SCHOOL INFO
November 5, 2021
Dear L&G Families:
There’s a lot in today’s letter, but please take the time to read thoroughly!
First and foremost, I want to offer our congratulations to our girls varsity soccer team, led by Coach Lucas Bates, for earning a spot in tomorrow’s State Championship Game at 10am in Hartford. Our girls program last won a state title in 1991, and we’re all going to be cheering loudly for these girls to bring another one home! Go Rebels!
Test to Stay Information:
Many of you have heard in the news that schools can start running a program called “test to stay.” The basics of this is that if your unvaccinated child is identified as a close contact, instead of staying home for 14 days or waiting for a negative PCR test, the child can submit to a rapid antigen test at school in order to stay for the day (with a negative result). Unfortunately, this protocol does not apply to sporting events or travelling for trips, etc. as part of a school program. Additionally, this program is not used on students with any symptoms! If your child is currently unvaccinated, and you want them to be considered for the Test to Stay protocol, please go to the Vermont Agency of Education website and submit a permission form. This program is NOT YET up and running at L&G, but will be in the coming months. One final note, if you fill out the online permission form, you’ll be prompted to also sign your child up for weekly surveillance testing - we are NOT doing that at L&G.
Behavior at L&G
As most of you have seen in the news, both nationally and locally, student behavior in schools has been tougher than any we’ve seen before - certainly more challenging than any of my 28 years in public schools. We believe that the bulk of this has to do with the social isolation that many of them endured for the time that school was closed, either in part, or in full. For our 9th graders, for example, their last fully normal school year was in 6th grade, when they were still in the smaller elementary schools! While there’s been lots of media coverage of “learning loss” in the content areas, what we’re seeing is more in the relational/social skills area. Please talk with your child about what they can do individually to help make our learning community more positive! This coming week, we’ll be talking with the students about significantly limiting their cellphone time during the school day. We anticipate some challenge to this, but also hope that your support at home will help make this a smoother transition.
Bathroom doors
I wanted to share with parents some specifics about the doors to the bathrooms. As you may have heard from your child, the A- and B-level “group” bathrooms have no doors on them. They were originally removed last year when students were returning, because we wanted to ensure that students were not clustering in one small space. This met the challenge of both contact tracing complications as well as reducing vaping incidences. This fall, we tried to put them back on, with clear expectations with the students about behavior, but this week we removed them again. I want to be very clear - the doors to the stalls are still on and the stalls are not visible from outside in the hallway. Students in the hall are able to see the sinks, but that is the only area visible. I know to some this may feel a little draconian, but we’ve already seen improvement with kids missing from classes and clustering in the bathrooms.
Survey about Money:
As many of you know, the federal government has earmarked relief funds to schools as part of the COVID relief package (there are actually 3, and each with a different name!) Our supervisory union is seeking input/ideas from the community about how we spend the third, and possibly final installment. We’ve used previous funds to create summer recovery last summer, Edge of Leadership training from High5 for 6th and 7th graders, middle school after-school programming this year, our recovery coordinator position for this year, and the Intro to HS course (staffing) for this and next year. To give feedback on this important financial commitment, please go to this link and see the link to the survey at the bottom of the page!
Upcoming events:
Nov 5, 2021 - Progress Report period ends
Nov 7, 2021 - Daylight Savings Time ends (“Fall” back 1 hour)
Nov 10, 2021 - Early Release Day - Teacher In-service (11:30 dismissal)
Nov 11, 2021 - Veterans’ Day - No School
Nov 11-13, 2021 - Mamma Mia Musical (7pm, 7pm, 4pm)
Nov 16, 2021 - Fall Concert (Main Gym) 7pm
Nov 22-26, 2021 - Thanksgiving Break - No School
Nov 30, 2021 - Picture Makeup Day
Thanks and have a great weekend! Go Rebels!
Bob Thibault
Principal
L&G Co-Curricular Calendar:
Refuse to Use:
Notice From West River Transportation:
Girls Varsity Soccer DIII State Championship:
Mamma Mia:
The Leland and Gray Players Present MAMMA MIA! November 11-13
TOWNSHEND, Vt. “HERE WE GO AGAIN!” exudes Leland and Gray Players’ Director Sam Chapin. “Live music and theater return to Leland and Gray in the form of MAMMA MIA! Featuring the upbeat and ever-danceable music of ABBA, the musical centers around a young woman and her quest to determine the identity of her birth father, while at the same time trying to marry her fiancé and keep her mother as far out of the loop as possible. The score is fun and familiar with songs like, “Dancing Queen,” “Take A Chance On Me,” “The Winner Takes It All,” and, of course, “Mamma Mia"."
The Company features actors Gianna Birri, Isabella Bowen, Lily Bowen, Peter Broussard, Spencer Butynski, Marley Felker, Ruby Hallenbeck, Dylan Hazelton, Mackson Hiner, Anselm Marrow, Mary McDonald, Kianelise Pena, Lucca Pozzi, Raena Sanderson, Catherine Shine, Stephen Shine, Andrew Tolbert, and Callie Wicker; student tech: Oliver Andersen, Olivia Bell, Jules Bowden, Conner Dunham, Dakota Dunham, Alexander Sicko, Davin Visconti. In the pit, student Abe Newton is on guitar joined by Rene Bernard on drums, Mike Kelly on keyboard, Mike McKinney on guitar, Matt Martyn on electric bass. Directed by Sam Chapin, vocal and music direction by Elyse Wadsworth, choreography by Sarah Grasso, assistant directed by Alexa Litchfield.
Adhering to Covid guidance, the cast will be masked at all times, as will the audience, and appropriate distancing will be maintained. Performances will be in L&G’s Dutton Gymnasium, Rte. 30, Townshend, on November 11 and 12 at 7 pm and November 13 at 4 pm. Admission: $10 dollars for adults and $5 for students and seniors. To reserve in advance write schapin@windhamcentral.org.
Chapin echoes ABBA: “So come join us--you can dance, jive, AND HAVE THE TIME OF YOUR LIFE!”
CONTACT: Sam Chapin, director, (802)365-7355, schapin@windhamcentral.org
Afterschool Program:
HEY Help:
School Calendar:
Lost & Found:
COMMUNITY SERVICE:
Valley Cares:
COMMUNITY:
Gerda's Equine Rescue Employment Opportunity:
Mount Snow Employment Opportunity:
Mount Snow Child Care is looking to hire part-time educators to our team this winter. This is a great opportunity to pick-up part-time seasonal work on Saturdays and/or Sundays to help with holiday shopping or get season passes for you and potentially your family. The starting rate is $15/hour plus many benefits and perks that can be found here - https://jobs.
Thanks for your help,
Heather Sullivan
Child Care Manager
Phone: 802-464-4152
Townshend Community Toy Drive:
Parents sign up for gifts for your children (infants thru Grade 8) from the Townshend Community Toy Drive & surrounding communities. Sign up by either filling out a form for each child at the Food Shelf on Monday evenings and placing the forms in the box provided, OR by emailing the following information to me directly.
The deadline for sign-ups is Dec. 6th, and Toy Pick-up will be Dec. 20th at the food shelf between 6:00-7:30pm
PLEASE EMAIL THE FOLLOWING INFO to: moparchris1@comcast.net
Parent Name & Phone #
Child age & gender
Items wished for (please be specific for clothing or shoe size)
Have a wonderful Holiday Season!
Chris Carter
Vermont High School Writing Contest:
