Friday, February 19, 2021

Friday, February 19, 2021, Weekly Administrative Update

Dear BFA/NCTC Community:

This morning I was discussing student assessments with a teacher as we looked at one student’s recent response to a writing prompt. While we discussed the desired learning outcome, as well as how the class interacted with one another’s work, the conversation connected to where we seem to be in our path to bring education and student life to a higher level of positive normalcy. The teacher mentioned that students seem to be getting back their school “sea legs and educational mojo”. The reasons for this are many.

The full year that we have been in pandemic education may be broken into three parts, at least for BFA. The first part, complete virtual learning where many students rightfully struggled to make sense of their world, gave way to a second phase this fall where students tried to acclimate to in-person learning with the day starting with a much-needed Enrichment period followed by three classes. The current third phase has seen greater engagement with their learning by more closely duplicating a known schedule that starts with everyone in morning class for a total of four academic periods with Enrichment midday.

Extracurricular activities have also changed and improved with each of the three phases. Last spring saw all students suddenly have clubs, athletics, music, and drama eliminated from their education. This fall BFA was proud to offer after-school activities within the first two weeks of school while athletics followed state mandates that opened up many opportunities, even if the competition looked different. Unfortunately, music as previously performed in band, chorus, and musicals, was still not allowed. Phase three, coinciding with the second semester, has increased student engagement and educational connectivity by expanding our club offerings, allowing most athletics, and, finally, bringing more music back into our students' lives. Drama has continued throughout but looks to hopefully once again have live performances in front of an audience.

Our staff has also adjusted to each of the three phases in order to better meet student needs. The dramatic suddenness of last March’s move to fully virtual education left schools scrambling to adjust. While staff proved to be resourceful, caring, and willing, the pandemic environment of fully virtual learning was not conducive to everyone’s well-being, especially with learning. This summer, staff put in an extraordinary effort to prepare for hybrid learning; given their high level of professionalism, this effort continues. Our second phase saw all our staff working to recover lost learning from phase one, while simultaneously engaging virtual and in-person students. Currently, it is amazing to see the variety of engaged learning that is occurring in our classes, as well as the energy with after-school team activities. In many ways, BFA continues to be a model for successful hybrid learning. We plan on continuing to lead the way and look forward to a phase four, fully in-person learning within our building.

Have a great weekend, and for those taking next week off, enjoy the time.

Sincerely,

Brett Blanchard

Principal

PHOTOS AND MORE INFORMATION

Updated Meal Pick Up Information:
Students are offered meals to take home to help with the days they are not in school. The 5 days’ worth of food consist of individual items and bulk items such as a loaf of bread, lunch meat, and milk. Please advise us if special meal accommodations are required for allergens or other special dietary needs. Meals are available for parents to pick up on Fridays between 12:00-1:00 in the north building. Students may pick up after school in the cafeteria on Tuesdays and Fridays. Parents and students may sign up for these meals by emailing Mrs. Brunelle at tbrunelle@maplerun.org or by calling her at 527-6404. This will put you on a weekly list. If you are unable to pick it up, please call to suspend your order for that week. If other pick-up arrangements need to be discussed, please call her. We understand that people sometimes forget to sign up or situations change so we will have some extras made up just in the grab and go cooler in the cafeteria.

Guidance Dept. News:
BFA seniors joined their school counselors in the library this week during enrichment to kick off the local scholarship process.

The local scholarship event was started 3 years ago to support students to better understand the resources available to them and how to apply. Since the inception of this event, we are seeing a much more diverse applicant pool.

Thanks to one of the most active alumni communities in Vermont, around $300,000 dollars are donated annually from community members and their families to BFA seniors heading off to post-secondary opportunities.

The BFA School Counseling Office is proud to support our seniors!



















Class Photos:
Mrs. Tourville's sophomore English class. Creating a story with realistic dialogue.

In a collaboration between the theater teacher, Susan Palmer, and an English teacher, Hannah Mangham, students performed The Great Gatsby monologues for their classmates! They did a wonderful job!




















This week's Sports Photos:
    BFA's Thomas Demar vs. Milton 2/15/21.

    BFA Varsity Comets basketball team.

