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BHS Principal Sabrina Westdijk

Message from the Principal

November 3, 2025

Greetings, BHS students, families and community. Happy November!

With Q1 progress reports on their way home soon, teachers and administration have been fielding questions from students and parents about the updated grading and reporting procedures at BHS. While the changes enacted so far this year have been incremental, they have provoked a lot of question and some concern, which is understandable. In the coming weeks I'll be scheduling some info sessions for BHS families, providing forums for parents to learn about this year's changes to the grading and reporting procedures, as well as ongoing work to align our approach to reassessment (and much more!). I will likely offer some morning and evening sessions, which will start with a short informational presentation followed by an open Q&A session that I expect will be wide-ranging. I'll also be taking notes on feedback and common questions to inform our ongoing alignment work.

One thing that has become increasingly clear is that we need to clarify and standardize our reassessment procedures on a more accelerated timeline than originally anticipated. The wide variation of approaches across our school has been a source of stress to students and families, exacerbated by a grading system that emphasizes summative demonstrations of learning over formative practice. Over the next few weeks, Lead Teachers and members of the Student Advisory and Parent Advisory Groups will be asked to review and provide feedback on draft reassessment procedures. This feedback will inform revisions made in early December. We hope to have a second draft available for faculty review and feedback in December, with the finalized version ready well before the end of first semester in January. The hope is that, with alignment around reassessment and revision in place, students will view summative tasks not only as important demonstrations of learning, but also as steps on a learning journey rather than high-stakes endpoints.

Speaking of alignment, after years of districts determining their own requirements with significant variation across our small state, Vermont is in the early stages of exploring statewide graduation requirements. On Tuesday this week, I will have the opportunity to attend an AOE Statewide Strategic Planning Retreat focused on the development of statewide graduation requirements. I'll be part of a small delegation from BSD, joining groups from districts all around the state. I'm invested in keeping track of this work and how it may inform our efforts at BHS.

As always, thank you for your support in BHS and our students and staff. I feel fortunate to serve this community, and I look forward to all the good and important work ahead!

With gratitude,

Sabrina Westdijk

P.S. Some have asked to learn more about steps we're taking at BHS to support strong attendance, and address patterns of absence early. Please check out an overview of those systems further down in this issue.

ANNOUNCEMENTS & UPCOMING EVENTS

BSD Early Release on 11/6

All BSD schools will have a half day on 11/6 for professional in-service. At BHS, the school day will end at 11:35am, with grab and go lunch available.

Please Note: Student IDs Required at Entries

Students have now received their SY25-26 student IDs. To ensure safety at BHS, every student is expected to carry their BHS ID and will be asked to show their identification upon entry daily. Please remind your students that this is the expectation.

Les Mis Opens Soon

When: November 20-22 @ 7pm

Where: HMS Auditorium

Tickets are now on sale! Click here to read the newsletter online with live links.

Counseling Dept. Launches Freshman Connections

On Friday, November 7th, the Counseling Department will begin its new Freshman Connections course. Each 9th grader will take this class for one quarter of the school year, grouped with their Advisory class. This class is designed to help our newest students build a strong foundation for success in high school- academically, socially, and emotionally. Counselors will partner with Advisories to lead lessons, covering topics such as:

Transitioning to high school
Accessing support at BHS
Emotional regulation, resilience, and self-care
Graduation requirements and understanding GPAs
Introduction to four-year academic planning

Families will receive an email from Allie O’Hara, the Director of Counseling, one week prior to their student’s enrollment in the course with more information. This course is something new that has come about based on student, parent, and School Counselor feedback that we need to do more, earlier, to build a foundation for students to successfully navigate life during and after high school. Freshman Connections marks the beginning of that ongoing effort. We’re grateful to Advisory teachers for supporting this important work and collaborating with the Counseling Department to help students feel connected, supported, and ready to thrive at BHS!

BHS Afterschool

Students are welcome to join any club at any time, or fit clubs in around other commitments like athletics.

Reach out to Paul Jones with any questions, or if you have any suggestions/ideas for new clubs you'd like to see at BHS, this year or next. The new school and its facilities may allow for new and exciting afterschool offerings!

Advisory Attendance Matters

Please help make sure your student is attending classes, and specifically advisory.

Mondays / Tuesdays: students must be with their advisor.
Wednesdays / Thursdays: students must be where they scheduled in advance for Office Hours (for the whole period).
Fridays: students must be in their assigned Connections.

Students routinely try to go elsewhere, sometimes for good reasons, and will be marked absent when they do. Whenever that happens, as a guardian, expect to receive an alert.

Attendance Interventions at BHS

Starting last year, BHS implemented two new systems for attendance intervention. The first addresses continuous nonattendance (not coming to school at all, for extended periods of time) and the second addresses in-school truancy (also known as class-cutting, when students are in the building but not going to scheduled courses). Both center team-based communication and collaboration.

The first system relies on early warning communications at the 5-day mark, followed by a family conference with administration and counselors to develop an attendance improvement plan at the 10-day mark. While continuous nonattendance eventually will result in unenrollment from school, the goal is to get students back on track.

The second system, which "resets" each quarter, relies first on teachers to reach out and schedule an attendance check-in with any students who miss their class 5 times (the equivalent of two full weeks of a class).

If improvement is not seen, the teacher sends a second email, including the student's parents/guardians, counselor and assistant principal, and that team then schedules an attendance meeting with the student and family. The goal is not only to communicate to students and families that teachers are noticing their absence and want them to return to class, but to better understand the reasons for skipping and try to resolve them before a student falls too far behind academically.

While no system is perfect (we routinely re-evaluate and refine these approaches) we are finding that this proactive, team-based approach to absence comes from a place of care and tries to remove barriers to success.

FLEXIBLE PATHWAYS

Dual Enrollment Voucher System Opens November 7th

BHS juniors and seniors have the opportunity to take two free college-level courses while enrolled at BHS through the Agency of Education's Dual Enrollment program.

Vermont’s Dual Enrollment Program allows high school students to take two college courses prior to their high school graduation. Participating students earn high school and college credits, reducing the time it takes to get a college degree, potentially reducing the cost associated with college, while challenging themselves through college level curriculum.

Students are encouraged to email Kate Stein, Flexible Pathways Coordinator at kstein@bsdvt.org or stop by room 209a to set up an appointment.

Interested in Career Technical Education?

Burlington Technical Center and Center for Technology Essex presented to 10th grade advisories on October 28, there was an evening presentation for students and families on October 29th, and both technical centers will be back in the building on November 7th for a drop in session. A visit to a center is required as part of the admission process. Please see the attached flyer for more information.

INFORMATIONAL MEETING AFTER SCHOOL on 11/5

Room 124 @ 3:30pm

Learn what you need to start ski racing and ask questions!

Want to ski more this winter? Join the BHS alpine team ! Improve your skiing! No previous racing experience required, however you must be a skier and love skiing. Email csheffy@bsdvt.org to learn more and be on our email list.

Attention Seniors:

Cap/gown/tassel orders are now open! Get yours now, before the price increases as we inch closer to graduation.

CLICK HERE to order your cap, gown, and tassel for $32!
CLICK HERE to check out the variety of BHS graduation packages, including hoodies, frames, and invitations.

If your family/you are experiencing financial hardship and cannot purchase a cap, gown, and tassel, please reach out to your counselor to request assistance. Thank you!

ICYMI: AP Exam Registration DUE Nov. 7

All students enrolled in AP courses need to complete the ‘pink form’ and submit payment for the exams by Friday, November 7. Forms are available in the Counseling office with Ducky Jones. Failure to hand in the form is a failure to register and will likely lead to an extra $40 fee. Students who receive Free or Reduced lunch are eligible for a fee waiver. Any student needing financial assistance can connect with their school counselor.

Note: This year, all students taking AP classes must either take the exam or take an equally rigorous test with their subject area teacher at the end of the school year.

BURLINGTON CITY & LAKE SEMESTER

BCL15 has been continuing to explore what it takes for a community to thrive. This week we created zines with our artist-in-residence, Kristian Brevik, hosted students from the University of Vermont’s Place-Based Certificate program, and learned about sustainable dairy farming from the educators at Shelburne Farms!

BCL is a unique place-based experiential program that offers full BHS credit to Juniors and Seniors. In BCL, Burlington itself is both our classroom and our curriculum. It’s real-world, empowering, and fun! To learn more about Burlington City & Lake Semester, watch this short video, check out our blog, or follow us on Instagram: @btvcityandlake

Seahorse Pride Raises Funds to Enrich Learning

Seahorse Pride funds and supports arts and academic programming at BHS, in addition to athletics, and other extra-curricular clubs that fall outside the normal school budget. We raise funds through donations from area businesses, families, concession stand sales, and apparel sales run by parent volunteers at events throughout the school year.

Supported programs include Model UN, Fall Welcome events for all students, the library, graduation celebrations, teacher appreciation events, Open House activities, teacher-requested funding for workshops and materials, educational field trips, academic group funding, travel needs to/from events, spirit weeks, homecoming, and much, much more.

All donations go directly to support these programs. No donation is too small, or too big!

Thank you - We are grateful for your support!

BHS Seahorse Pride - Seahorse Strong!

seahorsepride@gmail.com

Proudly Supporting Students in Academics, Athletics & The Arts

How You Can Contribute

Venmo @BHSSeahorsePride or use QR code: