A Note to Seniors

Hello BFA Seniors and Families -

By now I am sure many of you have heard that Governor Phil Scott announced at 6:00 pm tonight that schools will not be returning to in-person instruction for the remainder of the 2019-2020 school year. While this announcement was not entirely unexpected, the timing was earlier than we anticipated. We have not, at this time, received any guidance from the Agency of Education. I am sure that this news creates many questions and concerns for all of you. I have some of my own as well.

When I was a high school teacher I mostly taught seniors. I remember that the spring of the senior year was a time that most students looked forward to making some lasting memories. We have many traditions for Seniors at BFA, such as Prom, Graduation, Class Night, the Bobwhite/Comet Variety show, Project Graduation at the Complex, the Senior Brunch, NWTC Appreciation Night and many other important and meaningful events. I am saddened that this might not be the case this year, but I am also optimistic that we might be able to provide some unique opportunities for the class of 2020. Our goal is to uphold as many of these traditions as possible.

Our Maple Run Unified School District Mission Statement has always been the guiding document we have looked to in our decision-making process.

The Maple Run Unified School District is where inquiring minds, compassionate hearts, creative expression, healthy lives and service to the community develop so all can learn, achieve and succeed.

It will continue to serve as such as we determine how to best support our faculty, staff, students, and families during this challenging time.

Next week we will update you on any guidance we receive and processes we will be putting in place. Until then, take a deep breath, stay safe, get outside, and keep in touch with your friends and family.


Bill Kimball
Interim Principal and Assistant Superintendent

Schedule Clarification

March 26, 2020

Good evening BFA & NWTC,

This message is to provide clarification around the Green and Gold Schedule that was sent out yesterday.

• It is Not the expectation that students are doing work or are always available throughout the day during the Green and Gold Scheduled times. 
• We know that students are providing childcare, working, and have others in the house competing for internet connection. 
• The schedule offers a structured time when a teacher could pre-schedule a meeting with their class without running into the periods that others may be meeting. 
• If the schedule helps a student stay organized, then they can follow it. 
• It will be up to the individual teacher to determine the format and communication with the students.

Thank you for your support, and reach out if you have any further questions or concerns.

Warmly,

Bill, Sara, Lisa, Heather, and Leeann

BFA/NWTC Distance Learning Update

Dear BFA/NWTC Community,

The following is an update with some new information on how we are moving forward with distance learning. The school superintendents have been informed that a decision has been made to extend the maintenance of learning until April 15th. If the closure continues we will be shifting to continuous learning. More information will be sent at that time.

ADVISOR CHECK-IN:

We want to keep in contact with all of our students during this unprecedented time. Advisors have started to contact students via phone or video conference. If students have any questions, concerns, victories, or just want to chat about their day, advisors are available to support them.

SCHEDULES:

Starting Monday, March 30th a "Green and Gold" Schedule will be put into place to help facilitate scheduled time for teachers and students to connect. Students may engage in activities on Zoom, Google meet, video lectures, virtual discussion sessions, or individual check-ins with students via phone.

GREEN (Monday and Wednesday)

8:00-9:30 Faculty collaboration

9:30-10:30 Period 3 Classes

10:30-11:00 Advisory

11am-12:00 Period 1 Classes

12:00-12:30 Lunch

12:30-1:30 Period 5 Classes

1:30-2:30 Period 7 Classes

GOLD (Tuesday and Thursday)

8:00-9:30       Faculty Collaboration

9:30-10:30     Enrichment/Office Hours

10:30-11:30   Period 2 Classes

11:30-12:00   Advisory

12:00-12:30   Lunch

12:30-1:30     Period 6 Classes

1:30-2:30       Period 4 Classes

FULL SCHEDULE FRIDAY (Flexible time for students to connect with teachers throughout the day)

PROGRESS REPORTS:

Progress reports will be available to view on April 7th at 4 pm. Grades will be based on work assigned prior to the March 18th closure. If a student submits late work that was assigned before March 17th those assignments will be scored and count toward their progress report grades. 

COMPUTER PICK-UP:

If you do not have a computer at home, you may come to school during meal pick-up times 11-12:30 M-F and sign out a Chromebook at the food pick up window on the Academy Street entrance. 

WORK PACKETS:

Any work packets that were not picked up already, were mailed to students today. As we move forward, any students who need packet work should contact their teacher directly for work online. More information about a potential packet pick-up date will be coming soon. 

