Hunt PTO Update 9/30/12

Hard to believe October 1st has arrived!  

Hoping that all of our Hunt families are back in 

the swing of things with school now in session.  

Here's what's happening at YOUR Hunt Middle School 

and throughout the district:

Lettuce Eat Flatbread! 

American Flatbread Burlington Hearth

Tuesday, October 2nd

5:00-10:00pm  

Come on out and hang with folks from the 
Burlington School Food Project and other 

community change-makers while enjoying some 
 delicious wood fired flatbreads. 

A portion of the proceeds from your purchases 
will benefit Burlington's amazing 

Farm 2 School program. 

Come be a food warrior! 

**Don't feel like going out? Then order to-go.**

NECAP testing at Hunt -- October 8th through 12th

The New England Common Assessment Program (NECAP) is the yearly standardized assessment Vermont gives all middle school students. These assessments are designed to evaluate both individual student achievement and Hunt's annual yearly progress (AYP). All students will be testing October 9th through October 11th in reading and  math, while only 8th grade students will test October 12th in writing.   Please encourage your kids to get a good night sleep, eat a good breakfast and RELAX before test taking.  

FREE COMMUNITY HARVEST DINNER  

Thursday, October 11, 2012

      Serving from 6:00 – 7:00 pm  At  Hunt Middle School

 Let’s bring together all of our students, staff and their families to share and celebrate the fresh, local, seasonal food we strive to include in our healthy school lunches.   Our menu will include homemade recipes, classic favorites and a bountiful salad bar.  

Please contact:  Jennifer Tomczak at 865-2792 or jatomczak1@gmail.com  if you can help.

Diversity and Equity 

The Diversity and Equity Committee of the Board has been working this fall on a strategic vision for diversity and equity within the District. This work will be brought to the full Board for approval at the October Board meeting. In addition, the pilot Annual Equity Inclusion Report will be released to the full Board at the October Board meeting, with the goal of public input for the first complete report in mid winter. For more updates on what is happening with diversity and equity in the District, please read the superintendent's blog or the District website at www.bsdvt.org.

  

Burlington's celebration of local foods and local farms!

 "School Lunch for Dinner"...and a Movie! 

Burlington High School 

5:30 - 8:30 p.m. 

Friday, October 12th

Free! 

What are kids eating in the cafeteria these days? Experience school lunch 
Burlington-style and pamper your pallet with an array of 

delicious local school food items. 

After dinner join us for a screening of 

What's on Your Plate?, 

a fresh and funny documentary about 

two 11-year-old girls as they explore 

where their food comes from.

Dinner and the movie are free and we will be gratefully 

accepting a $5-10 donation to the 

Burlington School Food Project at the door.

PTO will be discussing sports communication 

at the October meeting.  

The meeting date MAY be changed as October 18th falls during Parent-Teacher conferences.  Please look for that confirmation here next week.  If you have ideas/experiences/frustrations to share,  please attend this meeting or feel free to send an email to huntmiddleschool@gmail.com and your thoughts will be included in the discussion.

Boulders & Burritos!! 

October 24th, 5-8pm Boloco on 92 Church St. will be donating a full 25% of its revenue to the

 Hunt Middle School Stone Circle Project.  

This includes both dine-in and take-out orders.  

Please plan to eat a globally inspired burrito at Boloco that evening, and encourage family and friends to do the same.

  Many thanks to Boloco for the restaurant's generosity in supporting this great project!! 

*****************Breaking news!!********************

Work will begin on the The Stone Circle  within the next two weeks!!!! If you are unable to eat at Boloco on 10/24, but want to contribute to this worthy project, please consider donating directly to the Stone Circle Project Fund. Checks should be written to the Hunt MIddle School PTO with "Stone Circle Project" in the memo line and send to the front office.

Thanks in advance for your support!!!!!!!!

ONE Hunt Families:  

The CCTA bus service is here for YOU!  

Update:  

ONE Hunt families have found that that Bus 26 (arriving on North Street at approx. 7:35 am and noted in last week's blog) runs too late to get Hunt students to school on time.  For this reason, Bus 26 is no longer considered a viable option for our students.  Bus 35 and 32 (noted below) continue to be available.

