Education

Lisa Bianconi, Music Director at Kurn Hattin Homes for Children, has been chosen as one of 217 quarterfinalists from across the U.S. for the first-ever Music Educator Award presented by the Grammy Foundation^® and the Recording Academy^®. Bianconi was one of three Vermont music teachers chosen to move on to the quarterfinals round from a total of 30,000 nominations submitted from all 50 states.

Experiential Spanish, developed by Dr. Tamara Stenn, is a holistic way of learning language in a context that creates meaning and builds comprehension mimicking how people actually acquire, process, and retain language.  Grounded in the pedagogy of “Core Fluency” which guides learners through, “fun, interactive experiences in Spanish, personalized, real conversations, interactive storytelling, and comprehensible readings,” Experiential Spanish also incorporates visual arts, nature, cooking and music into its curricula (corefluency.com, 2013). 

Chikako Nishiyama, from Kawauchi, Japan will be speaking and showing photographs at 7:00pm on Tuesday, May 28, at the Centre Congregational Church Parlor, 193 Main Street in Brattleboro.  Ms. Nishiyama was on the village council of Kawauchi, a town of 2,300 located 15 miles from the Fukushima reactors. After the disaster, Kawauchi was at first a shelter town for evacuees from the evacuation zone. Then a plume of radiation engulfed Kawauchi, and it was evacuated for one year. Residents were allowed to return beginning in April 2012. She is concerned for the health of her son, a firefighter who entered Kawauchi before the evacuation order was lifted.

Expand your family’s horizons this summer by welcoming a student from Spain into your home. These boys and girls, who range in age from 14 to 17, will arrive on June 26 and spend 3 1/2 weeks in New England. 

The students are all from the Basque region of Spain and have studied English for several years.  Host families provide a warm and safe home environment for the student, as well as meals and transportation to a meeting
spot for field trips (to Boston and  Six Flags–host families are invited too). It’s fine for a student to share a room with a host sibling, and students have their own spending money and medical insurance.

Riders and horse enthusiasts from all over New England converged at Kurn Hattin Homes’ Westminster campus last weekend for the Two-As-One-Horsemanship® Clinic, presented by renowned horse trainers
and riding clinicians Bob Jeffreys and Suzanne Sheppard of Middletown, NY. The Two-As-One philosophy, developed by Jeffreys and Sheppard, focuses on teaching riders steps toward better communication with their
horse, improved connection and partnership, and a higher degree of harmony between horse and rider, resulting in enhanced riding performance.

BRATTLEBORO UNION HIGH SCHOOL BOARD
53 Green Street
Brattleboro, VT 05301
www.wssu.k12.vt.us

NOTICE OF COMMITTEE MEETINGS

The BUHS #6 Planning and Policy Committee will meet at 6:00 p.m. on Monday, May 20, 2013 in the WRCC Cusick Conference Room.

Seeking Excellent Teacher for Annual Award with $1,000 Prize

Montpelier, Vt. — Do you know a Vermont teacher who has inspired you and who deserves statewide recognition? Since 2003, the Vermont Humanities Council has honored such teachers with the Victor R. Swenson Humanities Educator Award, which recognizes a Vermont educator in grades 6 through 12 who exemplifies excellence in the teaching of the humanities. VHC seeks nominations for the 2013 award. Nominating letters are due July 1.
 

A Tempo Senior Move Slates Activities for May: “Older Americans’ Month”

Originally decreed by President John F. Kennedy in 1963 as Senior Citizens’ Month, and now known as Older Americans’ Month, May is a good time to think about services offered in New England by A Tempo Senior Move. Offering advice and services related to the changes often experienced by retirees and seniors as they get older, A Tempo Senior Move is participating in a number of events scheduled for the month throughout the region, including a recent clinical workshop at the Boston Graduate School of Psychoanalysis presented by Christina Healy, RN, MA, and Dr. Marjorie Kettell. Healy is a geri-psych clinician and psychoanalyst on staff of A Tempo Senior Move.

NOTICE OF COMMITTEE MEETINGS 

The BUHS #6 Teacher Curriculum Committee will meet at 6:00 p.m. on Monday, May 6, 2013 in the WRCC Cusick Conference Room.

The BUHS #6 Finance Committee will meet at 7:00 a.m. on Wednesday, May 8, 2013 in the WSESU Central Office Conference Room, 53 Green Street.

We hope you’ll join us as don Francisco and doña Juana, elders of the Q’ero nation, will be in Brattleboro in early June, offering their energy medicine, ceremonies of manifestation and even an introduction to the ancient “wisdom teachings” of the Andes.  

The Q’ero — don Francisco’s and doña Juana’s people, are said to be the last direct descendants of the Inca.  They historically were respected as the keepers of the knowledge, and held a place of honor at traditional gatherings and festivals.  After the Spanish conquest, they remained invisible, living in small villages as high as 16,000
feet above sea level. To this day, the Q’ero live without electricity, plumbing, automobiles or even bicycles.  Here they have kept alive their relationship with the spirits of the land, and practice a heart-based way of relating to the world.  

