Congratulations to Seniors - UVM Early Acceptance

Congratulations to Seniors!

Out of 29 members of the Senior class who applied for early acceptance to UVM, 22 were accepted and 6 were deferred to regular acceptance.  This is a 76% early acceptance rate at UVM. According to Dr. Randall, this rate is similar to our previous years early acceptance rates.  In comparison to other VT high schools, our acceptance rate is comparable for this academic year.

Way to go Seniors! Congratulations on all of your hard work and efforts.

Save the Date for Parent Planning Meeting

Monday, January 6th  6 - 8 pm 

This planning meeting will be to continue our proficiency based learning and scoring work with our parents. The format for this meeting will be updating on the work that has been done at BFA and working in small groups to provide input and suggestions on the best way to support all BFA students.

We will send out the meeting location and agenda by January 2nd.

Holiday Spirit Week 12/16 - 12/20/19

Noodles took part in pajama day!

Ugly Sweater fun!

Corporal Koch's  festive hat!

Mr. Hungerford combined all the days!

BFA St. Albans - 2019 Educational Alliance School Grant Recipient

The Exxon Mobil Educational Alliance program and our local Exxon/Mobil Maplefields North presented Preston Randall, Director of Guidance at BFA – St. Albans with a $500 grant.

Exxon Mobil has a long history of supporting educational programs like Educational Alliance, that focus on improvements in Math and Science from pre-school to higher education.

BFA is proud to be the 2019 Educational Alliance School grant recipient.

BFA hosted an Instant Decision Day with VT State Colleges

BFA Hosted an Instant Decision Day with the Vermont State Colleges.  More than 21 seniors participated and sat for interviews with Castleton, VTC, Lyndon and Johnson.  Students received instant decisions and were admitted to programs including nursing, engineering and forensics.

Robert Gamache - Nursing

Long time BFA Band Director Verne Colburn (director from 1963-1996) joined this year's BFA Holiday Concert on December 15th

Long time BFA Band Director Verne Colburn (director from 1963-1996) joined this year's BFA Holiday Concert on December 15th. At 82 Mr. Colburn still hasn't lost his touch on the piano. He led nearly 600 people in rousing renditions of "Jingle Bells" and "Deck the Halls." His performance was greeted with a standing ovation. It would also not be an exaggeration to say that there was hardly a dry eye in the house after Mr. Colburn played. 

Bands 1, 2, 3, Jazz Band, String Orchestra, Vocal Soloist Emily Parent, Chorus and Chamber Singers delighted the audience with songs of the season and other selections. Highlights included improvised solos from the String Orchestra during a rousing, Spanish-influenced chart entitled "El Toro." Band 3 dug deep into the BFA music library to pull out a technically challenging collection of holiday tunes arranged by Elliot del Borgo. Chamber Singers performed the classic arrangement of "Carol of the Bells" and Mr. Messier even took a melodica solo as the chorus performed the Hannukah selection " Hanerot Halalu." 

The Holiday Concert at BFA is a long-standing tradition dating back to the early days of Verne Colburn's career. It is always a delight to see community members who continue to attend this event, sometimes decades, after their children graduated from the BFA Music Program. 

The photo attached is of Rusty Charpentier (Maple Run Strings) Verne Colburn, Eric Bushey (BFA Band), Hassan Chambers, Jr. (BFA Music Student) and Armand Messier (BFA Chorus).

Powder Puff donated to Kool105 Camp Ta-Kum-Ta-Thon

On December 11th, 2019, BFA-Saint Albans Powder Puff players Morgan Deslauriers, Hailey Savage, and Sadie Coon joined Dan Marlow and Jenny Parent as they met up with representatives from the MVU Powder Puff team at the Kool 105 Radio Station. The MVU representatives were players Ellie Bourdeau, Sydney Benjamin, and Megan Benway, along with adults John Lumsden and Dan Palmer. They were interviewed "on-air" by DJs Mark Knight and Jon Brooks, as well as interviewed by local TV Station 22/44.

