School Board Brief and Updates from Stowe Education Fund

View this email in your browser

The board began the New Year with the appointment of Drew Clymer to the school board. Drew’s appointment takes effect immediately and ends on Town Meeting Day, March 7, 2017, when he and others may opt to run for the two-year term.  The board would like to thank all of the candidates who put their name forward for consideration – we greatly appreciate their interest and willingness to serve the school district. Prior to the holiday break, the board reviewed various options for reporting AP data. Superintendent Tracy Wrend offered five reporting options and is soliciting feedback from the board and community through a survey located online at:  https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BytzzKBrXCK_MmJpMGlVY2VZUFE/view. The survey will be open until March 15, at which point comments will be taken into consideration for the annual school report published in late spring. Thanks in advance for your input. The next two board meetings will focus primarily on the FY18 budget and will take place on January 9 at 6:30pm and January 16 at 6:00pm in the Stowe Elementary School Music Room.

SEF 2016-2017 Fundraising Priority List:  VIEW HERE We sincerely thank you for the time and support you show SEF.  Our organization works hard to bring the schools and community together in a myriad of ways to benefit everyone as we focus on our fundraising priorities.  Thank you to everyone who provided their valuable input on the survey this Fall; your feedback helps us to compile a fundraising priority list that has widespread support.  As such, we have put the Auditorium seat project on hold.  In a limited resource environment our fundraising efforts will focus on the items and programs you told us were the most important. This year to support and enhance the excellence of Stowe schools, we are investing in these critical areas which are outside of the scope of the school budget: LIBRARY PROJECT: $60,000 Upgrade of Current Facilities EXPANDED AND APPLIED LEARNING RESOURCES: $59,000 Science Program Support Leveled Text Instructional & Literacy Reading Materials Special Assemblies / Presentations Art Program Support STEAM & DTE Program Materials Music Program Support Library eBooks & Audio Books Project Resources Garden Program Support Enrichment Camps French Program Support  SCHOOL CLIMATE ENHANCEMENTS: $10,000 Standing Desks & Stationery Bicycles TECHNOLOGY EXPANSIONS / UPGRADES: $3,000 Technology Resources (iPads and Chromebooks) For a detailed description of these fundraising priorities, click on the link below: SEF Fundraising Priority List (Detailed) Please contact us with any questions, ideas or suggestions! Stoweeducationfund@gmail.com or 730-2255.