    Levi Webb celebrating his goal in BFA's 2-0 win over Colchester.

    You can see Chiara Skeel's smile behind the mask!

    Comets Rowan Howrigan and Annika Fersing vs CVU on 2/18/21.

    Comet hockey team helping to clear snow.

    Hard'ack Skate Race 2/17/21

    Lydia Hodgeman and Porter Hurteau 2/17/21


Senior Solo:
BFA Senior Karah White is our next featured vocalist performing the song “Tightrope,” from The Greatest Showman written by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul.  Please enjoy Karah White’s recording  which is now available on YouTube as well as BFA’s Facebook page.   Congrats to Karah and Melissa Ewell for their outstanding musical efforts.  


“Tightrope,” 
From The Greatest Showman
Benj Pasek and Justin Paul.

Performed by Karah White
Melissa Ewell - Piano 
Audio and Video Recording/Editing - Armand Messier


Good luck to the following sports teams as they compete this weekend:

Saturday:
Virtual Dance Competition filming @ 9:00/9:30 a.m.
JV & Varsity Boys Basketball at MUHS @ 11:00/12:30
JVB Boys Basketball Host NCU @ 1:00 p.m.
Boys Hockey at Essex @ 4:00 p.m.
Girls Hockey host Burr & Burton @ 7:00 p.m.

When BFA is traveling the links for the live stream will be posted on our BFA Athletic Website.
When our teams are playing at home please follow this information:
Northwest Access TV has been supportive of our BFA Families by live-streaming our Home JV & Varsity Basketball Games as well as our Varsity Hockey Games this winter because of the Vermont COVID ban on spectators at games. When they broadcast basketball, the stream will be the same for JV & Varsity so anyone watching will be able to keep watching the same video. 













Friday, February 12, 2021

Friday, February 12, 2021, Weekly Administrative Update

Dear BFA/NCTC Community:

Learning in today’s hybrid world is unlike any other time in the history of education. As I am not aware of any teacher preparation program that was designed to teach this to would-be educators, many instructors had to work overtime to learn a variety of new presentation and learning tools so that they, in turn, may instruct their students using these new means. Fortunately for our students, many of our staff already had a solid technology teaching background with the others being willing to adapt to this new world while continually experimenting with alternative learning methods.

While all our staff is using Google classroom to provide a consistent learning platform, all have branched out into creative alternatives in order to meet the needs of their students. There are too many examples to try and explain so I will offer a few from this week, along with some classroom photos.

One of our instructors has developed an intricate learning environment for his students. This entails using three popular technology tools that provide opportunities for virtual, in-person learning to participate equally. Using a cell phone to capture live instruction on a whiteboard while the desktop runs the lesson through Google Meet with the laptop allows him to track virtual participation to ensure live engagement is had by all students. The audio for Google Meet is run through separate speakers so that uniform sound is had to mimic a fully in-person classroom.

Another teacher is using a Google Classroom integrated application called Pear Deck to increase student engagement with all students. It is a great tool for formative and summative assessments that includes all students whether online or in-person.

An exciting new conference platform that was created in Vermont has been used in various classrooms in order to have virtual and in-person students work in teams, pairs, or as a larger class while remaining in the same virtual space. The students did such a great job explaining this to me that I experimented myself while at home and used it this week for a very successful meeting.

Several instructors have integrated their cohorts by using Google Forms as an assessment tool to gauge individual learning and balance the presentation of material.

This week’s newsletter would be a novel if I explained, in detail, all the various and wide variety of ways our staff has adapted and excelled teaching in this new hybrid learning environment. However, as I often speak about hybrid learning, and all that goes into it, I hope this gives some indication of what occurs daily at BFA.

Have a great weekend. Once again, despite some solid cold temperatures, get outside. 

Sincerely,
Brett Blanchard
Principal

PHOTOS AND MORE INFORMATION

    Beginning of the day, Friday, February 5th. Photo by Kristen Perrault.

Sports News:
Northwest Access TV has been supportive of our BFA Families by live streaming all of our JV & Varsity Basketball Games as well as our Varsity Hockey Games this winter because of the Vermont COVID ban on spectators at games. When they broadcast basketball, the stream will be the same for JV & Varsity so anyone watching will be able to keep watching the same video. Please click on the link below to access the videos:  https://www.facebook.com/nwatv

Club News:
Theatre students collaborate with strings in an original production.

