Minutes Submitted on 1/9/09

 

Putney Central School Board Meeting Minutes

Meeting Date 1/8/09

Minutes Submitted on 1/9/09

Board Attendees Benji Cragin (BC); Ellen Pratt (EP); Anne Fines (AF); Matt Dall (MC), Virginia Scholl (VS)

Community Attendees Mary Ann Deere, Cliff Adler, Kathy Ingram, Lynn Borofsky and Connie Bresnahan (staff)

Administration Attendees Ron Stahley (RS); Amelia Stone (AS)

Location PCS

Meeting Called to Order by: BC

Meeting Called to order at: 4:30 pm

Meeting adjourned at: 6:40 pm
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Next School Board Meeting Jan. 22, 2009

NOTICE OF MEETING 

The Putney Town School Board will meet at 4:30 p.m. on Thursday, January 22, 2009 at the Putney Central School.

 AGENDA 

I.          CALL TO ORDER‹4:30 p.m. ­ Benjie Cragin, Board Chair 

II.      REVIEW, PRIORITIZE AND ESTABLISH DESIRED OUTCOMES FOR MEETING BY

CHAIRPERSON 

III.     CLERK’S REPORT

A.   Approval of Minutes ­ January 8, 2009

B.   Communications

C.   Other 

IV.    RECOGNITION OF GROUPS AND/OR INDIVIDUAL VISITORS

V.     ADMINISTRATIVE REPORT 

VI.    COMMITTEE REPORTS Read more

January 22, 2009 | Volume 1, Issue 20

Dates to remember:

-Friday, January 23rd: Winter Sports program continues
-February 23rd – March 4th: Winter Recess – NO SCHOOL

From the Nurse’s office
Soon you’ll see a new face in the nurse’s office! Becky Steele will be interning with Nurse Arlene. She is a registered nurse, pursuing a bachelor’s degree in the nursing program at the University of Vermont. She’ll be teaching health education and helping with health screenings, etc.

Fleece Needed

The PCS Winter Sports Committee is looking for fleece material suitable for making neck warmers to sell for fundraising purposes. If you have any material to donate, please bring it to the office. Thanks!

Dummerston Dance
All PCS 6th – 8th graders are invited to attend Dummerston’s dance on Friday, January 23rd from 7:00 – 10:00.  Admission is $5.00.

Winter Sports Update
The Winter Sports Program is a go for tomorrow! Here are the details:
Mt Snow – the bus will leave PCS at 10:30. Students will eat their lunches en route. Students especially need to remember their neck-warmers. The bus will return to PCS by 4:45. Please don’t be late picking students up!
Grafton – the bus will leave PCS at 10:45. Students will return to PCS by 3:00, so they can be here in time for regular dismissal.
Skaters – the bus will depart PCS at 12:00, and will return by 3:00, in time for dismissal.
On Campus – activities will begin at 1:00.
If you have any questions about the program, please contact Nancy Gagnon at 387-4032, or email her at: ngagnon@svcable.net

Please wear warm clothing and bring your gear!!!! Read more

January 15, 2009 | Volume 1, Issue 19

Dates to remember:

-Monday, January 19th: Martin Luther King, Jr. Day - NO SCHOOL

-Tuesday, January 20th: Teacher In-Service Day - NO SCHOOL
-Wednesday January 21st: Winter Concert for students in grades 5 – 8, 6:00pm. Students should arrive by 5:45
-Thursday January 22nd: Winter Concert for students in K – 2, 6:00pm. Students should arrive by 5:45.

Lost & Found News:
So many clothing items are left behind every day at PCS that we can only hold onto them for a short time. Our advice: put your child’s name in his/her clothing so it can find its way home.
Found in the PCS parking lot: brand new music CD, still in the wrapper. Claim it in the office.

 Soup Supper and Community Sing

There will be an evening of fellowship and song in memory of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. on Sunday, January 18th at Walpole Unitarian Church in Walpole NH. The event starts at 5:00pm. A free will offering and food collection will be taken for the Fall Mountain Food Shelf. For more information, call 802-376-4977.

