Update Archives:

May 13, 2010
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Amy Werbel
School Commissioner
Ward 5
Burlington, Vermont

Thank you for visiting my school commissioner webpage, and for your interest in the public schools and school board in Burlington, Vermont.  For more information, please visit the Burlington school district homepage: www.bsdvt.org

Comments expressed on this website are mine alone, and do not constitute official Board policies or statements.

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August 30, 2010

Dear neighbors - After a three-month "summer sabbatical" in Washington, D.C., I am back in town and went to my first school board meeting this evening - a special meeting of the Finance Committee.  That's a fitting way to start what will be, once again, a challenging year.  At the top of THIS year's plate of worries is the Challenges for Change suggested target for cuts.  Budget cuts do make sense in most of Vermont, where student population has declined and per-pupil costs have gone through the roof.  But our numbers are actually UP from what they have been.  As those of you who have elementary-age children know, we are at capacity - and in some cases beyond, especially in the South End of the city, where many young families are joining our community.  Lots more on that in the weeks to come.  As usual, the agenda will be packed this school year, and I will try to update you as much as possible on what's happening, and how you can make your voices heard.  In the meantime, please don't hesitate to get in touch with any questions or concerns and to all the kids out there -- have a great school year! 
 
Warm wishes,
Amy Werbel
Ward 5 School Commissioner
12 Catherine Street
awerbel@bsdvt.org

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About my service on the school board:  As Chair of the Curriculum Committee, I am an active advocate for enriched arts education and all initiatives that inspire children by nurturing their creativity, curiosity, idealism and cultural competence.  I am honored that the Burlington Education Association awarded me the 2006 People's Choice Award for Outstanding School Commissioner. 

Brief Bio:  I grew up in New York City, where I attended my neighborhood elementary school and then a magnet public middle and high school.  After graduation from Harvard in 1986, I worked in museums for a few years and then earned a Ph.D. in art history from Yale in 1996.  My two sons who are 16 and 12 attend Burlington High School and Edmunds Middle School. I moved to Vermont in 1994 to take a job teaching art history at St. Michael's College.  My specialties are American, African, and African Diaspora art, in addition to special topics courses which focus on Vermont art and/or architecture.  My students often construct websites as final projects-their website on Fort Ethan Allen won the Bryan Award from the Center for Research on Vermont.  The website on African art is pretty cool as well:  http://academics.smcvt.edu/africanart and http://academics.smcvt.edu/africanart3 . Information about my work as a professor can be found on my St. Michael's College homepage.  After ten years in the Old North End of Burlington, I moved to Catherine Street in February, 2003.  It has been a great pleasure to represent my South End neighbors on the Burlington School Board since 2005.

I write often about the Board, and all those neighborhood updates are posted to the left.  Please feel free to check those out, and/or to write to me with any comments and questions you may have at:  awerbel@bsdvt.org . Amy