If you have questions about the Neighborhood Specials bus schedules or feedback on how the buses are running in general, please contact Mr. Amato at Hunt at 864-8469 or email him at ramato@bsdvt.org.   Families with questions about the bus system can also call CCTA directly at 864-0211 as they can provide parents with guidance on which bus their students need to catch and when.  Students should  plan on being at the bus stop 5 minutes before the buses are scheduled to arrive.

Bus 35 will be driving down North Street at 7:03 am  --
Drop off at Hunt at approx 7:22 am.

Bus 32 will be driving down North Street at 7:12 am  --
Drop off at Hunt at approx 7:30 am.

more info here...
http://cctaride.org/bus-information/neighborhood-specials.html

Save the Date.... 

• October 2nd - American Flatbread Fundraiser for the Burlington School Food Project
• October 8 - 12 - NECAP testing
• October 11 - Harvest Dinner, 6pm - All families invited!
• October 12 - School Dance
• October 12 - School Lunch for Dinner @ BHS
• October 17 - Early Release day
• October 18,19 - No School -Parent Teacher Conferences
• October 24 - Boloco Fundraiser

Hunt PTO Update 9/24/12

Happy Fall to all of our Hunt families!  

Here's what's happening at YOUR Hunt Middle School...

Hunt Open House - 

Thursday, September 27th

Important Parent Meeting at the Hunt Middle School

September 27, 2012

7:00 pm

Come meet all the staff and teachers at Hunt Middle School

and hear about what your student is learning.

An informational session you should not miss!

a message from Mr. Amato...

Dear Hunt Parents and Guardians,

            I would like to formally invite you to the Hunt Open House that will be held on Thursday, September 27^th. The Open House will begin at 7:00PM and run to 8:30PM. The Open House is an event for parents and guardians. Although we love seeing your kids, this night is designed just for you! The event will give you a chance to get a first hand look at Hunt Middle School, faculty and staff. There will be child care available for your elementary school age children, courtesy of our own Healthy Living teacher, Ms. Deb Anger and her certified child care providers (Room A-17).

            The evening will begin in the Hunt Auditorium at 7PM. There, you will be introduced to members of our administrative staff and various support people in the building. Our hope is that you will become more familiar with all the adults who work as part of the Hunt community. The Unified Arts professionals will then introduce themselves to you and give a brief description of their programs.

            Following the introductions/descriptions in the auditorium (approx. 7:40) you will move on to your child’s team rooms. Team teachers will then introduce themselves to you and provide a description of their varied curriculum and team expectations. The evening will conclude at 8:30PM. We hope that you will find this evening informative and time well spent. We fully expect that this event will generate many questions regarding your child’s educational experience here at L.C. Hunt Middle School. You will have an opportunity on October 17^th and 18^th to schedule time to speak to teachers on a more personnel level during our formal Parent/Teacher conferences. We are looking forward to seeing you at the Open House!

Sincerely,

Richard S. Amato

Principal

L.C. Hunt Middle School

American Flatbread Fundraiser 

on Tuesday, October 2nd!  

Come and kick it with the Burlington School Food Project crew and numerous other food warriors at American Flatbread on October 2nd. A portion of the proceeds from all pizzas purchased go to the enhancement of Burlington's amazing Farm to School program. 

FREE COMMUNITY HARVEST DINNER  

Thursday, October 11, 2012

      Serving from 6:00 – 7:00 pm  At  Hunt Middle School

 Let’s bring together all of our students, staff and their families to share and celebrate the fresh, local, seasonal food we strive to include in our healthy school lunches.   Our menu will include homemade recipes, classic favorites and a bountiful salad bar.  

Please contact:  Jennifer Tomczak at 865-2792 or jatomczak1@gmail.com  if you can help.

ONE Hunt Families:  

The CCTA bus service is here for YOU!  

If you live in the ONE and have not been using the bus service to transport your students to school, here is information that will help get you started.  

CCTA has been working closely with the school district to make the morning bus system smoother and more predictable for Hunt families living in the ONE.   If you have questions about the Neighborhood Specials bus schedules or feedback on how the buses are running in general, please contact Mr. Amato at Hunt at 864-8469 or email him at ramato@bsdvt.org.

Bus 35 will be driving down North Street at 7:03 am  --
Drop off at Hunt at approx 7:22 am.

Bus 32 will be driving down North Street at 7:12 am  --
Drop off at Hunt at approx 7:30 am.

