Thomas Fleming School is celebrating its 100th Anniversary this year. Visit the Fleming webpage at http://www.ccsuvt.org/fleming to see old photos and read questions that students have asked about life at Fleming in the days of old. Maybe you know something about the featured photograph or can answer the questions.

In honor of the anniversary, Fleming will host a variety of events this spring. Help shape the vision of these community-wide celebrations by joining Dan Ryan, the current principal at Fleming, community members and parents on Wednesday, February 22 at 7 p.m. in the Fleming Learning Center at the next 100th Year Celebration planning meeting.

Can’t attend the meeting but still have great ideas that you want to share? Like us on Facebook at Thomas Fleming School 100th Year Celebration. This is a great supplement to the pictures and questions on the Fleming webpage. Share memories of your time at Fleming and post your ideas for the celebration.

Periodically, the CCSU Food Services Department will publish news and updates.  

 

Click here to read about:

• A recent donation from the New England Dairy Food Council
• New milk products in our schools
• Highlights of nutritional improvements
• And much more!

Area students have a new opportunity to access supports to help improve their reading skills.  Lexia, an online reading program, is now available on the computers at Brownell Library, thanks to a partnership with the Chittenden Central Supervisory Union, CCSU (serving the Essex Junction, Westford and Union #46 school districts).

Essentially, Lexia provides students with systematic and structured practice on various essential reading skills.  The software requires a login that is provided as part of selected students’ programming at school, enabling the students to access Lexia from any computer, including the ones at Brownell Library.

“We are excited to partner with the schools to offer access to Lexia on our library computers and support students in their learning,” said Brownell Library Youth Services Librarian Mary Graf.

Every school within CCSU provides access to Lexia.  Now, the partnership allows students to continue building their skills outside the classroom.  There are similar partnerships between schools and public libraries at other communities throughout the state.

“I am excited to have the opportunity to offer community-based access to this software,” CCSU Executive Director of Student Support Services Erin Maguire said.  “The greater the access to learning opportunities like Lexia, the better!”

To learn more about CCSU, visit www.cccsuvt.org and to find out more about Brownell Library, visit them online at www.brownelllibrary.org.

In the event of school closings, students and employees of the Essex Junction, Westford and Union #46 school districts shall be informed through radio and television stations who are members of the Vermont Association of Broadcasters.  For a complete list of radio and television stations, visit: www.vab.org/stations.htm or contact the Chittenden Central Supervisory Union (CCSU) Central Office at 879-5579.

In addition, all school closing information will be posted at the CCSU web-site (www.ccsuvt.org) and on all school web-sites.

School closing information is listed by school name and is posted as close to 6:00 a.m. as possible.

The following letter has been provided by the Vermont Department of Health:

Dear Parent/Guardian:

This letter is to provide information about Pertussis. This infection has been diagnosed in Chittenden County and other Vermont communities.  You can help to reduce the spread of this serious infection.  Pertussis, also known as “whooping cough,” is a contagious disease that is spread through the air when infected people cough.  While immunization protects most children during the elementary school years, protection from the vaccine lessens over time.  Pertussis can infect fully immunized individuals of all ages. 

Pertussis begins with cold symptoms and an irritating cough, which usually becomes increasingly severe over 1-2 weeks.  Symptoms often include a series of coughs, sometimes followed by a whooping noise.  However, older children, adults and very young infants may not develop the whoop.  Vomiting may occur after a coughing episode.  There is generally no fever.

Antibiotic treatment early in the disease may decrease the severity of symptoms and reduce the infectiousness of the ill person.  Antibiotics are also recommended for close contacts of pertussis cases in order to prevent them from contracting and transmitting the disease.

Please consider the following Vermont Department of Health recommendations:

1.  If your child has a cough that has persisted for one week or more, contact your physician to have your child evaluated for pertussis.
2. Please use and teach good health manners to children.  Stay home when sick!  Cover coughs and sneezes.  Properly dispose of used tissues, and then wash hands thoroughly with soap and warm water.  Washing hands regularly is simple, cheap, and an important action to prevent the spread of infection.  Keep unwashed hands away from the eyes, nose and mouth.
3.  Children or staff diagnosed with pertussis or suspected pertussis should be excluded from school and other public settings until they have completed 5 days of the antibiotic treatment for pertussis.  Asymptomatic contacts are not excluded.
4.  The Vermont Department of Health recommends that all adolescents, ages 11-18 years, receive a single (booster) dose of Tdap vaccine. Adults, especially those who have, or anticipate having, close contact with an infant should receive a single dose of Tdap vaccine. Please consult your child’s/your health care provider.
5. Children less than 1 year old, particularly infants under 6 months of age, are most likely to experience severe illness if they develop pertussis.  When possible, young infants should be kept away from people with a cough.  Babies with any coughing illness or choking episodes should be promptly evaluated by their physician.