Classroom work:





























Sharing the Love:
Students and staff received water bottles today. Photo by Karla Kane.

Good luck to the following sports teams as they compete this weekend:

Friday:

JV & Varsity Boys Basketball host Milton @ 6:00/7:30 p.m.

JV & Varsity Girls Basketball at Rice @ 5:30/7:00 p.m.

Alpine Race

 Saturday:

Virtual Dance Competition Filming @ 9:00/9:30

JVB Boys Basketball at NCU @ 1:00 p.m.

Boys Hockey at Spaulding at 4:00 p.m.

Girls Hockey host Essex at 7:00 p.m.


You're cordially invited:

BFA Title 1 Information Night

February 18, 2021 

5:30-6:15 PM


Zoom Meeting Link:: BFA Title I Informational Meeting Link



COVID Resource Info:
Attached is the link for the Maple Run COVID-19 Dashboard: District Case Numbers

Friday, February 5, 2021

Friday, February 5, 2021, Weekly Administrative Update

Dear BFA/NCTC Community:

This week I watched, from a distance, our home XC race, as well as basketball and hockey practices. I also carried my XC skis to Hard’ack to enjoy some headlamp night skiing. What both events reminded me of was my belief that energy begets energy. To a large extent, the more we are actively engaged physically and emotionally, the better off we are mentally and academically. The importance of state restrictions on all the performing arts and athletic competitions that students have lived with is not so much about an individual event, performance, or contest as it is about allowing students the opportunity to be intensively engaged in an activity that would increase their overall ability to perform better academically, socially, and emotionally. This is why today’s state press briefing allowing for athletic competitions starting next weekend has such importance for many of our students. This is also why we have kept our clubs running all year. 


This energy has already been seen in the classrooms, a little in our hallways, and definitely after school. The after school clubs that have been running include Athletic Council, Book, Gaming, GSA, Interact, Homework, Honor Societies (International Thespian Society, National Honor Society, National Art Honor Society, National Business Honor Society, and National Technical Honor Society), Hope Happens Here, Improvisation, International, Multi-Media, Mercury, Robotics, Scholars Bowls, Ski and Snowboarding, Skills USA, Social Justice, Student Council, Student Voice, Theatre, Unified Sports, and Yearbook. An Orchestra Club will be starting this semester and as soon as the state allows, we will expand our music offerings. I would encourage students not yet involved in an activity, club, or team to challenge us with their idea for a new offering.


At BFA we will continue to create engagement opportunities in and out of the classroom while looking forward to the day we are permitted to resume full-time in-person learning for all our students While we continue to work on a longer-term recovery plan for our students, we remain focused on maximizing physical and emotional engagement so that students may improve their learning. Next week, I look forward to sharing the variety of ways our teachers are directing student learning and engagement.


Have a great weekend and keep the shovel handy.


Sincerely,

Brett Blanchard

Principal


Semester 1 Report Cards 
are available after 4:00pm today on PowerSchool. 
Our COVID-hybrid schedule allows for twice the amount of time per class period. That means a class that is traditionally a year-long was completed in one semester. A class that is traditionally a semester-long was completed in one quarter.  A quarter-long class equals .5 credit and a semester-long class equals 1 credit. 
Semester 2 and Quarter 3 classes started on January 25th. 

CHECK OUT THIS VIDEO TO LEARN HOW TO ACCESS YOUR REPORT CARD ON POWERSCHOOL.



PHOTOS AND MORE INFORMATION:

Class of 2023 T-shirts are being sold out of A314 during Advisory as a fundraiser for next year’s Prom!  They are $20 each and will be sold until gone!  

Classwork:
    AP Environmental Science 2/5/21

Club action:
    Improvisation Team Filming 1/29/21

Health News:
    COVID Testing Clinic 2/4/21

Sports action:
    Bobwhite Hockey Practice 2/3/21

BFA's Campus during Winter:
A big shout out "Thank You" to Armand Messier for capturing these ariel photos of our campus!!

    We love our new connector!