Dear Academy Families and Friends,

I hope you enjoyed the snow day yesterday.  For me, it was the perfect pause to feel a sense of normalcy, play outside, and look forward to the weeks of winter sports and activities ahead.  

At the WSESD School Board meeting on Wednesday night, the principals had the opportunity to thank and recognize people and organizations who have supported the school throughout the spring, summer and fall as we navigated the beginning of the pandemic.  As I spoke about how grateful I am to so many in this community, I realized how many positive relationships and partnerships have come out of the past few months.  I’d like to publicly recognize some of them here as well:

• First, I’d like to thank the entire staff of Academy School.  Each and every person makes hundreds of decisions every day, and everyone has prioritized the health and safety of our school.  This has meant that staff members do not see their family members and friends because they want to keep their students and colleagues safe.  This has been incredibly difficult, and has impacted the social-emotional wellbeing of every staff member.  However, when you walk into the school, all you see is smiling people, giving so much love and attention to the students, and doing their absolute best every single day.  The resiliency, positivity, and dedication of the staff has been absolutely incredible and I am grateful to be a part of it.

• Thank you to the Smith Family, for the continued use of the land behind Academy School.  The students, staff and community all love and cherish the opportunity to utilize the natural landscape that is right outside our back door.  Thank you to the whole Smith Family, and specifically to  Hank Lange, for helping us develop trail systems and a love of outdoor fitness!

• Thanks to Hank Lange, Daq Woods, and the many volunteers who helped make the Community Pump Track a reality.

• Thank you to Anson Baldwin and Erin Bristol for the donations of firewood!  We are so excited to be able to have fires all winter!

• Thank you to Sheila Humphreys and Kathy Cassin for nurturing our garden and bringing all of the aspects of Food Connects to life!

• A huge thanks to Matt Hill, Antonio Torres and Seth Pichette for going above and beyond to help us be outside.  From setting up tents to building tables to installing fire rings- these people do it all!

• Thanks to Bethany Ranquist, Jean Santino, and the many other people who have donated so many beautiful masks to our school.  Thank you for creating beauty in the safety measures we have to follow!  Masks are now our new fashion accessories.

• Thank you to Ali West for accommodating the many ways in which we provide meals to kids.  Our community is fed because of you and your creativity!

• Thanks to Shellie Doubleday for her tireless efforts to coordinate the Healthy Snack program for the district, and the many Academy staff who spend their Wednesdays helping to bag hundreds of pounds of produce.

• Thank you to Jody Mattulke, Ana Ocasio, Sue Durkin and Lori Macie, for making sure that students have the warm clothing that they need for the winter and food to eat.  Jody's idea for the "Share Shed" has come to fruition!

• Thank you to Mary Leary for seamlessly sliding into the position of Administrative Assistant.  You are an integral part of of all operations at Academy School!

• Thank you to the Brattleboro ELKS for the monetary donation- we will be able to buy extra boots for students with it!

• Thank you to the many parents and caregivers who have donated their time and supplies such as tarps, cutting stumps, and more, to help us be outside.

• Thanks to Gordini for an amazing donation of mittens for all students to wear outside!

• Lastly, to the Academy community at large, for your support, trust and communication, which has brought us closer than ever since March!  

As we approach the new year, and in-person learners look toward attending four days per week, I’d like to encourage you to think of the second semester as a different school year in some ways.  We will be making changes to some class lists, as enrollment changes (some students are transitioning to remote learning, some students are transitioning back to in-person classes).  Many staff members have been in roles that they were not planning to be in, and may return to their original roles.  Regardless of the changes, I can assure you that we will be continuing our focus on social-emotional learning, spending time outside in nature, and encouraging student-led learning.  We have discovered many aspects of teaching during a pandemic that are positive and that lead to the best outcomes for our students.  We will prioritize safety, physical and emotional health, and engagement.  We have a lot of planning to do, but I’m confident that this special community will continue to shine!

Happy new year!

Kelly

Soxy would like to wish everyone a happy, safe, and healthy holiday season!  Wishing you the best for the holidays and warm wishes for the coming year!

MEAL SIGN UP

All WSESD schools will offering remote instruction only during the week of January 4th - 8th. As a result, our meals program is shifting to a delivery system. Meals will be delivered daily by school bus during that week. If you would like daily delivery of breakfast and lunch for the week of January 4th, please complete this survey by Monday, December 21st. We will publish and email the bus routes with approximate drop off times as soon as possible. Please note that ANY child aged 18 years old or younger is eligible for these meals at no cost, regardless of whether they attend a WSESD school or not. To sign up please click on the button below.

ABBY MAIELLO'S THIRD GRADERS

For the last month Abby Maiello's class has been studying the Abenaki because they are the tribe of Native Americans that lived in our area of Vermont. They learned all about their food, shelter and what they wore. Students had the chance to build a wigwam or longhouse out of materials they found around their house. They also read lots of Abenaki stories. The stories always had a lesson to learn or explained how something came to be. Sometimes stories even had both! They studied the characteristics of Abenaki myths and then we practiced writing our own! Students worked together to turn these stories into a play script which we then filmed so we can turn them into movies! Here are a few examples of notes they took, wigwams, longhouses and a sneak peak of a costume from one of the movies we made.

Brattleboro Ski Hill Needs Volunteers

This Winter, maybe more than ever, Brattleboro needs a fully functioning ski hill!

It will look different than other years (for example, no concessions, no warming).

But we are planning on being open!

Opening the Ski Hill is dependent on the volunteer efforts of many people.

In order to be open we need:

• 1 or 2 Base station adults (18 years or older)

• A “Castle operator (18 years or older)

• Lift loader (14 years or older)

• Line manager (14 or older) This position is new and part of our Safety Plan.

In addition to needing volunteers to be open, we make snow--A LOT of snow.

We can always use more help and we are happy to provide training!

    Snowmaking requires:

• 4 to 8 people to set up (usually early evening)

• 4 to 8 people to take down ( usually around sunrise)

• One person, in shifts, to monitor overnight 

The Board has completed a COVID-19 Safety Plan, which includes procedures and expectations to minimize risk of COVID transmission.

There will be training and information available to all volunteers and the Board is confident that we can open the Hill with Safety as a top priority.

For more information please contact:

brattleboroskihill@gmail.com 

www.vtsnowsports.org

or find us on Facebook or Instagram

With gratitude,

Living Memorial Park Snow Sports Board of Directors

Counselors Corner

WHO FEEDS OUR KIDS: LINDA GRIFFIN

Food Connects is launching a new series highlighting the amazing essential workers in our community who work hard every day to keep our children fed. Read on to learn more!

Brattleboro Recreation and Parks - Special Holiday Issue

Attached is a copy of our 2020-2021 Holiday flier which also has some of the New Years Eve events. Click on the red button below to read more.

Here's a picture of just two of our extraordinary Paraeducators! Mrs. Smith and Carrie twinning in the hallways of Academy.  

CHECK OUT THE LATEST EPISODE OF NEBULA NEWS. YOU DON'T WANT TO MISS IT! Click on the picture below to check it out.