MARCH 27th:

March 27th was listed as an in-service day on the calendar. It will now be a Friday scheduled school day.

GUIDANCE OFFICE LINKS:

Counselor contacts and closure resources including information about AP testing.

Please keep up to date by visiting our website, Facebook page, or Growing Green and Gold Blog. Thank you for your continued support. 

Warmly,

Ms. Kattam, BFA Assistant Principal

Mrs. Wright, Northwest Technical Center

Construction Photos - Week of March 16th

Work Packets, Laptops and Lunch Distribution

Work packets, food and laptops distribution.

Thank you to our amazing volunteers!

March 18th Update from Guidance Dept.

Dear BFA Students and Families,

Throughout the school closure, the guidance office remains open for remote business.  High school is a time for looking forward, for planning and working towards your goals and we will continue to support all students with that work through this time of school closure.

First and foremost, we will continue to support students and families with mental wellness.  This is a stressful time.  We are all experiencing changes in routine and we know that routine is an important part of how we manage stress and change.  We are developing a page of resources for students and families on the BFA Guidance webpage, which is best reached via a google search for BFA Guidance.  Our Guidance webpage is consistently the first result listed.  Our school social worker, Ashlie Olio will be sending out self-care strategies regularly to students through their email.  All of the counselors at BFA and the Northwest Technical Center will be checking email and voicemail throughout each day and responding directly to students and families.  Each counselor has created an online appointment scheduling link so students and families can schedule phone calls or video conferences with their counselor.  You can also contact Desiree Gunter at 527-6571 or dgunter@maplerun.org to schedule a phonecall with a counselor.  For any mental health emergency please call Northwest Counseling and Support Services at 524-6555 and press 1 for crisis.  Anyone,  student or adult, can call the crisis line to report concern about the mental wellness of a friend, family member, or themselves.  In Vermont, Crisis support is also available via text at 741741.

Students taking dual enrollment courses will have information from their colleges about how to access those courses.  CCV reports that online courses are unaffected, and that inperson courses are switching to a distance learning model.  We will continue to update our resources page on the guidance webpage with information from the collegeboard about SATs and AP exams.  At this point, the collegeboard has cancelled the May SAT date and are still working on their plan for AP exams.  Colleges are also developing their individual plans as campus visits have been suspended at most schools.  Counselors are available to help students and families reach out to colleges to navigate this changing landscape.

Please take care of yourselves and those around you.  We encourage you to get exercise, stay connected to your friends, and develop a routine, while following the recommendations put forth by state and national health experts around social distancing.

Sincerely,

Preston Randall (527-6572, prandall@maplerun.org), Amy Turner (527-6574, aturner@maplerun.org), Chris Pepin (527-6573, cpepin@maplerun.org), Stephanie Hodgeman (527-6576, shodgeman@maplerun.org) Suan Bosland (527-6512, sbosland@maplerun.org), Ashlie Olio (527-5669, aolio@maplerun.org) and Marissa McFadden (527-6575, mmcfadden@maplerun,org)

March 17th Update to Students and Families

Dear BFA and NWTC Students and Families:

First and foremost, we want to thank all the students for their patience during these uncertain times.  Their cooperation has been essential as we have moved to an online environment for learning the next two and half weeks.  We will also take this opportunity to update you on topics for the next few weeks.  

During a time of unrest or high anxiety, for both children and adults, it is best to have a routine and stay active. We understand that the more we adhere to a routine and participate in daily physical exercise, the better we will be able to deal with the unexpected.  Therefore, we suggest that you have a routine for your children and yourself while you are at home that includes physical activity multiple times a day.  Keep a regular sleep/wake schedule,  get outside for a walk or a hike with the family or something else that is fun and can be done around the home, while keeping isolated from others in the community.

The BFA/NWTC buildings are closed to all outside visitors as we do a thorough cleaning of our facilities; however,  the Academy Street entrance will remain open.  If you need to communicate with any of the staff members or administration, we ask you either call or e-mail us.  Our e-mails can be found on the BFA/NWTC website, under the staff link in the menu on the left-hand corner of the main webpage. 

The faculty at BFA/NWTC have created work packets for those who do not have internet access or would like paper.  If your child was not here this week, work packets will be ready for pick up on Thursday, 3/19/20 from 12:00 until 5:00 and from 8:00 - 3:00 on Friday 3/20/20.  Please come to the BFA entrance at Academy Drive. You will be met at the front door.  Once we know your student's name, we will look up his/her schedule and send staff members to the cafeteria to gather your student's work.  We are hoping this whole process will take less than five minutes.

