September 2021


Principals' Post

We are Winooski strong!

This past Tuesday so many community members filled the stands in support of our varsity boys soccer players! Thank you! It was a beautiful night to stand in solidarity with our players and show them the love and support they, and all our athletes, deserve.

By now, we imagine, many of you have read Superintendent Sean McMannon's response to the racial violence our players experienced at a recent soccer game. It remains to be seen whether or not our players will play another game this season against Enosburg Falls. We continue to work closely with Athletic Director Sam Jackson on whether or not this can be done, and we will not compromise on student safety.


PowerSchool Reminder

Last year we began the transition to PowerSchool as our student information system. Every family should have a PowerSchool account. Every family has to go into PowerSchool and review/update your forms. These forms include things like contact information, photo releases, and health information. Right now, the majority of our returning families have not logged in and completed the PowerSchool forms for their students.


Families can find the PowerSchool link on the WSD Website www.wsdvt.org. Go to the parents and families drop down, click on registration forms, and click on returning student. Here is the direct link to the WSD Family PowerSchool Portal https://winooski.powerschool.com/public/

Cell Phones

Families please know that Winooski Middle School is cell phone free from 8-3! Our procedures for cell phones and personal devices can be found here. If students choose to bring a phone to school, they are currently expected to keep them turned off in their backpacks until their lockers are ready.

High School students are expected to respect the expectations set by teachers for a productive and educational learning environment. Students who struggle will be asked to either turn in their cell phones or be asked to leave their cell phones at home.

Mask Ask

Students are still expected to wear masks inside. We are noticing several students are simply not bringing or remembering their masks in the morning. All students who have forgotten to bring a mask have been provided a new reusable cloth mask (some multiple times). Please support your students to remember their mask so we have enough for everyone!

We will provide students with masks who forget them or if their mask gets dirty during the day.




21C AfterSchool Offerings

Classes begin this week!!


MONDAY AFTER SCHOOL CLASSES (begins 9/20) (3-4pm)

Middle School Fun with Ms. Aftaba and Ms. Maeve on Mondays in Rm A174 at the MS ends 12/13

HS Technology Core Support with Ms. Poquette on Mondays in Rm B170E (new gym) ends 12/13

Intermediate Violin for grades 4-8 with Ms. Alpizar and Mr. Argraves on Mondays in Rm 32 ends 12/13

MSHS Restorative Justice Club with Ms. Kayla on Mondays in Rm A111 at the MS begins 9/27 ends 12/13


HERO Orientation will be held: in person on Monday, October 11 from 3:00-4:30pm in Room 10 at JFK OR Wednesday, October 13th from 6-7:30 virtually.


TUESDAY AFTER SCHOOL CLASSES (begins 9/21) (3-4pm)


Middle School Fun with Ms. Aftaba and Ms. Maeve on Tuesdays in Rm A174 at the MS ends 12/14

MS Lego Physics with Jenny Hill on Tuesdays at the MS in Rm A113 (ends 12/14)

HS Writing Core Support with Ms. Schneider on Tuesdays in Rm 8 at JFK ends ends 12/14

Rosie’s Girls for 5th-8th grade girls and gender non-conforming youth on Tuesdays in Rm A128 at the MS

START DATE TO BE DETERMINED BASED UPON ENROLLMENT.

If you have a student interested, please let Suzanne know,

WEDNESDAY AFTER SCHOOL CLASSES (begins 9/22) (3-4pm)


Winooski Above the Influence for MS with Ms. Nugent on Wednesdays in Rm A129 at the MS ends 12/8

MSHS Math Support with Ms. Maeve on Wednesdays in Rm 8 at JFK ends 12/8

Technology Core Support with Ms. Poquette on Wednesdays in Rm B170E (new gym) ends 12/8

MSHS PeaceJam with Ms. Aftaba, Ms Hackett and Ms Mason on Wednesdays in Rm B170F (new gym) ends 12/8

