Dear friends & families,
     This morning, kindergarten through 6th grade students gathered to talk about our school-wide expectations (Responsible,Engaged, Safe & Kind) and how we magically turn them into the motto "We Rock" (there's some serious creative license involved!)  We talked about how, when we all do our best to follow those expectations throughout the school day and  across all the school settings, our community is truly a better place to be. Being rockstars makes things better for all of us.  We celebrate this in various ways, through verbal recognition of students, through our "rockstars" individual recognitions, and through our WE ROCK cards system, wherein cards are turned into rocks and we work towards a cumulative goal as a whole school. Our first school-wide goal is a fall festival-- watch the rocks accumulate in our "rockman" in the lobby and stay tuned for more details as the rocks come close to the goal.    


Mr. Young's class modeling what rockstars look like during this morning's assembly. 

      Each year, we also celebrate our community with a school-wide hike. This year's hike is planned for Friday, Sept. 13 (weather permitting) at Mad River Glen, in the morning and followed by a picnic lunch. Family members are welcome to join us (volunteers do need to have completed the level 2 background check.) If you're interested in joining, please let us know! It is always a fun day.
Respectfully,   Kaiya Korb, Principal
 
This delicious whole-grain muffin is a sample of what Thursday snacks, as prepared by our fabulous Chef Joslin and Sarah, look like.YUM!  Our school lunch program makes food "from scratch" and uses many local products. Enjoy!
 

HUUSD SCHOOL BOARD UPDATE

Dear members of our six town community,
On August 28, 2019, the Harwood Unified Union School District (HUUSD) Board of Directors reconvened after the summer with a six-hour retreat to plan for the school year. 

The board did the following work:

1. Evaluated their progress on the previous school year’s goals and identified five goal areas for this year: PreK-12 Plan/Bond, budget, monitoring district performance, visioning and meeting operational obligations around policy, superintendent evaluation, contract negotiations, etc. Note: community engagement will be incorporated into each of the goal areas; visioning will be completed in the fall; monitoring will be started in the spring. 

2. Reviewed and discussed the initial draft of the HUUSD vision statement and identified allowing time for community input on the draft as the next step. (see link below)

3. Agreed on two dates for community engagement and conversation around preK-12 redesign on October 1st (at Harwood) and October 7th (at Crossett Brook) from 7-9PM.  

4. Discussed operating protocols and the process for reviewing agenda items.

  Our next meeting is Wednesday, September 11th at 6:00 pm in the Harwood Union School library.
     Please visit https://huusd.org/huusd-board to confirm time and place of meetings as start times and locations are subject to change. Also available are all board and committee agendas, meeting packets and minutes, and the link to board meeting videos. 
      Thank you for your continued support and engagement.
Respectfully,

The HUUSD School Board 

A MESSAGE FROM HUUSD SCHOOL BOARD CHAIR

Dear HUUSD Community, 
   As we prepare for the start of the 2019-20 school year, I want to offer an update from the HUUSD board and share with you what we expect in the coming months. The HUUSD board is in the midst of developing a long-term PreK - 12 plan for our district to address our schools’ current and future needs. In establishing this plan, we are fulfilling our promise from the Act 46 merger to provide expanded and equitable educational opportunities while operating more efficiently. We expect to finalize the plan in mid-November and then finalize a bond proposal for the community’s consideration at Town Meeting in March of 2020.
       I invite you to follow our progress and offer your input along the way. Here are a few ways to learn more about our current work:

1. Visit https://huusd.org/prek-12-bond-plan. This page of our website is a great place to get oriented and see the data the board has been working with. It includes the history of our work on this over the last 6 months, links to relevant documents and data, as well as a detailed FAQ.  

2. We expect to finalize our plan for this fall’s community engagement and feedback about the PreK-12 planning by early September. We’ll be sharing that information on FPF, through the schools and in the papers, and hope that you’ll help us to spread the word. Stay tuned! 

3. At our September 25th meeting, the administrative team will present the models we asked for last spring. So, if you’re wondering what happened to all that talk of models and scenarios, know that it’s coming!

        We are tremendously excited about the opportunities that a comprehensive PreK - 12 plan could offer us, as well as keenly aware that times of change are challenging. Our HUUSD board remains committed to the challenging but vital task of providing the best possible PreK-12 education for all of our students with the most prudent use of our public tax dollars.
       I want to thank our incredible school leaders, faculty and staff as they prepare to welcome our students on August 26th for the first day of school and another great year of learning and growth. Thank you to all of our community members for your ongoing support of our incredible schools.  
With appreciation,
Caitlin Hollister, Chair          Harwood Unified Union School Board