School Board Update April 6, 2008
Dear neighbors,
A hearty welcome to the crocuses popping up and to the geese returning from their winter vacations. It is great to be out again, seeing neighbors and dreaming of greenery. At the school board, we have been extremely busy. I have been reappointed as chair of the curriculum committee, and also have a seat on the steering, futures, and master planning committees engaged in drafting a vision for all our schools for the 21st century, and for two magnet schools in the Old North End in particular. Everyone in the District and on the Board is involved in this work in some way right now – whether through focusing on the comprehensive facilities audit of our existing buildings, the analysis of our current partnerships and work with prospective new partners, reaching out to local, statewide, and federal legislators and the State Board of Education, and of course talking with teachers, students, parents, refugee liaisons, special educators, and community members to make sure that many perspectives are included in our vision for the future.
Our “visioning” process will have its first public hearing on May 7th, so mark that date on your calendar (more info t.b.a.) but in the meantime, all of our meetings are open to the public and listed on the district website at www.bsdvt.org, so please feel free to come to anything that interests you. Our end product in early fall will be a clear and beautifully articulated vision for which we can then gather the resources to turn it into a reality. Your other Ward 5 commissioner Fred Lane (flane at bsdvt.org) has been reappointed as chair of the finance committee, and it will be their job to focus on figuring out how to pay for what we want and need. It is my unequivocal belief that investing in our schools is the best way to assure cohesion of the Burlington community, the future of our children and city, and the continued strength of our property values as we face uncertain times.
Some ideas are emerging strongly so far: one magnet school focused on arts integration, and one on sustainability (environment and community); renovation of all our facilities to be green, energy-efficient, and up-to-date technologically; and also a district that takes advantage of the many wonderful local organizations eager to partner with us (some already do), including the Flynn Center for the Performing Arts, the Vermont Youth Orchestra, Shelburne Farms, the Very Merry Theater, Saint Michael’s College, the University of Vermont, the Burlington Schools Foundation, and many more. If you work with or serve on the Board of a local organization that might be interested in getting involved, please get in touch with our grants director Julie Cadwalader-Staub at jcstaub at bsdvt.org , or send me an e-mail.
I recently attended several sessions on 21st Century curriculum, professional development, facilities, and assessment at the National School Boards Association Conference and have about twenty pages of notes that I plan on condensing and then posting on my website. I will let you know when they are up. In the meantime, I know you all want to be outside and not reading e-mail . . .
Cheers,
Amy Werbel
Ward 5 School Commissioner
awerbel at bsdvt.org
www.amywerbel.info