Benson Village School

BVS Kinder mathematicians!

The Slate Valley Board will hold public hearings to discuss the closure of Castleton Village School on the following dates: Monday, September 20th - 5 p.m. at Fair Haven Union High School Attend in person or join Google Meet https://meet.google.com/swv-prjj-mhf or dial (US) +1 617-675-4444 PIN: 577 845 560 7807# (More phone numbers: https://tel.meet/swv-prjj-mhf?pin=5778455607807) Monday, September 20th - 7 p.m. at Castleton Village School Attend in person or join Google Meet https://meet.google.com/pbf-sqfr-txw or dial (US) +1 617-675-4444 PIN: 434 083 972 7435# (More phone numbers: https://tel.meet/pbf-sqfr-txw?pin=4340839727435) Tuesday, September 21st - 6 p.m. at Castleton Elementary School Attend in person or join Google Meet https://meet.google.com/nmk-nqis-tyg or dial (US) +1 617-675-4444 PIN: 843 805 075 9156# (More phone numbers: https://tel.meet/nmk-nqis-tyg?pin=8438050759156

Slate Valley is hiring! To see our current employment opportunities, visit: https://www.slatevalleyunified.org/page/employment-opportunities

· Successful (safe and fun) bus evacuation drill! Big thanks to our older 🐻s who did an exceptional job of aiding the younger 🐻s in exiting the buses. #BVS #GOBEARS #BenStrong #svuvt

Saving Sam teamwork activity!! A stellar example of supporting students in learning to work together to create a plan and to be flexible in their thinking to achieve a specific goal! This was so much fun to watch! Thank you, Mrs. Thurston, for your continued brilliance in bringing learning to life for these 🐻s! #GOBEARS #BVS #BenStrong #SVUVT

September 14, 2021 Dear Slate Valley Families, If you have not done so already, we are asking you to notify us of your child’s COVID vaccination status. This pertains to all eligible students (age 12 and up). School districts are permitted by law to request that parents voluntarily disclose their student’s vaccination status to assist with the implementation of pandemic precautions. You may opt to not disclose this information. If you decline to provide the school with their child’s vaccination status, your child will be counted as not-vaccinated. Understanding the accurate percentage of vaccinated students in our district is critical to knowing when we meet the 80% threshold where masks will no longer be required. It is also important to know in terms of contact tracing. If your child is fully vaccinated, they will not need to quarantine due to an exposure. We greatly appreciate your help and support in getting this information to our school nurses. Please fill out the form below and return to the school nurse in your building. Again this only pertains to eligible students (12 and up) at this time. We will be mailing forms home as well. As always, if you have any questions please reach out to your school nurse. Best, Brooke Olsen-Farrell Vaccination Attestation Letter: https://5il.co/yvyg Student Vaccination Attestation Form: https://5il.co/yvyi

Slate Valley Unified Union School District is hosting a Community Engagement Meeting on September 23rd from 5:30-7:00 p.m. in the Fair Haven Union High School Gymnasium. You may also join virtually at https://meet.google.com/vis-nccm-ghw. For more information, please visit https://www.slatevalleyunified.org/page/esser.

Tonight (September 13th) You’re invited to the Slate Valley Unified Union School District Board Meeting at 6:30 p.m. at Fair Haven Union High School. This meeting will be in person or you may virtually connect by going to https://meet.google.com/jjz-yxpn-xyn or join by phone (US) +1 617-675-4444 PIN: 411 413 765 0756# Tonight’s Agenda: https://5il.co/yo9x Previous Meeting Minutes: https://5il.co/xtg7 Next Board Meeting: September 27, 6:30 p.m. at CES

Dear Slate Valley Families, We recently announced that your child’s school will be offering weekly COVID testing for ages 5 and up for both unvaccinated and fully vaccinated individuals (staff and students). Unfortunately, due to technical issues with the vendor/state we will not be able to start on September 15th as originally planned. Instead we are planning on starting weekly surveillance testing on September 29th. It will occur weekly every Wednesday after that. Again, it is completely voluntary. If you are interested you need to complete a consent form on-line. https://www.cic-health.com/consent/vt. After consenting you should receive an email from COMMUNICATION INTEL. Your building nurse will be organizing the testing. Frequently asked questions about the testing program. https://education.vermont.gov/news/covid-19-guidance-vermont-schools/school-staff-covid19-surveillance-testing/school-staff-resources Please reach out to your school nurse if you have any questions. Best, Brooke Olsen-Farrell, Superintendent

