Benson Village School

Beginning on Tuesday, April 7th - meal pick-up locations will change due to a change in the Federal/State Guidelines: Meals will be available for pick up on Tuesdays and Fridays starting at 10:00 AM until noon at the following locations: -Benson Village School -Castleton Elementary School (no longer Fair Haven Union High School) -Fair Haven Grade School -Orwell Village School

Good evening. Tim Smith, chairman of the Slate Valley School District. I hope everyone is staying home and healthy in these difficult times. Many thanks to our health care providers. While difficult to discuss given the circumstances, I want to remind everyone that our school budget failed on Town Meeting Day by a small margin, 95 votes. The $59.5 million construction bond will be tabled for the foreseeable future, at least until the duration of the virus and its far-reaching impacts are better understood. Nonetheless, we are obligated to re-vote the school budget and hope to have a positive result by June 30th. While we continue to work with VT Govt officials, school administration, and town clerks, it is unclear at this time whether we will be holding an in-person vote by late spring or a mail-in vote. We will keep the public notified of any developments. Public participation is welcome at all of our meetings, however now, the ability of the public to attend is more challenging given the social distancing guidelines. In the past week, Governor Scott amended the open meeting laws whereby a physical location for the public to attend is no longer required. In the same manner that board members participate, the public is invited to attend our meetings in a virtual format. We are scheduled to have a Finance Committee on Monday 4/6 at 5:30pm, the link to attend is: https://meet.google.com/hus-roox-dkq?hs=122, dial in only 1-(502) 947-4166 PIN 781 639 980# We are scheduled to have a regular Board meeting on Monday 4/6 at 6:30pm, the link to attend is: https://meet.google.com/bzx-mcps-foo?hs=122, dial in only 1-(417) 647-1150 PIN 584 195 054# Information can also be found at the Slate Valley website, www.slatevalleyunified.org We appreciate your support and participation. Be well.

Beginning on Tuesday, April 7th - meal pick-up locations will change due to a change in the Federal/State Guidelines: Meals will be available for pick up on Tuesdays and Fridays starting at 10:00 AM until noon at the following locations: -Benson Village School -Castleton Elementary School (no longer Fair Haven Union High School) -Fair Haven Grade School -Orwell Village School

Bears with their favorite stuffed animals!

Learning about gardening and landscaping and keeping those reading skills sharp!

I love these pictures! Keep them coming, Benson!

I spied two Bears on a recent bike ride!

Another piece of beautiful painted marble from one of our middle school Bears!

Enjoying the sunshine!

Mrs. Wolcott working with her grandson!

Smiling while continuing their learning from home! A small amount of time each day makes a big difference. Some of our Bears took their classroom outside and made boats and raced them down the river! There were also train cars to count!

Bears taking a nature break!

Another great piece of marble artwork!

Math study buddies and another creative marble painting! You GO Middle School Bears!

One of our awesome Middle School Bears working on their science! A tremendous THANK YOU to students and families for however they are making this work for them!

Eat up little bears! Thank you so much for making our small efforts so worthwhile!

Huge shout out to Sara Mason PreK Teacher and Greta Doran Prek IA for creating and maintaining such a stellar program! Hi Sara, I hope you’re well and doing ok despite the Covid19 developments. The STARS annual report for Benson Village School Preschool Program has been approved and the 5 star status of the program has been updated for the coming year. Congratulations on this achievement and thank you for your ongoing commitment to providing high quality early learning opportunities for the children in your program. Yours, Johanna Vaczy STARS Coordinator

Carrie Wolcott (IA extraordinaire) went by Proctor, picked up some marble pieces and passed them out with the meals today for kiddos to paint!

A "Pawsitive" Referral!

Kinder students measuring each other, working with parents and siblings and SMILING! We got this! Keep sending your pics! We are always thinking about our students and families!