Community | CSD Spotlight

Cooking Up Care and Compassion

17 May 2013 Comments Off

by CSD Spotlight in Colchester High School, Colchester Middle School, Community, General, Programs, Student Spotlight, Vision Summit/Vision and Strategic Plan

The Caring Cougars (formerly Advocates for All) at Colchester Middle School recently reached out to offer support to an important area organization.

CMS Caring Cougars at the Ronald McDonald House

The Caring Cougars, a group that aligns closely with CHS Cares at Colchester High School, are students who work hard to make a difference in our community. The group’s overall philosophy is akin to the concept of paying it forward, whereby good deeds are repaid by passing them along to others who need them.

Under CMS faculty advisor Patty Ward, the Caring Cougars do a considerable amount of community service and volunteerism, regularly meeting to brainstorm ideas for how to make a positive impact in our community—everything from raising funds to support the Toys for Kids initiative to coordinating food drives to support the Colchester Community Food Shelf.

Most recently, the group got together after school to make a meal for the Ronald McDonald House in Burlington. On the menu? Homemade lasagna using a tasty spaghetti sauce made from scratch, as well as freshly baked cookies and cupcakes for dessert.

Parent, Community, and School Partnerships Among Lifelong Learners is one of the pathways in the Colchester School District Vision and Strategic Plan 2012–2017, and the school community works hard to that end. If you would like to learn about just some of the many other examples of our students serving our community, please click here (spoiler alert: our students step up and make a positive impact again and again!).

There is a lot of good that goes on in our community. This is a great place to be!

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CSD Elementary Principals Make a Splash!

16 May 2013 Comments Off

by CSD Spotlight in Community, Employee Spotlight, General, Malletts Bay School, Personnel, Porters Point School, Union Memorial School, Vision Summit/Vision and Strategic Plan, Wellness

UMS Principal Chris Antonicci with students at the hit-a-thon event at Airport Park on May 11

UMS Principal Chris Antonicci with students at the Little League hit-a-thon event at Airport Park on May 11

On May 11, Porters Point School’s Principal Jim Marshall, Union Memorial School’s Principal Chris Antonicci, and Malletts Bay School’s Julie Benay suited up and dutifully took their turns in the dunk tank at a little league hit-a-thon event at Airport Park on Colchester Point Road.

PPS Principal Jim Marshall plunges into the water

Asked why he was willing to offer himself up for possible dunking, UMS Principal Antonicci good-naturedly replied, “I love baseball, and I know the kids will have a lot of fun with it. There’s no way I could say no!”

UMS Principal Antonicci gets dunked by a student

“I’ve seen my kids throw a ball, and I’m pretty confident they’ll be able to sink me!” MBS Principal Benay said before the event. “I know Colchester’s many volunteers work hard to provide kids with plenty of healthy options for recreation, sports, and exercise. At the high school level, parent ‘boosters’ raise tens of thousands of dollars to support athletics; research tells us that students who are involved in extracurricular activities tend to stay in school, learn to manage their time, and succeed in school. I’m happy to do my small part to help out!”

MBS Principal Julie Benay perches above the dunk tank while a student takes aim

Our students are heavily involved in community outreach and volunteerism, as well; click here to learn more about just a few examples of our student community activists.

Way to go, principals! Excellent show of community spirit and good sportsmanship. Well done!

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PLEASE READ: ATTORNEY GENERAL’S OFFICE WARNS ABOUT FRAUDULENT ADVERTISING SCAM

15 May 2013 Comments Off

by CSD Spotlight in Community, District Office, General, Other Important Information

Per the below press release, the Vermont Attorney General’s Office is warning the public about a scam targeting area businesses; the scammers are selling advertisements and claiming that the advertising costs will support the local school’s drug prevention program or other support program. This is not supported by schools!

Already, businesses in the Morrisville area, Middlebury, and Montpelier have recently been targeted. Please be aware of this advertising scam.

Please click here to read the Vermont Attorney General’s Office’s press release about this matter.

The Vermont Attorney General’s Office asks that anyone targeted by this scam please file a complaint with the Consumer Assistance Program; a written complaint can be sent to the following address:

Consumer Assistance Program
146 University Place
103 Morrill Hall
University of Vermont
Burlington, VT 05405

(There is also an online complaint form that is currently disabled; the Vermont Attorney General’s Office has been notified about it and is working to correct it. The form, when corrected, will be found here.)

