June 14, 2024

Dear BSD Community, 

Thank you for another wonderful year! I was honored to be able to speak at graduation yesterday, where I shared that our graduates will be taking what they learned in Burlington and sharing it across the world. Our students are going into excellent careers at Heritage Aviation, Pratt and Whitney, UVM Medical Center, and our country’s military. Others will be attending more than 65 excellent colleges and universities across the globe from amazing close-to-home schools like Middlebury, St. Mikes, CCV, UVM, and Champlain, to schools like Carnegie Mellon, Bates, Smith, Wesleyan, University of Rochester, Penn, Emory, UC-Davis, Tufts, University of Toronto, the University of Glasgow, and many more! I have a special connection with this class because I started in Burlington when they began their ninth-grade year, and I am very proud of everything they have done here and excited to see what they will accomplish moving forward! 

Graduation is always icing on the cake for me after an amazing few weeks of celebrating students. We have had flower ceremonies and presentations of learning, award banquets and Step-up Days, recognition nights, concerts, art shows and so much more (check out the photos below). Throughout these events, no matter the age, I saw similar emotions of hope mixed with some anxiety for the future, but most of all, I saw joy. Joy for the people around us, joy for our experiences together, joy for the possibilities that lay ahead. 

Thank you families, staff, and students for being a part of our community and for helping us find joy and bring it every day. 

Enjoy the summer!
Tom

Summer Busses – As a reminder, GMT does NOT offer free bus rides to students during the summer. Free rides to school will begin again on the first day of school… August 26!

Free Summer Meals! Beginning Monday, June 24, our Burlington School Food Project team will once again provide summer meals at no charge to kids 18 and under. All meals are provided free to all children, regardless of where they live. Meals will be available Monday through Friday from June 24 to August 8 (excluding Thursday, July 4th, and Friday, July 5th). There are no fees or registration; children simply show up and eat!  

The Great IAA Cleanout (FREE ITEMS THIS TUESDAY!) – Stop by the Integrated Arts Academy for a Free Yard Sale on 6/18 from 7:30 am – 2:30 pm. Everything in the gym needs to find a new home and it is all free!  

Franklin Square Apartments (1554 North Ave.)
Lunch: 12:00-1:00

Riverside Apartments (669 Riverside Ave.)
Lunch: 12:00-1:00

Roosevelt Park (57 Oak Street)
Supper: 5:00-6:00

South Meadow (1 Raymond Place)
Lunch: 12:00-1:00

Golden Apple Award! Congratulations to long-time special educator Penne Wheeler who has been awarded the Golden Apple from the Vermont Council of Special Education Administrators. Each year they present the award to one special educator who excels in their professionalism and advocacy for students with disabilities. Penne Wheeler was given the award in front of her family and coworkers last week. Congratulations Penne and thank you for all of your work to support students and families. 

Visit from Secretary Saunders – Last Wednesday the Vermont AOE’s Interim Secretary of Education spent more than two hours visiting classrooms and connecting with staff and community partners at IAA and HMS. Her stated goals for the visit were to learn about how we serve refugee and multilingual students and to inquire about relationships with community partnerships. Our goal was to showcase and celebrate the amazing staff and students in our district. I am proud, but not surprised, to say that our expectations for the day were exceeded. On her visit, Secretary Saunders visited five different classrooms: two newcomer programs at IAA and HMS (Jen Lenihan and Ervina Ramic, respectively), a co-taught Math class (Aurie Thibault and Kristen Bingel), a strings class by happy accident (thanks for the impromptu concert Michael Hakim!), and an advanced EL-English classroom (Nebai Shah). She also met with IAA’s Principal Mattie Scheidt, Aline Kwizera (Multilingual Liaison), Emma Membrino (Director of Expanded Learning), Nathan Lavery (Executive Director of Finance and Operations), and Amanda Moore from the Howard Center for roundtable conversations about how we strive to serve our multilingual students in alignment with our North Star: All learners are challenged, empowered, and engaged. We were honest in our conversations about the support and resources needed and available to do these jobs well. We also shared our gratitude and support for Act 127 and re-emphasized the need for school construction aid. 

A Classroom to Cafeteria Connection – This year, 5th-grade students at Champlain, C.P. Smith, Edmunds, and Flynn schools participated in a new immersive cooking project with Jen Trapani, our District’s Food Science Coordinator. Students were challenged to research, design, test, market, and serve a new vegetable curry recipe, inspired by a blend of Indian and Thai styles of curry. Throughout the process, students collaborated with their peers to refine the steps of their recipe while honing their math skills to “scale-up” their recipe to accommodate an entire school’s worth of hungry students and staff! It turns out that it takes A LOT of onions, garlic, ginger, tomatoes, potatoes, carrots, peppers, and peas! This project offered fifth graders another leadership opportunity within their school and the chance to directly influence a new menu item that is being incorporated into the Burlington School Food Project’s cycle lunch menu! Fifth graders utilized the mobile cooking carts to test out their recipe design and Edmunds students even harvested their cilantro garnish directly off of the indoor hydroponic Grow Towers (it can’t get any fresher or more local!). A big thank you to the School Nutrition Professionals for their partnership, excitement, flexibility, and willingness to support deeper hands-on learning for our students! The recipe has received countless thumbs up from students and staff alike… try it out! 

