CCS BoardCorner
by Lynne Jaunich, CCS School Board Chair,
August 25, 2011, page 7.....

New Faces and Fresh Paint at CCS

Next week the freshly painted doors at Charlotte Central School (CCS) will open to welcome 453 students, an enrollment comparable to last year. After a year of construction, the 2011 building will be fully occupied. We are excited for you to view the changes during our Open House on Sunday, September 11. Look for more details in the next issue of The Charlotte News.
There will be some new faces in the building this year, and some staff members have assumed new positions. With the retirement of Ebeth Scatchard last year, Beth Adams has been hired as the second kindergarten teacher. Ms. Adams comes to CCS from Williston, where she has been a long-term substitute kindergarten teacher. Alice Tragesar has been hired as the new part-time art teacher, filling the open position left when full-time art teacher Alice Bourgoin retired last spring. Alice Tragesar had been teaching art at Hinesburg Community School and runs a popular art camp in Charlotte. Connie Engle, previously a full-time speech therapist at CCS, has assumed the part-time Special Education administrator position. Maureen Delaney will take over the remaining portion of the speech therapy position. Finally, as discussed during last year’s budget season, our kindergarten class sizes of 20 and 21 resulted in the hiring of two part-time paraeducators to assist in the classroom.
The School Board has a full agenda for the coming year. Topics include finalizing the outcomes we want our students to achieve as a result of attending CCS. In addition, we are looking to identify the indicators that will assess whether we are meeting those outcomes. We will be reaching out to the entire community in the near future to obtain input on the outcomes.
Additional topics to be addressed this year by the board include our health education program, the CCS website, an update on math, gender discrepancies in achievement, homework, local policies and the continued presence of a facility committee.
Details on our work plan can be found online under the board section of the CCS website, ccsvt.us.   
Finally, many community members have asked about the status of the merger discussions. The Merger Committee’s standing on whether to endorse a merger of the school districts in the Chittenden South Supervisory Union to form a regional education district (RED) will be determined at a meeting later this month. The committee anticipates holding community forums during the fall to communicate its findings and to obtain input.
The CCS School Board will continue to hold its meetings on the third Tuesday of each month at 6:30 p.m. at CCS, with our first meeting scheduled for September 20. We welcome and encourage the community to attend.