My process for writing this blog involves re-watching our meetings, often multiple
times (really!). I do that so that I:
times (really!). I do that so that I:
1) remember exactly what happened
2) find people’s names and interesting quotes
3) get the facts straight.
Northwest Access TV does a great job filming our meetings, no matter how long they are, and we appreciate it very much. Unfortunately, something went wrong with the film for the May 1 meeting, so I was unable to watch it. It took a while before I realized that it wasn't going to magically appear like it always does!
Given that, I can recall two things that happened at the May 1 meeting that I would like to share.
1) St. Albans Town is building a new Public Works garage on Brigham Road and needed an easement to place a sewer line across St. Albans City School property and tie into the City municipal sewer. That was a no brainer on our part, and we agreed immediately. We appreciate all of the support we get from the member towns of our district and give back whatever support we can. It was nice to see Town Selectboard Chair Brendan Deso and Public Works Director Alan Mashtare at our meeting.
2) We also continued to fill out our new Administrative team in the Central Office. I mentioned last time that we had hired Asst. Superintendent Bill Kimball, and this time we hired Alexis Hoyt as our new Director of Behavior Support and Student Engagement. Alexis lives in St. Albans and brings a unique set of needed skills to our District. We are very excited to add Alexis to the team!
Common Arts Curriculum
Our second May meeting was held at SATEC, and we got a presentation of student art from their two Art teachers (Katarina Mernicky and Amanda Bates). They showed us a lot of great art work, and were also very excited about their new district wide art curriculum, created in coordination with the art teachers from our other district schools and the art curriculum director for the state of Vermont. As they said, now you will know what skills a student should have at a specific grade level, regardless of the school they attend. Another great example of Maple Run teachers working together.
We also heard from three of their students, all of whom were very thankful for having art classes available to them. One said, “School can be really overwhelming, and art enrichment, for me, is an outlet where I can express my feelings.” All three students used art as a way to deal with stress and get themselves into a “good” place.
Freedom of Expression policy
Earlier in the year, we had the two editors of the BFA Mercury (Haley Seymour and Julia Scott) come to a meeting and express their dissatisfaction with our Freedom of Expression policy, which had recently been adopted by the Board. This is a policy that every School Board is required by the state to have.
We listened and setup a meeting with them, their advisor Peter Riegelman, Superintendent Dirth, Board member Alisha Sawyer, and myself, to talk about their concerns. The meeting went very well. The students made their points clearly and were very well organized. We had a good back and forth discussion and settled on three changes to make to the policy.
The Board reviewed the new language, and voted unanimously to move it along for public comment and adoption at the first June meeting. The BFA Mercury advisor said, “I would like to thank the Board … for giving these young women a change to come speak. They did a great job... everybody would be proud.”
Truly, I am proud. It’s always good to see students who both care strongly about a subject and then have the skills and fortitude to fix something that is a problem to them. Good luck at college next year Haley and Julia!
Administrator contracts
A school board doesn’t have a lot of official duties. We write policies, which guide administrators in running our schools. We provide oversight, ensuring that the District follows laws, makes prudent use of its assets, and is providing a good education to the students of the district. And we set a budget that we believe is in the best interest of students and taxpayers.
As the group who is responsible for overseeing the fiduciary aspects of the district, we also need to approve contracts for all of our staff. We have already approved contracts for Professional, Support, and non-union staff for this coming year (signing all those contracts is work!), leaving just Administrator contracts to approve. Mostly, that is building Principals and Assistant Principals, but it is also people in the Central Office, like the Business Manager, Curriculum Director, and Special Education Director. Back in April, the Board gave the Superintendent guidance as to what District administrators should be paid. The Superintendent then negotiated contracts with each administrator, with final approval belonging to the Board.
This process was completed at our last Board meeting, when the Board approved the Administrator contracts as presented by the Superintendent. It should be noted that, unlike with a union employee contract, not every administrator get’s the same increase - it is up to the Superintendent to determine what is appropriate based on the employee and the Board’s guidance.
Final Word
For the 3rd year in a row, a student from Fairfield Center School is the Vermont state ambassador for Fuel Up to Play 60, an in-school nutrition and physical activity program. Alyssa Boudreau will represent Vermont at the national meeting this summer in Cleveland.
I asked Sean O’Dell, principal at FFCS, what their secret was. He said, “We do farm to school and agriculture well. Dairy is a part of our life.” According to Sean, our kids do a great job of encouraging everyone to get regular physical activity. “Our kids rise to the top of the state every year, and that’s a real source of pride for us,” he said. It’s a source of pride for all of us, Sean. Thanks for your work Alyssa, and enjoy your visit to Cleveland!
