March 9, 2026

Greetings, BHS students, families and community members! Welcome to March and these lovely early weeks of another Vermont spring. I'm personally grateful for the return of birdsong, later sunsets, and warming days. While the past week was exceptionally difficult for our community, the start of March and the nearing of the Spring equinox nevertheless quietly signify hopefulness and the renewal of life. I look forward to these brightening days and the comfort they bring. And I thank you all for the love, support, and compassion so many of you have extended to one another, to our teachers, and to me personally in recent days. It means the world to us, and reminds me of how fortunate I am to serve this community.

This Wednesday morning, BHS will come together to attend a schoolwide field trip at The Flynn. This feels like a good time to gather to do something both fun and educational, and to connect through the language of music. As organizations began to re-open after COVID-19, The Flynn began holding limited engagement performances for individual schools; BHS was the first school they invited, and students and staff were able to walk over from DtBHS. As our time in our downtown location draws to a close, The Flynn extended an invitation to once again walk over for a show. I look forward to sharing photos from this experience. Our school day will start and end at the usual times on 3/11, but students will start the day in their advisory, return to advisory to debrief the show, get lunch, and then attend shortened versions of all four academic blocks in the afternoon. Our faculty planning team has worked hard to ensure that the journey, seating, performance options, and discussion are inclusive, just as the performance itself will focus on inclusion and belonging. These themes, which remind us of how humans are bound to one another, are more important than ever.

Finally, in a couple weeks we will be administering the BSD Annual Survey schoolwide in the morning. We also want to hear from our families! Please take a moment to complete the BSD Annual Family Survey. BSD and BHS both value your feedback and perspective on your and your child’s experience in our district and at our school. If you need language support to access the survey, please contact your Multilingual Liaison. Responses are used to measure our progress on our Strategic Plan, inform professional development and training, and to identify bright spots and areas of need. Thank you for taking the time to complete this survey!

With gratitude and appreciation,

Sabrina Westdijk