Additionally, for families that indicated through our technology survey that they needed a device, a Chromebook will be provided and available at the same time on Thursday and Friday during the work packet pick up.  Furthermore, if your family is in need of internet access during this time to support the maintenance of learning,   Comcast is offering free internet through internetessentials.com.  There will most likely be a waiting period, but as we are dealing with an ever-changing landscape it may not hurt to set this up as we do not know exactly when operations will be back to normal.

If you have questions or concerns, we ask that you call your child’s counselor as they will be assisting with either answering your questions or finding any information you might need.

Thank you for your continued support and cooperation. 

Sincerely,

Bill Kimball                                                                 Leeann Wright

Interim Principal                                                          Director

Bellows Free Academy                                                 Northwest Technical Center

Food Distribution Plan

The Maple Run Unified School District has switched to the Free Summer Feeding Program to help feed the children of our community during the COVID-19 closures. We will have our pick-up sites listed below and we are also delivering to bus stops in Fairfield, St. Albans City, and St. Albans Town. You will be getting a short phone survey to help us prepare for delivery and pick-up by Thursday March 19th. 

First - there is no charge for this meal program. It is free to all children under 18. For people living in Fairfield, St. Albans City, and St. Albans Town we have permission to deliver to bus stops. For any other families, we have 4 pick-up sites in the city open for all children under 18 even if they are not in our school system. Our charge is to feed our children during this uncertain time. 

The bus delivery will be once a day Monday through Friday. Someone must come out and meet the bus at the normal bus stops.  If you are not there when the bus arrives, a meal cannot be left. For Fairfield and St. Albans City routes, the delivery will be from 10:30-11:30. For St. Albans Town routes, the delivery will be from 11:30-12:30. The package will have lunch for the day and breakfast for the next morning. There will be pick-up sites in the following locations; St. Albans City School, BFA St. Albans , St. Albans Town Education Center, and St. Albans Community Action. Pickups will be from 11:00-12:30. These sites are also providing two meals in each package, lunch and breakfast.

Please help us plan by answering the survey that you will receive shortly.

If you have any questions please reach out to the following staff at your school:

FCS - Brenda Goodhue 827-6639 or bgoodhue@maplerun.org 

SACS - Jennifer Seymour 527-0565 or jseymour@maplerun.org

SATEC -Tammy Deso 752-2700  or tdeso@maplerun.org

BFA - Teri Brunelle 527-6404 or tbrunelle@maplerun.org

In accordance with Federal civil rights law and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) civil rights regulations and policies, the USDA, its Agencies, offices, and employees, and institutions participating in or administering USDA programs are prohibited from discriminating based on race, color, national origin, sex, disability, age, or reprisal or retaliation for prior civil rights activity in any program or activity conducted or funded by USDA.  

Persons with disabilities who require alternative means of communication for program information (e.g. Braille, large print, audiotape, American Sign Language, etc.), should contact the Agency (State or local) where they applied for benefits.  Individuals who are deaf, hard of hearing or have speech disabilities may contact USDA through the Federal Relay Service at (800) 877-8339. Additionally, program information may be made available in languages other than English.

To file a program complaint of discrimination, complete the USDA Program Discrimination Complaint Form, (AD-3027) found online at: How to File a Complaint, and at any USDA office, or write a letter addressed to USDA and provide in the letter all of the information requested in the form. To request a copy of the complaint form, call (866) 632-9992. Submit your completed form or letter to USDA by: 

1. mail: U.S. Department of Agriculture
   Office of the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights
   1400 Independence Avenue, SW
   Washington, D.C. 20250-9410; 
2. fax: (202) 690-7442; or 
3. email: program.intake@usda.gov.

This institution is an equal opportunity provider.

School Closure Update

Dear Families,

As you may have heard, Governor Scott has ordered the closure of VT schools beginning Wednesday through April 6th, due to COVID-19 concerns. See the announcement HERE. 

BFA will be open on Monday and Tuesday. Both days will be a 7-period schedule starting at 7:30 am to allow students to meet with their teachers prior to school closing. Teachers will be providing students with activities and resources to continue learning while at home. 

We understand that not all students have internet access and/or computers at home. Advisors will be collecting information from students during advisory on Monday to prepare the necessary resources. 

Students who are unable to attend on Monday need to contact their advisor via email or phone to let them know if they have internet access and a computer.

HERE is a letter from Dr. Dirth, Superintendent of Schools about the closure. 

