Education

The Windham Regional Career Center at Brattleboro Union High School is pleased to announce their Community Education and Training Programs for this spring. Betsy Gentile, Workforce Development Manager and Adult Education Coordinator has developed 18 community education and training programs to meet the needs of area employers and their employees as well as providing personal and professional enrichment opportunities for all community members.

BRATTLEBORO UNION HIGH SCHOOL BOARD
53 Green Street
Brattleboro, VT 05301
www.wssu.k12.vt.us

NOTICE OF COMMITTEE MEETING

The 2013-2014 BUHS District #6 Finance Committee will meet at 7:30 a.m. on Wednesday, March 5 in the WSESU Central Office Conference Room, 53 Green Street.

NOTICE OF MEETING

The BUHS #6 Board of Directors will meet at 7:00 p.m. on Monday, March 3 in the WRCC Cusick Conference Room.

Notice is hereby given that the Brattleboro Town School District Auditors’ Report for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2013, is available upon request and may be picked up at the Brattleboro Town Clerk’s office, 230 Main Street, Brattleboro, Vermont, or the Windham Southeast Supervisory Union (WSESU) Central Office, 53 Green Street, Brattleboro, Vermont.

Persons interested in obtaining a copy of said Auditors’ Report should contact the Brattleboro Town Clerk (251-8157) or the WSESU Central Office (254-3730). Copies are available on the WSESU website: www.wssu.k12.vt.us or for pick up, and may be transmitted electronically or sent via first class mail.

MONTPELIER, Vt., Feb. 19 – U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) provided an overview on federal education policy in testimony today at the Statehouse before the Vermont House and Senate education committees.

Sanders, a member of the Senate education committee, focused on ways to expand pre-kindergarten and make college more affordable.

“There is perhaps no issue more important than how we educate our youth,” Sanders said. “I am very concerned that, on many levels, we are failing our youth. We must do away with the archaic notion that education begins at 4 or 5 years old. For far too long, our society has undervalued the need for high-quality and widely accessible early childhood education.”

The Brattleboro Town School Board rescheduled last week’s cancelled board meeting for today, February 10, 2014 at 5:00 pm at Academy School.  It is expected that the Board will discuss the first public forum which was held in January, among other topics.

Interested members of the public are welcome to attend.  If you do, please post comments here for the benefit of those of us who are unable to be there.

Neighborhood Schoolhouse revives “kinder” program for ages 4-1/2 to 6

Brattleboro, Vt.—When education pioneer Friedrich Fröbel invented the nurturing “garden of children” we now call kindergarten, he never dreamed that rigid literacy training, minimal recess, and a controversial “Common Core” curriculum would one day bear its name.

Kindergarten just isn’t what it used to be—many educators recommend starting at age six because the school day is so demanding—and some parents are seeking alternatives.

In anticipation of the BUHS District #6 Annual Meeting at 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday, February 11 in the high school gymnasium, the BUHS District #6 Annual Reports are available at all WSESU schools, Superintendent’s Office, Brooks Memorial Library, District Town Offices (Brattleboro, Dummerston, Guilford, Putney, Vernon), and .

A Public Forum to discuss the proposed FY ’15 budget will be held at 6:30 p.m. on Monday, 2/3/14 in the WRCC Cusick Conference Room.

BRATTLEBORO UNION HIGH SCHOOL BOARD
53 Green Street
Brattleboro, VT 05301
www.wssu.k12.vt.us

NOTICE OF COMMITTEE MEETING

The BUHS District #6 Finance Committee will meet at 7:30 a.m. on Wednesday, February 5 in the WSESU Central Office Conference Room, 53 Green Street.

NOTICE OF MEETING

The BUHS #6 Board of Directors will hold a Public Information Meeting about the FY 2015 Proposed Budget at 6:30 p.m. on Monday, February 3 in the WRCC Cusick Conference Room. The regular meeting will immediately follow.

Express Fluency language school launches this week with a free intro class in Brattleboro.

Express Fluency (formerly Escuelita Spanish School) teaches Spanish (other languages coming soon) in the way our brains are designed to acquire language. Their classes are lively and engaging, and 100% comprehensible– allowing students to acquire Spanish naturally and effortlessly. Their methods resemble the way in which we call learned our first language. There will be a free intro class in Brattleboro this Thursday, January 30th at 5:30 pm at the Neighborhood Schoolhouse. A new beginner session begins the following Thursday, Feb 6th and runs for 7 weeks from 5:30-7:30.

Over 40 people showed up for the Town School Board Public Forum ‘Learning in the 21st Century’ to participate in discussion and contribute ideas.  When all was said and done, the list of improvements alone, if enacted, would make the Brattleboro Public Schools cooler than most, and probably more effective, which says something about the ideals of those involved.  But as was reflected in the discussion, this is an era of standardization and assessment, data and budgets.

