We realize that this situation will raise many questions for the C. P. Smith Community. We'll use this FAQ web page to try to answer questions that you might have. If you have an issue that has not been addressed in these FAQs, please call 864-8479 or contact Principal Thom Fleury via e-mail at tfleury@bsdvt.org
The Move Back Begins
Update from Principal Thom Fleury, October 12, 2010
Dear Parents/Guardians
We have received word that the primary wing, kitchen, and gym of Smith School will be ready for students beginning Monday, October 18, 2010. This is the good news we've been waiting to hear for some time! In order to allow Kindergarten teachers time to pack up their spaces at Flynn and set up their classrooms at Smith, Kindergarten students will be dismissed at 11:30 a.m. on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, October 18-20, 2010. Kindergarten students will be bused from our St. Mark's Annex to Smith School shortly after 8:10 a.m. each of those three days and then back to St. Mark's again at 11:15 a.m., so they can be picked up by parents/guardians at 11:30 a.m. Classroom learning stations will be set up for Kindergarten students in the Smith gym, and instruction will be provided by some of our other teachers, substitute teachers, and the para-educators who currently work with these students. Children will have the option of eating lunch at Smith prior to their return to St. Mark's each day. Children may also participate in the Burlington Kids Afterschool Program from 2:30-5:30 p.m. on each of those days at Smith, but there is no program for them between 11:30 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. on those days. The reason we will be busing students from St. Mark's to Smith School is to allow families to continue to drop off all their children in one location and avoid traffic complications in and around the Smith School parking area, which is still a construction site for the intermediate wing.
Students in Grade 2 will continue to be bused from St. Mark's to Flynn for full-day sessions on October 18-20, 2010 and then back to St. Mark's for the regular 2:30 p.m. dismissal. Beginning Monday, October 25, 2010, students in Grade 2 will be bused from St. Mark's to Smith School until Friday, October 29 2010, after which they should be delivered directly to Smith School. A temporary classroom will be set up for Grade 2 students in the primary wing of the school for use by them on October 25th and 26th while their own classroom is being prepared. They will be instructed by a substitute teacher and their own para-educators while their teacher sets up their classroom. Students in Kindergarten will be back in their own classrooms at Smith on October 25th, and students in Grade 2 will be in theirs on October 27th. There will be no school for any Smith School students on Thursday, October 21st and Friday, October 22nd, due to the VT/NEA Teacher Convention taking place on those two days. The Burlington Kids Afterschool Program will run at Smith School beginning on Monday, October 18th for Kindergarten (2:30-5:30 p.m. only) and Monday, October 25th for Grade 2 and will be held at St. Mark's for students in the other grades, until November 1, 2010. The Grade 1 move will take place on Monday, November 1, 2010, and we will keep families informed of that and all other construction-related news. Our goal is to make the process of moving back into the Smith building an organized and orderly one with as little negative impact on students, families, and staff as possible. We will also communicate with families via a mailing, AlertNow messages, and our school website and FaceBook pages. Questions or concerns about the construction or moving projects should be directed to Mr. Fleury at 864-8479 or tfleury@bsdvt.org.
Sincerely,
Thomas L. Fleury, Principal
C.P. Smith School
Update from Principal Thom Fleury, August 24, 2010
Dear Parent/Guardian:
Greetings! Things are really coming together for our Smith School community. We will be ready to open our doors for students on Wednesday, September 1, 2010 at 8:10 a.m. Our Kindergarten and Grade 2 classes will be housed at the John J. Flynn School at 1645 North Avenue. Our Grades 1, 3, 4, and 5 classes will be held in space rented at St. Mark’s Church Family Center at 1271 North Avenue. We hope to be all back together in our C.P. Smith School building by late fall. Then, our facilities will finally match the quality of the great programs taking place under our roof.
