced this transition we were delighted to see our teachers and school communities find strength in collaboration.  We heard from principals, teachers, students and parents about the highs and lows of charting this new path.  As we did then, we still attend gatherings, school events, student presentations and days of learning to understand what it’s like at the ground level where implementation happens.  We read comprehensive monthly updates from each principal about what is going on in each school, their victories, and challenges day to day.  We receive news, advice and input from community members all the time. We recognize we must continue to ensure there is constant flow of information between the Board and the community we represent. As part of our efforts to improve, below you will find additional ways the Board will be working to connect with the community as we move the Facilities Master Plan forward.

Thank you,
Victoria Jette

 

(This letter appeared in the School Board Newsletter on August 20, 2020.  The full newsletter can be viewed by following this link.)