OnTOP Alternative Program

District Seeks Qualified Candidates to Round Out Programming and Services

Burlington, VT Looking to jumpstart, change, or advance in your career? Burlington School District (BSD) has a large variety of open positions ranging from entry-level to managerial. Anyone looking for work is encouraged to join BSD leaders and members of the Human Resources team at a Job Fair this Friday, August 12, and Saturday, August 13 in the Cafeteria at Downtown BHS (67 Cherry Street).

The team will be available from 10 AM to 2 PM each day, offering on-the-spot hiring for some positions, application support, and multilingual interpretation. 

Available positions include: 

• Paraeducators ($16.23-$19.66 per hour)
• After School Site Director ($23.50 per hour)
• Afterschool Support Staff ($15-$18 per hour)
• Bus Drivers ($16.79-$18.18 per hour)
• Day and Evening Custodians ($16.50 – $18.50 plus additional wages for nighttime shifts)
• HVAC Technicians ($26-$30 per hour)
• Elementary Teachers and Special Educators (From $46,529-$64,433 and up)

Candidates interested in applying should bring photo identification. Hiring contingent upon successful reference and background checks. 

BSD positions offer a competitive salary and benefits package, mentoring and Professional Development, teacher tuition reimbursement, and Health and Wellness Programs. We are proud to be an Equal Employment Opportunity and Affirmative Action employer. We seek to recruit, develop, and retain the most talented people from a diverse candidate pool and we do not discriminate based on race, color, marital status, national origin, religion, sex (including pregnancy), age, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, veteran and military status, or any other category protected by law.

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Burlington School District (BSD) is a pre-k-12 public school system of about 4,000 students in Burlington, VT. BSD’s mission is to graduate students who: value different cultures, engage with the community, communicate effectively, think creatively, skillfully solve problems, and achieve at their highest academic, intellectual, and personal potential.  Join the Journey!www.bsdvt.org

School districts across Vermont are entering into “Budget Season” and Burlington School District (BSD) is pleased to announce a new budgeting model that will place more control of school budgets in the hands of principals and school communities. The District’s new “Equitable Budgeting and Staffing Model” strives to allocate resources based on student enrollment and need, seeks to build school-based engagement, and creates a new equity allocation for schools to use in efforts to close the opportunity gap. Leaders will share how budgeting will look different this year at a virtual “Equitable Budgeting Kickoff” event on October 4th at 6 PM over Zoom. Changes have also been laid out in a new BSD Budget Development Guide.

“I’m really pleased to be embarking on this new way of thinking about funding schools,” said BSD Superintendent Tom Flanagan. “We’ve spent the last year working with district leaders, teachers, students, and stakeholders on a model that is fair, predictable, equity-focused, and empowering for principals who know their buildings and student needs better than anyone.”

New to the budget process will be the Recognizing Injustice and Seeking Equity (or RISE) Allocation that each school will receive. After determining baseline staff models and resource needs, each school will receive an additional sum of money designed to help schools implement ideas and strategies designed to close the opportunity gap that exists in BSD. RISE Allocations will be based on a weighted pupil formula based, in part, on the Pupil Weighting Factors Report prepared by the Vermont Agency of Education in partnership with the University of Vermont, Rutgers University, and American Institutes for Research. Once funds for schools are determined, school leaders will work with School Advisory Groups to identify focus areas of needs and create proposals to address those needs. 

“This is a great step towards our school district and our community living our values around equity,” said Kevin Robinson, Principal of Integrated Art Academy and a member of the Equitable Budget and Staffing Work Group. “I am excited about the possibilities this will offer principals and community members to have more say in how schools are funded, and how those funds may create more equitable outcomes for students.” 

The public is invited to learn more about this new Equitable Budgeting and Staffing Model at a kickoff event on October 4th at 6 PM virtually over Zoom; the meeting will also be streamed and recorded on the District YouTube channel. 

Visit our Facebook page to RSVP and invite your friends and colleagues. See you there!

FREE FAMILY MEAL KITS

Burlington School Food Project is providing free boxes of food for families available at 10 sites throughout the city. Each meal kit is intended to cover breakfast, lunch, supper, and snacks for one child for one week (7 days)! You can pick up food boxes Friday, December 18, Wednesday, December 23rd, and Wednesday, December 30th. You can get one box per child in your household under 19 years of age, and you do not have to have your child with you to pick up food. Please see more information below or contact Doug Davis with any questions. 

Friday, December 18

3:00-4:30 PM BHS Parking, Sustainability Academy, Champlain Elementary 

5:00-6 PM Boys & Girls Club of Burlington

Riverside Apartments 12:30-1 PM (Time is approximate. Contact Boys & Girls Club if you need assistance.)

Salmon Run 12:45- 1:15 PM (Time is approximate. Contact Boys & Girls Club if you need assistance.)

