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Ashley Grievance Hearing Masks Larger Issues For Teachers

by Lise | Education

Over 30 people, many of them teachers, turned out to observe a special Town School Board meeting this week, which was held to hear a grievance from Academy School teacher Lauren Ashley. Ashley, a veteran of 27 years, filed the grievance after a disputed process involving her performance evaluations earlier this year. Usually hearings that involve personnel matters are held behind closed doors, but Ashley opted to have hers in open session.

School Board Chair Margaret Atkinson acted quickly to quell any off-topic discussion by members of the public, saying that due to open meeting law, no comment from the public would be accepted. “These are perilous times for public schools,” she said, but that the time to talk about it was not this hearing. “Please remain respectful,” she warned the audience.

Call for Submissions for PoemCity 2014

by phayvanh | Creative

Hi Brattleboro writers! I want to thank those of you who have participated in Montpelier’s PoemCity (aka POETRY Alive!) event these past four years AND to invite you and your friends to do so once again. The submissions window is currently open until the end of the year. This is a little earlier, so we can have enough time to read your work. 

So, basically same rules as last year. If you forget, you can visit our blog here: . We’ll continue to update as we are planning the 2014 event. 

I look forward to reading your work, and seeing a few of you as you visit us in April for the full program. Thanks. -p

BCTV Channel 8 & 10 Schedules for the Week of 10/21/13

by BCTVProg | Media

BCTV Ch.8 Schedule for the week of 10/21/13

                   Monday October 21

12:00 am      The Outfitting of Revolutionary Armies in the Champlain Valley

1:30 am       Words of Peace: Your True Nature

2:00 am       FSTV Overnight

4:00 am       Dr. Maura Cullen on Diversity and Inclusion

5:30 am       Green Mountain Vets For Peace – Ep.125

6:30 am       Empty Bowls: May 2008

Weekend Concert Series: Midnight Star in LA in 1983

by cgrotke | Entertainment

This week’s concert takes us to Los Angeles in 1983 for a performance by Midnight Star.

This show has everything you need to get your funk on. Shiny suits, bright colors, Jheri curls, sunglasses, robot voices, and nightclub floor-fillers. If you listen to the Chocolate City show on WVEW Saturdays, these songs should sound familiar.

They got started at Kentucky State University in 1976, had a few under-the-radar albums, then broke out big with No Parking On The Dance Floor. The music video featured a classic dancing in the streets scene. with both Prince and Michael Jackson impersonators and dancing police, cowgirls, and construction workers. If they are at this LA show, however, they are watching from the audience.

Free Parenting Teens Wisely Class March 3rd

by BAPC | Education

Got Teens?

Do you want to learn how to problem-solve with your teen, encourage cooperation, how to listen and be heard, and to develop fair and effective discipline skills? On Monday, March 3rd from 6 to 9 PM a FREE Parenting Teens Wisely class will be offered by the Brattleboro Area Prevention Coalition at the Marlboro College Graduate Center in Brattleboro.

This free 3 hour workshop teaches parents skills and techniques to help them better understand and deal with their children ages 10 to 19.

Video Calendar and Full Live Broadcast for 5:45 Live on BCTV

by BrattleboroTV | Media

It’s been a busy week for the Brattleboro area… and it looks to be a busy weekend as well. Get caught up on all the latest from this past week with tonight’s broadcast of 5:45 Live, set to air on BCTV Comcast Channel 8 tonight (at 5:45 PM no less). Plus, get a look ahead to this weekend’s events with BCTV’s interactive video calendar, also set to air tonight on Channel 8, and available online right now:

Letter To The Editor: Erosion of Respect For Teachers In Brattleboro Public Schools

by Not Signed In | Education

To the Editor:
 
Sometime last spring before school ended, a letter was written to the Reformer regarding the lack of respect for teachers, the lack of appreciation for long years of service and teachers’ fear of speaking up in some schools. With the new school year, the disrespect is continuing. Some teachers are being asked to perform certain tasks while others are not. Some teachers are favored over others. Comments about one teacher are being shared with others. Ideas by staff members are ignored if they even dare to express them. This is not how a collaborative learning environment is fostered.
 

Brattleboro Union High School Board Meeting Agenda

by Not Signed In | Education

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

NOTICE OF COMMITTEE MEETINGS

The BUHS Teacher Curriculum Committee will meet at 6:00 p.m. on Monday, October 21 in the Cusick Conference Room.

The BUHS #6 Finance Committee will meet at 7:30 a.m. on Wednesday, October 23, 2013 in the WSESU Central Office Conference Room, 53 Green Street.

Get Your Organization’s Name On A New Latchis Seat

by Not Signed In | Arts

Hello All,

Latchis Arts is very excited to welcome the community back to the main theatre at our grand re-opening on October 19 at 7:30. We hope 750 of you will join us that night to enjoy the new seats and admire the surroundings. The restored zodiac ceiling is dreamy and the new lighting on the murals is stunning. I am truly grateful for the community-wide love and care for this theatre, built by my family 75 years ago.

Last night the Latchis Arts board of directors held a work bee, tapping in the inscribed brass plates on the arms of the chairs that donors had purchased. Reading the names and phrases of our friends and neighbors gave us a real appreciation for your level of participation. Fully $142,500 is represented by those brass plates scattered throughout the orchestra and balcony. Give yourselves a round of applause!

What’s For Lunch?

by SK-B | Creative

I had seen a 10 minute play which starts with a character complaining that when he tried to purchase a bottle of aspirin at a drug store, the clerk told him: “We don’t have that.”

