Slate Valley Unified School District

Tonight - May 9, 2022 You’re invited to the Slate Valley Unified Union School District Board Meeting at 6:30 p.m. in the Fair Haven Union High School Library. This meeting will be in person or virtually connect by going to https://meet.google.com/wdf-rbzv-grn or by calling: (US) +1 715-544-8886 PIN: 163 155 016# Tonight’s Agenda: https://5il.co/19xjx Previous Meeting Minutes: https://5il.co/19ip5 Next Board Meeting: May 23, 2022 - 6:30 p.m. at Orwell Village School

"Slate Valley students are sending a sweet message to children in Ukraine. Recently, students across the district have been making care packages containing maple candy to send children living in the war-torn eastern European country." https://www.rutlandherald.com/news/local/slate-valley-students-send-sweet-notes-to-ukraine/article_f84bb2c2-2845-57f3-b310-7c0325940e94.html

Slate Valley hosted a partner table at the First United Way Fun Day at Castleton University on May 1st. The United Way is a huge financial supporter of our Snack Sack Program and are wonderful community partners!

Dear Slate Valley Staff and Families, Unfortunately Covid-19 is making a resurgence in our area. If anyone is experiencing symptoms, even if you think it is just allergies or other illness, it is still recommended that you test to be sure. You can request tests from the school if you need them. If you are unable to test, you should stay home if you have symptoms until you feel better. You can also choose to wear a mask, wash your hands frequently, keep your hands away from your nose and mouth, clean surfaces frequently and distance yourself where you feel it is necessary. Please see the Department of Health website for more in depth information. Hopefully by following these strategies, we can keep this resurgence to a minimum. https://www.healthvermont.gov/covid-19 Please reach out to your school nurse if you have any questions. Best, Brooke Olsen-Farrell Superintendent

We're hiring! Slate Valley Unified Union School District has a year round full time position opening for an ACCOUNTS PAYABLE SPECIALIST. Responsibilities including processing accounts payable for the district. Bookkeeping experience is required, as well as strong technology and organizational skills. For more information, please contact Cheryl Scarzello, Director of Finance at (802) 265-2561 or email at cscarzello@svuvt.org Please visit https://www.slatevalleyunified.org/page/employment-opportunities for a complete listing of employment opportunities with SVUUSD.

Tonight - April 25, 2022 You’re invited to the Slate Valley Unified Union School District Board Meeting at 6:30 p.m. in the Fair Haven Grade School Library. This meeting will be in person or virtually connect by going to https://meet.google.com/wck-ifsf-xve or dial: (US) +1 865-401-0275 PIN: 911 262 892# Tonight’s Agenda: https://5il.co/19bi7 Previous Meeting Minutes: https://5il.co/18rlk Next Board Meeting: May 9, 2022 - 6:30 p.m. at Fair Haven Union High School

Happy Instructional Assistant's Day! We appreciate all of your hard work and dedication to our students.

Good evening, The budget passed with the following results: Yes: 882 No: 541 We want to thank the community for voting!

Please remember to vote today! Town of Benson: 10:00 AM - 7:00 PM, Benson Community Hall Town of Castleton: 8:00 AM - 7:00 PM, Castleton Fire Station Town of Fair Haven: 10:00 AM - 7:00 PM, Fair Haven Grade School Town of Hubbardton: 10:00 AM - 7:00 PM, Hubbardton Town Hall Town of Orwell: 10:00 AM - 7:00 PM, Orwell Town Clerk's Office Town of West Haven: 10:00 AM - 7:00 PM, West Haven Town Hall For more information, we invite you to visit the budget page on our website: https://www.slatevalleyunified.org/page/budget

Save the Date! Our next Middle School Family Forum is IN-PERSON on April 28th at 5:30 p.m. at FHU! Join us to hear about athletics and extracurricular activities, as well as other topics. We look forward to seeing you there! *Please note the date change from our previous post.

Join us tonight at 6:30 p.m. in the FHUHS Band Room for an informational hearing to discuss the proposed FY23 budget (Article 2), which will be voted on tomorrow by Australian ballot. Virtually connect by going to https://meet.google.com/kwb-acpu-kjm or by calling +1 352-503-8958 PIN: 358 031 844# For more information, we invite you to visit our budget web page: https://www.slatevalleyunified.org/page/budget.

As we approach our April 12th Informational Meeting and April 13th Budget Revote, we are highlighting Frequently Asked Questions (https://5il.co/1898z) related to the FY23 Budget. Question: How does Slate Valley’s FY23 Education Spending per Equalized Pupil compare to surrounding districts? Answer: Rutland City: $18,624 Mill River: $18, 376 Estimated State Average: $18,023 Otter Valley: $17,048 Slate Valley: $16,947 Quarry Valley: $16,870 For more information, we invite you to visit our budget web page: https://www.slatevalleyunified.org/page/budget.