Wednesdays, December 23rd and 30th 

3:00-4:30 PM BHS, Sustainability Academy, Champlain Elementary, Boys & Girls Club (this is a new time for the Club, for break weeks only) 

Bobbin Mill 11:00-11:30 AM

Franklin Square 11:00-11:30  AM

South Meadow 11:45 AM -12:15 PM

Northgate 11:45 AM -12:15 PM

Riverside Apartments 5:30 PM

Salmon Run 6:00 PM

Students to Lead Ceremonies Throughout November and December –
By Autumn Bangor and Russ Elek

 In July, the Burlington School District (BSD) joined the City of Burlington and other community partners in declaring Racism a Public Health Emergency. As part of the announcement, BSD committed to flying the Black Lives Matter flag at all school properties. On Tuesday, September 15, 2020, the Burlington Board of School Commissioners passed a resolution to support this effort and this November and December, all students at all BSD schools, as well as several community partners, will begin the process of raising the flags in small, private ceremonies. The work began on Friday, November 13 when students raised the flag at BHS, CP Smith, and Ira Allen PreSchool.

“The raising of the Black Lives Matter flag symbolically represents the commitments of allyship, anti-racist practices, diversity and inclusion, justice, and equity set forth by Burlington School District,” said Superintendent Tom Flanagan. “This is a great symbol of equity, but it is only a starting point. I’m proud of our principals and teachers who have taken the opportunity to connect these flag-raisings directly to classroom curriculum and learning. By having students involved in the ceremonies and age-appropriate conversations around race and equity, we can ensure that the flags are truly an outward representation of what is happening inside our schools.”

BSD’s Office of Equity has spent the last several months working directly with students, teachers, and administrators to embed anti-racist curriculum and assist schools in raising the flag. They also developed Black Lives Matter FAQ to share with staff and community.

Because each school’s ceremony will be student-led, no two will look alike. Some will feature speeches, readings, or artwork, others will feature students singing or participating in drum circles, and one school will even feature a live performance from A2VT. Though every ceremony will look different, all will be rooted in themes of social justice, anti-racism, and equality. Schools are supplementing the events through classroom activities such as creating Black Lives Matter-themed artwork, crafting anti-racist statements, holding class-wide discussions, and utilizing Restorative Practices techniques such as community circles and one-on-one check-ins.

“We are living in a historic moment of racial reckoning as we watch our country come to terms with its history and present while living within the dual pandemics of racism and Covid-19 and the disproportionate impact on BIPOC communities,” said BSD Director of Equity, Sparks. “Systemic racism and racial injustice have a presence in our everyday lives, continuing to foster fear, trauma, and inequity, while undoubtedly denying our neighbors and fellow community members who are people of color their most fundamental rights. We at BSD strongly denounce racism in all its forms and we are dedicated to examining our practices, policies, and procedures in order to eradicate systemic racism in our school community. We believe Black Lives Matter and stand in solidarity with Black students, faculty, and staff, and we are grateful for the efforts of Burlington High School and Edmunds Middle School students who helped open our eyes and pave the way by working to raise the BLM flag at their schools.”

Sparks noted that student activists have long been asking for racial injustice to be recognized at the BSD. In February 2018, BHS Social Justice Union activists petitioned the BSD School Board to raise the Black Lives Matter flag at BHS, becoming the second school in Vermont and the second school in the nation to do so. The following year, EMS students, with the help of the University of Vermont-supported Youth-led Participatory Action Research group successfully petitioned to raise a BLM flag on the Edmunds campus.

“As our nation grapples with anti-Black violence, we recognize that systemic racism has persisted in our nation for centuries and we acknowledge the part that schools play in ending this plague,” Superintendent Flanagan added. “There is much work to be done and while the flag’s symbolism is important, our solidarity must be backed by actions such as the ones happening in our classrooms today.”

Due to COVID protocols, this year’s ceremonies will be smaller and will not be open to the public. However, many of the ceremonies will be captured through videos and photos and shared through school and District social media and newsletters in the coming weeks. RETN at the Media Factory will also work with the District to create a video showcasing efforts across the District. The public is encouraged to tune into the District’s Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube accounts to see footage from the events.

Schedule and Locations (Every Wednesday and Friday)

In response to the August 11th update to the Agency of Education’s “A Strong and Healthy Start Guidance,” we have created a tool in PowerSchool that will allow families to complete student health screenings at home each morning before leaving for school. Please check out the video for a look at how to complete the daily form, then login to your BSD PowerSchool account to complete the screening.

Remember, it will be important to complete the screening before 7:30 AM each morning, if possible, because at 7:30 each morning, staff will download a report to see who has completed the screening. Those who did not complete the screening prior to 7:30 AM will have to complete the screening on-site prior to building entry. Once students arrive, staff will verify which students still need to be screened and confirm students are fever-free.

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