Dummerston Dance
All PCS 6th – 8th graders are invited to attend Dummerston’s dance on Friday, January 23rd from 7:00 – 10:00.  Admission is $5.00. Read more

January 8, 2009 | Volume 1, Issue 18

Dates to remember:

-Friday, January 9th: Winter Sports program begins
-Monday, January 19th: Martin Luther King, Jr. Day – NO SCHOOL
-Tuesday, January 20th: Teacher In-Service Day – NO SCHOOL

-January 21st and 22nd: Winter Concerts

FOX Volunteers
Due to the snow day this week, the FOX meeting with Karen has been postponed to Wednesday, January 14th from 1:00-3:00 in the PCS Library.

Important Notice for Afternoon Pick Up

We want to remind all parents/guardians who pick up their children from school that the front driveway should be used only as a drive through - not a parking lot. If you come into the building, you MUST park in the big parking lot in the back of the school.  Preschool parents who pick up their children between 3:00-3:30 are reminded to park in the big parking lot too.

Feedback Requested
We want to hear from you. To improve traffic flow in the front driveway during the winter months, we’re considering dismissing walker and riders in Preschool through grade 4 at 3:05. Read more

Directions for Middle School Sports Games

Directions to Middle School Sports

CHESTERFIELD

From PCS, take 1-91 South to Exit 3. Head east towards Keene on Rt. 9 @ 5.5 miles to Rt. 63. Take

a right onto Rt. 63. Go @ 1.1 miles, school is on the left. For soccer/baseball/softball field turn left to

go to school, keep going down the hill. Fields are to the right.

GUILFORD

From PCS, get on 1-91 South, get off Exit 1. Go right onto Rt. 5. At Guilford Store turn right onto

Guilford Center Rd. Go @ 5.2 miles, you will pass Bonnyvale Rd. on the right, the next right will be

School Rd. Go @ ½ mile, the school is on the right. (if you go past Guilford Grange you have gone

too far)

DUMMERSTON

Take a left from PCS, at bottom of Kimball Hill, take a right onto Rt. 5 south. Continue on Rt. 5 south

@___miles. Dummerston School is on the right. Turn right onto Dummerston Center Rd.

(Baseball players can park off Rt. 5 by the field on the right, right past small red building)

HINSDALE

From PCS, take left, at the bottom of Kimball Hill, take a right onto Rt. 5 south. Take 1-91 South, get

off at Exit 2. Take a left into Brattleboro, take a right on Main St. at the light. Go through another light,

then turn left to go over bridge into NH. Continue on Brattleboro Rd. (Rt. 119) @ 6 miles. Turn right

onto School Rd.

KURN HATTIN

Take a left from PCS, at bottom of Kimball Hill, take a left by General Store onto Rt. 5 north (Bellows

Falls Rd.). Stay on Rt. 5 north, take a left onto Piggery Rd. (under 1-91 underpass). Continue on this

road (turns to a dirt road). Just before the intersection of Piggery Rd. and Kurn Hattin Rd. on the right

are the fields for soccer and baseball/softball.

Basketball — the gym is straight across the road as you come to the intersection.

TWIN VALLEY — MIDDLE SCHOOL (Whitingham)

Travel Route 9 West toward Bennington. One mile before Wilmington, turn Left at the Country Store

onto Route 100 South toward Jacksonville. Follow the road into the center of Jacksonville and turn

Right at the stop sign. After 20 yards, the road splits. Go Right, up the steep hill. The school is 1.5

miles ahead on the left. For soccer, go past the school, take first left up hill. Soccer fields are up in

back.

Basketball will be in the school.

TWIN VALLEY — HIGH SCHOOL (Wilmington)

Travel Route 9 West toward Bennington. In Wilmington, turn Left after the Sunoco Station (before

you get to the middle of town) onto School Street.

WALPOLE

Take a left from PCS, at bottom of Kimball Hill, take a left by General Store onto Rt. 5 north (Bellows

Falls Rd.) Stay on Rt. 5 north, through Westminster, take a right onto Rt. 123, under railroad

underpass. Go across bridge, take a left onto Rt. 12. Take a right onto Pool Rd., go @.1 miles, turn

right at Bemis Lane. School is on the right.

Directions to Baseball Field: When you come off the bridge from Westminster turn left onto Rt. 12

North.

About a mile or so up the road there will be a big farm on your left and Agway on your right. That is

where you would turn if you go to the school for softball first. For baseball though continue on Rt.

12 up the hill. Turn right onto Rt. 123. Hubbard Farms will be on your right. It is a brick building.

Take a right after the Hubbard driveway. It will take you through the field to the Ball-Roentsch field.