Starbase Rocket Club with Ms. Clark and Mr. Coutts on Wednesdays in Rm A128 at the MS ends 10/27

Starbase Robotics Club with Ms. Clark and Mr. Coutts on Wednesdays in Rm A128 at the MS begins 11/3


THURSDAY AFTER SCHOOL CLASSES (begins 9/23) (3-4pm)

Middle School Fun with Ms. Aftaba and Ms. Maeve on Thursdays in Rm A174 at the MS ends 12/16

Linking Engineering to Life for for 5th-8th grade girls and non conforming youth with Ms. Krol and

UVM Mentors on Thursdays in Rm A113 at the MS DOES NOT BEGIN TODAY. It begins 9/30 ends 12/9

MSHS Instrumental Support with Mr. Argraves on Thursdays in Rm 32 ends 12/16


FRIDAY AFTER SCHOOL CLASSES (begins 9/24) (3-4pm)

MSHS Math Support with Ms. Maeve on Fridays in Rm 8 at JFK ends 12/17


Chill Skateboarding

Students in grade 7 and 8 are invited to sign up for fall skateboarding! Students will be picked up from school by Winooski Recreation staff and accompanied to Talent Skate Park every Wednesday from October 6th to November 10th. While at Talent, Chill Ambassadors will teach students to skate as well as help them build their own skateboard. The program will wrap up weekly around 6:15p at which time students will be driven back to WSD for pickup. All participating youth must be vaccinated or have a negative COVID-19 test result within

72 hours of the session to attend each week. To register please email Jenny Hill at jhill@winooskivt.gov.



Chill Skateboarding

Students in grade 7 and 8 are invited to sign up for fall skateboarding! Students will be picked up from school by Winooski Recreation staff and accompanied to Talent Skate Park every Wednesday from October 6th to November 10th. While at Talent, Chill Ambassadors will teach students to skate as well as help them build their own skateboard. The program will wrap up weekly around 6:15p at which time students will be driven back to WSD for pickup. All participating youth must be vaccinated or have a negative COVID-19 test result within

72 hours of the session to attend each week. To register please email Jenny Hill at jhill@winooskivt.gov.


Friday Night Outing

The Winooski Recreation and Library Teams are collaborating to offer youth grades K – 8 Friday Night Outings! Youth can go to the library anytime it is open with a parent or guardian to complete a challenge allowing them access to sign up for one of our Friday Night Outing experiences.

How to Complete a Challenge & Sign Up

1. Visit the Winooski Library anytime they're open with a parent or guardian.

2. Ask the librarian to help you complete a Friday Night Outing Challenge. You can pick from one of the following:

Sign up for a library card

Read a book aloud to a sibling or parent/guardian

Read a book and give the librarian a summary

Learn 3 other things than a book you can check out from the library

Draw a picture of your favorite book character

3. Once you complete the challenge the librarian will help you sign up for one of the available spots *a parent or guardian is required to be present for this*

4. Receive an email with details on where to meet for your Friday Night Outing!

Current outings include trips to Get Air, Metro Rock Climbing, Flynn Theatre, Burlington Center for Arts, and UVM Gutterson Fieldhouse – with more to come!

Questions can be directed towards Recreation Programs Manager Jenny Hill /jhill@winooskivt.gov/

Dear Families,


We wanted to give you an update on our current transportation issues. Due to serious labor shortages, Green Mountain Transit canceled all bussing for Middle School extracurricular activities. This includes all Middle School sports at 8 different schools. Unfortunately, this had lead to many delays and cancellations of games.


High School sports have also seen a ripple effect of this lack of bus drivers. We will continue to monitor the situation and be creative in solving our ongoing transportation issues. I hope this will have a minimal impact on our student-athletes.


If you can help transport reach out to your coaches. If you want to drive a bus or have a CDL, Mountain Transit needs you!