Dear Slate Valley Families, Your child’s school will be offering weekly COVID testing for ages 5 and up for both unvaccinated and fully vaccinated individuals. We will be starting weekly surveillance testing on September 15th. It will occur weekly every Wednesday after that. It is completely voluntary. If you are interested you need to complete a consent form on-line which can be found on the following link. https://bit.ly/3jXlspB After consenting you should receive an email from COMMUNICATION INTEL. Your building nurse will be organizing the testing. Frequently asked questions about the testing program can be found here. https://bit.ly/3BUmAk0 Please reach out to your school nurse if you have any questions. Best, Brooke

Reminder - Tonight! Please join Casey O'Meara, Slate Valley's Director of Curriculum, for an informational meeting on leveraging Title I Schoolwide Programs to Address Barriers to Academic Success at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, September 9th at Castleton Elementary School. The meeting can also be accessed using the following google meet link: https://meet.google.com/wpn-eika-ozr?hs=122&authuser=0. You may view the slides (with a survey at the end) from the presentation here: https://bit.ly/3h1Bddb.

The individual tents for our BVS Bears are a success! #learningoutdoors #BVSBears

Our Bears love their lunch time! Look at those happy, healthy smiles.

Happy National Substitute (Guest Teacher) Day! How fitting we have the wonderful Kathy LaRock with us for the next few weeks! Thank you so much for all you bring to BVS, Kathy! 🐻❤ our Guest Teachers! #BVS #GOBEARS #BenStrong #SVUVT

Reminder - this Thursday! Please join Casey O'Meara, Slate Valley's Director of Curriculum, for an informational meeting on leveraging Title I Schoolwide Programs to Address Barriers to Academic Success at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, September 9th at Castleton Elementary School. The meeting can also be accessed using the following google meet link: https://meet.google.com/wpn-eika-ozr?hs=122&authuser=0. You may view the slides (with a survey at the end) from the presentation here: https://bit.ly/3h1Bddb.

Please join Casey O'Meara, Slate Valley's Director of Curriculum, for an informational meeting on leveraging Title I Schoolwide Programs to Address Barriers to Academic Success at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, September 9th at Castleton Elementary School. The meeting can also be accessed using the following google meet link: https://meet.google.com/wpn-eika-ozr?hs=122&authuser=0. You may view the slides (with a survey at the end) from the presentation here: https://bit.ly/3h1Bddb.

We had a terrific 1st day at BVS with our Bears! Everyone was happy to be back and to quote Mrs. Roy, " The lines were divine!" The kids jumped back into the routine effortlessly.

Correction/Update - Boys and Girls Club will be opening tomorrow, Thursday, September 2nd, at all locations except Benson Village School. Boys and Girls Club at Benson Village School will be delaying their opening to Tuesday, September 7th due to COVID related staffing issues. We apologize for the confusion and any inconvenience this may cause.

Superintendent Farrell, Director of Special Ed Kris Benway, and Director of Curriculum, Instruction & Assessment Casey O'Meara stopped in this morning to wish all the 🐻s a happy 1st day! #GOBEARS #BVS #Benstrong #SVUVT

FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL TOMORROW! FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL TOMORROW! FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL TOMORROW! OK, now that I got that out of my system, we are so excited to greet you and your child(ren) in the morning! Plenty of pictures will be taken and posted so you will see the magic in our day! Please remember that ALL students need to be in the building no later than 7:55 and if they are eating breakfast, by 7:35. There is sure to be hilarity when we try to fold tents back up and pack them in their handy bags along with laughter and joy during the many recess breaks planned. Summer birthdays will be celebrated at lunch tomorrow with ice cream cups/popsicles too. It's going to be a great 1st day back! Rest up 🐻s, we learn, play, and grow tomorrow! #BVS #GOBEARS #BenStrong #SVUVT