RepoRteR The
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essex
MARCh 17, 2016
Vol. 36, No. 11
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ADL set to welcome new principal Jennifer Wood brings 9 years experience
Albert D. Lawton School students will be greeted by a new face in September, as the Prudential Committee announced Monday that Jennifer Wood will become the school’s next principal. “I’m honored to be selected and really excited to be joining ADL and [Chittenden Central Supervisory Union], the themed team of educators, the community and the students,” Wood said. Wood, who is currently principal at the preK-8 Fairfield School, will begin July 1. She brings nine years of principal experience to the position, including a stint at Milton Elementary School, two years as an
assistant principal and eight years as a teacher-leader/coordinator. “It was obvious during the search process that [Jennifer] seeks to promote a positive climate in which students’ well-being and success in school is evident and measurable,” CCSU Superintendent Judith DeNova said in a press release. “Also evident was her belief around the importance of parent engagement, knowing how crucial these partnerships are for student success.” Wood received a bachelor of arts from Middlebury College with minors in French and sociology, and then received her master’s in
education from Harvard in 1997. She continued with postgraduate coursework at St. Michael’s College and the University of Vermont with a focus on supervision, evaluation, teacher development and curriculum leadership, and is licensed as both a principal and special educator. “I am highly confident that she will create flexible learning environments for middle-level learners that are truly engaging, personalized and meaningful,” DeNova said in a press release. DeNova also lauded the students, parents, faculty, staff and community members who
participated in the search process, which included a committee dedicated to the task. “It was a pretty amazing process these past few months,” Wood said. “I’m just really looking forward to coming on board.” Wood follows Laurie Singer, who will retire after serving as ADL principal since 2006. “Her 10 years of service to the children and families in this community has been deeply appreciated,” the district said in a press release. – Staff report
Celebrating creative minds at Essex High School
Jennifer Wood will take over as principal at Albert D. lawton Intermediate School on July 1.
Town office improvements ready for public By JASON STARR The Essex Reporter
More photos on page 2
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By AMANDA SCHROTH For the Essex Reporter
en areas schools participated in Fine Arts Night at Essex High School last Thursday night. Each school submitted 30 pieces of student artwork to create a gallery. The show featured artists and performers from 3rd to 12th grade. The event also included choral, orchestra, band and theatre performances.
The school was packed with students, families and faculty as they joined together for a night of celebrating student work. “Kudos to all the teachers for putting in all the hard work. We appreciate [the students’] art,” said parent Maureen Shannon, whose seventh grade daughter, Ella Hughes, had a piece in the show. “It’s really wonderful to see how the kids choose to express themselves,” said Journey Blaine, Essex Elementary art teacher.
Above: “Pitch Pipes,” the 9-12th grade all boys acapella group, poses for a photo at Essex High School’s Fine Arts Night last Thursday night. Right: Jack and Molly Brayton observe an art piece by Ava leahey, one of 30 student works submitted for a gallery at Essex High School’s Fine Arts Night. PHOTOS | AMANDA SCHROTH
Building a robot – and a team
By COLiN FLANDERS The Essex Reporter
While the majority of Essex High School students already left for the weekend late last Friday afternoon, the robotics club was hard at work. The club’s robot sat idly on a nearby table, less than a week before it would be expected to maneuver through a specialized course at the Super Regionals tournament at the University of Scranton in Pennsylvania. The three-day tournament will welcome 72 teams from Maine to Virginia. Only 288 teams in the world compete in the Super Regionals; some qualify by accruing points in the competition, while others, like Essex, qualify based on the results of judging. The robot made its debut at the fourth annual Vermont First Tech Challenge State Championship — held at the University of Vermont on February 27 — where 14 Vermont teams and 18 teams from New York, New Hampshire, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Jersey and Virginia competed. Essex was only one of the two teams qualifying for regionals, the first time for any Vermont teams. The other was Aluminum Avian Antics, a Grand Isle team that Essex has mentored for the past two years.