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Welcoming the Coming of Summer with Music

13 May 2013 Comments Off

by CSD Spotlight in Colchester High School, Colchester Middle School, Community, General, Malletts Bay School, Programs

It’s hard to believe that we’re already starting to approach the point at which we wind down the school year and gear up for summer. And what better way to do that than with music?

There are a number of upcoming musical events to which you are cordially invited. More than 450 Colchester School District students district-wide include band and choral curriculum in their studies, providing them with a well-rounded educational experience and offering them a host of benefits associated with music education.

Colchester Middle School’s band and chorus ensembles will present their final musical performances for the school year on the following dates:

Wednesday, May 15 at 7:00 p.m.—the CMS sixth-grade chorus, seventh- and eighth-grade chorus, and select choir will perform a TV/pop/movie-theme concert (think “Count on Me,” “Scarborough Fair,” “Stayin’ Alive,” “Celebration,” “Maybe I’m Amazed,” “Hawaii Five-O,” “Rhythm of Love,” and “The Muppets”) in the community theater at Colchester High School.
Thursday, May 16 at 7:00 p.m.—the CMS sixth-grade band, seventh- and eighth-grade band, and the jazz band will perform in the CMS gymnasium. In addition to many other pieces, this spring concert features the seventh- and eighth-grade clarinet section with a beautiful arrangement of the Irish folk song, “Loch Lomond,” and a brand-new Hunger Games piece will be played by the seventh- and eighth-grade band. The sixth-grade band will perform a band favorite, “Bryce Canyon Overture,” and the jazz band will play a steady and driving arrangement of “Seven Nation Army” and the ever-so-sneaky “Pink Panther.”
And on Thursday, May 23 at 6:30 p.m., all chorus and band members and their families are invited to attend the second-annual CMS Solo Night in the CMS cafeteria. Twenty-five acts will perform for three judges, and prizes will be awarded for the best acts in three categories. Join us for light refreshments and to enjoy the performances by various solo singers, instrumentalists, and group performances from the middle school level. CMS has talent!

Malletts Bay School’s upcoming musical performances are as follows:

On Tuesday, May 21 at 6:00 p.m., the third-grade spring concert will take place in the MBS gymnasium, followed immediately by the fourth-grade recorder concert beginning at 7:00 p.m.
On Wednesday, May 22 at 6:30 p.m., the fifth-grade spring band and chorus concert will take place in the community theater at Colchester High School.

And at Colchester High School …

On Tuesday, May 28 beginning at 7:00 p.m., Colchester High School will hold its pops concert at CHS. This is the event during which CHS recognizes seniors and exceptional students, complimented by fun music that many people recognize. This year’s pops concert will include a Star Wars medley, classic jazz funk/pop from the 1970s, and more.
On Friday, May 31 beginning at 7:30 p.m., the Performing Arts concert will be held at Colchester High School as part of Colchester’s 250th celebration. The event will feature a historical skit performed by the Colchester Theatre Company, a performance by the Colchester Community Chorus, a performance by the CHS band and Colchester Community Band, and a performance by the CHS chorus. (The choruses and bands will also perform combined music pieces featuring a musical composition by Jacob Morton-Black, written specifically for this occasion entitled “Toward Familiar Shores.”)

The concerts are free and open to the community! For more information, please visit the Friends of Colchester Music’s website, or contact your schools.

Remember that Colchester School District posts a district-wide calendar of events, as well!

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A Better Way to Get to School

10 May 2013 Comments Off

by CSD Spotlight in Colchester Middle School, Community, General, Malletts Bay School, Wellness

I have the European urge to use my feet when a drive can be dispensed with.
—Vladimir Nabokov

As it did in October, the Malletts Bay School community enjoyed Walk, Ride, and Roll + Walk at Lunch Day on May 1.

MBS has been a partner with Vermont Safe Routes to School—a program aimed at increasing such activities—since 2009. The event—held on a beautiful, picture-perfect morning—was part of Colchester School District’s ongoing effort to support wellness in our community, as is noted in the Colchester School District Vision and Strategic Plan 2012–2017. There were a total of fifty-six students walking, twenty-five bikers, and seven rollers, along with many engaged adults getting kids to school.

And they’re off!

And nearly 80 percent of the students—and twenty-six adults—walked during their May 1 lunch break as part of the effort!

Both Oscar the Osprey and Champ made an appearance, and the MBS band welcomed the participants arriving at MBS with a song.

