Volume 16, Issue 13

March 29, 2022

Agency of Education, State of Vermont and Federal Updates
Courtesy Posts

Agency of Education, State of Vermont and Federal Updates

This section of the Weekly Field Memo contains posts from the Agency of Education, other State of Vermont agencies, federal agencies or Vermont's congressional delegation.

Extension of Temporary Special Education Provisional License

Audience: Superintendents, Special Education Directors, Human Resource Directors
The Vermont State Board for Professional Educators extended its temporary special education provisional license through the 2022-23 academic year in response to continued demand for special educators across the state. This waiver presents a path to teaching for educators who would not typically qualify for a special education provisional license. Educators seeking this license are required to meet additional requirements to ensure their readiness to support students differentiated learning needs under their IEPs, including designated mentoring and completion of a series of modules orienting applicants to special education. As with all teaching provisional licenses, superintendents can begin requesting this special education provisional as of June 1, 2022.
Contact: Jacqui Kelleher at jacqui.kelleher@vermont.gov

Parent, Family and Community Engagement Webpage

Audience: Administrators, Home School Liaisons, Families 
New resources on the Agency of Education Parent, Family, and Community Engagement webpage include information for families and educators on the Special Education Parent Involvement Survey, opportunities through the Governor’s Institute of Vermont summer programs and Peace at Home parenting classes. Find other resources focused on strengthening family engagement, including AOE guidance, short articles, videos and studies.
Contact: Nancy Hellen at Nancy.Hellen@vermont.gov

Local Education Agency Plan FY 2023

Audience: Superintendents, Business Managers, Special Education Directors
The IDEA-B Local Education Agency Plan for FY 2023 is now available. The completed assurances are to be uploaded in the Grant Management System (GMS) with your FY 2023 IDEA grant application.
Contact: Jennifer Perry at Jennifer.Perry@vermont.gov

Asthma-Friendly School Nominations

Audience: All
Students, parents, staff and friends can now nominate their school to be recognized as an asthma-friendly school at bronze, silver and gold levels through the Vermont Department of Health’s Asthma Friendly Schools Program. Asthma-friendly strategies are simple to implement, low cost, and help students and staff with asthma avoid triggers, manage their symptoms, successfully learn, and avoid missed school days and asthma-related emergencies. Indeed, many of the actions schools are taking to satisfy policy requirements and address COVID-19 challenges may already make their school eligible. With Vermont among the top five states in the country in asthma rates, it is all the more important for schools to be as asthma-friendly as possible. The deadline for nominating your school is May 31, 2022, with recognition announced in June.
Contact: Karen Casper at Karen.Casper@vermont.gov

Budgeting Considerations/IDEA Part B Subgrantee Applications to Support Coordinated Early Intervening Services

Audience: Superintendents, Business Managers, Special Education Directors
Update to April 4, 2022, Live Office Hours - Due to changes in staff availability, please note the time change is from 10:30-11:30 a.m. Join the AOE Special Education Team for an overview of IDEA Coordinated Early Intervening Services (CEIS), this discussion will include how funds may be used, CEIS requirements, budgeting considerations and resources. Questions and comments that may be useful in preparing for our conversation may be sent to Chris Kane.
Contact: Chris Kane at Christopher.Kane@vermont.gov

Vermont Regional School Calendars for 2022-2023 - Reminder

Audience: Superintendents, Principals, Headmasters, Regional Technical Center Directors, Curriculum Coordinators
Vermont statute, 16 V.S.A. §1071 (e), requires that superintendents of schools, regional public-school principals and headmasters meet before April 1, 2022, and by majority vote, establish a uniform calendar within that area for the following school year. The calendar needs to include student attendance days, periods of vacation, holidays and the requisite five teacher in-service education days. Please send approved, regional calendars to Allison Keating at the Agency of Education no later than April 1, 2022, or as soon as approved.
Contact: Allison Keating at allison.keating@vermont.gov or (802) 828-4855

