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Welcome..
It is a pleasure to be visiting and observing in schools again. "You are a reader just like me," I say to a seventh grader at Mount Anthony Middle School."You have four books you are reading here on your desk, and I have as many on the night stand next to my bed.” In a first grade, students are seeding the tallest sunflower I have ever seen for math lessons. Sixth graders have numbers listed across the white board. When I ask what they are doing, they respond, "We are finding the mean, median, mode, and range of shoe sizes. Would you like to add yours?"
The strike is over. There are smiles all around, among students and their teachers. School is back in session and the focus is, once again, back on our students. It is good to be back, in enthusiastic, teaching and learning environments.
How did we arrive here and how will we maintain positive momentum? The answer lies in three words-students, teachers, and sustainability.
Each of us looks at life through the lens of our own experience and background. Labor unions have a long, respected history in this country of bargaining for safe working conditions and a minimum wage. Favorable working conditions and benefits packages, bargained for over decades, have retained a valuable teaching work force. However, as financial difficulties have increased worldwide, within Vermont and locally, teachers and elected school board members have found themselves bargaining in a new context. This new context was present in our recently completed negotiations. Are traditional salary grids with annual increases and leveled contributions to benefits sustainable? When details of the recent agreement are released following ratification by the individual boards and the Teachers’ Association membership, we will recognize the value of a mutually agreed resolution which establishes the beginnings of a sustainable approach. Both sides have tackled important questions, unafraid to forge new ground.
We have all been affected by the strike. However, what unites us now in such challenging times is our individual and collective focus on our students. The relationships of our teachers with our students, our children, are highly valued. Our teachers are often the most significant adults for our students outside of their family, and for some, the most significant adults in their lives. Our teachers are not just instructors, but also advisors. Our teachers ensure a safe environment and nurturing culture. Students are supported and advised in their academic work and as they face decisions about risky behaviors, cultivating an understanding of healthy life choices. This influence is the very fabric of commitment to the teaching profession and our children. Administrators and support staff have the same goals and commitment, but educators cannot do this alone. Parents and community members must also be committed to the same goals.
We have a mutually settled agreement with our teachers and I am committed to making it work for all. As I continue my own work, dedicated to improving communications and improving educational opportunities and student achievement, I believe my attention to the following will strengthen our commitment to our children:
- the establishment of an advisory council of community, business, and industry members as previously planned
- a publication about our stellar programs and educational opportunities for community use and reference
- continued attendance at community organizational and PTG/AIM meetings
- continued weekly WBTN broadcasts about teaching and learning
- expanded CAT TV local educational programming
- and primarily a continued presence in our schools, visiting classrooms while maintaining my focus on improvement of programming and the cost-effective expansion of educational opportunities
What motivates me often as I observe our teachers, administrators, support personnel, and specialists are the words of our first teacher in space, Christa McAuliffe, I know these words motivate them as well.
"I touch the future. I teach."
Past Messages:
From 2010-2011 Academic Year
Upon the opening of the 2010-2011 Academic Year
Southwest Vermont Supervisory Union
August 17, 2010
How quickly summer begins to fade. In mid - August with less than a week until your return, the pulsing sound of crickets in the dark, early morning seems to call with urgency, "Hurry! There is important work to be done in what will be a complex and challenging year."
The opening of the 2010-2011 academic year occurs in an economic time which prompted the Governor and Legislature to issue "Challenges for Change," calling for educational efficiencies while continuing extraordinary efforts to engage students, increase graduation rates and contribute to student aspirations for the future. The accompanying guideline targets 2011-2012 budget reduction percentages for each Supervisory Union and School District, accelerating our budget development for fiscal 2012. Related to the economics driving "Challenge for Change," Legislative Act 153 requires supervisory union discussion regarding voluntary school district and supervisory union mergers before the end of the calendar year. The complexities of such discussion in a state that values above all else, community and independence is daunting at best.
I once worked for a Superintendent of Schools who frequently remarked, "Every challenge is an opportunity in disguise." And now I find myself, as your Superintendent saying to you, "These challenges are opportunities!" Let us seize opportunities to:
- Be vigilant! Keep our students in the forefront of all public discussion.
- Be contributors! Engage in collaborative problem solving to educate all students in an ever-changing, complex world.
- Be advocates! Promote and support not only academic achievement, but the development of student independence, resiliency, civic mindedness, and aspirations for the future!
These themes begin our academic year. I look forward to your return on Monday, August 23rd.
These are our children, our promise for the future. They are yours, indeed ours.
Catherine McClure, Superintendent
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| Superintendent's Biography | |
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Coming Soon!
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| WBTN Radio Show - SVSU The View | |
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- Cauley Picked for Monument Post
May 17, 2012 - Familiar Faces?
May 16, 2012 - State Board Tables NBGS District Independent School Application
May 16, 2012 - Independent School Settles Building Lease
May 12, 2012 - MAU's Levesque Signs to Play D-I Lacrosse
May 10, 2012 - Talent Show Spotlights Skills
May 10, 2012 - MAUHS Junior Wins Green Up Writing Award
May 6, 2012 - Attorney: Prudential Committee Change Valid
May 5, 2012 - BSD to Study Long-term Plans, Options
May 5, 2012 - Legislature Approves NBGS Charter
May 4, 2012
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