Green and Gold Pride! We can do this!

Update on BFA's preventative measures to COVID-19

March 13, 2020

Dear Students, Parents and Guardians:    

                  

In addition to the letter that you received yesterday from Superintendent Dr. Dirth, I wanted to provide you with some additional information that is more specific to BFA and NWTC.  The BFA Safety Committee met throughout the week and discussed BFA’s preventative measures to COVID-19:

1.   First and foremost we are following the guidance from Vermont AOE and the Department of Health.  Their web pages are updated daily. 

2.   Monday afternoon the AOE sent out a protocol for responding to COVID-19 and the District Safety Team met today to review and finalize the MRUSD Pandemic Flu & Infectious Disease Plan along with two members from the VT Department of Health.

3.   Our Maintenance staff has installed Antibacterial pumps in bathrooms.

4.   Early last week, our Maintenance staff ordered more disinfectant supplies and we are distributing throughout the school for everyone’s use.

5.   The best defense we have for any virus is washing your hands.  I know I learned a bit to polish my technique by watching a video provided by Nurse Val.  Here are links to three:

1.       https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9Fth2etPO4 

2.        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hD5i3l99mac

3.       https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4Ny1tiOGCI

6.   The two health offices have changed their daily structure.  If students are showing symptoms of a viral infection (coughing, runny nose, fever, etc.) they are to see Nurse Val in the North Building.  All other medical needs, such as, headaches, upset stomach, to name a few, should see Nurse Jodi in the South Building.

7.   Teachers have been asked to review their PowerSchool class roster and review all medical alert icons.   This information helps recognize any students that are at a higher risk of developing adverse symptoms to illness.  Also, the Nurses are talking with parents who have a concern or have children with compromised immune systems.

8.   I am keeping track of school trips and making decisions based on when the trips are happening and where they are going.  

9.   A few people have asked about online learning and we do not have the resources to support distance for learning for all students at BFA.

Lastly, in our social media work, we need to keep ourselves aware of the facts.  I do this daily by visiting the websites above and consulting with our medical professionals at BFA. Also, I remember something I was taught after going through an anxiety rising event, the best thing for the students is to keep to as regular a schedule as possible and focus on their learning.  If the kids bring up the conversation around the COVID-19 virus, acknowledge it, but get back to the daily work that we do every day in service to our kids. 

If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact me at 802-527-6451.

Sincerely, 

Bill Kimball

Interim Principal

COVID-19 Cleaning

Per the CDC recommendation, all touchable surfaces are being disinfected daily.

Areas that are being disinfected daily at a minimum, including but not limited to:

• desks / tables / counters
• chairs / benches
• handrails
• lightswitches
• keyboards, between each class
• water fountains
• pencil sharpeners
• door handles / push plates on doors
• lockers
• everything in a bathroom

The Abby Group is also taking additional precautions in the cafeteria, including but not limited to: 

• Discontinued salad bar
• Sanitizing all serving areas between each lunch period
• Pin pad sanitizing between each lunch period
• Sanitizing tables between each lunch period

We recommend that in addition to frequent handwashing, students should also sanitize their phones.

Construction Photos: Week of March 9th

D1 Boys Hockey State Champions

Congratulations to the BFA Bobwhites in winning the DI State Championship!

The D1 State Hockey Champions were escorted back to the City by the St. Albans Police and Fire Departments.

Click here to watch video:
https://www.facebook.com/CityofSaintAlbans/videos/243583629980212/UzpfSTY2NDA1MzU3MDM1ODUzNjoyNjg5Mzg0NDAxMTU4NzY2/

 Congratulations Bobwhites!

BFA Band performed with the 40th Army National Guard Band

On Monday, March 9th, 2020 members of the BFA Band performed with the 40th Army National Guard Band on the PAC stage to a crowd of students, community members and Veterans. Students had a chance to work on both the Washington Post march by Sousa and "Variations on a Korea Folk Song" with the conductor of that band, Matt Tatro in a pre-concert workshop. The BFA Music Department sponsored this performance. 

Eric Bushey

Starting Monday: Construction, Parking & Student Drop and Pick Up Instructions

STARTING MONDAY, March 16:

Bellows Free Academy - Saint Albans 

Informational Map for Construction

Yellow- Student Crossing between buildings

Blue- Emergency exits and evacuation locations

Red- Construction zone

Orange- Student drop-off and pick up/entrance 

No Parking between buildings

Updated 2/21/20