Student Member Sought for State Board of Education

Audience: Vermont Secondary Students – Graduating in 2024 or later
The Governor’s Office is seeking a candidate to serve on the State Board of Education as one of its two student representatives. The State Board of Education usually meets on the third Wednesday of every month and establishes policies, regulations and rules related to education in Vermont and in keeping with statutes passed by the Legislature. Meetings are typically scheduled from about 8 a.m. to mid-day and there might also be opportunities to serve on subcommittees of the Board. During the pandemic, the Board has continued to meet virtually each month via Microsoft Teams. This might change to in-person meetings, a hybrid option or some combination/rotation of meeting formats. Candidates may apply using the Application for Gubernatorial Appointment. The deadline for applications is April 29, 2022. Questions about the application or the nomination process itself can be emailed to EXE.Appointments@vermont.gov.
Contact: Suzanne Sprague at suzanne.sprague@vermont.gov or (802) 828-1130 or Maureen Gaidys at maureen.gaidys@vermont.gov or (802)-828-0047

Reminder: School Vaccine Incentive Program

Vermont public and independent schools are eligible to earn cash for meeting vaccination thresholds. Schools must be able to certify that they have met a vaccination threshold and that student input will be sought and considered when planning the use of these otherwise unrestricted funds. The application deadline is April 1, 2022. See the program overview for more information.
Contact: AOE COVID-19 Response Team at AOE.COVID19Testing@vermont.gov

Vermont PBS: March Resources to Celebrate Women’s History Month

Audience: Curriculum Directors, Principals, PreK-12 Teachers
The Vermont Agency of Education has updated our Vermont PBS webpage for March 2022. Celebrate Women’s History Month with resources from PBS Learning Media and VPR. Other topics of interest include Holocaust remembrance collections, exploring the outdoors, middle school math and young adult literature. We will continue to update this webpage monthly, so check back often to find new featured resources related to monthly themes and organized by grade band and subject area. Also, visit the Vermont PBS Kids and Education page to find more online and printable resources. To share resources and network with colleagues, join the Vermont PBS Educational Resources group on Edmodo. Activate your Edmodo account and join the VTED Learns community by filling out this form.
Contacts: Emily Leute at emily.leute@vermont.gov or Heather Duhamel at hduhamel@vermontpbs.org

Courtesy Posts

The views, opinions and resources shared in this section of the WFM are solely those of the original contributors. The Agency of Education does not endorse the views expressed by these contributors and reserves the right to refuse submissions. Questions related to any of these resources should be directed to the organizations, people and opportunities as shared. Please refer to the Weekly Field Memo submission guidelines for additional information.

Creativity & Innovation for Vermont Educators – Part 1 or Part 2 – For Returning Teachers

Creativity & Innovation for Vermont Educators is a course to inspire the entrepreneurial mindset in the classroom and beyond. This course will be held on Oct. 17-18, 2022, at the Lake Morey Resort. Our program focuses on helping educators be engaged in highly effective, fun, interactive learning experiences and lesson plans that educators can immediately integrate into their programs of study – any program of study or academic discipline. No matter what a person’s career pathway may be, the entrepreneurial process and mindset crosses all disciplines/fields and helps individuals either be more successful in creating their own venture and/or being a more focused and knowledgeable employee. Three graduate credits through Castleton University, or 45 professional development hours. For now, save the dates! For last year’s information visit the 2021 Innovation & Creativity Course webpage.
Contact: Laurel Butler at lbutler@vtsbdc.org or (802) 922-3692

Umatter Suicide Prevention Awareness Training of Trainers

Suicide is preventable and one of the first steps is to create awareness. Umatter Suicide Prevention Awareness Training of Trainers will help you become equipped to facilitate Umatter Suicide Awareness workshops in your community or place of work. You will gain the skills, knowledge, confidence and materials to bring suicide prevention awareness to your community. You will help others identify signs and symptoms of suicide, risk and protective factors, when and how to refer for more help and how to access resources. The training involves a 90-minute webinar on April 15, 2022, and a full day of face-to-face training on May 4, 2022, in Montpelier, Vermont.
Contact Catherine Diduk at info@healthandlearning.org

Special Virtual Event with Author Sarah Henstra

Don’t miss this special, virtual event with author Sarah Henstra on Wednesday, April 13, 2022, at 10:30 a.m. for Vermont students and teachers. Henstra will discuss her novel in letters, We Contain Multitudes, the Vermont Read 2021 choice. Register for this free event and submit any questions that you—or your students—would like to ask Sarah Henstra on the webinar registration page. You can register once for an entire class and then project the event during class time; the students do not need to register individually.
Contact: Ryan Newswanger, Vermont Humanities, at info@vermonthumanities.org

