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Volume 16, Issue 33

August 17, 2022

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.

Full-Service Community Schools Federal Grant Program - Reminder

Audience: Superintendents and Principals
Recently, the Federal Department of Education announced the opening of their 2022 application window for the Full-Service Community School (FSCS) program. From their announcement, “The purpose of the FSCS program is to provide support for the planning, implementation, and operation of full-service community schools that improve the coordination, integration, accessibility, and effectiveness of services for children and families, particularly for children attending high-poverty schools, including high-poverty rural schools.” Individual SU/SDs, or groups of SU/SDs working in concert, can submit applications via the federal grant system. Additional information about the grant, including absolute priority descriptions, detailed eligibility guidelines and application timeline, can be found on the Department of Education's Program Application and Competition website.
Contact: Johannes Haensch at johannes.haensch@vermont.gov

Peer Review Panelists Wanted

Audience: Currently Licensed Vermont Educators
The Agency of Education’s Peer Review Program needs licensed, Level II educators to serve as panelists. Panelists receive $175 per interview. The work of a panelist involves evaluating a candidate’s portfolio (approximately 2-4 hours) and participating in the interview process (approximately 1-2 hours). Interviews are online and scheduled based on your convenience. If you are interested, complete the online Small Scale Education Contract Survey by Sept. 15, 2022. The areas of greatest need for panelists are Early Childhood Education, Art, Theatre Arts, English and Music, but all are welcome to submit if interested.
Contact: Ryan McCormick at Ryan.McCormick@vermont.gov

Continuous Improvement Plans and the Programmatic Side of ESSER for New Central Office Staff

Audience: New Superintendents, Curriculum Directors and Business Managers
The Education Quality Assurance team will be hosting three virtual conversations focused on providing new superintendents, curriculum directors and business managers with best practices, requirements and processes for Continuous Improvement Plans and Everything ESSER. Session One will be held from 10-11 a.m. on August 31, 2022, Session Two from 2-3 p.m. on August 31, and Session Three from 1-2 p.m. on Sept. 6. You can register online on the Virtual Conversation Series web form. Each session will begin with a brief overview of the content but will be largely dedicated to answering questions from the field.
Contact: Josh Souliere at josh.souliere@vermont.gov

Agency of Education Open Positions

Audience: All
The Vermont Agency of Education has several open positions that are available to both state employees and external applicants. Open positions are Education Programs Coordinator I - Science Specialist - contact Pat Fitzsimmons at pat.fitzsimmons@vermont.gov and Education Programs Coordinator II - Career Pathways - contact Ruth Durkee at pat.fitzsimmons@vermont.gov.
Contact: AOE Info at aoe.edinfo@vermont.gov

Vermont Public: Back to School

Audience: Curriculum Directors, Principals, PreK-12 Teachers
The Vermont Agency of Education and Vermont Public (formerly Vermont PBS and VPR) continue our partnership to meet the anywhere, anytime, educational, social and emotional needs of Vermont students. As the summer winds down, visit the Vermont Public Kids and Education page to find online and printable resources to help students and teachers prepare for Back to School.
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.

All Learners Network Math Professional Development

Introduction to Launch/Number Sense Routines is a three-hour workshop offered in person on Sept. 20, 2022, from noon.-3 p.m. at the All Learners Network Learning Center in Burlington and virtually on Sept. 22 from noon-3 p.m. Launch is the first component of the All Learners Network lesson structure. This three-hour workshop introduces you to this routine so you can use it in your classroom, school or district. This is a great workshop to take to get to know Launch and interact with the Launch Library in the All Learners Online platform.
Contact: TJ Jemison at communicationsdirector@alllearnersnetwork.com

Equity Mini Grants for School Boards

The Vermont School Boards Association, Vermont Superintendents Association and Vermont Principals’ Association are pleased to announce a second round of mini-grants. With generous funding from the Vermont Community Foundation, this mini-grant program supports the pursuit of more equitable and inclusive education communities and is especially aimed at supporting school boards in this work. Five $5,000 mini-grants are available. Applications will be accepted through Oct. 17, 2022. View the Equity and Anti-Racism Mini-Grant information sheet for more information and the link to the mini-grant application.
Contact: Sandra Cameron at scameron@vtvsba.org

Prevent Child Abuse Vermont Has Act 1 Materials

A survey of 40% of Vermont schools found that 55% of schools with students in PreK-2 grades used Prevent Child Abuse Vermont's (PCAVT) Care for Kids in the ’21-’22 school year, 51% of schools with students in 3-6 grades used PCAVT’s We Care Elementary in the ‘21-’22 school year and 47% of schools with students in 7-8 grades used PCAVT’s SAFE-T in the ’21-’22 school year. You can learn more about these Healthy Relationships Project programs, purchase curricula or register to be trained on our website.
Contact: Marcie Hambrick at mhambrick@pcavt.org