Porters Point School also recently partnered with Vermont Safe Routes to School, and on May 3, 188 PPS students (approximately 75 percent of the student population) and 60 staff members and parents participated in a walk-to-school event.

Colchester Police Department’s Corporal Fontaine assisted staff and students with the 0.6 mile walk beginning at the end of Greenwood Drive, where school buses dropped the students off.

CPD’s Corporal Fontaine assists in the event

PPS Principal Marshall with a group of students at the May 3 walk-to-school event

PPS kindergarten teacher Diane Trombley leads a group of students

To see more photographs from the PPS event, please visit the PPS’s PBIS blog here.

And finally, Colchester Middle School also got in on the walk-to-school action. On May 9, each house participated in its own individually determined walk route and time, and virtually every student in the school participated!

The Partnership for a Walkable America created Walk to School Day in 1997 in order to build awareness about the need for walkable communities, and it has since grown to involve participants all over the world. MBS, PPS, and CMS were enthusiastic to take part.

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The Science of Soil

09 May 2013 Comments Off

by CSD Spotlight in Colchester High School, Community, General, Programs, Vision Summit/Vision and Strategic Plan, Wellness

Colchester High School students in Melanie Laquerre’s health class recently visited Shelburne Farms to engage in hands-on exploration and study of soil.

Students collected, analyzed, and compared soil samples from various locations around the farm, searched for earthworms, and visited with the animals among various other related activities.

Designed for students interested in exploring the various aspects of food, the health course covers an eclectic assortment of subject matters like nutrition and obesity, conventional versus organic agriculture, food miles, sustainability, the treatment of animals in food production, and the global implications of the production and transportation of our food supply. Real-world connections to abstract classroom learning are important because they pique student engagement and attention—thus encouraging out-of-the-box thinking. Field trips often serve to strengthen students’ observational skills and allow them to become more actively engaged in their learning, providing additional sensory activities and expanding their curiosity.

This exploration and discovery speaks directly to some of the Colchester School District Vision and Strategic Plan 2012–2017′s pathways, including Pathway A: High Standards, Expectations, and Individual Engagement for All Learners; Pathway C: Learning Outside Our Four Walls; Pathway E: Parent, Community, and School Partnerships Among Lifelong Learners; and Pathway F: Wellness-Oriented, Balanced, and Healthy Learners.

Please take a moment to check out the classroom blog here for more pictures and information!

For more information, please contact CHS at 264-5700 or e-mail Melanie Laquerre (laquerrem@csdvt.org).

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Today is the School Budget Vote! Please Join Us at the Polls!

07 May 2013 Comments Off

by CSD Spotlight in Budgets, Community, General

Today is the budget vote; the polls will be open from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. Come on out and cast your ballot!

As a reminder …

A quick fact sheet about your schools and about the proposed budget can be found here.

Information about expenditures can be found here.

Information about revenues can be found here.

Information about the tax impact can be found here.

If you have questions about the budget, please call our administrative offices at (802) 264-5999.

Keep current with CSD’s news and other education-related information by subscribing to CSD Spotlight. Enter an e-mail address into the field under E-mail Subscriptions in the upper right-hand side of this screen and click “Sign me up!”

Please View This Important Information—NECAP Performance, Spending, and More

01 May 2013 Comments Off

by CSD Spotlight in Accountability, Budgets, Community, District Office, General, Other Important Information

Please take a moment to review this important data providing a comparison of NECAP performance across high schools in our region.

This data also compares salaries and equalized per-pupil spending for 2012–2013 for schools in our area. Readers will see how favorably Colchester High School students performed on the NECAP assessments as well as how Colchester schools rank in terms of spending compared to others across the region. This information is also available through the Vermont Agency of Education.

And in our ongoing efforts to more effectively communicate with our community members, we will be asking those who are interested to complete a very short survey as they exit the polls on May 7. We offer you an opportunity to review the survey in advance so that you may have more time to contemplate your responses so that we can better serve you; you may view the survey by clicking here.

As a friendly reminder:

A quick fact sheet about your schools and about the proposed budget can be found here.
Information about expenditures can be found here.
Information about revenues can be found here.
Information about the tax impact can be found here.

All of this information can also be found on Colchester School District’s website. You may also call our administrative offices at (802) 264-5959 or stop in at 125 Laker Lane to request copies of the materials and ask questions.

We are working to continue the critically important work of strengthening your schools and our community. Please vote on Tuesday, May 7.

