Important Update:
Date: March 18, 2020
To: All Slate Valley UUSD Families
From: Brooke Olsen-Farrell, Superintendent
Subject: Meals Starting March 19, 2020- Updated
Starting on Thursday, March 19th the school district will make breakfast and lunch meals available to all children ages 18 years old and younger while school is dismissed. Meals will be available Monday through Friday.
Thursday, March 19th - a breakfast for Thursday, a lunch for Thursday and a breakfast for Friday will be available for pick up.
Friday, March 20th - and each day thereafter a breakfast and a lunch will be available for pick up.
Meals will be available for pick up starting at 10:00 AM until noon at the following locations:
Benson Village School
Fair Haven Union High School
Fair Haven Grade School
Orwell Village School
**** Due to Federal Guidelines we are not allowed to have Castleton Elementary and Village School as pick up locations because of eligibility requirements. However all Castleton families can pick up at any of the other sites in the district.
The school district will let you know if the method of distribution is going to change.
At some point in the future, meals may be made available for pick up along the bus routes, but we will let you know in advance if and when this change is made. If we make this change, meals will still be available at each of the schools listed above for pick up. However, Castleton and Hubbardton families will still need to pick up meals from one of the eligible sites.
We will be sending out a form with the meals. We ask that you complete the form and return it to the staff member distributing the meals so that we can get a better idea of who needs meals, but is unable to get to one of the schools listed above for pick up. If you are unable to pick up meals, we will make every effort to get the meals to you. This form will also be made available online: https://5il.co/dwgv
Please note that you can go to any of the schools listed above. You are not restricted to the school that your child attends.
Please notify staff at the pick up location if you will be picking up meals regularly and you have any special dietary needs that have medical implications that must be met.
Per Governor Scott's recent directive regarding the requirements of providing child care for specified groups of essential employees as outlined in the following link we are working to collect information regarding those individuals in need of child care for their children. Please complete this form only if you are in need of child care for your children as defined by Governor's Scott directive (https://governor.vermont.gov/press-release/governor-phil-scott-orders-implementation-child-care-system-personnel-essential-covid)
Form:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1sSylQhJKYFxlBXGB3Wc_bl9Iei8FZLE8mykhz4HsIMc/edit?ts=5e72490b
Ms. McGarry (FHGS Librarian) created a Virtual Library for students while school is dismissed. Check out great resources for live author storytimes, audio and eBooks, databases, virtual field trips, and free parent resources: https://sites.google.com/svuvt.org/msmcgarrysvirtuallibrary/home
Social Distancing: What does it mean?
Starting on Thursday, March 19th the school district will make breakfast and lunch meals available to all children ages 18 years old and younger while school is dismissed. Meals will be available Monday through Friday.
Thursday, March 19th - a breakfast for Thursday, a lunch for Thursday and a breakfast for Friday will be available for pick up.
Friday, March 20th - and each day thereafter a breakfast and a lunch will be available for pick up.
Meals will be available for pick up starting at 10:00 AM until noon at the following locations:
Benson Village School
Castleton Elementary School
Fair Haven Grade School
Orwell Village School
The school district will let you know if the method of distribution is going to change.
At some point in the future, meals may be made available for pick up along the bus routes, but we will let you know in advance if and when this change is made. If we make this change meals will still be available at each of the schools listed above for pick up.
We will be sending out a form with the meals. We ask that you complete the form and return it to the staff member distributing the meals so that we can get a better idea of who needs meals, but is unable to get to one of the schools listed above for pick up. If you are unable to pick up meals, we will make every effort to get the meals to you. This form will also be made available online.
Please note that you can go to any of the schools listed above. You are not restricted to the school that your child attends.
Please notify staff at the pick up location if you will be picking up meals regularly and you have any special dietary needs that have medical implications that must be met.
