Woodstock Early Bird The Early Bird Gets the Worm: earlybirdtips@gmail.com

Dear Parents, Families, and Students,

 

Once again, we have reason to be proud of the students of the Middle and High School. Over the past week, they have demonstrated compassion, caring, and resilience that exceeds their years. Parents, you have much to be proud of.

 

I write with a number of updates. First, regarding transportation. The bus company and their drivers have done well with the diffiult roads and I thank them for their efforts and their caution. The Killington bus has been running along route 4 and will expand its route to the side roads as they improve. Families from Bridgewater, Plymouth, Killington and points west should be aware that there is a bus run that departs the school at 2:50 pm and another at 6:00 pm. Students may use these bus runs to travel along route 4 and parents will be able to pick them up along the way at designated stops. Other buses will continue on their usual routes with the usual departure times.

 

Also, we have added an east-bound late bus which will leave at 6:00 pm and travel to the Woodstock Elementary School, the Taftsville Country Store, Pomfret Elementary, and Barnard Elementary. Parents may pick students up at those stops. This trip will allow athletes to travel by bus instead of by car and parents will be able to travel a shorter distance to pick up their children. Roads throughout the district are comprimised and we hope to keep the least experienced and most distractable drivers off the road and safe.

 

Regarding water, while the state has lifted the boil order, we are still being asked to conserve as much water as possible and to avoid using the bathroom facilities. The water line coming into town and the sewer line going out are still comprimised so we are being asked to do our part. As soon as those utilities are back up and running, we will return to the normal use of our facilities.

 

I have good news about our athletic fields: Mr. Peterson and I spoke at length with the Vermont Department of Health yesterday and have received the clearance to begin work on the lower athletic fields. We have a contractor scheduled to be here this weekend to remove the areas of deep silt, and the building and grounds crew will be preparing those fields that are usable. You will be receiving a schedule from Jeff Thomas in the near future for the coming week. Some fields, particularly varsity soccer and varsity field hockey may still be unusable, but we will make additional assessments next week.

 

Both the MS and HS Open Houses have been postponed, We will working to avoid conflicts with the open houses of the elementary schools (and of course the Prosper Supper on the 22nd), and will forward the new information as soon as we have it.

Lastly, we are developing a plan for students to engage is substantive service to the community. Look for more information soon.

I would also like to offer a sincere thank you to the many families who have supported the school’s efforts this week. Our goal was to offer students a safe and caring environment that would allow them to see a return to normalcy. The faculty has worked tirelessly to meet that goal and we have made great strides this week. We will continue to do so and look forward to next week.

 

Sincerely,

Greg Schillinger