Important Upcoming Dates:
- Monday, November 23 – early dismissal at 11am (JFK parent-teacher conferences)
- Tuesday, November 24 – early dismissal at 11am (JFK parent-teacher conferences)
- November 25-27 – No School
- Find the WSD’s updated school calendar here.
- Flu Shot Clinic – Tuesdays and Thursdays in December
Dear WSD Families,
Last week, Governor Scott implemented temporary restrictions on social gatherings, including banning private multi-household social gatherings.
I know we are all experiencing pandemic fatigue. This feeling is heightened at this time of year when many of us long to participate in family traditions and social gatherings. We rely on our connections with extended family and friends to boost our morale and keep our spirits high during the long winter and to ease the social isolation the pandemic has brought.
However, in order to keep everyone healthy and our schools open, it is very important we all follow the governor’s orders. To date, there have been no known positive cases of COVID-19 in the WSD. That shows that our staff, students, and their families are all doing an excellent job following virus mitigation strategies and safety protocols. Please read the attached letter from Vermont physicians that calls on all of us to prioritize our communities and protect schools for our children.
Looking for other ways to connect over the holidays? The Center for Disease Control shared these tips for safely celebrating Thanksgiving.
Considerations for Maintaining In-Person Learning
We know that extended school closure is detrimental to our students’ academic progress, social-emotional development, and overall wellbeing. With our #1 guiding principle of “Student and Staff Health, Safety and Wellbeing for ALL”, our priority is keeping our students learning together in-person as much as possible. We plan to maintain in-person learning, both hybrid for our middle-high school students and four-days per week of in-person instruction for our elementary students, as long as we meet the following criteria:
- Low COVID-19 Positivity Rates within the Community and School
- Sufficient staffing levels to safely maintain in-person hybrid instruction
- Ability to adhere to the DOH/AOE Safety and Health Guidance
WSD School Board updates
The FY22 Budget Cycle will start on December 2. We will set up virtual meetings December 2, 9,16, 30 (if needed) & January 6, 2021, all at 6:30pm. More information and invitations to those meetings to follow.
Meet our new board members
At the November 18 Special Board Meeting, two candidates were appointed to fill seats left vacant by Margaret Bass’s resignation last month, and the future vacancy of Matthew MacNeil, who will be moving out of Winooski next month.
After meeting with six highly-qualified candidates, the board selected Tula Kadariya and Liz Edsell.
Tula is originally from Nepal and has been living in the United States since 2016. He shared that he is “an active community member with a background in human services, advocacy, organizing, education equity.”
Liz, a relatively recent arrival to Winooski, says her family was “inspired by the schools and wanted our kids to be Spartans.” Liz is Chair of the Winooski’s Charter Commission.
Both new members will hold their seats until March, when they may run for their positions on the ballot during Town Meeting Day.
Successful Implementation of COVID-19 Testing at WSD
On Wednesday, 78 WSD staff members took a self-administered COIVD-19 test as part of the new State of Vermont surveillance testing initiative. Many thanks to our COVID-19 Co-Coordinators and other staff members for bearing the freezing temps to make sure the whole process ran smoothly. All WSD employees will have a chance to take another COVID-19 test in December.
Antiracism Updates
The WSD School Board has committed to holding an hour of time during each of its meetings dedicated to Winooski’s antiracist work. At the November 11 WSD Board meeting, the Winooski Students for Antiracism (WSA) and their faculty supporters held the first People’s Hour. During over 80 minutes, the entire board, plus around 25 virtual attendees, participated in a restorative circle with talking prompts such as, “Why is anti-racism in our school important to you? Where are you in your anti-racist journey?” Read more about the structure and goals of the restorative circle here.
The December regular board meeting will focus on building the WSA’s demand-based teams.
Winooski Clothing Giveaway
The Winooski Mutual Aid is organizing a clothing drive and giveaway.
The giveaway event is happening during the Everyone Eats meals distribution at the O’Brien Center on Tuesday, November 24 from 3pm-6pm.
If you have clothing you would like to donate, please make sure it is clean and in bags generally labeled by gender/size. This will help the organizers sort. Bring your donations by Monday, 11/23, to either of these homes in Winooski*: 27 Hickok Street or 307 Lafountain Street. Both have a bin outside their door to put the donations in.
Working Communities Grant
Winooski was awarded a $300,000 Working Communities Challenge grant to establish systems to lift underrepresented voices and involve the area’s diverse population in decision-making and community dialogue.
Winter Sports
WMHS is planning for a limited basketball season, per Vermont Agency of Education guidelines. Practices will not start until Monday, December 14th. Games will begin after January 11, 2021. Due to health and safety restrictions, there will not be any spectators allowed but we are exploring options to live stream games.
Winter Transportation
There is a statewide shortage of bus drivers and WSD’s Request for Proposals (RFP) resulted in no bids from transportation companies to provide our winter transportation for students. If you either have a CDL license or are interested in being trained to drive a bus please contact Chris Ives at (802) 893-1334. The required six-week training is paid at the minimum wage and then the rate of pay starts at $18.50/hour. Most other associated training and licensing costs are reimbursed by Mountain Transit.
Winter transportation was slated to begin Monday, November 30th and run through March 26th, and transport students to school in the morning and back home after school. We will not be able to provide this service until STA/Mountain Transit can employ drivers and will update you each week.
Stay Connected
For more school-specific highlights, remember to read our Middle High School news and JFK weekly Elementary newsletters.
Thank you,
Sean McMannon, Superintendent