Due to the 11th Annual Powder Puff Event, the ladies were able to donate $11,238.90 to Camp Ta Kum Ta through the Annual Kool 105 Camp Ta-Kum-Ta-Thon!!

Secure the School Update

Hello Parents and Community Members:

This communication is to inform you we had to secure the school yesterday morning.   We had received a potential threat to the school and moved immediately to investigate it.  After our investigation, in collaboration with the St. Albans Police, we determined it was not a credible threat and the school returned to normal operations.  

Please be assured, our priority is the safety of all the students and staff.

If you have any questions or concerns, please let me know.

Bill Kimball

Proficiency Grading Update

Over the last 2 months, department heads and the administrative team have been working hard to remedy the scoring and reporting issues encountered over the past few years at BFA. Department heads have been extremely flexible in adding additional meetings and extending meetings to answer essential questions and dig into possible solutions. So far, we have completed about 18 months of planning and work over the past 2 months.  Meetings with teachers have occurred during in-service days in October and November to receive feedback to the PBGR requirements, and department head meetings have occurred on 10/2, 10/28, 11/4, 11/22 extended meeting, 12/2, 12/11 extended meeting.

Below you will see a snapshot of our work during our most recent meetings.

On November 22 department heads met at Central Office for a four and a half-hour work session that was separated into 3 parts:

1. Deep dive into the Vermont Education Quality Standards
2. Questions we have about the EQS.
3. Answering "Why" questions for BFA as a basis for our next steps.

On December 2nd and 11th, the department heads started to build a system of scoring and reporting that is easily understood by students and parents.  Our work, next week with the faculty, is to receive feedback from the staff on the proposal.  From the feedback, we will be providing training to the staff during the January in-service to create documents for every class that clearly communicates how course scores will be determined.

Parent working group:

Our plan is to convene a parent working group in January to provide feedback into our proposed scoring and reporting system.  Also, we will be enlisting the parent group to plan a communication strategy so all parents can access their student's scores and understand the information.  Next week we will be announcing a date for the parent group.  Please stay tuned as we will e-mail an announcement home.

Unified Floor Ball

Successful day for BFA Unified! Team gold, individual skills gold, and silver medals. Fun day for everyone!

Improvisation Team Join Interact and volunteer at The Festival of Trees

Members from the BFA Improvisation Team join Interact to volunteer as uppity and outgoing elves at The Festival of Trees.  It is always wonderful to see BFA students working with local businesses to create safe and fun experiences for our youth.

1st Semester Assessment Schedule Jan 14 - 17, 2020

S1 Assessment Schedule: Please scroll down to see other important information. 

Time	Tuesday 1/14/2020	Wednesday 1/15/2020	Thursday 1/16/2020	Friday 1/17/2020
7:00 – 7:55	Breakfast in Cafeteria	Breakfast in Cafeteria	Breakfast in Cafeteria	Breakfast in Cafeteria
8:00 – 9:45	Assessment Period 2	Assessment Period 3	Assessment Period 5	Assessment Period 7
9:55 – 11:35	Enrichment/Brunch	Enrichment/Brunch	Enrichment/Brunch	10:00 – 11:45 *Assessment Make-ups
9:55 – 10:20	Lunch 1	Lunch 1	Lunch 1
10:20 – 10:45	Lunch 2	Lunch 2	Lunch 2
10:45 – 11:10	Lunch 3	Lunch 3	Lunch 3
11:10 - 11:35	Lunch 4	Lunch 4	Lunch 4
11:40 – 1:25	Assessment Period 1	Assessment Period 4	Assessment Period 6	Teacher Prep
1:30 – 2:45	Teacher Prep	Teacher Prep	Teacher Prep	Teacher Prep

                                              

This assessment schedule gives students another opportunity to show proficiency and exposure to high stakes testing. Enrichment period allows students an opportunity to complete work from the semester, or a retake or redo.  

Enrichment period allows students an opportunity to seek help prior to the assessment on review questions.  Teachers will still get a block of prep time at the end of the day, plus their two prep periods throughout the week. 