Tonight - April 11, 2022 You’re invited to the Slate Valley Unified School District Board Meeting at 6:30 p.m. in the Fair Haven Union High School Library. This meeting will be in person or virtually connect by going to https://meet.google.com/pon-cdyc-ivw or dial: (US) +1 567-250-1061 PIN: 344 705 713# Tonight’s Agenda: https://5il.co/18j0p Previous Meeting Minutes: https://5il.co/185lr Special Meeting: April 12, 2022 - 6:30 p.m. at FHUHS Band Room

As a reminder, there is a special meeting on Tuesday, April 12th at 6:30 p.m. in the Fair Haven Union High School Band Room to discuss the proposed FY23 budget (Article 2), which will be voted on by Australian ballot on Wednesday, April 13th. We invite you to visit the budget page on our website for more information: https://www.slatevalleyunified.org/page/budget

As we approach our April 12th Informational Meeting and April 13th Budget Revote, we are highlighting Frequently Asked Questions (https://5il.co/1898z) related to the FY23 Budget. Question: What changed from the March vote? Answer: Since the voters of Castleton and Hubbardton voted to close and purchase the Castleton Village School from Slate Valley UUSD, $33,500 of building operation costs were removed from the budget. For more information, we invite you to visit our budget web page: https://www.slatevalleyunified.org/page/budget.

As we approach our April 12th Informational Meeting and April 13th Budget Revote, we will be highlighting Frequently Asked Questions (https://5il.co/1898z) related to the FY23 Budget. For more information, we invite you to visit our budget web page: https://www.slatevalleyunified.org/page/budget. Question: Why is there a budget decrease, but on the ballot the school budget article says there is an increase and the district is estimating a tax rate decrease? Answer: The wording on the budget article can be confusing. The information that appears on the ballot is set by Vermont statute. The language was jointly developed by the Secretary of Education and the Secretary of State and was adopted by the State Board of Education. $26,236,547 is the amount of the total expenditure budget for the entire district for the school year 2022-2023. It is the amount necessary to operate and maintain 5 buildings and to educate 1,250 students. The expenditure budget is $43,838 less than the 2021-2022 school year budget. 2.78% is the percent increase in education spending per equalized pupil compared to the prior year. Education spending per equalized pupil is the amount of the expenditure budget ($26,236,547) less the district's local revenue divided by equalized pupils. Equalized pupils is based on a formula that gives greater weight to certain students. The principle being that it costs more to educate certain students. Since the district has less local revenues and fewer equalized pupils the resulting change compared to the previous year is a slight increase. We are estimating a tax rate decrease because Vermont's system of determining education property tax rates takes into consideration the amount of money in the State's Education Fund. Since this year there is a surplus in the Education Fund it reduces the amount of Slate Valley's local tax rates.

In anticipation of the upcoming informational meeting on Tuesday, April 12th and FY23 Budget Revote on Wednesday, April 13th, we have put together a mailer with some helpful information on it: https://5il.co/17itr For more information, please visit the budget page of our website: https://www.slatevalleyunified.org/page/budget

Please join us Thursday (April 7th) at 5:30 p.m. in the FHUHS Library or join virtually to discuss our Parent/Family/Community Engagement Policy E-1. This meeting will be an opportunity for parents/community members to provide feedback on the policy and discuss Slate Valley’s Continuous Improvement Planning. Policy E-1: https://5il.co/rao4 Meeting ID: https://meet.google.com/cee-mehp-crb Phone Number: (US) +1 414-909-5677 (PIN: 707156020)

The Slate Valley Universal Preschool Program will be conducting developmental screenings for children 0-5 years of age on Thursday March 31st at Benson Village School. Screening involves activities that are both fun for young children and help us learn about a child’s motor, cognitive, and language skills. Vision and hearing will also be screened. We encourage any child aged 0-5 years that resides in Benson, Castleton, Fair Haven, Hubbardton, Orwell and West Haven who has not previously been screened to be screened. If you plan to attend this screening, please call Benson Village School for an appointment.

This weekend 6 students from our school district qualified to compete with their teams at the Zone 1 IEA Regional Finals Show! Interscholastic Equestrian Association (IEA) is a national program that currently has over 14,000 riders and supports 3 disciplines- Western, Hunt Seat and Dressage. The Pond Hill IEA High School Team won yesterday along with several riders (both middle school and high school) winning individually, qualifying for the National Show next month in Harrisburg, PA! Slate Valley students include: Kylee LaDuke- FHU Camryn Vermette- FHU Isabelle Cole- FHU Christine Boutwell- Castleton Village School Rhylee Macedo- Orwell Village School Breanna Woods- Castleton Village School Congratulations to all!