Do you like CSD Spotlight? If so, please encourage your family and friends to subscribe! We are working hard to engage our community and keep everyone informed. Please help us spread the word!

Add Some Color to Spring—Art Shows and Contest Abound!

01 May 2013 Comments Off

by CSD Spotlight in Colchester High School, Community, General, Programs

I found I could say things with color and shapes that I couldn’t say any other way—things I had no words for.
—Georgia O’Keeffe

Please join us for the 2013 Colchester School District Art Show Tuesday, May 7 through Friday, May 10 in the Colchester High School gymnasium from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. each day. There will also be a reception—with refreshments served—for students, family members, and the community on Thursday, May 9 from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. The reception will provide an opportunity for the artists to discuss their work.

The CSD Art Show features works of art from every grade level in the district. Throughout the show, attendants may vote for their favorite piece of artwork from each school; winners of the People’s Choice awards receive art supplies and may showcase their work in the main display case in the CHS lobby. More than 500 works of art are expected to be showcased by Colchester High School students alone, covering Art 1 and 2-D Art, Photography (film and digital), Pottery 1 and 2, and 3-D Art. In addition, all CHS art students will write an artist statement reflecting upon their work and the creative process, which not only hones their writing skills but also helps the viewers to understand the specialized artistic techniques the students learned through the art program.

In related news, the Thirty-Second-Annual Congressional Art Competition, championed by Congressman Peter Welch and originally initiated by former US Senator Jim Jeffords, will feature the work of five Colchester High School students—Marie Bouffard, Nick Bezio, Lucie Stein, Sarah St. Amour, and Carina Sobel. All five students are currently completing Advanced Placement Studio Art portfolios. Student work from high schools across the state will be on exhibit May 1-13, 2013, at the Vermont College of Fine Arts in Montpelier, concluding with an awards ceremony at 10:00 a.m. on May 13.

Marie Bouffard’s “Aztec Fox”

Carina Sobel’s “Clouds”

Lucie Stein’s “Clelia of the Digital Age”

Sarah St. Amour’s “Leap of Faith”

Nicholas Bezio’s “Let the Games Begin”

The Congressional Art Competition celebrates artistic talent in every congressional district in the nation. Winning entries selected at the district level are displayed at the US Capitol Building for one year.

For more information about any of these events, please e-mail CHS art teacher Anne Cummmings (cummingsacsdvt.org).

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A Place Where Academics, Collaboration, and Interests Meet

29 Apr 2013 Comments Off

by CSD Spotlight in Colchester Middle School, Community, General, Programs

Counting change for the Big Change Roundup to support the Vermont Children's Hospital

CMS’s Community Service club counts change for the Big Change Roundup to support the Vermont Children’s Hospital

What happens to the level of positive energy and active participation in engaging activities when students are encouraged to interact much more readily and work with others who share similar interests?

Colchester Middle School’s schedule includes a weekly opportunity for students to participate in a wide variety of teacher-directed clubs in an academically oriented effort to further promote a positive climate and a comfortable learning environment. The clubs also provide additional opportunities for students to work collaboratively with others to learn a new skill and make a positive contribution. In this way, students from across houses and grade levels can work with one another toward common goals.

CMS’s Caring Cougars making bracelets to support their fundraising goal of $1,500 for Relay for Life

Students can select from an array of clubs ranging from those designed to hone a particular skill to others focusing upon giving back to the community through various outreach projects, including:

Art;
Art 2/Farm to School;
Basketball;
Caring Cougars;
Community Service;
the student journalism group Cougar Chronicle;
Football;
French;
Knitting;
Naturalists;
Peer Mentors;
Science and Engineering;
Student Council;
Study Hall;
Technology; and
Yoga.

CMS’s Science club

For more information about this initiative or about any of these programs, please call CMS at (802) 264-5800, or e-mail Assistant Principal Peg Gillard (gillardp@csdvt.org).

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CSD Spotlight

Cooking Up Care and Compassion

CSD Elementary Principals Make a Splash!

PLEASE READ: ATTORNEY GENERAL’S OFFICE WARNS ABOUT FRAUDULENT ADVERTISING SCAM

Welcoming the Coming of Summer with Music

A Better Way to Get to School

The Science of Soil

Today is the School Budget Vote! Please Join Us at the Polls!

Please View This Important Information—NECAP Performance, Spending, and More

Add Some Color to Spring—Art Shows and Contest Abound!

A Place Where Academics, Collaboration, and Interests Meet

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