Regular lunch procedure – senior privileges – students attend assigned Enrichment/Brunch block by assigned enrichment teacher. Breakfast and brunch are paid with cash or use of Abbey account.

Buses will leave at the end of the 2^nd assessment Tues – Thurs. and following the make-up assessment period on Friday.  Students who are taking the bus home Friday but have no make-ups, are to wait in the cafeteria, library, or gym following their Period 7 Assessment. The buses will board at 11:45 and depart from the North Building turn-around at 11:50.

BFA Experience December 9th 6-7:30 pm

BFA Experience December 9th 6 - 7:30 pm

Meet the BFA teachers and staff.

See all the different programs.

Meet other classmates of 2024 and 2025.

Enjoy good conversation and snacks.

Welcome SRO Officer Koch

Monday, December 2nd marked School Resource Officer Kristine Koch's first day of school at Bellows Free Academy! If you see Cpl. Koch around the BFA hallways, be sure to say hello and make her feel welcome!

BFA's Student Council participated in The Running of the Bells

BFA's Student Council participated in The Running of the Bells.  It's an awesome community event, and our students represented the Green and Gold.

BFA 2019 Teacher of the Year Jeff Moulton Recognized

BFA is very proud of our most recent "Teacher of the Year" Jeff Moulton who was recognized December 5th at the 39th Vermont Outstanding Teacher Appreciation Day at UVM. 

Jeff's dedication to the students and staff at BFA is always above and beyond. He's an inspiration to us all. Congratulations Jeff!

BFA's future therapy dog

I'd like to introduce you to Noodles, our future therapy dog.  Noodles is a 13 week old golden doodle puppy that is in training to become certified.  The plan is that she will be joining us full time next year.  She will reside in the In School Support office.  Noodles will be on campus once or twice a week to acclimate to the environment.   It’s heartwarming seeing so many smiles and positive attitudes when Noodles wags her tail and works with our students. 

Bill Kimball

Most Important Elements in College Application

This past week, Guidance Counselor, Stephenie Hodgeman, shared an article from College Confidential about how colleges are weighing the most critical elements in college applications.  

It is interesting to read that according to the fall 2018 survey that grades in all classes, grades in college prep courses, and strength of curriculum are in the top three.  The class rank was second to last.  To read the full article, please see "Admission Officers Name the Most Important Elements in College Applications."

Matilda the Musical

The musical "Matilda" is being performed at BFA in the Performing Arts Center.

Thursday night we had a great opening with an almost full house. The performance by all was breathtaking and exciting along with both the music and the scenery.  We are so impressed with the hard work put in by all the students and staff to produce an amazing show.  We would encourage all of you to make time to see the show! Friday night, Saturday matinee, and Saturday night shows are still available. 

Coat Drive Update

We have collected 450 coats to be distributed next week to the community service organizations in Franklin County including Operation Happiness, CVOEO  and the Samaritan House.  Please consider a gently used coat, hat, mitten or snow pants donation.  The coat drive will end on Monday, November 25th.

Schedule Change: Friday, Nov 22 will be a Tuesday block schedule

Hi Students and Families:

Happy snow day number two.  The last thing we needed was to have another Tuesday lost to snow days.  This morning, the Assistant Principals, Sara Kattam, Heather Fitzgibbons and I met to talk about the best way to proceed forward.   As we were discussing solutions, we wanted to adhere to giving students and staff at least 48 hours’ notice when we are changing a day's schedule as we know it is best for all students to keep the schedule as regular as possible.

Here is our solution to make up the two missing Tuesdays:

·  This Friday, November 22, will be a Tuesday schedule 

·   Next Tuesday, November 26, will be a Tuesday schedule

If you have any further questions or concerns, please let me know.

Sincerely,

Bill Kimball

Snow Day and Student Contact Verification

Hello Parents:

Two weeks ago we started verifying our contact information for each of our students by sending home a verification form with them.  As of Thursday, we had received 165 forms back.  We recognize that this past Tuesday (snow day) we had several incorrectly placed calls due to selecting all contacts in the school cancellation message. 