Thank you,

Sam Jackson, Athletic Director

Soccer game schedule (Boys Varsity)

Varsity Girls Schedule

JV Boys Schedule

MS Boys Schedule

MS Girls Schedule


Coach Jackson

WSD Athletic Director

802-363-5856

Middle School Artists Shine

To kick off the 2021 school year, Winooski’s middle school artists flexed their creative muscles and showed off their personal artistic styles. Students were given the freedom to draw anything they chose, in their personal favorite drawing style, so long as they included a great deal of detail, filled the page completely, and demonstrated high quality craftsmanship through careful outlines and coloring. Some students took this opportunity to create imaginative Surrealist images. Others practiced drawing characters of all kinds; and still others chose to explore abstract designs and patterns. Across all of these artistic modes, our students’ creativity and craftsmanship shines through brightly.” — Emily Jacobs, WMS Visual Art


Artists work below: Hue V. / Eliza W. / Mapenzi S. / Iris P. / Jesse M. / Asheera T. / Destin E. / Issahia C.


College Fair

St. Michael's College

Tuesday, October 12th

6:30 pm to 8:30 pm


A college fair is your opportunity to meet several colleges and learn what they have to offer for programs and scholarships. Plan on speaking with admissions counselors about your interests and gathering materials from many different colleges. Below is the list of colleges who will be in attendance. Grab your friends or parents and go to St. Michael's College on Tuesday, October 12th from 6:30 to 8:30. If you have questions please let me know!


Albany College of Pharmacy & Health Sciences Alfred University Assumption University Bay Path University Beloit College Bennington College Bentley University Bridgewater State University Bryant University Castleton University Cazenovia College Central Connecticut State University Champlain College Clark University Colby-Sawyer College College of Mount Saint Vincent College of the Atlantic Community College of Vermont Curry College Dean College Eckerd College Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University Emmanuel College Endicott College Fitchburg State University Franklin Pierce University Hartwick College High Point University Hofstra University Husson University Ithaca College Keene State College Keiser University Lasell University Lees-McRae College Lesley University Lincoln Tech Loyola University New Orleans MCPHS University Merrimack College Middlebury College Montserrat College of Art Nazareth College NEBHE Tuition Break New England College New England Institute of Technology Northern Vermont University Norwich University Paul Smith's College Plymouth State University Regis College Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Rivier University Roanoke College Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) Roger Williams University Sacred Heart University Saint Anselm College Saint Joseph's College of Maine Saint Leo University Saint Louis University Saint Michael's College Salve Regina University Seton Hall University Sewanee: University of the South Simmons University Southern New Hampshire University Springfield College St. Lawrence University Sterling College Stetson University Stonehill College Suffolk University SUNY Cobleskill College of Agriculture and Technology Syracuse University Thomas College University College Dublin University of Connecticut University of Denver University of Hartford University of Maine University of Maine at Augusta University of Maine at Farmington University of Maine at Fort Kent University of Massachusetts Amherst University of Massachusetts Boston University of Massachusetts Lowell University of New England University of New Hampshire University of New Haven University of Rhode Island University of South Carolina University of Southern Maine University of Tampa University of Tennessee University of Vermont Ursinus College Utica College Vermont Technical College Verto Education Wentworth Institute of Technology Western New England University Westfield State University Westminster College Wheaton College Massachusetts Wheaton College Massachusetts Worcester Polytechnic Institute Worcester State University

Public Hearing on Student Weighting Factors Report

On Wednesday, September 29th, Winooski parents, staff, and a high school student, Don, spoke at a public hearing about the Student Weighting Factors Report. They all spoke passionately about how important the full implementation of the recommendations of the report would be for Winooski students and families. Watch the hearing here.


Global Explorations Class!

On Tuesday, Cleophace Mukeba came to speak to students in a new Global Explorations class about the Democratic Republic of Congo. Students heard about the history of colonialism and conflict in the country, as well as learned about how to raise awareness about what is currently going on in the Congo with regard to resource extraction. One student said, "It is great to have a chance to finally learn about my country in school."