It reminded me of a strange experience I had on Staten Island more than 30 years ago.

We were in Stapleton, a few miles from our home in St. George. It looked like an ordinary luncheonette — big CocaCola sign — soda fountain counter with a row of round stools that you can spin on, and booths along the wall.

The place was empty, but it was not lunch hour. Carol and I sat down with Grace and Eve at one of the booths.

Works for Guitar & Soprano: Richard Ullman with Kristen Carmichael-Bowers

by Pam Lierle | Music

On Sunday, October 20 at 3 pm, the Brattleboro Music Center presents a recital with faculty members Richard Ullman, guitar, and guest Kristen Carmichael-Bowers, voice, at Centre Congregational Church in Brattleboro, VT.

For this recital, Ullman revisits some of his favorite pieces from Spanish composer Andrés Segovia’s repertoire.  Segovia is considered the father of modern classical guitar and, although his works have fallen out of fashion in recent decades, is credited with popularizing classical guitar music. Segovia was a catalytic figure in granting respectability to the guitar as a serious concert instrument capable of evocativeness and depth of interpretation.

Film Screening: World Circus

by travelingnearandfar | Entertainment

Vermont Premiere of “World Circus” Film 
Saturday, November 2nd @ 7:30pm 

NECCA – New England Center for Circus Arts, 74 Cotton Mill Hill, Brattleboro, VT 
63min Documentary – Suggested donation @ door 

The “World Circus” feature documentary follows five top circus acts from around the world to the Monte Carlo Circus Festival, and with interviews from the founder of the Big Apple Circus, owner of Ringling Bros., and artistic director at Cirque du Soleil, it reveals the behind the scenes life, history, and culture of circus on an international scale. 

150 Years Ago (1863 10/14)

by BusyMom | History

Camp Austine, Oct. 14th, 1863

Dear wife –

I now seat myself to write you. Since Saturday I have been hard at work. I had a gun to clean and more brass to fix up than I wish to see again. Sunday was cold and unpleasant. I got a pass and went over to see Susan. Found them all well. Mary Ann commences her school next Monday. She teaches 13 weeks at $3. per week and boards herself. She is going to board with Susan. I enjoyed the visit much. We had a grand good dinner of boiled victuals, and Susan filled my haversack with apples. The battery M boys have left Monday. There were a lot of prisoners sent off yesterday, the Captain of Company A, a corporal and four men with them as guard. There are a few left in the guard house.

BCTV Channel 8 & 10 Schedules for the Week of 10/14/13

by BCTVProg | Media

BCTV Ch.8 Schedule for the week of 10/14/13

                   Monday October 14                  

12:00 am      For the Animals: Ep. 126

12:30 am      The Outfitting of Revolutionary Armies in the Champlain Valley

2:00 am       FSTV Overnight

4:00 am       Spotlight On Vermont Issues: Ep. 5 – John Odum

4:30 am       Montpelier Movement Collective at the Phantom Theater 7/12/13

5:40 am       Library Lecture: Goodnight Irene – Craig Brandon

Weekend Concert Series: B-52’s in Atlanta 1978

by cgrotke | Entertainment

This weekend’s concert takes us to Atlanta, Georgia in May of 1978 for a club show with a new band you might like called the B-52’s.

This is a grainy black and white video that captures the weirdness and wonderfulness of an early B-52’s performance. I started listening to them around 1980 or so, and was able to see them at a show in Tampa for their Mesopotamia tour.

The show was at a Jai Alai facility, which was a bit weird, but we had traveled almost 3 hours to get there and didn’t care. I was in high school and got to hear Ring My Bell by Anita Ward played loudly over the sound system before the show – a formative experience for a rock lover in learning to like funk.

150 Years Ago (1863 10/10, probably received a few days later)

by BusyMom | History

Slaughter Mountain, Va.

Oct. 10th, 1863

Mr. Charles Blake,

Dear Sir,

Your favor of Sept. 26th was duly received, and in accordance with your directions I forwarded $5.15 to your wife – the amount of my own and Charles Smith’s indebtedness to you as soon as we were paid off, directing her to write to my brother acknowledging its receipt, as I did not know where I should be at that time. I had some hesitation about sending it by mail, but the sum was so small that I did no think it was worth while to send it by express.

Here Is a Letter I Read To The Brattleboro Town School Board

by Not Signed In | Education

September 4, 2013

To The Brattleboro Town School Board:

I write today to express my dismay at what I have witnessed in the Brattleboro Town Schools lately, particularly in the last three years.

Our town, and the district as a whole, has chosen a path that I believe is stifling the desires of both teachers and students to analyze, reflect, create and explore. Adopting commercial programs (at no small expense) in an attempt to make learning “systematic” not only narrows the curriculum for students but also discourages thinking amongst teachers. The over-emphasis on “data points” from the recently-adopted ongoing assessment system has trumped existing classroom assessment systems that actually give deeper and more comprehensive information about individual students.

Watching Angels Public Art Show – Slideshow

by Lee | Arts

Here is a slide show that Meg Donahue created about the interactive public art show she produced here in Brattleboro during the month of September called “Watching Angels.”

With a very small crew, she installed and maintained two big chalkboards (one on Flat Street and one in Harmony Parking Lot) that asked “What Are You Grateful For?…” And there were over 100 artist created angels scattered around the downtown with uplifting messages on placards next to them.