Williston Observer

By Bonnie Birdsall

Here in the Williston schools, we are excited and very fortunate to have this new initiative included in next year’s proposed budget for our fifth and sixth graders. Some members of our community are asking excellent questions and we thought we’d share some background information.

After many conversations initiated by teachers at the grades 5-8 level from last spring through the fall of this school year, a group was formed to begin discussion about what embarking on a 1:1 program might look like in Williston. Representatives from each academic team, the technology department and administration were invited to join the group and began to meet. This group met to discuss this idea and most importantly, come up with WHY we would want to go down this road. We also received great support from the community about exploring this avenue.

We have looked at five critical steps for implementing this 1:1 initiative. Careful thought and research continues to go into these steps and much more.

Step 1: define the goals of the 1:1 program

1. Technology is our main resource. It’s easier to find resources online to support literacy (Common Core), have the ability to annotate work and it’s less expensive than buying hard copies of books.

2. World competition: if we want to compete, we need to join in.

3. Personalizes education. It provides great resources for kids with all different styles of learning.

4. It’s a major shift in our learning environment; it provides transparency and ownership of learning, and students create their own personal learning networks.

5. Students have the ability to publish their work, widening their audience.

6. Equity: it levels the playing field for all students.

7. We’re providing 21st century tools for 21st century learners.

8. It helps teachers design learning experiences to support a paradigm shift.

9. It’s the intent of 1:1 programs to empower students with the responsibility of anytime, anywhere learning. Everyone will have 24/7 access.

10. It fosters creativity, motivation and engagement.

Step 2: The role of the device in our classrooms 

The device is simply a device. It is not coming to take over our classrooms, nor is it replacing quality teaching. This device will give students a better opportunity to share, connect and seek out information. It will not be a distraction, but another arm of the classroom.

Step 3: Harnessing the device’s power

We will offer professional development that not only presents the device’s functionality, but displays examples of it in use for our faculty. Funds for professional development are built into the budget. We are also fortunate that we have many resources and people to turn to who have traveled down this road already. Locally, this includes Burlington, South Burlington, Essex Junction, Essex Town and many more schools in Vermont that have already initiated 1:1 experiences with students.

Step 4: Put it away when appropriate

Our students will not be using this tool and only this tool throughout the day. They will still use pencil and paper, have face-to-face interactions and solve problems collaboratively. “Technology tools are essential. It is no longer good enough to have a scheduled ‘computer time’ on shared devices. On the other extreme, it is also not appropriate to have students ‘staring at a screen’ all day. The tools our students use as part of their investigations need to be there, in the background, available when they need them. They may need to check a fact, look up where a town is on a map, jot down a key bit of information. Having a tool on hand progresses their learning immediately,” wrote Richard Lambert, an Australian assistant principal, on his education blog, www.richlambert.edublogs.org.

Step 5: teach, model and support information literacy

The iPad’s powerful collection of multimedia tools provides innovative ways to inspire student learning. The device is an avenue for learning and discovery, but it cannot replace the student’s ability to think critically and question. The device will give them access to a plethora of information and potential answers, but it will not always give them a clear course to follow. That’s where effective teaching is essential and new literacies are taught.

A 1:1 initiative should be our ally in the daily task to provide our students with the best access to information and promote learning. There is no denying the rapidly changing pace of our world. It is our responsibility as educators to prepare our students for this world. A 1:1 environment is simply a start. We are preparing our students for their future, not our past.

To help answer questions about this initiative, we are establishing a resource page on the school’s website. If you have specific questions, feel free to contact Bonnie Birdsall [email protected]

Bonnie Birdsall is the technology integration specialist for the Williston School District.

Student scholars recognized

Five local students have been invited to apply to become U.S. Presidential Scholars.

Champlain Valley Union High School students Andrea Joseph of Williston, Jonathan Liebman of Williston, Conor Mcquiston of Williston and Carolyn P. Woodruff of Charlotte, along with Burlington High School student and St. George resident Monica Barker were named among 46 Vermont students on the list.

The U.S. Presidential Scholars Program was established in 1964, by executive order of the President, to recognize and honor some of the country’s most distinguished graduating high school seniors. Each year, up to 141 students are named as Presidential Scholars, one of the nation’s highest honors for high school students.

Scholars will be selected in April and recognized during National Recognition Weekend in June. Scholars receive an expense paid trip to Washington, D.C. to meet with government officials, educators, authors, musicians and scientists.

Students named to deans’ lists

The following Williston students were named to their college or university deans’ lists:

Emily Asch, Saint Michael’s College

Katherine E. Buxton, St. Lawrence University

Christopher Cozzalio, Johnson State College

Kristin E. Darby, Clarkson University

Emily Faraone, Roger Williams University

Adam Geffken, Saint Michael’s College

Julie Ho, Saint Michael’s College

Shelly Ho, Johnson State College

May Hoyt, Saint Michael’s College

Kelsey Jensen, Colgate University

Shelby Knudson, Saint Michael’s College

Kendal Kohlasch, Siena College

Elena L. McCormick, St. Lawrence University

Melanie Montbriand, Johnson State College (President’s list)

Jessica A. Novak, St. Lawrence University

Erin O’Brien, University of New Hampshire

Kiersten Olivetti, Johnson State College

Eric Robinson, Saint Michael’s College

Frederick Spencer, Johnson State College

Advocacy groups are asking legislators to support bills in both the Senate and House that would provide free school lunch to all low income students.

Hunger Free Vermont, VT Food Education Every Day and the School Nutrition Association of Vermont recently hosted School Nutrition Action Day at the State House.

