Albany Community School

Good evening, We hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving break! Since we've adopted a new grading a reporting system this year, report cards will look different than they have in the past. Therefore, before report cards are sent home to EMS families later this week, we wanted to provide some resources that may help you navigate the new report. The report is called a "Student Learning Snapshot" because it is meant to give you a "snapshot" of how your student is doing at this moment in time. As the year progresses, students will continue to learn and grow. Please remember that you can login and check on your student's progress on individual assignments at any time by visiting the SmartScore Family website (www.smartedsystems.com). For now, you are welcome to review the "Student Learning Snapshot Cheat Sheet" (https://bit.ly/slscheatsheet) for a quick overview of the information included in the report card. A more detailed and in-depth overview is provided in the walkthrough video that is linked here (https://youtu.be/YvQZAMxKpdo). As always, our goal is to make these report cards as valuable and informative as possible for you and your student. Please reach out to your student's teacher, principal, or the Curriculum & Instruction office if you have any questions or if you need additional support. Thank you! Erica Harryman, Director of Instruction Kyle Chadburn, Access & Opportunities Coordinator

Hello Families, Please check out what's going on in middle school! Thank you to Dare, one of our students, for writing this! https://brainboxedu.my.canva.site/ms-newsletter

Hello Everyone, Please see the attachments for our newsletter. Have a great break and if you celebrate, Happy Thanksgiving!

Our School Based Clinician, Kim Haybecker, carved and painted this beautiful wolf for Principal Thomas! The detail is spectacular and beyond amazing! Kim is so talented and we look forward to having this displayed at school.

We hope you will join us for our Winter Concert!

Get yourself some school swag before 12/10 and save 25%! Check out their awesome designs! 1stplace.sale/98884

Hello Families, Please check your email for information about Jay Peak winter activities for students in 4th-8th grade! Please complete the QR code for your child so that they can participate. Permission slips going home this week. Please see email for more details.

November 4, 2024: Lake Region Union High School District Business & Operations Committee meeting to discuss FY26 Budget, see agenda here: https://5il.co/302ms at 5:00 pm and LR board meeting 6:00 pm: check out the agenda here: https://5il.co/302lc

BEHAVIORAL THREAT ASSESSMENT

Congratulations to the Albany Wolves Soccer Team for securing a win for their final game of the season! Many thanks to Coach John Sperry for building this team up and bringing out the best in these young athletes.

LRUHS Business & Operations Committee meetings to discuss budgets for 2025-2026: 10/23 6:00pm; 11/4 5:00pm; 11/13 6:00pm; 12/2 5:00pm. All meetings take place at Lake Region.

The Vermont Agency of Education announced in a recent press release the next phase of the 2024 Listen and Learn Tour and invites the public to participate in community conversations to inform how the Agency delivers services and supports to Vermont’s education system. These public engagement sessions will help the Agency develop its strategic plan and ensure that its work is supporting the educational priorities of communities across Vermont. Following a series of data reports and regional planning sessions with more than 250 education leaders, the Agency is eager to expand these conversations to include educators, parents, students, and community members across the state. The Agency encourages broad participation and welcomes input from all Vermonters, including students, families, and community partners - students are integral to these conversations and are encouraged to attend.

Good afternoon, Last week we reached out to you to let you know that we will be using a new grading and reporting system this year in our EMS schools called "SmartScore." Now that you've had some time to review the information we provided and register for your parent/guardian account in SmartScore, we wanted to follow up with some additional resources to help you navigate the SmartScore system. Two walkthrough videos are available at the link below. These videos show you how to interpret the scores you'll see on your student's learning snapshot, how to look at feedback from each of your student's courses, and how to view specific feedback on individual assignments. In addition, the informational handouts we sent previously are available on this webpage as well. https://www.ocsu.org/page/grading-reporting-resources As always, please reach out if you have any questions or if you need additional help. Thank you for your patience, understanding, and support as we transition to this new tool. Erica Harryman, OCSU Director of Instruction Kyle Chadburn, OCSU Access & Opportunities Coordinator

Thank you to the Albany Fire Department and Orleans ambulance for coming to our school this week to teach us about fire safety! The students had a great time!

October 7, 2024 Dear Parents, Community Members, Teachers, Support Staff, Principals, OCSU Administrators: As you may know, OCSU Superintendent of Schools, Penny Chamberlin, will be retiring at the end of this school year. We appreciate her leadership and hard work over the past four years. The OCSU Board has established a process and timeline for the hiring of a new superintendent who will begin in July. We are in the process of forming a search committee made up of board members, administrators, teachers, staff, parents and community members. We greatly value the perspective of all our constituents in the hiring process and hope that some of you will consider participating. Please contact Lisa Worden via email lworden@ocsu.org or by phone at 802-525-1204 ext. 134 if you are interested in participating in this process. Once the committee is established, we will provide a timeline and dates for organizational meetings and interviews—we anticipate three to four meetings. We will also have an opportunity for parents and community members to meet finalists and provide input in the process when we conduct a second round of the interviews. If you are interested in being on the committee, please respond by October 25, 2024. Sincerely, David Blodgett OCSU Board Chair & Superintendent Search Committee Co-Chair Neil Urie Lake Region Elementary Board Chair & Superintendent Search Committee Co-Chair

Butler's Bus Service—OCSU Drivers Needed/New Sign on Bonus

Good afternoon, In an effort to improve our schools' communication with students and their caregivers, the EMS district schools have adopted a new grading and reporting system called SmartScore. This system has many helpful tools and features that will hopefully make feedback more clear, accurate, and helpful for students. We hope that it will also make students' growth and progress easier for families to see and understand as well. Please review the attached document that provides an overview of the new system and provides you with login information so you can sign in and see how your student is doing. Teachers are working on putting student work into the new system right now, so please be patient as the transition takes place and we get everything up and running. Please don't hesitate to reach out with any questions you might have. Thank you for your support of our schools! Erica Harryman Director of Instruction Kyle Chadburn Access & Opportunities Coordinator

OCSU Employment Opportunities: OCSU is currently looking for a staff accountant, Spanish teacher, Health Office Staff and others. Check out the full listing here: https://orleanscentralvt.sites.thrillshare.com/page/employment-opportunities

We are very fortunate to partner with Orleans Dental Office and have a visiting dentist in a dental van! Our students are able to have their teeth cleaned right at school and schedule additional dental care if needed. If you want to get your child on the list for their next visit, please be in touch with our Health Office staff member Desirae. Check out these brave students!

Join us for Trunk or Treating on Saturday, October 26 from 2-4! Email Emily at ewells@ocsu.org to confirm you are setting up a trunk. All those that participate, are entered in to win some prizes!