School Board Update, January 17, 2008

Dear Neighbors,

The school board met for a special work session Tuesday night, and accomplished two important goals.  First, we finalized the budget we will send to the voters.  It includes three new “world languages” positions at the elementary level, continuation of current programs, and planning money to fully survey our facilities needs and further define the shape of the “excellence and equity” changes underway. 

We also spent some time with the marketing team Fifth Element.  Working for us (on federal grant money), they surveyed hundreds of Burlington parents, teachers, and community members over the last two months to find out what they feel are the elements of an “excellent” education, and what they want in a “dream school” if we create one.  We will meet again in two weeks for another special session to move forward with our decision-making process. 

In the meantime, we have scheduled tours of all our facilities for the public, to find out more about why we need to make some major investments in our aging infrastructure, and just to see where things stand.  Here is the schedule for those:

Burlington School District Facilities Tours

Jan 30
     Smith @ 6:00
     BHS   @ 6:45
Jan 31
    Wheeler@ 6:00
    Barnes   @ 6:45
Feb 6
    Edmunds @ 6:00
    Champlain @ 6:45
Feb 12
     Taft @ 6:00
Feb 13
     Flynn @ 6:00
     Hunt @  6:45

If you go to our website at www.bsdvt.org, you can find directions to all the schools, the budget for 2008-9, the Fifth Element market study, and other documents related to our excellence and equity initiative.

If you have any questions or need any additional information, please contact me or Fred Lane (flane@bsdvt.org), your other Ward 5 School Commissioner.

Stay warm,

Amy Werbel
Ward 5 School Commissioner
12 Catherine Street
awerbel@bsdvt.org / www.amywerbel.info