Dear PCS Community,

 

I hope this finds you all well as we kick off our Winter break!  We have a longer than usual list of information in this week's Friday News.  As always feel free to reach out with any questions or thoughts that you might have.

 

Upcoming Dates

Feb. 17 - 21 - Winter Break

Feb. 24 - After School Enrichment Programs begin

Feb. 25 - Final Winter Sports Day

Mar. 3 - No School for teacher inservice

Mar. 4 - No School - town meeting day

Longer Term:

March 31 - April 4 - VTCAP Assessments for students in grades 3-8

April 9 - 11 - Frozen Jr Production Week

April 14 - 18 - April Break

June 20 - Last student day **(This is if there are not more snow days, 

 

After School Enrichments

Earlier this week I sent information regarding after school enrichment options for our next session of programming which runs from February 24 - April 10.  Please see the list of options here, and use this google form to sign up.  We will confirm enrollment by Friday Feb. 21st, for programs that will begin the week of February 24th.

 

Mark Speno's message on Solidarity and Support

If you did not see WSESU Superintendent Mark Speno's message yesterday, please see it here.  I feel proud to work in a district and in a school community such as PCS that is guided by a foundational, unwavering commitment to do right by every student who walks through the doors every day.  I couldn't agree more with Mark's words, and I that you all - our community of families, staff and students - for your partnership in leading our school community towards kindness and care for eachother.

 

Grant Awards - Exciting News

I am happy to share that over the past month, we have been awarded 3 different grants as a school.  First, we were awarded, in partnership with Academy School in Brattleboro, a large grant committed to helping us develop, expand and sustain our commitment to the community school model of education.  What is the community school model?  Here is a nice video that explains it.  There will be numerous opportunities for engagement as we start the process this Spring, and we look forward to working with as many folks as possible in designing our commitment to establishing PCS as a true community school.

 

The second grant that we were awarded, was a Vermont Act 78 Grant for after school and summer programming.  This grant, which will bring us a sizable amount of money for the next four years, will allow us to again offer summer programming at PCS at no cost to families, and give us the opportunity to expand our after school programming.  We are excited for these opportunities!  More on camp below.

 

Finally, we were awarded a smaller-scale grant from the Vermont Children's Trust Foundation to rebuild our bike skills park on the soccer field side of the school.  More information to come on volunteer work days when the snow melts and the ground thaws.

 

Summer Camp

With the award of the grant application mentioned above, we are in the midst of planning summer camp.  A few details still need to be worked out before we proceed with offering signups (expect that in the next few weeks), but here is an overview of the planning:

• We plan to run at least 4 weeks of camp this year, starting on the week of July 7th

• The model will change - as opposed to signing up for a themed week long camp (crafting camp, for example), students will just sign up for camp, and there will be a variety of offerings for students to choose from every day

• There will still be the pool in the afternoons

• We anticipate capacity for 40-50 campers of all ages per week

I hope you all have a wonderful break.  Thanks as always for your partnership and support,

 

Jon