The Essex robot awaits its new wheels last Friday afternoon. This weekend, the robot and the team will travel to the University of Scranton in Pennsylvania to compete in the Super Regionals tournament. PHOTO | COlIN FlANDERS
“It’s a big commitment,” said coach Joe Chase, a teacher at the Center for Technology, adding students have logged nearly 1,300 hours since September. “It’s a crazy commitment too, because the only reason we’re here is to get [the robot] to work.” Each year, a challenge is laid out for the nearly 3,000 teams around the globe. This time, it’s a rescue scenario
during which the robots must climb up a five-foot wall and save stranded “climbers” along the way. Teams receive points for placing debris such as plastic blocks and balls into specified zones along the floor, as well as baskets that rest atop the wall; the higher it sits, the more points it’s worth. “It’s definitely the hardest challenge we’ve faced,” said Chase, who started the team
eight years ago with fellow teacher James Dirmaier. Scott Turnbull, a senior software developer at UVM, also coaches the team. Essex received praise for its engineering excellence, innovation, outreach efforts and professional attitude, Chase said. Judges were particularly impressed during the automated portion, when robots move on their own over the edge of the playing field and push a blinking light. Since it’s highly difficult and not worth many points, other teams at UVM didn’t attempt this part, and as such, Essex’s robot was the only one to make it. The seven-month robotbuilding period allows for much growth, both for the robot and the students. “Nothing gets a teacher like Joe or I more excited than watching these students catch on fire and really get it,” Dirmaier said, overseeing students piece together wheels custom-made at Hazelett Strip Casting in Colchester. “They get engineering, they get why they need to have physics, math and programming.” Students also cultivate problemsolving skills through trial-anderror that’s vital to engineers. “It’s like a muscle; you’ve got to practice it. Try this. If this doesn’t work, try that,” Dirmaier said. Moments later, a student asked
– See roBotICs on page 2
The $2.2 million in improvements at the Essex town offices are hard to miss while driving by on Main Street. Inside, the building is barely recognizable. It’s a brainteaser attempting to recall the layout of the old offices upon walking through the new entrance. The upgraded building opened to the public last Tuesday. But entering the spacious foyer, noticing the expanded meeting room and interacting with town staff grateful for the upgrades, the old insides fade from memory. The upgrades ran over budget by $237,000, according to town officials, and re-opening happened about four months behind schedule. Unforeseen issues such as discovering asbestos and mold as well as structural problems contributed to the delay and cost overrun. The selectboard approved the additional spending from the town’s capital project fund. Essex Parks & Recreation has gained perhaps the most of any town department in the transition. It was placed behind the building’s alternative front entrance, the one facing Main Street that used to belong to the police department. Parks and rec staff are determining how best to use the heated, glass-enclosed foyer; a play space for children and posting place for brochures and notices are the top ideas. “I’m excited,” director Ally Vile said. “We are fortunate to have our own entrance. We have a lot of [foot] traffic.” The department has also recently leased a satellite program space in Essex Center, part of a residential/commercial building along Route 15 near the Price Chopper plaza. The space was most recently the site of the Move You fitness studio. The department plans to use it for fitness and education programs. It will be the town’s first dedicated programming space, Vile said. “We rely a lot on the schools, so there are limitations for certain programs,” she said. “This will give us a larger [variety] of programs that can be offered and more flexible times.” The department held a public contest to name the space and received about 20 submissions. It hasn’t yet announced the winning name. The town is also seeking public participation in a committee to study the possibility of combining the town’s parks and recreation department with its counterpart in the Village of Essex Junction. The Essex Selectboard and Village Trustees are seeking six citizens to serve with town staff and elected board members “to explore feasible options for potential restructure of the village and town recreation departments,” the committee announcement states. Interested residents should submit a letter of interest to Municipal Manager Pat Scheidel at 2 Lincoln St., Essex Junction, VT 05452.