Bus 26 will be driving down North Street at 7:35 am  --
Drop off at Hunt at approx 8:00 am.

more info here...
http://cctaride.org/bus-information/neighborhood-specials.html

Students should  plan on being at the bus stop 5 minutes before the buses are scheduled to arrive.

Families with questions about the bus system can also call CCTA directly at 864-0211 as they can provide parents with guidance on which bus their students need to catch and when.  Parents  are also welcome to stop by the CCTA office at 15 Industrial Parkway in Burlington. They are located off Home Avenue around the corner from Pool World and next to the old Salvation Army.

Boloco Fundraiser - October 24th

On the evening of Wednesday, October 24th, Boloco will be donating a full 25% of its revenues to Hunt Middle School!  This includes both dine-in and take-out.  Please plan to eat at Boloco that evening if you can and encourage family and friends to do the same!  Many thanks to Boloco for the restaurant's generosity in supporting our school!

Save the Date.... 

• September 26 - No School - Yom Kippur
• September 27 - Open House for Parents at 7pm
• October 11 - Harvest Dinner, 6pm - All families invited!
• October 12 - School Dance
• October 17 - Early Release day
• October 18,19 - No School -Parent Teacher Conferences
• October 24 - Boloco Fundraiser

Hunt PTO Update 9/10/12

Hey There Hunt Families - Hope you are settling into the new school year.  Sports try-outs are over and teams start practices and games this week.  Sports information can be found on the Hunt website http://hunt.bsdvt.org/ or by contacting Wayne Pecor at wpecor@bsdvt.org  Have a great week.

Picture Day is TOMORROW!  (9/10/12)

Fundraising at Hunt  Welcome to Hunt for those of you that are new and welcome back to those of you that have kids in 7th or 8th grade. My name is Gabriele Baumann and I am on the fundraising team for the Hunt PTO (parent teacher organization). Last year through small and large contributions in time, effort or money we have met our fundraising goals to make significant improvements in the appearance of our kids' school and supported many events and activities.

Some of the most visible changes at Hunt are the new flower bed at the entrance, that gives the school a great new look, the granite benches and the newly painted entrance area. I think you can agree with me that we can be more proud of our school with this new look and a more welcoming entrance area reflects on the standards that the school sets for itself.

We have more plans for the front entrance area and set the goal for this fall to install a stone circle. This will be a unique space that our teachers and students can use for outdoor learning, waiting for after-school activities to begin or when waiting for rides home and for staff, parents and students to socialize. Presently this area, near the entrance of our Middle School, is overgrown and unsightly and there is no place for sitting down. Understanding the importance of pride in one's school, our PTO is dedicated to bringing this project to its completion. (scroll down for pictures of current and future look)

We can achieve change and improve our schools, as last year has demonstrated, the PTO just needs a little bit of help from you. I realize that everybody is already busy and some of you are concerned about time commitments - every little bit helps and we are always grateful for any support small or large, so please don't worry if you think you can't commit much - if everybody contributes a little bit the workload will be shared.

This time we need support for the upcoming Coffee Break Sale at the Williston I89 Rest Stops - more details below. We need some baked treats and if anybody wants to have some fun in selling goods please sign up for a 2 hour shift (or less). If you can only donate a few hot dog rolls or want to bake something...we appreciate it all! See list below. 

Gabriele Baumann
PTO Fundraising Chair

Here are the items we still need. Since we have both rest stops we need everything twice - you do not have to contribute for both sides - but you can:) :

Half&Half  - 2 x 1/2 gallon
hot dog rolls 6x16 (96)
bagels 2 x 12
cream cheese (individual cups from Costco) 24
cheese sticks (Costco?) 2 bags
relish-  2 bottles  
 
fruit for fruit cups: 
strawberries- 2 pints
1 pineapple 
grapes - 2 bags
2 cantaloupes 
cups-  30
saran wrap
 
fruit yoghurts (Stonyfield, Danone) 24
 
donuts from Dunkin Donuts 2 x 12
scones 2 x 12
brownies 1 x 12
pound cake (sliced) 2
banana bread 2
zucchini bread 1 - 2
oatmeal raisin cookies 2 x 12
energy bars (Quaker?) 2 x 12
 
meat pies ? 
 
