March 14, 2010
Dear neighbors,
Happy Spring! I have seen many of you out raking leaves, tossing balls in the street, and supervising new tricycle-riders. These are all wonderful signs of the nearing end of winter. Another sign is Kindergarten enrollment for the City’s children who will be five on or before September 1st, 2010. Given that we expect a very full incoming class, please, please make sure to have all your paperwork for registration completed and handed in at your nearest school or the Ira Allen building by the deadline of March 16th. You can, of course, enroll after that point, but you will be less likely to get your first-choice placement. The forms are available online at: http://bsdweb.bsdvt.org/district/Parents/K-Reg.php .On the kindergarten front, I know that there is much concern about the Champlain Elementary School placements for next year, due to a reduction from three kindergarten classes to two. Please keep reading below if this is an issue of interest to you.
There is also good news at Champlain School. I am very pleased to report that all of our 3rd through 5th grade classrooms throughout the District next year will have their own technology carts, with a laptop connected to the Internet, a projector, and an “Elmo” document camera (your kids can tell you what these are). This ready access to the carts will substantially boost technology integration, as well as the type of project-based learning that requires reporting-out with PowerPoint presentations. This improvement is thanks to Federal stimulus funds devoted to educational technology.
Just some brief notes to share on other topics: The Board will meet to reorganize with our three new members on April 1st. Our teacher contract negotiations are proceeding as expected, with both sides moving closer to middle ground. We are in the “supposal” stage at present, with more formal positions to come, which will be posted at http://www.bsdvt.org . Members of the public are welcome to attend negotiation sessions. The next session is Thursday, March 18th, at 3:30 p.m. at the Ira Allen Building, 150 Colchester Avenue.
Enjoy the emerging bulbs,
Amy Werbel
Ward 5 School Commissioner
12 Catherine Street
awerbel@bsdvt.org
On Kindergarten Placement for 2010-2011
I’m not sure I have any information that will reduce anxiety about Champlain kindergarten placements, but I will share what I know so that everyone understands why the size of the incoming kindergarten class needs to be reduced.
If you look at this spreadsheet, which shows our District-wide enrollment for this year and last year, you will see that Champlain presently has three classrooms at the Kindergarten, first, and second grade levels. In the third, fourth, and fifth grade years, there are only two classrooms in each year (the fourth and fifth graders are in teams, sharing four classrooms and teachers). Our building does not have enough classrooms to have three for each grade level. Assuming our average class size at the school is 22 (with lower numbers at the lower grades), that would be 396 total students, which again is simply too large for the building.
So, the unfortunate upshot is that we now need to cycle back to a few years of incoming classes of approximately 40 students at Champlain. This variation in incoming class size between two and three kindergartens has been the norm for many years, with a back-and-forth between higher and lower numbers of kindergarteners at Champlain, and its sister neighborhood school Edmunds Elementary. Depending on the applications received, the boundary between Edmunds and Champlain will be drawn (as it is every year) to make sure that class sizes are roughly equal. The District prioritizes siblings to be assigned to the same school, and there also will be consideration given to balanced demographics at each of the schools.
One of the factors that may shift from past experience is magnet school enrollment. In the first year of the magnet academies, enrollment grew from 159 to 182 at the Sustainability Academy at Barnes, and from 186 to 219 at the Integrated Arts Academy at Wheeler, which is a wonderful increase. Many of these new parents live in the Old North End, and chose to “opt-in” rather than applying for variances or paying for private school. We also had a significant number of families choose the magnets over their neighborhood schools, and we expect this trend to increase as the schools prove themselves. You may notice that in general, both academies have smaller class sizes at the upper years. The higher grades still have disproportionate numbers of children with high needs. Also, at the Sustainability Academy, the small square-foot size of the classrooms themselves limits the number of children thanks to State regulations. There still is considerable potential for our large, gorgeous Integrated Arts Academy building to accommodate more students, as families are (magnetically) attracted there by the innovative curriculum. And this would ease the pressure on Champlain enrollment in the future.
Speaking of magnet academies, one of the changes to kindergarten enrollment this year is that parents need to rank their school choices for the first time. If a neighborhood school is your priority, I would recommend that you list Edmunds as your second choice. But I also would strongly encourage parents to look at the magnet schools and think about where they fall on that list of rankings. Our new magnet websites have lots of information: http://magnet.bsdvt.org . If you have questions or would like a tour, the person to contact is our magnet schools coordinator, Victor Prussack: vprussac@bsdvt.org .
The Board does not generally get involved with student (or teacher) assignments, but we will be discussing this in the curriculum committee on Tuesday night, March 16th, at 5 p.m. at the Ira Allen building (150 Colchester Ave.). If you would like to share your thoughts and concerns, please consider stopping by for public comment at 5. Alternatively, you may send me a statement to read on your behalf via e-mail.
On another topic relevant to Champlain, I did inquire about the unfortunate overcrowding in the 4th and 5th grade classes for next year. That large bubble moving through is due to mid-year enrollments granted at the building level over the past few years, resulting in class size far above the acceptable norm. The District recently implemented centralized registration for all incoming students to avoid these types of enrollment spikes which create overcrowded classrooms. I am seriously doubtful we can find the money for another teacher for the year, but I did ask.
Please continue to let me know your thoughts and concerns,
Amy Werbel
Ward 5 School Commissioner
awerbel@bsdvt.org