November 2, 2026

Greetings, BHS families & community! We've had some great weeks recently. We wrapped up the regular season of fall sports, with the boys volleyball team advancing to a championship game this past weekend. We held our first concert in our new auditorium, and a packed house enjoyed a beautiful space filled with wonderful music. And our new courtyard was filled with students, laughter, and a LOT of pumpkins last Thursday as BHSHeroes prepared for the Winooski pumpkin festival. Check out all those photos below for a window into some of the late October joy at BHS. This evening, our auditorium will host a benefit concert to raise funds for the YES trip to Germany in June. In a few short weeks, we will host our first fall musical in our new school. So much to celebrate!

We also wrapped up the first quarter of the year last Friday; parents and guardians can expect progress reports to start arriving mailboxes in a couple weeks. Please remember that the first quarter report card is truly a progress report; it's an important update on where things stand that students can use to set goals. One important thing to keep in mind is the BHS reassessment procedure. The goal of reassessment is to ensure all students develop competence in the key skills and knowledge being taught in their courses, even if (and especially when) it takes more than one try.

While this procedure went into effect in January 2026, not all parents may be aware of it, so I want to share its most important points: 

• all students must be given the opportunity to reassess on all summative assessments once. 

• students scoring below 80% (i.e. below proficiency) on a summative assessment are required to be offered one reassessment opportunity on that task by their teacher. This means that the teacher will proactively identify a reassessment date. If a student does not attend to this reassessment opportunity and/or preparatory steps, their teacher will note the student’s choice not to take advantage of this opportunity. 

• Before students reassess, students should provide evidence of re-learning/re-teaching/practice to show they are ready for reassessment. This is the necessary preparation that gives students and teachers reason to believe that they will show improvement in their second attempt.

• Students are expected to complete a reassessment within two full weeks after receiving and reviewing their graded initial assessment. 

• This procedure applies to all grade levels and all courses. 

Taking advantage of our reassessment procedures is especially important this year, because we will no longer be offering Credit Recovery during the YES program this coming June. If you're a long-time BHS parent you many know that for many years, we have offered credit recovery to eligible students before and after the YES sessions to help students pass classes. However, that opportunity was always coupled with deep concerns about whether students were truly developing important skills, or merely earning back enough points to earn a "D" without truly being prepared for future courses. Now that we have reassessment procedures in place for the entirety of the school year, we have a stronger, real-time way for students to address mistakes, close skills gaps, and get second chances. Reassessment over the course of the year is far better for learners than playing catchup in June; the closer to the learning a reassessment is, the better it is to support student success in later units. But again, that means that students should exercise their right to reassess. One of the most valuable mindsets our young people can develop is a willingness to respond to setbacks by wholeheartedly embracing chances to relearn, revise and try again. 

As always, thank you for your support. Please never hesitate to reach out to your child's teachers with any questions, or to me with any suggestions for how we can better serve our students and families.

With appreciation, 

Sabrina Westdijk

P.S. Our regional school accreditation association, NEASC, will be sending a team of visitors to BHS on Wednesday and Thursday this week as part of our dicennial reaccreditation process. They will be meeting with teachers and visiting classrooms over those two days to get a sense of our school's strengths and areas for growth. They wlll be wearing