If you have not returned your child's verification form, please review, correct, sign (by parent/guardian) and return to the Guidance Office as soon as possible.  If you need another copy of the form either emailed or mailed to you, please contact Kelly Hirss at khirss@maplerun.org and we will gladly get one to you right away.  Thank you for your attention to this important matter.

Fall Choral Concert

November 7th, BFA students participated in the 2019 Fall Choral Concert which featured BFA Chorus (Chorus classes I & II),  BFA Chamber Singers, and soloists.   Karah White, Bella Bonasera, and Sophie Thompson were featured soloists who performed their New England Music Festival audition pieces.  Several other students from the chorus had solos including Hassan Chambers Jr. who performed the rap section from “We Are the World -25.”    A truly wonderful night of choral music enjoyed by a well-attended audience.   Congratulations to all who were involved!

Employee Retirement Counseling Sessions

Brian Ficek, Retirement Education Counselor, was on site at BFA on Wednesday, November 13, 2019 for private one on one retirement counseling for BFA and NWTC employees. Brian will be returning for a second session on Wednesday, December 4, 2019.

Brian Ficek, CMFC®

Retirement Education Counselor| State of VT

Prudential Retirement

280 Trumbull Street, Hartford CT 06103

Cell: (802) 222-1798

brian.ficek@prudential.com

Academic PIN Awards Night

We would like to thank all the students and parents that attended our Academic PIN Awards Night this past Tuesday in which we had a great dessert provided by the Abbey.  I was excited to recognize over 140 students and their scholarships from last year.  I would like to especially recognize Leah Brannon and Ella Simmons for the performance of their original song.  It was an example of the great work our students do here at BFA.

The Bronze Pin is defined by students receiving a 4 in 70% or greater in their parent standard scores.  Below is a picture of the group.

The Silver Pin is defined by students receiving a 4 in 80% or greater in their parent standard scores.  Below is a picture of the group.

The Gold Pin is defined by students receiving a 4 in 90% or greater in their parent standard scores.  Below is a picture of the group.

I would encourage every student here at BFA to do their very best every day and be willing to take the challenge to increase the rigor in your own learning.  That challenge will pay off in your future.  Thank you all for coming out on a cold and snowy night.

Veterans Day

Maple Run Unified School District honored our Veterans on Monday. Students from around the district gathered for a parade and some words from the mayor, community veterans, and BFA's own Kiarah Anderson. It was a cold day but the band marched on performing through the frosty wind. BFA and NWTC were pleased to take part in this celebration.

GGGBFA#12: BFA's Connector Update

GGGBFA#12

Elevation Plan

Last night the Maple Run Unified School District Board approved the pre-qualification of seven contractors to bid on the connector project.  See the list of contractors below.  Currently, the schedule for the project is as follows:

• December 6, 2019 - Construction Project Documents released for bidding
• January 6, 2020 - Bids due back for project
• January 8, 2020 - MRUSD Board awards contract for work
• January 15 - 31, 2020 - Construction mobilization for the beginning of work
• Start of School 2020-21 - Connector and site work completed - Phase I of the sprinkler system of the south building completed
• Summer 2021 - Phase II  of the sprinkler system of the south building completed
• Summer 2022 -  Phase III of the sprinkler system of the south building completed  

Enclosed are two photos of the plans for our construction work, one being the site plan and the other being elevations of the connector.   There are more details we still need to finish, and as we finalize the answers, we will let you know.  Currently, we are creating drawings for the foot traffic and construction area between the buildings.  The current plan is that students and staff will use the easternmost door by the gym to enter and exit the south building and the doors near the science rooms below the principal's office to exit and enter the north building.  There will be a fence to keep people out of the construction zone. 

If you have any questions, please contact Bill Kimball.

Contractors:

Conner  Construction

PC Construction

Kenneth R. Adams

Neagley & Chase Construction

Wright and Morrisey General Contractors

DEW Construction

Peak CM Construction

Site Plan