“All over Vermont, school cafeteria workers report that students are going without lunch because they don’t have the funds to pay for lunch and there is no food at home,” said Dorigen Keeney, program director for Hunger Free Vermont. “Many of these students live in households that make too much money to qualify for free school meals, but not enough to meet basic needs.”

Sen. Sally Fox and Rep. Johannah Donovan are introducing bills that would use state funds to pay the student’s portion of reduced price lunch—40¢ per lunch—to ensure that the more than 6,000 students who fall into this reduced price category have access to lunch.

The proposals are endorsed by educational and school food organizations.

“We cannot afford the current system that puts low income students in the position of going hungry or having to sneak food or get money from teachers,” Kathy Alexander, former president of VT School Nutrition Association and food service director for Addison Northeast Supervisory Union, said in a statement.

“We should be certain that our contribution to the plate is just healthy food, period. Not shame, worry, fear, or, God forbid, hunger.”

The proposal outlined in these bills S.26 and H.60 is estimated to cost $320,000 per year and would leverage an additional $390,000 per year in federal funds, as more school meals would be served. School meal programs are currently struggling financially as the federal reimbursement has not kept up with the cost of providing meals, especially this last year with the higher nutritional standards.

“These funds will not only feed hungry students but will support the financial health of the school meal programs,” said Marissa Parisi, executive director of Hunger Free Vermont. “We encourage the Legislature to support this proposal that supports students, working families, and communities.”

By Stephanie Choate

Observer staff

Williston and Champlain Valley Union High School boards finalized their respective budgets for fiscal year 2013-2014 in the past week, both shaved down from earlier versions.

Like schools across the state this year, both boards have struggled with increases to their baseline budgets, largely due to increases in health care costs and 3 percent scheduled salary increases.

The Williston School Board on Jan. 24 approved a budget of $17,468,262, a 5.09 percent increase over last year’s budget.

“It’s tough to put an increase out there, but when you look at the history, (the budget has) increased less than 2 percent over five years,” Board Chairwoman Holly Rouelle said on Tuesday. “We feel good about adding the science (consultant) and also the 1-to-1 iPad initiative.”

On Jan. 28, the CVU Board was buoyed by a quarterly financial management report after its last meeting in January that was “much better than expected,” CVU Board Chairman David Rath told the Observer.

“In a budget season where there has been nothing but bad news, it was nice to get one piece of good news,” he said.

The report allowed the board to come down to a final budget of $22,038,941—a number that will result in a single vote on the March 5 ballot and a 2.89 percent increase from the 2012-2013 budget. If the budget had exceeded the current fiscal year’s spending, adjusted for inflation, plus one percent, it would have resulted in a two-part vote. The board reduced the final budget from the $22,075,261 to $22,104,261 range discussed at its last meeting on Jan. 10.

The board opted to significantly reduce as-yet-unidentified budget cuts, known as “go-gets,” and hold off on adding the half-time math coach, half-time power reading position and substitutes it had previously discussed.

“This was a very difficult budget process for this board and we all felt good to have worked out a way to do a one-vote budget that we think limits risk and is reasonable for our communities,” Rath said.

Voters in Williston, Hinesburg, Shelburne and Charlotte must ultimately approve the budgets on Town Meeting Day on Tuesday, March 5.

Bond vote on new public works building on ballot

By Luke Baynes

Observer staff

The Williston Selectboard approved a fiscal year 2014 operating budget of $8,845,370 on Monday—a 4.4 percent increase over the current fiscal year.

Based on current municipal grand list projections, the $370,140 budget increase equates to a rate of 24.38 cents per $100 of assessed property value, compared to the current 23.23-cent rate. Put another way, the increase would equal a tax bill hike of $11.50 per $100,000 of property value.

The fiscal year 2014 budget approved by the Selectboard represents a $79,410 decrease from the budget initially presented in early December. Cuts include a $10,000 decrease in funding for the Environmental Reserve Fund and the elimination of almost all funding for new positions or work hour increases across various town departments.

“What I’ve cut out of here are all new positions, or increases in hours, with two exceptions,” Williston Town Manager Rick McGuire told the Selectboard. “One is the police position that was requested for a full year and I put it in for a half year. And the other exception is the intern for the manager’s office. I cut in half the request (from $10,000 to $5,000 in wages).”

The Selectboard also chose not to include a request from Williston Fire Chief Ken Morton to add two full-time firefighter/EMT positions.

“I prioritize public safety. I think the town should be very, very cognizant of that, and I do feel conflicted about removing what Chief Morton says he needs,” acknowledged Selectboard member Debbie Ingram, “but also, as I said last (meeting), there have been so many people who have been suffering economically, and to ask those people to pay more, I feel bad about that, too.”

Selectboard member Chris Roy said that all things considered, he is satisfied that the budget cuts are fair.

“The impact of this budget is spread around pretty well to many different parts of the town’s services, and I think that that’s good, in that it’s not just singling one area out for the most cuts,” Roy said.

PROPOSED PUBLIC WORKS GARAGE

The Selectboard also agreed Monday to include a bond vote item on the Town Meeting Day ballot that will ask voters if they wish to authorize the construction of a new Williston Public Works facility at a total cost, including land acquisition expenses, not to exceed $5.9 million.

The measure would require the town to borrow funds through the issuance of a municipal bond, although a $70,000 earmark in the town’s capital budget, plus the sale of the town’s existing public works facility for a projected $1 million, would likely reduce the bond amount to about $4.85 million.

The estimated $5.9 million project cost represents a significant downgrade from the preliminary $7.7 million estimate presented at the Selectboard’s Jan. 14 meeting.

McGuire called the $5.9 million estimate “very, very, tight,” but noted that the project can be scaled back if necessary.

“We think we can do it for this (amount),” McGuire said. “We’ve been working with one individual contractor who thinks we can do it for this.”