District Communications
District communications including weekly updates, COVID-19 & more.
District Updates 12.9.21 – Winter bus, COVID and more
District Updates 11.18.2021 – SRO report, clinic updates and more
District Updates 12.2.21
Superintendent McMannon Statement on Discriminatory ELL Funding Proposal
December 1, 2021
Winooski School District Superintendent Sean McMannon issued the following statement in response to a legislative proposal that would remove English language learners (ELL) from the equity formula, funding their education with grants instead:
“By choosing to separate/segregate ELL funding from the rest of the formula, and intentionally setting the amount at substantially less than empirical analysis says it should be, I believe this proposal results in discrimination against ELL students on the basis of national origin and language. As the court in Brown vs Board of Education said: “To separate students from others of similar age and qualifications solely because of their race generates a feeling of inferiority as to their status in the community that may affect their hearts and minds in a way unlikely ever to be undone.” Brown, 347 U.S. at 494. This is as true for funding schemes as it is for where students are physically educated.
Thanks to the thorough research conducted by the University of Vermont and Rutgers University in the Pupil Weighting Factors Report of 2019, we now know that we have an inequitable school funding system that causes harm to students and families who reside in districts with high percentages of poverty and with multilingual or English language learning needs. As the Pupil Weighting Factors Report clearly indicates, the current funding weights are not keeping up with the needs of our students, and do not reflect the actual costs we incorporate into our school budget. As a result, Winooski and many other districts do not have the same opportunities as students in wealthier, more homogenous districts.
In 1997, in Brigham v. State, the Vermont Supreme Court concluded that the State constitution requires the provision of substantially equal educational opportunity to all students. The court declared the state’s education funding system unconstitutional because it resulted in wide disparities in per-pupil expenditures.
I am asking the legislative task force charged with addressing this issue to get back in the lane of which they were charged and to create a plan to implement the report’s recommendations to correct the pupil weights. Should you continue to favor your model of categorical aid and weights over the empirically-based recommendations of the report authors, I fear your current position is not in compliance with current law and could represent continued harm to our most vulnerable students and families.”
Weekly Updates 11.4.21
Surrealist Self-Portraits
Our Winooski Middle School art students have done beautiful work on their annual surrealist self-portraits, demonstrating fantastical qualities of Surrealism while representing their identities. Each student has embedded aspects of themself into their self-portrait...
Picking up medication from the pharmacy.
When your doctor tells you that you should take medication, the doctor will tell you to go to a pharmacy to pick it up. There are two ways that a pharmacy will know you have medication to pick up. Your doctor might have contacted the pharmacy and told them your...
Friday, October 14, 2022
Friday, October 7, 2022
Friday, September 30, 2022
Friday, September 23, 2022
Friday, September 9, 2022
Human Monkeypox, How is it spread? What are the symptoms?
Human monkeypox virus has recently been found in several countries that do not usually report the virus, including the United States and Canada. For most people in Vermont, the risk of getting infected with human monkeypox virus is very low. We continue to learn more...
Where to Get COVID Test Kits
All free Vermont testing sites for Covid-19 are now closed. However you can continue to pick up free tests in Vermont. You can continue to pick up free tests at the Refugee Program and the Association of Africans. If you have health insurance, you can pick up free...
Friday, June 17, 2022
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