Parking is going to be a challenge at both our St. Mark’s and Flynn School annexes, and we appreciate your help with that. We need families to drop off all Smith School students at St. Mark’s shortly before 8:10 a.m. each school day. Our shuttle buses will leave St. Mark’s for Flynn School shortly after that and then return to St. Mark’s to drop off parents and guardians who wish to accompany their children to Flynn and then get back to their cars to head for work or home. On our first day of school, the Kindergarten and Grade 2 teachers will meet their students in the cafeteria at St. Mark’s, gather them together as classroom groups, and escort them on the buses to Flynn. Since the first three days of school are half-days for Kindergarten students, the buses will return to Flynn to pick up students and deliver them back to St. Mark’s at 11:30 a.m. The Grade 2 students will be picked up at Flynn and brought back to St. Mark’s at 2:30 p.m. There will be no school on the following Monday (September 6th) for Labor Day and Friday (September 10th) for Eid. On the other three days that week—and on all full days of school thereafter—all Kindergarten and Grade 2 students will be brought back to St. Mark’s by bus at 2:30 p.m. in order to be picked up by parents/guardians or participate in the After School Program, which will be held there. Since the traffic situation is already an existing challenge for the Flynn School community, we expect our shuttle bus system to lessen the impact our 85 students and their families will have on the situation. We hope your family will participate in that system and also help save energy.
It will be important for us to maintain a sense of community while we’re temporarily located in two locations, neither of which is our own school building. One way we’re doing that is our Smith School Ice Cream Social on Monday, August 30th from 7:00-8:00 p.m. at the Smith School playground if the weather is nice and in the St. Mark’s cafeteria if it is not. If you are able to, please bring a favorite topping to share (no nuts, please!) We hope your family will join us for this event. We also hope parents and guardians will be able to join us for the Welcome Back Breakfast beginning at 8:15 a.m. in the St. Mark’s cafeteria on the first day of school. These are great ways for us to connect as members of our school community, and we thank our PTO for planning these very meaningful events.
Our teachers and custodial staff have worked very hard to respond to the changes and challenges due to our school renovations. I am honored to work with such caring and capable professionals who are so generous with their time and talents. On behalf of our whole school community, I thank them for all they have done and continue to do to make Smith School a safe and supportive learning environment for all students . . .regardless of the circumstances. If members of your family wish to tour our St. Mark’s and Flynn School annexes, please note the following date and times during which I will be conducting these walk-throughs: Tuesday, August 31, 2010 from 1:30-2:30 p.m. at St. Mark’s and 2:30-3:30 p.m. at Flynn and also from 6:00-7:00 p.m. at Flynn and 7:00-8:00 p.m. at St. Mark’s.
Letters with information about class placement were mailed last week. If you did not receive this information, please contact the office at 864-8479, and we will provide you with it.
We strive to communicate as thoroughly and effectively as we can with all the members of our school community. We sometimes use mailings (such as this one) or our school website or Facebook page, but at other times will use the AlertNow telephone or email notification system. On occasions when we use the AlertNow system, we will be able to reach you only if we have your current telephone (land, work, or cell phone) numbers and email addresses. On the first day of school, we will be distributing to students Family Packets to take home and share with you. A great deal of important information will be contained in this packet. Among its items will be a request for updated contact information for school use, including a directory the PTO will soon be preparing and distributing.
Dr. Bill Bress, the State Toxicologist for the State of Vermont Department of Health, has completed an inspection of our St. Mark’s annex, including the downstairs, which was the source of some questions and concerns. Enclosed with this letter please find a copy of Dr. Bress’ findings, indicating that this area is acceptable for school use. I have met with Mr. Terry Bailey, the Director of Operations for the Burlington School District, and we will be following up on all the recommendations made in that report.
I feel the meeting I recently held with parents/guardians was a good one, as it identified questions, concerns, and ideas as we all do our best to provide children with a safe and supportive learning environment, whether we’re in our own building or temporarily working in other locations. The question of crossing guards was raised, and we have learned from the City of Burlington Department of Public Works that crossing guards will be placed at the following locations along North Avenue: at Ethan Allen Parkway, at Shore Road, at the Lyman C. Hunt School driveway, and at Tracy Drive. We have also been told by the DPW that the James Avenue walkway will be completed by the start of the school year.