School Nurses and the Vermont Department of Health work together closely to determine who is a close contact when a Pertussis case is diagnosed.  Please notify the school nurse and the Vermont Department of Health if anyone in your household is diagnosed with Pertussis or suspected Pertussis.  If you have questions, please call the Vermont Department of Health at (802) 863-7240 or 863-7323. You can also visit the Vermont Department of Health online at: http://healthvermont.gov/

The following press release is provided by Essex CHIPS:

The Essex Above the Influence (ATI) group, a group of Essex High School teens, recently received national attention as the winners of MTV’s “Unwasted Weekend” Challenge. ATI was chosen out of hundreds of submissions nation-wide to have their idea of an epic unwasted weekend made into a reality.

The Essex Above the Influence group is made up of 11 students leaders who have made a decision to stay above the influence of drugs and alcohol, and to share their message with their high school peers. Above the Influence is a national campaign that is being localized to the Essex Community. The local teen center and community non-profit Essex CHIPS is spearheading the efforts, working with youth and schools to implement ATI in the community. Essex youths are working to promote healthy lifestyles and substance-free events. “We wanted to find a way to work with youth to help change the perceptions around drug and alcohol use in our community,” said Ray Coffey, Executive Director at Essex CHIPS.  “This group of students has been amazing to work with, and has made the idea of living above the influence a mantra for them and their peers to live by.  They are clearly motivated to spread this message, and earning this recognition is a testament to their incredible work so far!”

In response to MTV’s request for videos, the Essex ATI group came together to make a YouTube video explaining what their epic weekend would be. The students came up with a lock-in style event held at the Champlain Valley Expo, where they and all their Essex High School peers could engage in a variety of healthy and substance-free activities. Students are currently working with producers of MTV’s “Made” and “Sweet 16” to plan an event that will consist of DJs, a dance-off, inflatable games, dodge ball, a photo booth, hypnotist, volleyball, soccer, a pie eating contest, and much more. “The entire school is wicked excited for this event.” Says Essex High School Student and ATI Group Member Joey Picard, “Things like this just don’t happen here in Vermont and I think it will be a great opportunity to have fun and teach kids that they don’t have to use drugs and alcohol to have a good time.”

Funds raised from the event will support the Essex High School Unified Sports Team, the bocce and bowling leagues for special needs students. The Unified Sports team will be participating in the Summer Special Olympics games held at UVM.  The group is hoping that the money raised from this event will help the team pay for tournament entry fees, transportation costs, and team uniforms.

The event will be held on December 17th. More information will be shared as it unfolds at http://www.facebook.com/EssexATI

To view the winning YouTube submission, visit http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tdIFGIaLHWk

David Wells, Principal of Westford Elementary School was presented a “2011 Exxon Mobil Educational Alliance Grant”   in the amount of $500 by Kevin Perry, from the Energy North Group.

The Exxon Mobil Educational Alliance program is to support the school’s math and science programs.  Kevin Perry, a Jolley Associates Supervisor in conjunction with the Milton Mobil Short Stop worked with school officials to secure the grant.  Grants are made available to schools across the country served by Exxon or Mobil stations.  The grants are made possible by funding from the ExxonMobil Corporation.

Westford Elementary School certainly appreciates the support of the Educational Alliance program.  The grant will be used to purchase Robotic kits for our newly formed Robotics Club which will serve students in grades 5-8.

IBM recently awarded Chittenden Central Supervisory Union (CCSU) a $10,000 Community Impact Grant for Essex High School (EHS) and Albert D. Lawton Intermediate School (ADL) to support student learning in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM).

Both schools have been exploring ways to increase student access to STEM learning.  In fall 2012, the EHS STEM Academy will be launched and, similar to the EHS Academy of Visual and Performing Arts (AVPA), will support individual student pursuits in specific areas while still participating in the EHS comprehensive program.

The IBM Community Impact Grant enables both EHS and ADL to expand STEM opportunities for students, including the implementation of integrated STEM units beginning in grade six. These integrated units of study in science and math classes will sometimes be taught in conjunction with IBM volunteers, and will empower students with engineering and problem-solving skills.  In addition, the funds from the grant would be used in procuring additional instructional materials and equipment for the STEM units.

“This grant helps us fund our work currently underway in STEM and increasing access to more middle and high school students,” CCSU Executive Director of Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment Amy Cole said.  “We are very grateful to our IBM community partners in their continued support of our students and teachers in this work.”

Chittenden Central Supervisory Union (CCSU), serving all Essex Junction schools, Westford School, Essex High School, and the Center for Technology, utilizes an automated emergency calling system, referred to as “AlertNow.”  The system is currently intended to communicate time-sensitive information.

A test of this system is scheduled for Friday, November 18, 2011 at 2:00 p.m.  At that time, families will receive a brief message from the system based upon contact information provided to the schools.  The system will contact families via e-mail, primary phone numbers and secondary phone numbers.

If you do not receive a message and you feel you should have, please contact your child’s school to update your contact information.  If you receive the message in error, please contact the CCSU Central Office at 879-5579 to be removed from the list.

Did you know you can now receive district and school news and announcements via email?

It’s easy! Simply visit www.ccsuvt.org and click on the “News and Announcements” on the right-hand side. From there, click on the topic you’d like to receive updates about and provide your email address. In addition, you can visit each school (using the tabs at the top of the page) and subscribe to their “News and Announcements” (also found on each school’s right-side menu).  You can subscribe to as many, or as few, as you’d like. Your information is kept confidential and only new updates will be emailed to you.

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