Reading Expectations for Hunt Middle School – Questions about what kinds or how much work your middle school student should be doing this summer? HMS has the answer for you. 

‘The people make the place.’ – VermontPublic stops by BHS to say goodbye to the first group of seniors to have gone to Downtown BHS for all four years. 

Facilities Updates

Rock Point At the Rock Point project, the framing is making great progress. However, the bridge is going to be delayed and we are making necessary adjustments to our approach with the greatly appreciated help from our Fire Marshal and contractors. The DPW has been very transparent with the obstacles they have encountered with this project and continue to keep us informed as they get new information.

IAA The IAA project is picking up speed even with the breakdown of the well drilling rig. The boilers have been removed and the old brick wall that formerly held back coal that heated the building many years ago will be removed soon. Within the coal bin wall are very large metal rods that poke out of the foundation wall on the Spring Street parking lot wall: these rods span the width of the coal bin room and kept the brick wall from collapsing… most people looking at the room today have no idea why they are there! The big move to St. Marks is well underway. Garage sales are scheduled along with dumpsters, and moving companies are scheduled. We have worked through the transportation needs, meal plans, playground needs, fencing placement, pickup and drop-off locations, storage needs and lots of other details.

Edmunds The grant-funded HVAC project at Edmunds is on schedule and will greatly improve the air quality in the Band and Chorus rooms. 

Hunt The stormwater project at Hunt has gone out to bid and will be moving forward this summer.

Track The HS track and field project is also starting soon and remains on schedule. Q and Jeff have been busy approving lots of details of the project to keep us on track.  

BTC: Burlington Jazz Fest- Two BTC Digital Media Lab seniors, Mohammed AlMulla (BHS) and Sammy Bluestein (BHS), will experience the 41st Annual Burlington Discover Jazz Fest from a unique vantage point…they have been hired as social media content creators for the festival and and they will be documenting the guest curator of this year’s festival, Adi Oasis, throughout the festival for Instagram. With over 160K followers on her Instagram, Ms. Oasis is a Brooklyn-based French-Caribbean soul-funk-R&B artist and producer. The two students were selected for their extensive experience creating social media content for sports and prior work in local music video production. The BTC Digital Media Lab and Design & Illustration will also have several 11-12th grade students documenting the festival as photographers along Church Street. 

BTV Juneteenth Day – For the second year, the BTC Digital Media Lab (DML) and Design & Illustration will have students participating in the city of Burlington’s Juneteenth Celebration scheduled for Saturday, June 15th. The DML will have several prior, current, and a future students performing in the festivities, including Ali Abdullahi (BHS), Rachid Muzaliwa (WHS), Abizo (WHS), Caleb Lodish (BHS), and incoming student Nadia Comba (SBHS). BTC students will photograph the festivities, including vendors, and performers under the direction of DML alumni Seamus Brennan (BHS). This year, students Samantha Santarcangelo (BHS) and Gertrude Farrell (BHS) will also participate in the planning and marketing of the event with the Burlington marketing firm, Okay!Okay!. Samantha (DML) will be working in assisting with planning for the event, and Trudy (D&I) will be devising social media posts. BTC will have a table by the main stage on Church Street. Please stop by to say hi!  

EMS Youth RP Team – Beginning in January this year, a team of youth from Edmunds Middle School formed a Restorative Practices team, with a goal of making positive change in the school community. The group was recruited by Restorative Practices Specialist Simon Parlante, and facilitated by Program Directors from UP for Learning, four BHS students, and a student from Winooski High School. Over four retreats, the team participated in community-building activities and games, explored their identities and leadership styles, and learned about restorative approaches to discipline. They also discussed the root causes of peer-to-peer conflict at EMS and advised Interim Principal John Oliver on his design of the lunch period next year to incorporate more flexibility in where students can be. They also took part in a “dotmocracy” protocol, where they voted on what area of school they wanted to take action on. Out of several topics, the team decided to take action on the Blue Form Policy, addressing concerns they have over the equity and consistency of its implementation. As a group, they brainstormed questions for a circle dialogue about the policy, and invited Athletic Directors Quaron Pinckney and Ryan Hayes to attend. Some of the questions included, “Does the Blue Form policy impact your behavior and performance in classes?” “What are some of the strengths and challenges of this policy?” and, “How can we get teachers to be more consistent with the Blue Form Policy if it stays the same?” 

