Monday, April 3, 2017

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MONDAY EDITION

ADDISON COUNTY

INDEPENDENT

Vol. 28 No. 51

Middlebury, Vermont

Monday, April 3, 2017

32 Pages

$1.00

ACSD eyes 6th-grade move to MUMS By JOHN FLOWERS MIDDLEBURY — The Addison Central School District board is expected to vote this June on whether to expand Middlebury Union Middle School to include grades 6-8 beginning in the fall of 2018. It’s a move some district officials believe would allow teachers to more effectively deliver International Baccalaureate Program instruction. Currently, sixth-graders in the ACSD are taught

in elementary schools in the district-member communities of Bridport, Cornwall, Middlebury, Ripton, Salisbury, Shoreham and Weybridge. MUMS serves children in grades 7 and 8. Now, only a year after consolidating its governance and becoming the first public school system in Vermont to pursue International Baccalaureate World School status for its schools, the ACSD is again looking to depart from

convention. ACSD would become the first district in Addison County to run K-5 elementary schools and a grades 6-8 middle school. “I’m excited,” ACSD Superintendent Peter Burrows said on Thursday of the potential transition, which he outlined in a March 31 email to the ACSD community. “ACSD is researching a 6th-8th grade middle (See ACSD, Page 7)

‘Rocker’ has a folk side

• Acclaimed songwriter Sarah Blacker will play with Aaron Katz in Brandon. See Arts Beat on Page 10.

House approves $5B state budget • Ferrisburgh Rep. Warren Van Wyck explains why he was the only vote against the spending plan. See Page 2.

Hands on

FERRISBURGH CENTRAL SCHOOL students warm their hands over boiling sap with teacher Judy Elson inside a mobile sugarhouse that was brought to the school last Thursday. The sap was collected by the students from trees near the school. Independent photo/Trent Campbell

Mt. Abe, VUHS joining forces • Mergers of girls’ and boys’ lacrosse teams highlight schools’ increasing cooperation. See Page 16.

Playspace links classroom study & physical project Cornwall students build with ‘loose parts’ By CHRISTY LYNN CORNWALL — Sixth-grade students at Bingham Memorial School in Cornwall, along with their teacher Emily Hoyler, embarked upon an interesting project last fall. They were inspired by a field trip to Shelburne Farms for a workshop on some of the United Nations’

global sustainability missions. Hoyler’s students latched onto an idea to foster equitable and sustainable spaces in their community and brought their motivation back to the classroom. They formalized a vision to reimagine a long history of fort building at Bingham elementary (See Parts, Page 22)

MUHS competitors flex their intellectual muscles By JOHN FLOWERS MIDDLEBURY — Two of Middlebury Union High School’s most successful teams this year haven’t scored a single run, goal, touchdown or basket. But they’ve scored a ton of points in academic competition. A group of MUHS students continued the school’s stellar track

record at the annual VermontNEA Scholars’ Bowl, placing in the top four in the varsity state tourney held on March 25. This great result came a month after the school made its first-ever foray into the national “Moody’s Mega Math Challenge,” in which a Tiger team of five juniors (See Students, Page 14)


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