Harwood Union Middle School Blog Update 21-22 school year : Harwood Middle School Update, December 21, 2018

Harwood Middle School Update
DECEMBER 21, 2018

CONNECTING AS A SCHOOL COMMUNITY
FIRST STUDENT-LED MIDDLE SCHOOL ASSEMBLY!

Under the direction our student-led assembly crew, HUMS students held
their first Student-Led assembly this past Thursday.

Along with the Assembly Crew who has planned and will host the assembly,
an Assembly Band has been gathered
under the direction of Curtis Siegmann and Jacki McCarty,
modeled after the High School Assembly Band which is f
featured in bi-monthly high school assemblies.

Thursday's assembly included an introduction to the assembly format by the hosts,
a feature highlighting the HUMS Student Council and Student Newspaper Staff members
(who will be releasing their first issue of the Harwood Hard Copy this week),
a performance by the MS Assembly Band and a
TA Donut Eating Challenge in which TA representatives will compete for the TA Assembly
Challenge Title (trophy included).
In the future, the Assembly Crew hopes to include a variety of student acts showcasingHUMS talent. The feedback has been very positive!

MS ASSEMBLY CREW:

Abby Holter, Amalia Iskandarova, Pacie McGrath

MS ASSEMBLY BAND:

Jonah Halter, Curtis Siegmann, Beckett Kahn, Tyler Gaidys, Duane Pierson

Tim Wilson, Kyla Allon, Jacki McCarty, Anlu Thamm, Piper Boudreau, Arianna Clark

Macie Whalen, Jaden Purdy-Greig, Chris Herring

Curious about Food?
HUMS culinary students video chat with food scientist Maegan Olsen. Maegan answered questions about her work researching and developing new products at Cabot Cheese as well as the learning path she took to become a food scientist.

Eva Sollberger, a videographer who has created well over five hundred short films about Vermonters, spoke to our curious 7th graders this week about her passion for telling peoples' stories, her challenges, her process, and even her favorite equipment. This was a great way to celebrate the end of work on our ethnographic research in Language Arts and Social Studies classes.

SUBJECT: HUUSD School Board Meeting Update - Dec 19, 2018

__________________________________________

Dear members of our six town community,

Below please find the votes and key agenda items from the HUUSD board meeting on December 19, 2018.

1. Approved the following items as part of the consent agenda for December 19, 2018: Approve past meeting minutes; Accept board warrants totaling $244,698.85.

2. Approved updating the budget based on additional information received from our administrative team.

3. Approved amending the condition of our early retirement incentive from requiring 20 years of district teaching for retirement to requiring 15 years of teaching for retirement.

4. Approved directing the superintendent and administrative team to return to the original project budget after a discussion around 3 cent cut option fully explored.

5. Passed a resolution acknowledging the board’s strong desire to focus on our district’s asset management and all allocation in the next 12 months to more proactively engage in budget planning for next year.

6. Approved the creation of “Board Buddies” for student council representatives. (Welcome, students!)

7. Approved distributing “Join the HUUSD board" FAQs for distribution.

8. Approved revised communications structure and process.

9. Approved Community Engagement/Creative Discourse report, including 1) accepting the report, 2) approving distribution, and 3) sending policy through a process for fast-tracked adoption.

Our next HUUSD board meeting is scheduled for 6:00 pm on Wednesday, January 9th at the HUHS library.

Please note this meeting follows our recently adopted HUUSD board agenda format, with the first hour spent with committees meeting individually from 6:00 - 7:00 pm. The full board will come back together at 7:00 pm.

Please visit wwsu.org for board packets, agendas, and minutes - and to find the link to watch board meetings. The direct link to watch this and past meetings is: https://mrvtv.com/category/school-board-meetings/

Thank you for your continued support and engagement.

Respectfully,

The HUUSD Board, Christine Sullivan (Waitsfield) *Chair, Caitlin Hollister (Waterbury) *Vice Chair, Alycia Biondo (Warren), Jill Ellis (Fayston), Gabe Gilman (Moretown), Linda Hazard (Moretown), Garett MacCurtain (Duxbury) , Maureen McCracken (Waterbury)Theresa Membrino (Fayston), Melissa Phillips (Waterbury), Torrey Smith (Duxbury) , Alexandra Thomsen (Waterbury), Rosemarie White (Warren), Rob Williams (Waitsfield)

Dear Community Member,

On Wednesday, April 3rd from 8:00am-12:00pm Crossett Brook and Harwood Union Middle Schools will be hosting our biennial career fair at Crossett Brook Middle School. The career fair will target middle school students who are just beginning to think about how their education relates to real life opportunities. We are gathering interested state and local business and industry leaders, service providers, artists, scientists, politicians, athletes, farmers, journalists, and others to present information about their fields and places of work.

We would love to have you attend and share information about your particular career! Middle school students can sometimes feel disconnected from their education because they do not understand how it supports their future. We would like them to learn that the process of moving into the world of work begins now with their dreams, recreation, involvement, and volunteering. The more we can engage our youth in the community around them, the more successful we will be at transitioning them into prosperous contributing members of our society.

This is where your support is crucial! If you are passionate about your career and love what you do, then you are the right presenter for us! If you or your business are interested in participating in the career fair, please complete the form linked here. If you are not the person within your place of business who could coordinate participation, please forward this letter on to the individual who could best fill this role. We will contact you as we draw closer to the event to confirm your participation and update you on specific details. If you know of others who would be interested in participating in our fair, please feel free to pass along this information and the link above. Thank you in advance for considering this event. With your participation, we hope it will be a great success!

Regards, Jennifer Hempey & Jen Dreimiller School Counselors, Crossett Brook and Harwood Union Middle Schools.

Jennie Hempey Jen Dreimiller jhempey@wwsu.org jdreimiller@wwsu.org 802-244-6100 ext 2443 802-882-1144