During their final retreat, the team participated in this dialogue, and the result was a thoughtful and respectful discussion of the policy and how it can be improved. As a possible next step, members of the group are considering joining Q and Ryan to speak to the faculty during opening meetings at the start of the 2024-2025 school year, sharing their experiences and working together to make a policy that works for everyone. Over the past five months, the group did a great job of building community, brainstorming action projects, and advocating for change! 

Congrats Mr. Benton – Congratulations to IAA teacher Ethan Benton on receiving the scholarship to attend the Modern Band Summit! This opportunity will not only benefit him personally but also the entire music program at IAA. The addition of 10 new instruments from Music Will is fantastic news and will provide even more resources for students to learn and express themselves through music. The training Mr. Benton will receive at the summit will undoubtedly enhance his ability to deliver culturally relevant and highly motivating music instruction, aligning perfectly with IAA’s Magnate Mission. It’s wonderful to see such support for music education and the enrichment of students’ experiences at IAA.

Casella Student Awards Calendar Honorable Mention – Shout out to Bithian for receiving “Honorable Mention” for her artwork, which she submitted along with all the IAA 3rd graders who chose to participate in the Casella Student Awards Calendar competition.  Bithian’s will be featured at the end of Casella’s 2025 Student Awards Calendar. 

Embrace and Belonging Sculpture Unveiling! Everyone is invitee to attend the unveiling of the new “Embrace and Belonging” sculpture at Dewey Park, across from IAA! The new date for the unveiling is Wednesday, June 26th at 11:00 AM. Hope to see you there!

Burlington School District Athletics Update 6/12/24

• Both our Girls and Boys Ultimate teams have successfully secured State Championship berths! This is our girls’ fourth consecutive championship appearance and the third in the past four years for the boys. Our second-ranked boys defeated #3 MMU on June 11, 11-7, to secure their spot, while our top-seeded girls defeated South Burlington on Wednesday, June 12 to secure their spot. Championship matches will take place at University of Vermont’s Virtue Field versus CVU at 10am and 12:30pm. Tickets are $10 for adults and $5 students/senior citizens 
• We hosted our 3rd Annual ACE Awards ceremony at Hunt Middle School in front of a packed house to celebrate this year in athletics. Thanks to the folks of Media Factory for the stream and the link to watch on demand, and thanks to all who attended and helped us with another successful and fun event!
• Both girls and boys Track & Field teams placed 3rd overall at the Division 1 State Championships after an unbelievable day that saw the following performances:
  • Ahmed Diawara wins both the 100m (10.88 seconds)  and 200m (22.17 seconds) dash; Desmond Snyder was right behind him in the 200 with a time of 22.38 seconds
  • University of Rhode Island signee Winslow Sightler goes back-to-back in the Shot Put and Discus
  • Our girls 4x800m relay team of Tessa Napolitano, Amelia Dion (Smith College signee for soccer and track & field), Grace McHenry (University of Vermont signee) and Gillian Fairfax (Bowdoin College signee for Nordic) atop the podium – it was the 6th straight year the Seahorses have won this event
  • Boys 4x800m relay team of Westin Bunce, Quinn McNeil, Isaac Doggett and Bjorn Peterson finished 3rd
  • University of Vermont signee, Avi Yagoda placed 4th in the 1500m
  • Maximo Dowling finishes as the runner-up in javelin
  • Jane Sitek Shaver, Nadia Sylla and Vivian Halladay finish 2-3-4 in the discus
    • Nadia and Vivian also podiumed in the shot put and javelin, respectively
    • A few other podium finishes by McHenry, Baxter Mangrum, MacArthur Murad and some of the aforementioned student-athletes helped round out the day
    • A whooping 17 student-athletes qualified for the New England Championships at the University of New Hampshire on June 8
      • At the event, Nadia Sylla broke the school record in the shot put with a distance of 37 feet, 8 inches; both the boys and girls school shot put records have been reset this year, with the previous marks being set back in 1987 but Trish Casey and Steve Yates, respectively
• Girls Tennis suffered a defeat in the semifinal round at the hands of CVU; the team finishes the season at 11-6
• Boys Tennis suffered a defeat at the hands of CVU in the quarterfinal round, ended their quest for back-to-back State Titles; the team finishes the season 11-4 
• Girls Lacrosse suffered a defeat at the hands of South Burlington in the quarterfinal round of the Division 1 playoffs; the team ended the season at 11-6 and won playoff matches in back-to-back seasons for the first time in a decade
• Boys Lacrosse suffered a narrow quarterfinal defeat at the hands of Stowe on the road; the team finishes the season at 6-9
• Our softball co-op with Winooski saw the program win its first playoff game in over a decade with a 19-14 defeat of Windsor on the road; SeaSpartans softball finished up 3-10 on the year
• Baseball lost a close first-round game against Colchester, ending its season at 6-11
• We will be posting our virtual all-sports kickoff video for the 2024-2025 school year onto burlingtonathletics.com in the coming days. It will cover how to prepare your student-athletes for the new year in athletics. 

CELEBRATION!