Child Care Provider Appreciation Day is Friday, May 10. In honor of this day of recognition, Windham Child Care Association is selling bags of Vermont Country Tea, custom designed for the organization.

For $5.00, a set of 18 teabags will be delivered along with a personalized note of thanks. The ‘Warm Moments: Tropical Comfort’ tea is a fruit tea combining black tea with mango, pineapple and coconut oils.

Orders can be made online at www.windhamchildcare.org, by calling 254-5332 with credit card information, or by sending a check to 130 Birge St. in Brattleboro. Deadline for orders is Monday, April 29th.

Compass School welcomes prospective students and their families for our Open House on Tuesday, April 30th from 6-8PM. The Open House is hosted by current students, staff, and parents and includes a tour of the school, homemade dinner, and a presentation from Asst Director Eric Rhomberg. This is an informative and fun way to get to know the school and the Compass community.

Through the auspices of e-Vermont and a grant from the Vermont Community Foundation, the Brooks Memorial Library is able to continue its free one-on-one computer coaching sessions into May and beyond.

In these private 45-minute sessions, participants meet with a skilled student intern from Community College of Vermont to learn basic computer tasks, such as setting up and using an email account, creating a Facebook account, or using a word processor or other popular software program. Experienced computer users are also welcome to bring their questions. The library has computers available, or participants may bring their own tablets, smart phones, or laptops to explore the capabilities of those devices; for example, downloading ebooks or other digital media.

Registration is open at Marlboro College Graduate School for our continuing education classes. Term begins May 3rd and finishes on August 10th. We have blended and online classes that are tailored for summer schedules. Information and registration links are below. Contact Joe Heslin: 802-258-9209 |

I’ve been observing what appears to be a nation-wide war on public education, and to the “greedy” schoolteachers who profit by being employed therein.

In state after state we see education budgets being cut and teachers being laid off, along with movements to voucher children to private schools, and to replace Public Schools with so-called Charter Schools, which are privately operated schools paid for with taxpayer money. (Some charter schools are founded by teachers, parents, or activists who feel restricted by traditional public schools. State-authorized charters are often established by non-profit groups, universities, and some government entities. Additionally, school districts sometimes permit corporations to manage chains of charter schools. The schools themselves are non-profit entities…Wikipedia)

For your consideration, about the place of technology in schools.

Beyond any personal loss, I find it disturbing the school board and administrators chose to cut this service, and continue to obscure the fact that schools are not facing the reality described in the video.

It is equally disappointing that this is not more of an issue for the community. My kids are grown now, and they’re facing other educational horizons. But it seems crucial for a town that wishes to be vital, these challenges cannot be shirked.

BRATTLEBORO UNION HIGH SCHOOL BOARD
53 Green Street
Brattleboro, VT 05301
www.wssu.k12.vt.us

NOTICE OF COMMITTEE MEETINGS

The BUHS #6 Teacher Curriculum Committee will meet at 6:00 p.m. on Monday, April 1, 2013 in the WRCC Cusick Conference Room.

One-on-One Computer Coaching with Justin 
Tuesdays,6-8 PM 
Wednesdays,2 to 4 PM 
Saturdays, 12 to 2 PM 

Individualized Instruction Based on Your Needs 

Through the auspices of e-Vermont and a grant from the Vermont Community Foundation, Brooks Memorial Library is able to offer one-on-one computer coaching with a skilled student intern from Community College of Vermont.

A kick to the eye. The sudden illumination, awakening. Then what? We’re faced with a choice- act boldly, or obsequiously fall in line.

It’s often said, we are social creatures. But what does that mean? Our genome evolved over millions of years (over a hundred thousand for our exact species). We were formed and given form through hunter/gather/foraging methods. Small bands of people acting cooperatively, non-hierarchal power structures, harmonious interaction with the land and its lifeforms.

Then, yesterday, or a few thousand years ago, through agriculture and pastoral living- we became sedentary, fenced in by boundaries and ideologies, controlled. Our population mushroomed, territories were annexed. Horsemen were elevated to warriors, shamans and chiefs told us what was what, the conquering hero was set loose upon the world. While the amount of labor- and dull labor at that- increased exponentially.

The Windham Regional Career Center at Brattleboro Union High School is pleased to announce their Community Education and Training Programs for this spring. Betsy Gentile, Workforce Development Manager and Adult Education Coordinator is presenting 17 community education and training programs to meet the needs of area employers and their employees as well as providing personal and professional enrichment opportunities for all community members.

“We’re extremely excited about two new technical training opportunities, Certified Fiber Optic Technician training and Intermittent Electrical & Drivability Diagnostic Strategies training.”