What do you think? Can we make it 4 years in a row?
Did you know?
Most of our meetings are videotaped and available on YouTube at:
Maple Run Meeting Videos
Given that, I can recall two things that happened at the May 1 meeting that I would like to share.
1) St. Albans Town is building a new Public Works garage on Brigham Road and needed an easement to place a sewer line across St. Albans City School property and tie into the City municipal sewer. That was a no brainer on our part, and we agreed immediately. We appreciate all of the support we get from the member towns of our district and give back whatever support we can. It was nice to see Town Selectboard Chair Brendan Deso and Public Works Director Alan Mashtare at our meeting.
2) We also continued to fill out our new Administrative team in the Central Office. I mentioned last time that we had hired Asst. Superintendent Bill Kimball, and this time we hired Alexis Hoyt as our new Director of Behavior Support and Student Engagement. Alexis lives in St. Albans and brings a unique set of needed skills to our District. We are very excited to add Alexis to the team!
Common Arts Curriculum
Our second May meeting was held at SATEC, and we got a presentation of student art from their two Art teachers (Katarina Mernicky and Amanda Bates). They showed us a lot of great art work, and were also very excited about their new district wide art curriculum, created in coordination with the art teachers from our other district schools and the art curriculum director for the state of Vermont. As they said, now you will know what skills a student should have at a specific grade level, regardless of the school they attend. Another great example of Maple Run teachers working together.
We also heard from three of their students, all of whom were very thankful for having art classes available to them. One said, “School can be really overwhelming, and art enrichment, for me, is an outlet where I can express my feelings.” All three students used art as a way to deal with stress and get themselves into a “good” place.
Freedom of Expression policy
Earlier in the year, we had the two editors of the BFA Mercury (Haley Seymour and Julia Scott) come to a meeting and express their dissatisfaction with our Freedom of Expression policy, which had recently been adopted by the Board. This is a policy that every School Board is required by the state to have.
We listened and setup a meeting with them, their advisor Peter Riegelman, Superintendent Dirth, Board member Alisha Sawyer, and myself, to talk about their concerns. The meeting went very well. The students made their points clearly and were very well organized. We had a good back and forth discussion and settled on three changes to make to the policy.
The Board reviewed the new language, and voted unanimously to move it along for public comment and adoption at the first June meeting. The BFA Mercury advisor said, “I would like to thank the Board … for giving these young women a change to come speak. They did a great job... everybody would be proud.”
Truly, I am proud. It’s always good to see students who both care strongly about a subject and then have the skills and fortitude to fix something that is a problem to them. Good luck at college next year Haley and Julia!
Administrator contracts
A school board doesn’t have a lot of official duties. We write policies, which guide administrators in running our schools. We provide oversight, ensuring that the District follows laws, makes prudent use of its assets, and is providing a good education to the students of the district. And we set a budget that we believe is in the best interest of students and taxpayers.
As the group who is responsible for overseeing the fiduciary aspects of the district, we also need to approve contracts for all of our staff. We have already approved contracts for Professional, Support, and non-union staff for this coming year (signing all those contracts is work!), leaving just Administrator contracts to approve. Mostly, that is building Principals and Assistant Principals, but it is also people in the Central Office, like the Business Manager, Curriculum Director, and Special Education Director. Back in April, the Board gave the Superintendent guidance as to what District administrators should be paid. The Superintendent then negotiated contracts with each administrator, with final approval belonging to the Board.
This process was completed at our last Board meeting, when the Board approved the Administrator contracts as presented by the Superintendent. It should be noted that, unlike with a union employee contract, not every administrator get’s the same increase - it is up to the Superintendent to determine what is appropriate based on the employee and the Board’s guidance.
Final Word
For the 3rd year in a row, a student from Fairfield Center School is the Vermont state ambassador for Fuel Up to Play 60, an in-school nutrition and physical activity program. Alyssa Boudreau will represent Vermont at the national meeting this summer in Cleveland.
I asked Sean O’Dell, principal at FFCS, what their secret was. He said, “We do farm to school and agriculture well. Dairy is a part of our life.” According to Sean, our kids do a great job of encouraging everyone to get regular physical activity. “Our kids rise to the top of the state every year, and that’s a real source of pride for us,” he said. It’s a source of pride for all of us, Sean. Thanks for your work Alyssa, and enjoy your visit to Cleveland!
What do you think? Can we make it 4 years in a row?
Did you know?
Most of our meetings are videotaped and available on YouTube at:
Maple Run Meeting Videos