I hope this information has been helpful to you in preparing your family for the start of the 2010-11 school year. If you and/or your children have remaining questions, concerns, or ideas, please do not hesitate to contact the school at 864-8479 or me at TFleury@bsdvt.org.
Thank you! I very much look forward to working with your family and hope to see all of you at our Ice Cream Social on Monday night.
Please join us for an Ice Cream Social on Monday, August 30th from 7:00-8:00 pm. We'll provide the ice cream; if you are able to, please bring a favorite topping to share (no nuts, please!). This should be a great opportunity to see friends- old and new! If the weather is nice, we'll be at the C. P. Smith School playground at 332 Ethan Allen Parkway. Rain location is the Smith Annex at St. Mark's cafeteria (off North Avenue).
Thanks to the C. P. Smith PTO for making this community event possible!
Smith Kindergartens and 2nd Grade at Flynn School campus on Tuesday, August 31st from 2:30-3:30 p.m and 6:00-7:00 p.m.
Start out the school year right!
Whether it’s your first year at C. P. Smith School or your last… this is a great time to meet other parents, meet our new principal and ask those burning questions about the construction project progress, backpacks and beginning of the year jitters. Stop by to get coffee and goodies before beginning your day. Date? Wednesday, September 1st (First Day of School) Time? 8:15 am: Join us after student drop off! Thanks to our fabulous C. P. Smith PTO Hosts!
Smith Students to Start School at Flynn and St. Mark's
The kindergarten classes and second grade of C. P. Elementary School will be housed temporarily at the start of this school year at J.J. Flynn Elementary School, 1645 North Avenue and the first grade classes will join grades 3 through 5 at St. Mark’s Community Center, 1251 North Avenue. Jeanne Collins, Burlington School Superintendent, announced that this change was due primarily to the unavailability of essential equipment and fabricated structures required to complete the south wing portion of the renovations this summer at Smith Elementary. It is anticipated that the kindergarten, first and second grade classes will return to Smith no later than October 25.
A plan to temporarily house grades 3 through 5 at the St. Mark’s Community Center was already in place to allow renovation work, as authorized by voters for the critical needs renovations, on the north wing with grades 3 through 5 returning to the school by November 31. This portion of the construction project is on
We realize that this situation will raise many questions for the C. P. Smith Community. We'll use this FAQ web page to try to answer questions that you might have. If you have an issue that has not been addressed in these FAQs, please call 864-8479 or contact Principal Thom Fleury via e-mail at tfleury@bsdvt.org
Our office received a call from your school nurse, Christine Armstrong regarding health concerns associated with the dampness and musty odor in the basement of the St Marks School building. There were concerns about possible mold.
I visited the basement on August 22, 2010. Upon entering the basement I noticed two workers cleaning the area. There were dehumidifiers working. I was allowed access to any area of the basement. I noted that the floors were tile and most of the walls were cinderblock construction. These are easily cleanable surfaces, especially compared to rooms with carpet and wall board. I went into the closets in the far room and with a ladder inspected the wall board for signs of mold. I did not find any evidence of mold in the basement. I noticed some 12 inch ceiling tiles that had previous water damage.
It is my understanding the basement will be occupied Sept 1. These are my recommendations.
Replacethe stained ceiling tiles and inspect the area above them to insure there is no moisture present. The tiles are just as you come down the main stairway and in the corner of the room with the closets.
Keep the doors to the closets closed during classes. They contain a good number of objects in them and a child might get hurt if anything fell on them.
Have a ventilation company monitor the air in the basement for carbon dioxide. This is an indicator of adequate ventilation in the space.
If a musty odor returns, consider continued use of dehumidifiers after classes.
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Comments (1)
shannonlibrarian said
at 2:51 pm on Aug 18, 2010
To post a comment or question here, you must be logged in to the PBworks space with a free users account. Questions and /or comments should be addressed to Principal Thom Fleury by phone (864-8479) or via e-mail (tfleury@bsdvt.org).
You don't have permission to comment on this page.