Ms. Maggie McGarry, our FHGS Librarian, has created a tutorial for parents on how to use Google Classrooms. We hope this is helpful for you as some teachers are using Google Classrooms while we are not in the building. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34n-GcEW0Yc&feature=youtu.be
Due to increased volume nationwide, our alert system is experiencing difficulties. Please check our website regularly for important updates: https://bit.ly/38JVkpl
Good evening,
As a result of increased volume nationwide, our alert system is experiencing difficulties. The following message was sent out this evening:
Due to the issuance of new information by the White House and the rapidly changing situation, all Slate Valley Schools will be closed tomorrow March 17th to both students and non-essential staff. I will follow-up with an update tomorrow.
Thank you again for your patience and stay safe.
Brooke Farrell, Superintendent
Recently, a guided reading group in Mrs. Pequignot's class read a book about sharks. They spent time exploring real shark teeth and comparing them to the teeth in the book. The students also made brochures to teach others about sharks and what they learned!
We know that we are in the midst of uncertain times. Please know that we are doing everything within our power as a district to care for the well-being of staff, students and families. The Governor released a declaration today that stated that all students will be dismissed from school no later than Wednesday, March 18th. However, student attendance on Monday, March 16th and Tuesday March 17th is a family decision. Your child will not be penalized for staying home.
As a district, in accordance with recommendations from the Department of Health, we are no longer allowing non-essential outside visitors into our school such as volunteers, guest speakers, parents, etc. We will be asking parents to pick up and drop off their students at the front door. If you need to pick up your child during the school day please call ahead to the main office and arrangements will be made to meet you at the front door.
If you have a meeting scheduled with school personnel, please call ahead as we are making arrangements to host required meetings by phone or video. This includes Individual Education Program (IEP) meetings and evaluation planning and results meetings that are required by law.
In addition, field trips and all after-school events are canceled from this point through at least April 6th.
We are working on a plan to offer students at-home learning opportunities and access to a school meals program. We will be asking families whether or not you would like to receive meals while school is dismissed. I will be sending out further communication on this topic tomorrow.
Thank you in advance for your support as we progress through these challenging times.
Sincerely,
Brooke Olsen-Farrell
Good afternoon,
On March 15 at 3:20 p.m., Governor Scott announced that statewide school closure will occur no later than Wednesday, March 18, 2020. The purpose of this message is to provide you an update of the actions the Slate Valley Unified School District will take as it relates to Governor Scott's School Closure announcement.
First and foremost, student attendance at school on Monday and Tuesday is a family decision. For these two days, Slate Valley Unified School District attendance procedures will be waived, and no student will be penalized for not attending.
Your district leadership teams will be working with our employees to plan for the support of our students and families during the closure of school. To be clear, our primary areas of focus include the wellbeing of our students, families and employees. The plan that we are developing will strive to encompass all of the components that Governor Scott has referenced in his statement/press conference.
Thank you for your patience and flexibility as we move forward. You can expect regular communication from our district so that we are keeping you informed. We are doing all we can to make sure these priorities are taken care of to the best of our abilities.
Sincerely,
Brooke Olsen-Farrell
The FHGS Music Basket Raffle this past weekend was a HUGE success! Thank you to all who helped out!
The preschoolers took a walking trip to the post office to learn about the mail delivery process. Some parents accompanied us on our walk and joined the tour. The children mailed a postcard before they left and each of them took home a goodie bag with coloring pages. A big thank you to Laura at the post office who facilitated the visit!
Congratulations to our FHGS Geography Bee team for their participation in the event and their 2nd place finish!! Well done!
Mr. Eddy’s and Ms. McGarry’s 6th grade TAs joined Mrs. McCrea’s Kindergarten class for some yoga this morning for buddy time!
Ms. Lusenskas' excels class created board games based on the books they read. When completed they were able to play each game!
The FHGS music basket raffle is coming up! Help the 5-8 Chorus and Middle School band students raise funds for their trip to the High Note Music festival this spring!
The basket raffle is this Saturday, March 7th in the FHGS gym. Doors open at 10 a.m. and we will draw baskets at 11:30 a.m..
We have some great baskets for the raffle and are still accepting donations of baskets and gift certificates to be included. See you there!
Fair Haven's new Pet Mayor is Murfee! Congratulations to all the candidates. Thank you to our staff, students and families who supported this process!!
March 3, 2020 Results
