Welcome to our weekly Administrative Green and Gold Blog

Dear BFA Community;

As we conclude our second week of school, I need to openly say how proud I am of our students and staff. Our staff entered into this school year willingly taking on one of the hardest tasks educators have ever been asked - teaching and learning in a hybrid world. To see that all our students are engaged five days a week with learning, BFA educators agreed to teach their virtual students every day, while also engaging all their in-person students. This allows continuity of learning, higher accountability from all stakeholders, a more vibrant and lively learning community, and the ability to also work one-on-one with students whenever necessary. While BFA’s hybrid learning is more rigorous than other models, it is highly demanding and will remain so for both our students and staff. As I circulate throughout the building and classes, the early feedback on school has been overwhelmingly positive. We will continue to address all issues while we move forward but I believe it important to recognize the intense work our staff put in this summer, and literally every day since, to make the early goings so successful. 

My source of student pride revolves around their willingness to adhere to an all-new way of schooling. Our kids have been wearing their masks, following the traffic flow patterns in both buildings, eating in Advisory groups while remaining positive and engaged in their classes five days a week (including Wednesday)! Clubs have started to meet, and along with athletics, all those students involved continue to wear their masks for an additional hour or two. As I posted on my Twitter feed, https://twitter.com/BrettCBlanchard, this is the first class that can actually tell their parents that they did have it harder! 

There are two immediate student leadership opportunities we are looking to get started. Every three weeks BFA/NCTC plan to hold student led assemblies so any student interested in organizing and/or leading these assemblies, please see Mr. Blanchard as soon as possible. BFA is also looking to have a morning news crew whose program will be broadcast throughout the day and throughout the land. Those interested, please see Dino Patsouris in NCTC or email him at cpatsouris@maplerun.org

Sincerely,

Brett Blanchard

Principal

Additional Information

Congratulations to BFA - St. Albans, VT

Congratulations! U.S. News & World Report's Best High Schools rankings have been released! Based on how well Bellows Free Academy Union High School was ranked, BFA has earned the following badge.

Free School Meals through December 31, 2020:

Maple Run Unified School District is happy to announce that the USDA recently released the extension of its free meal program for the remainder of 2020 or until all the funds are depleted. This allows us to serve completely free and nutritious meals to all children, regardless of their situation, until Dec 31, 2020.

We know that many families were and continue to be impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. As we enter the 2020-2021 school year, Maple Run Unified School District recognizes that our children are learning in completely new environments. With the stress of adapting to long-term remote learning, hybrid model teaching, and various other changes to our normal routine, this move by the USDA allows us to help remove one key stressor: feeding our children. Whether that be in the cafeteria, in the classroom, or at home, Maple Run Unified School District deeply values the importance of a nutritious and filling meal. Quality nutrition has the power to help kids stay focused and do their best work under both ordinary and extraordinary circumstances.

The program is completely free to all children under the age of 18 with no application required. Parents and guardians can also choose to pick up meals for their children. Families are encouraged to complete free or reduced meal cost applications for future meal service beginning in 2021.

Health Update:

Things have been going well with morning health screenings and nurse visits. As expected, some students have been sent home due to symptoms of illness which have all been cold-related. Families should work with the school nurse and their primary care provider regarding chronic conditions such as cough or nasal congestion that are not COVID-19 related. Symptom screening may result in the potential to exclude some students repeatedly from school even though they do not have COVID-19 or an infectious disease. 

Please do not send your child to school if they have any symptoms of COVID-19 which include the following:

Fever (100.4 or greater)
Cough
Shortness of breath
Chills
Fatigue
Muscle pain or body aches
Headache
Sore throat
Loss of taste or smell
Congestion or runny nose
Nausea, vomiting, or diarrhea

Contact Valarie Lipka, school nurse, at 527-6405 and she can work with you to formulate a plan for return to school. 

Theater in the Park:

Here's a couple photo's of our theater club students in our local park.