Hi there Ward 7 neighbors,

I hope that this message finds you well and that you are having an enjoyable end of summer. The school summer break is over, and BSD schools are now already in their 3rd week. After a short hiatus in July, the School Board is back in full swing, with our monthly meeting coming up this Thursday, September 13th, at 6pm in BHS's Cafeteria.

Here are some highlights from the last few meetings. At the June meeting, the School Board passed a resolution to form committees to better oversee processes in the district. We now have 5 committees, including the Community Outreach committee, the Policy & Governance committee, the Curriculum & Personnel committee and the Finance & Facilities committee. Together with Commissioner Curry, I co-chair the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion committee, which is not a newly formed committee. At our last DE&I committee meeting, we had a comprehensive overview of Restorative Practices training in the district, as well as a discussion on bullying, hazing and harassment and how it is handled in the district.
The second resolution that we passed in June had to do with stopping development and building of the North and South End Pre-School centers, including new Central Office spaces, after much input from the community. These projects are now on hold, while we discuss the much needed and overdue renovation of our high school.

At a special board meeting in August, the Board passed a resolution requesting City Council to put a $70 million bond question on the November ballot for renovation of BHS. The Superintendent had arranged for 3 public tours of BHS to show the community that our high school, built in 1964, is in poor shape, with limited ADA accessibility and no air conditioning in its 7 buildings. This issue has been on Burlingtonian's minds for at least 2 decades and the time is overdue to do something about it. A renovated high school will strengthen our community and boost our city's economy.
To continue our conversation on the above school related issues and much more, I'd like to invite you to join me for coffee or tea and a bagel on Sunday, September 23rd from 10:30am to 12noon at The Bagel, 1127 North Ave., in the Ethan Allen Shopping center. See you then!

Cheers,
Monika
e-mail: mivancic@bsdvt.org

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