cider 
juice boxes 
 
small paper plates 
spoons, forks 
small plastic containers for items to sell "to go"

Supplemental Educational Services   Deadline September 14, 2012

Does Your Child Qualify?   According to the federal No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), we are required to send this notice to all parents. However, in accordance with NCLB, only students who qualify for free / reduced lunch are eligible to apply for these services. In March, the Vermont Department of Education identified Hunt Middle School as a school in need of improvement based upon student performance on state NECAP tests administered in October 2011. Specifically, HMS did not make Adequate Yearly Progress in Reading and Mathematics for Free and Reduced Lunch students. We will receive technical assistance from the State Department of Education to support our improvement efforts.  As a result, the school is required to provide Supplemental Educational Services – extra academic assistance/tutoring to improve eligible HMS students' academic performance – free of charge. If you are eligible and choose to participate, you'll be able to select a program that best fits your child's needs. This letter will explain the new services, tell you how to access
them and also offer ideas about how you can be involved at HMS

 

Save the Date....

 

• September 10 - Picture Day
• September 15 - PTO hosting Williston Reststop fundraiser
• September 20 - Hunt PTO meeting - 7pm
• September 26 - No School - EID al-ADHA
• September 27 - Open House for Parents at 7pm

 

Hunt PTO Update 9/5/12

Hey There Hunt families - Welcome back and/or welcome to the strange world we call middle school.  Hope that you and your kiddoes had a great summer and that you are settling in nicely at Hunt.  Next time you're at Hunt, take a gander at some of the improvements spearheaded by the Hunt PTO including our gorgeous perennial garden out front, new stone benches at the entrance and some fresh paint in the school entrance.  Many thanks to the families that watered our new flowers all summer long and now into the Fall. 

Six and seventh graders and their families were welcomed onto their teams last Wednesday and the PTO was around to sweeten the experience.  Thank you to Jane Earley and Jenny Tomczak for their help serving and securing ice cream for a successful ice cream social held out back at the Healthy City Youth Farm. 

Healthy City Youth Farm Summer Report

What a busy summer the Healthy City Youth Farm has had! Fifteen Hunt and Edmund students spent five weeks growing, tending, and harvesting vegetables at the HCYF site and other nearby farms.

The crew spent approximately ten hours per week practicing culinary skills with our Farm-to-School chef from Burlington Schools Food Service. Students created a side dish for every school lunch using produce from the garden and cooked up delicious family meals every week including flatbread, sambusas, and papusas. A math teacher was present for fifteen hours a week, integrating math lessons into field work and cooking.

Creating community connections was a major focus for this summer. Students helped senior citizens plant and maintain the gardens at the Heineberg Senior Center. Guest speakers from local organizations spoke to students about social justice issues. Field trips and bike rides were taken to community gardens where we spoke to community members from around the world!

The Healthy City Youth Farm was also showcased in the National Farm to Cafeteria Conference this August. Over sixty farmers and educators from around the nation took a field trip to the farm where they met the HCYF crew and learned about our program!

Use of Green Mountain Compost products at the Healthy City Youth Farm

As many of you are probably aware, Green Mountain Compost products recently tested positive for the presence of persistent herbicides.  This spring roughly 50% of the vegetable beds at the Healthy City Youth Farm received the tainted compost as an amendment.  Vegetables grown in those beds will not be used in the school cafeterias or given to student or families.  Steps to begin the process of remediation have already been taken and we will continue to provide updates as they are available.

 

Further information about the contamination, remediation plan, and compost testing is listed below:

http://www.greenmountaincompost.com/2012/08/recommendations-for-accelerated-remediation-of-persistent-herbicides/.

http://vtdigger.org/2012/08/11/compost-contamination-investigation-widens-latest-testing-shows-conflicting-results/.

http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2012308100037.

If you have further questions, feel free to contact:

Sam Smith

Program Director

Friends of Burlington Gardens

802-861-4769

 

Anne Marie Santos

Healthy City Program Coordinator

Friends of Burlington Gardens

802-598-3765

Save the Date....

• September 10 - Picture Day
• September 15 - Coffee Break Bake Sale at Williston Rest Stop - 7:30am-3pm
• September 20 - Hunt PTO meeting - 7pm
• September 26 - No School - EID al-ADHA
• September 27 - Open House for Parents