WESTMORELAND

From PCS, take 1-91 South to Exit 3. Head east on Rt. 9 towards Keene @ 5.5 miles to Rt. 63. Take

left onto Rt. 63. Follow Rt. 63 (by lake) into Westmoreland. Turn right onto Glebe Rd. in center of

village. School is on the right.

Vermont Apples

Featured Recipe: Baked Apples

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Sports Programs and Activities

P.E. is part of the regular curriculum for all students in K-8 grade at Putney Central. For after-school and weekend sports for K-6 graders, Putney Central works closely with the Putney Recreation League, a nonprofit organization offering training and intermural games in soccer, basketball, baseball, and softball. Putney Central has school-sponsored teams in those sports for middle schoolers.

Putney Central also has a spectacular Winter Sports program offering instruction and practice in downhill skiing (at nearby Mt. Snow), cross-country skiing (at nearby Grafton Ponds), and snowshoeing (in the School Forest).

School Forest

The School Forest owes its existence to the foresight, back in 1957, of a School Board which decided to purchase not just the 12 acres needed as a site for the new local school, but also the additional 164 tract that included both the Sacketts Brook floodplain behind the school and the wooded hillside beyond the brook, all the way to the Bare Hill ridge. The Forest was partially logged in the early 1980’s and the logging roads began to be used by mountain bikes and various kinds of motorized vehicles. However, because of inadequate foot access over Sacketts Brook, for many years neither students nor townspeople made much use of the recreational and educational potential of this extensive and beautiful woodland.

During the early Nineties various interested parties – the Putney Conservation Commission, the Windham Regional Commission, certain individuals, and ultimately the School Board itself – became involved in rectifying the situation. A School Forest Committee was established by the Board in early 2000, which began organizing winter snowshoe hikes and spring flower walks to increase public awareness of the Forest, and set about raising money to construct a sturdy footbridge over Sacketts Brook. Aided by a major matching grant from the Thomas Thompson Trust the Committee was able quickly to raise sufficient funds in the community and in November, 2001, an attractive structure bearing the student-chosen name, “The Portal to the Sacred Woods”, was dedicated at an all-school ceremony.

With the bridge in place it was now possible to begin developing a foot-trail system, relying almost entirely on student participation. The first After School Forest Program, involving only seven students, took place in Fall, 2002, creating a completely new foot-trail, the After School Trail. Since then successive Fall and Spring After- School Programs, involving growing numbers of students – over 10% of the student body in 2004-2005 – have created a network of fine, well-marked trails that are heavily used not only by students but also by large numbers of townspeople.

In the winter of 2004, the School Forest Committee organized the first on-campus outdoor component of the Winter Sports Program, emphasizing snow-shoeing and winter forest studies. The program was again offered in 2005 and its is expected that both it and the Fall and Spring After-School Programs will become an integral part of the School’s outdoor activities. Classes have begun to use the forest too, notable examples being a “planet walk” (demonstrating the relative distances in the solar system), a study of diseases of oak trees, and the identification and tagging of various tree species. From time to time the Committee organizes hikes for both kids and adults around themes like wildflowers, fern identification, and owl-calling.

Activities

For the past three years the School Forest Committee has organized and led six-week spring and fall programs in the School Forest. These take place after school, two days a week, from 3 to 5 pm and are open to all students in grades Two through Six. Activities have included building six new trails, installing an information kiosk,   constructing a lean-to hideout, playing woodland games, maintaining the trail system, and enjoying camp fires and swims in Sacketts Brook.

 

 

The School Forest Committee has also developed and led a snow-shoeing activity as part of the school-wide Winter Sports Program. During January and February, students in grades Four through Six shoe-shoed the School Forest trails, identified and followed animal tracks, including mouse, fox, turkey, otter, and deer, built and used a group hideout, played games on snowshoes, constructed “quinzees” (snow houses), and ate ’smores around a campfire. 

  You may view or print the map of the central school forest schoolforest.pdf

  You can also view and print the trail guide.

 

International Studies Program

International Studies

Introduction

In 1997 and 1998, two teachers from Putney Central School (Gerry Gatz and Kathleen Bartlett) visited China and Japan through UVM’s Asian Studies Outreach Program. That experienced changed their perspective on the world — and on teaching.

Working alongside and through the school’s PTO, an International Studies program that, since 1999,has conducted all-school investigations of the arts, religions, culture, language, and customs of areas of the world far away from rural Vermont. The following represents a brief record of international studies at PCS. Read more

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