Attendees included members of the Town School Board; Principals Paciulli and Reid, of Academy and Green Street Schools respectively; an assistant principal; Lyle Holiday and Ron Stahley of WSESU; a number of teachers, including high school teachers; some parents; and members of the public and press.

The Brattleboro Town School Board recently sent surveys to parents, staff, and students as part of their community outreach effort. Below are the questions that were asked of each group. I thought the surveys might be of interest to those who don’t have children attending any of these three schools, but are interested in education.

Recently, I submitted a list of questions to the Brattleboro Town School Board with regard to standardized testing, federal education programs, teachers’ concerns,  and a range of other topics.  I received a response from Town School Board Chair Margaret Atkinson today, with answers to most of them.  

Margaret Atkinson explained that she “worked with [WSESU Superintendent of Schools] Ron Stahley and District Curriculum Coordinator Lyle Holiday” in preparing the answers.

She stressed that the answers were not intended to represent the views of the Town School Board, who, she said, have not voted on it and have no declared position on most of these issues.  

As many in town grapple with the sense of cognitive dissonance that comes from hearing multiple conflicting views about our schools, it’s helpful to have concrete statements of position to evaluate.  The questions and answers below shed light on the administration’s view of the issues, and provide important background into how our school administrators see education today.

Here’s a link to a that challenges the benefits and virtues of testing.

“I happen to believe that efforts to raise test scores dramatically and in mass, such as is called for by NCLB, is a fool’s errand that can only end in failure or (more likely) fraud.” 

As a parent who has sent two kids through the system, and former educator myself, I submit this article as one who no longer has ‘skin in the game’. However, I believe all of us have a flesh and blood investment in this issue, because the corporate mindset and methods that now so heavily dominate education, inform almost every aspect of our lives.

Free Demo Spanish Class with Escuelita Spanish School. Wednesday, January 22nd 5:30-6:15 pm. Experience a new approach to language acquisition that is easy, fun, and truly effective. Winter schedule available online www.EscuelitaSpanishSchool.org.

Beginner class begins Jan 30th. Weekend classes Feb 1-2 (intermediate) and 8th-9th- Family class.

To register, please email elissa@escuelitaspanishschool.org or call 802-275-2694

The Brattleboro Town School Board, which governs the town’s three elementary schools, has announced the agenda for their first outreach session with the public on the topic of education.  This meeting, which is scheduled for January 22, 2014 from 6:00 to 7:30 PM at the Academy School, will focus on what people like about Brattleboro’s public schools.  Details from the flyer are below.

Topic:  Learning In the 21st Century – the first in a series of community conversations with the Brattleboro Town School Board

January 22, 2014
6:00 – 7:30 pm
Academy School

When I said last year that I was going to try to figure out what was going on in public education, I had no idea what a gigantic project that would turn out to be. Not only is it complex, it’s also political, making it that much harder to unravel the claims of groups both for and against. In short, despite hours of research, I still have questions. But our own Brattleboro Town School Board says it wants to do outreach on education, and I think we should take the opportunity to reach out to them so we’ll get our questions answered and our concerns allayed (or not). To get the ball rolling, I have a list of questions I’d like to see addressed by local education officials. Even if no public discussion ensues, at least we’ll know what’s going on.

Enrollment is now open for Marlboro Continuing Education courses that can be taken on a per-class basis. The trimester begins Friday, January 3rd. Register using the : http://gradschool.marlboro.edu/admissions/application/cep?d=CEP

Also, if you know someone you think would be right for a Marlboro graduate degree, this is a great time for them to contact admissions to find out more information. 

Open to all area youth: The Power of Discovery @ The Grammar School, Session II

Sign up deadlines coming soon.

Don’t miss out on these amazing afterschool opportunities for your children in grades K-8!

All area children welcome.

BRATTLEBORO UNION HIGH SCHOOL BOARD
53 Green Street
Brattleboro, VT 05301
www.wssu.k12.vt.us

NOTICE OF COMMITTEE MEETINGS

The BAMS Committee will meet at 7:45 a.m. on Monday, December 16 in BAMS Conference Room.

Kurn Hattin Homes for Children’s Music Director, Lisa Bianconi, got the thrill of a lifetime last week when she learned that she is one of only 10 finalists for the inaugural Grammy Music Educator award. Bianconi received the call from the Grammy Foundation while at work at on Friday, letting her know the good news and telling her to tune in to the televised Grammy Nomination Concert to watch the official announcement live on CBS Friday night. The 10 finalists, from 10 cities across eight states receive $1,000 and a matching honorarium for their schools. One winner will be flown to Los Angeles to attend the 56th Annual Grammy Awards ceremony on Sunday, Jan. 26, 2014.