All Learners Network: Learning Center in Burlington

The All Learners Network Learning Center is available for outside groups to access for the day or part of a day. For additional information and to contact us to rent the space, check out the Learning Center webpage.
Contact: TJ Jemison at communicationsdirector@alllearnersnetwork.com

17th Annual Transition and Career Planning Conference Registration - April 1, 2022

Registration opens on April 1, 2022, for the 17th Annual Transition and Career Planning Conference “Deliberately Developmental: Thinking Like a Developmentalist to Support Students' Future Planning” that will feature Dr. Mandy Savitz-Romer, author and Harvard University lecturer, as our keynote speaker. This year's professional development opportunity will offer synchronous and asynchronous options. Attend via Zoom on May 12, 2022, or register to receive the keynote recording and facilitator’s guide. Visit the 2022 Transition & Career Planning Conference event page for details.
Contact: Cathy Printon at printon@vsac.org

Response to Intervention: From Soup to Nuts

The Response to Intervention: From Soup to Nuts is a virtual workshop that will be held on April 8, 2022, from 8:30 a.m.-4 p.m. Dr. Amanda VanDerHeyden will provide an overview of Multitiered Systems of Support (MTSS) logic and the basics of high-quality core instruction as a foundation; completing universal screening with class-wide intervention when needed; intensified instruction - how to do it and how to support implementation; evaluating Response to Intervention (including fidelity) and determining special education eligibility. This workshop is appropriate for school-based administrators, general and special education teachers and interventionists, Educational Support Team members, school psychologists and others involved in the Evaluation Planning Teams. You can register on the Vermont Association of School Psychologists webpage.
Contact: Shannon Newell at vtschoolpsych@gmail.com

Enhancing The Math Gameplan: High Impact, Low-Cost Shifts to Increase Engagement, Equity, and Understanding with Christian Courtemanche

Registration is open for the June hybrid course, Enhancing The Math Gameplan: High Impact, Low-Cost Shifts to Increase Engagement, Equity, and Understanding with Christian Courtemanche K-6 Christian Courtemanche. This course brings his energy and expertise to a new course (optional three grad credits) that will level up pedagogy and create resources that will be more impactful, more accessible and more inclusive for every learner. The course will be on June 20-23, 2022 with two follow-up sessions after school in fall. In-person and zoom options are available.
Contact: Lauren Wooden at lauren@cvedcvt.org or (802) 497-1642

Ready To Take On New Literacy Partnerships for 2022-23

Partnerships for Literacy and Learning has a lot to offer Vermont schools. In addition to events, seminars and graduate courses we can work with your school/district on your literacy needs. We can provide comprehensive literacy needs assessment with school and/or district results based on interviews, observations and other forms of data collection. We also like to facilitate the process for program evaluation and create customized coursework on all things literacy! Learn more about what we do and can offer at our Partnerships for Literacy and Learning School Support page.
Contact: Mary Grace at info@pllvt.org or (802) 828-0521

Register Your Class Now: K-12 Earth Month EduSeries

Vermont schools unite to celebrate Earth Month with this fun educational series for grades K-12! Learn how your class can be better stewards of Earth by sorting out your unwanted stuff, discovering who is turning food scraps into soil, and how to protect the environment from toxic chemicals in this 3-lesson series. Please register your class on the 2022 Earth Month EduSeries webpage.
Contact: Rhonda Mace at rmace@cswd.net or 802-872-8100 x211

The Crisis in Ukraine: Introducing a Historical Moment to Your Classroom (for 5-12 Grade Educators)

Vermont Higher Education Collaborative (VT-HEC) is offering a 2-hour webinar on The Crisis in Ukraine, on April 5, 2022, from 3:30-5:30 p.m. with Melissa Willard-Foster, Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Vermont. The webinar will explore the causes and consequences of Russia’s invasion: Putin’s motivation, the world’s reaction to it, the prospects for peace and the chances of a wider war. Educators will learn of resources that explore these broader questions and help them stay informed. Finally, participants will discuss ways to pique student interest without provoking anxiety or political division, thereby helping students process a historical event whose effects could shape the world’s future.
Contact: Julie Medose at info@vthec.org or (802) 498-3350