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| Legends and Fantasies |
| By Peter Herman, VSBA President - Public education is under attack from several quarters these days, and much of the negative information is based on long-held and often trumpeted beliefs that are the equivalent of urban legends. The problem is that believing these legends leads to decisions that are bad for our state, bad for our communities, and bad for our children. Here are a few of the most pernicious ones.More |
| Roberts Keeps Busy |
Our VSBA Director Profiles series continues with our own "Queen of the Long Commute", VSBA 1st Vice President Kalee Roberts. Living in Vermont while working in Rhode Island: it can be done (with enough time to spare for multiple school boards!). More
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| The State Board and the Future of Education in Vermont |
| by William J. Mathis - I was presenting standardized test scores to a group of parents when I unconsciously parroted an often-heard phrase, "In order to be economically competitive in the twenty-first century, we have to have high test scores." More |
| The Importance of Early Education for All Children: A Superintendent’s Perspective |
by Frank Perotti - Our dear friend’s twins, Kyle and Laura entered the world November 11 and will enter kindergarten in September 2012. Both will be eager to learn and excited about "finally" going to "real" school. Their family will be equally excited and apprehensive at the same time. What the parents, teachers and administrators all will know is that depending on the learning experiences during the first five years of life, the outcomes for these two children will be very different and extremely difficult to change even with often expensive interventions during their school experience.More
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| School Board Reorganization |
| By: Winton Goodrich - First, make sure all new board members are duly sworn in. The town/city clerk usually performs this function. By law, new board members must take the oath of office and the superintendent notifies the Commissioner of Education within 10 days following the election. More |
| VSBA Around Vermont |
| By Winton Goodrich - First, make sure all new board members are duly sworn in. The town/city clerk usually performs this function. By law, new board members must take the oath of office and the superintendent notifies the Commissioner of Education within 10 days following the election. More |
| What Can School Boards Do to Prevent Students from Dropping Out? |
| By Julie Shields - Dropping out of school is a decision that sets students up for a lifetime of challenges. Many cycle in and out of the prison system. Others end up on government assistance or struggle with unemployment. A recent Princeton University study shows that each dropout, over his or her lifetime, costs the nation $260,000. More |
| Leadership Academy For Building Administrators & Educational Leaders |
| Sponsored by The Vermont Principals’ Association *** August 5-7, 2008 *** Mount Snow Grand Summit Resort. How do we create a new education system when we cannot envision it? How can we be innovative and develop new programs and services while facing extensive regulations and severe budget constraints? These are just a few of the dilemmas we face in education. In this keynote address, Ray McNulty will share five new leadership lessons and a set of strategies to build innovation and leadership density into education systems, schools, and classrooms. More |
| NSBA: Your Voice at the National Level |
As your representatives to the National School Boards Association (NSBA) Board of Directors, we want to introduce ourselves, give you a sense of our roles, and describe why we believe NSBA is important to your work on local and state levels. We hope that this will be the first of regular updates to keep local school board members and state association boards more aware of issues and activities of your national association. More
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| Top Ten Strategies for Vermont Schools to Reduce Costs Via Energy Efficiency |
| By Amy Rubin - Vermont schools are reducing costs through energy-saving approaches to daily operations. Efficiency Vermont has released the following Top Ten Money-Saving Strategies for Schools, based on successful energy-saving actions being taken in districts throughout the state. More |
| VSBIT CORNER: VEHI Health and Dental Insurance Rates for 2008-09 |
| by Joe Zimmerman - During the first week of January, the Vermont Education Health Initiative (VEHI) announced health and dental insurance rates for 2008-09. Beginning July 1, 2008, health plan premiums will increase by an average of 5%. (The actual increase may vary somewhat, depending on the insurance plan selected and additional riders.)More |
| The National Playground Safety Institute Training |
| The Vermont Recreation and Parks Association (VRPA) is proud to be hosting the National Playground Safety Institute playground safety inspector course and certification exam on April 30-May 2, 2008. The fifteen-hour course (approved for 1.2 CEU’s) will be conducted at the Elks Country Club in Montpelier. More |
| Vermont School Board Members Call on Congress to "Get it Right" |
| Kalee Roberts, Hyde Park Elementary and Lamoille Union High School Board member, and Winton Goodrich, associate director of the Vermont School Board Association (VSBA), joined 950 school board and association leaders from 50 states to advocate with Congressional delegates for passage of effective public education laws this year. School Board members marched on Capitol Hill to take part in the National School Boards Associations (NSBA) 35 Annual Federal Relations Network (FRN) Conference, February 3-5, in Washington D.C. More |
| Introducing PIRC Vermont |
| Vermont’s "Parent Information and Resource Center", known as PIRC Vermont, is part of a national network of federally-funded PIRCs established to support parents and educators in achieving the parent involvement goals of the No Child Left Behind Act. PIRC Vermont is operated as a project of the Vermont Parent Information Center (VPIC) together with the Vermont Parent Child Center Network. We provide support, information, and training to parents and educators across Vermont in order to help children of all ages succeed in school. We can help families from all walks of life to be active partners in their child’s education.More |
| School Board Member "Swap Shop" |
| Vermont’s "Parent Information and Resource Center", known as PIRC Vermont, is part of a national network of federally-funded PIRCs established to support parents and educators in achieving the parent involvement goals of the No Child Left Behind Act. PIRC Vermont is operated as a project of the Vermont Parent Information Center (VPIC) together with the Vermont Parent Child Center Network. We provide support, information, and training to parents and educators across Vermont in order to help children of all ages succeed in school. We can help families from all walks of life to be active partners in their child’s education.More |
School Board Prof. Dev. DVDs
Is your board concerned about passing the school budget? Are you a new school board chair? Do you need clarification on roles and responsibilities for officials in the school district? How does your board do when it comes time to evaluate the superintendent? We can help!The VSBA has been producing and recording DVDs of professional development workshops and several are now available to order. Most of the workshops were held in the last year, so the information is current. The DVDs are organized into chapters, so you and your board can skip right to the information you need. These DVDs are great cost- and time-effective resources to assure that your board functions at a high level for just $20.
To order DVDs