Annual Financial Aid Trainings Offered by Vermont Student Assistance Corporation

Vermont Student Assistance Corporation's (VSAC) Annual Financial Aid Trainings for Education and Agency Professionals are once again being offered as two separate sessions. Financial Aid 101 will be remote on Thursday, Sept. 15, 2022, from 9:30 a.m.-11:30 a.m. Federal, State and VSAC Updates will be a hybrid training on Monday, Oct. 3, 2022, from 9:30 a.m.-11:30 a.m.
Contact: Chris Barry at barry@vsac.org

NASA TechRise Student Challenge

NASA is now accepting entries for the second NASA TechRise Student Challenge. Open to students in 6-12 grades, the challenge invites teams to design, build and launch science and technology experiments on high-altitude balloons. Entries are due on Oct. 24, 2022, and NASA will announce the challenge winners in January 2023. Each winning team will receive $1,500 to build their experiment, and an assigned spot to test it on a NASA-sponsored balloon flight. For Educators: educators can register for the virtual educator workshop on August 27, 2022, to learn more about the challenge and to get inspired about experiment ideas.
Contact: Celia Sepulveda at celia@csecomms.com

Professional Learning: Language Arts/Writing

Registration is open for Practice What You Teach: Become A Stronger Teacher Through Writing Your Own Stories. Beth Moore will be teaching this three-credit course both in person at the Champlain Valley Educator Development Center in South Burlington and via Zoom. It is designed around writing your own original stories and sharing them with others. Participants will learn strategies for establishing helpful writing routines, generating writing ideas, creating writing notebooks and will create their own conferring toolkit. The course will take place from Oct. 4 to Dec. 13, 2022, with a full-day writing retreat on Saturday, Dec. 3. Two texts will be included.
Contact: Lauren Wooden at lauren@cvedcvt.org or (802) 497-1642

Start a Destination Imagination Team

Looking for a fun way to introduce Science, Technology, Engineering, Math (STEM) and the Arts (STEAM) in your program or school? Ready to equip your students with the durable skills they will need to succeed? Destination Imagination’s Challenge Experience is designed to inspire interest in STEM/STEAM, introduce students to the creative process and design-thinking and teach important 21st Century skills. Teams of 2 to 7 students (K-12 and university) collaborate to solve one of seven exciting Challenges. STEAM on a Team with Vermont Destination Imagination!
Contact: Jane Youngbaer at vtdicreativity@gmail.com or (802) 272-2766

Professional Learning: Wilson Reading System Level 1 Certification

Registration is now open for the Wilson Reading System Level 1 Certification that begins Sept. 26, 2022. This online course with embedded assessments presents the multisensory structured language instruction required to teach students with significant word-level deficits who haven't responded to previous instruction. The course provides practical application of reading research, with particular emphasis on phonological awareness, phonics and spelling at the beginning levels of decoding and encoding. Grant funding is available through the Application for Grant Funding form.
Contact: Peter McDonald at pmcdonald@sterncenter.org

Register Now: Vermont Suicide Prevention Symposium

The Vermont Suicide Prevention Symposium is virtual, once again, this year, on Thursday, Sept. 29, 2022. The 2022 Theme is From Hope, To Prevention, To Connection. This event brings together national, regional and Vermont stakeholders to facilitate collaborations and strengthen suicide prevention. Register today on the Vermont Suicide Prevention Symposium webpage.
Contact: Kirk Postlewaite at Kirk@healthandlearning.org

Vermont Family Network Free Workshop: “VFN Back to School Series - Special Education Evaluation Plan and Report”

The workshop, Special Education Evaluation Plan and Report, will be held on August 25, 2022, from 1-2 p.m. It will focus on the task of the Evaluation and Planning Team (EPT), of which the parent is a member. EPTs use "Form 2 - Special Education Plan and Report" to plan for a child’s special education evaluation. Parents will learn what input they should provide for the Form 2 development. The sections of Form 2: Disability Determination, Adverse Effect and Need for Special Education Services will be reviewed. Questions during the presentation are welcomed. Presenter: Ernest Wheeler - Educational Consultant with the Vermont Agency of Education.
Contact: Rachel Boyers at rachel.boyers@vtfn.org

Creativity & Innovation - Professional Development Course for Educators

The Innovation & Creativity Course for Educators will be on Oct. 17-18, 2022, at the Lake Morey Resort. There will also be two hours, virtually, each month for follow-ups through early May 2023 to collaborate, explore and generate ideas with like-minded educators from around the state. Join this course and come away with a new, inspiring action plan on how to incorporate innovation, creativity and entrepreneurship into your curriculum. You will earn three-graduate or undergraduate credits thru Castleton University and/or professional development hours. This course is designed for 8-12 grade Secondary/CTE Educators and workforce/career professionals.
Contact: Laurel Butler at lbutler@vtsbdc.org or (802) 922-3692


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The field memo has time-sensitive and relevant information designed for students, teachers, and staff. The agency encourages principals, headmasters, and superintendents to share the memo with their education community. Additionally, individuals can subscribe or unsubscribe online.

Questions? Email Ted Fisher at ted.fisher@vermont.gov.