Important Upcoming Dates:
- November 16 – No School
- November 17 – 5th grade returns to increased in-person learning
- 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,
We are glad to inform you that 5th grade will be returning to increased in-person instruction next week, starting 11/17 (there is no school on 11/16). All JFK students will be attending school in-person on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. We are monitoring our staffing levels weekly, and the decision to maintain four days per week of in-person learning for elementary students will depend on whether we have enough staff. If you would like to help, please consider applying.
New COVID-19 Testing Initiative in Vermont
Next week, the Vermont Department of Health will be launching a new initiative to provide COVID-19 testing for all school staff across Vermont. It is important to note that school staff has not been selected for this surveillance testing because they are at a higher risk of contracting COVID-19 than other people. Teachers and school staff represent a large group of individuals in an organized setting, evenly distributed throughout the state, and are the ideal population to provide a statewide picture of the virus’ spread in Vermont. This testing is optional and will be repeated across the state throughout the month of December. Read more here.
Help Us Keep Vermont Open
Due to rising COVID-19 cases across the Northeast, the state of Vermont has suspended its leisure travel map and implemented a mandatory quarantine for anyone returning or traveling to Vermont.
As Governor Scott said in a press conference this week, controlling the virus is literally in our hands. “We need to evaluate our wants and needs – if it’s a want, let’s hold off on that for a while. Because we need to keep our kids in school and we need to keep our businesses open.”
Thank you for doing your part to keep our learning community safe and healthy.
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. WSD contacted Student Transportation of America (STA)/Mountain Transit who provides our other transportation and requested we work together to recruit drivers. 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. 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.
Student Absences
If your child will be absent from school, remember to email or call the school to provide information about the nature of the absence. Our COVID-19 Co-Coordinators will follow up if it is a health-related issue.
- For JFK students please call or email Linda Casier at [email protected] or 802-655-0411.
- For WMHS students please call or email Angie Small [email protected] 802-383-6106.
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