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Messages - Rachelle LeVau
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« on: March 17, 2014, 05:13:34 PM »
You make valid points. However, the depth of your argument goes well beyond this post and this open forum. You are welcome to attend public board meetings or contact your local school board representatives individually. In fact, I encourage you to participate even more fully by seeking a seat on the board. In this way you can truly be heard and make a difference.
In this strand, I would like to answer as many questions as possible and alert voting residents to the next step in this process. My goal is an educated electorate and an increase in voter turnout on 4/10/14. We don't have another board meeting before the revised budget is scheduled for a vote. This is my best chance to be sure the Fairfax public has the best facts to make a decision.
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« on: March 16, 2014, 12:10:23 PM »
I will definitely forward your thoughts to our negotiations team. We negotiate a new contract every couple of years. The state recently mandated negotiating at the SU level. That means our teachers contract is negotiated by a team of school board representatives from our school together with Fletcher reps and Georgia reps.
Please remember that close to half of our teachers also live in our town. When you say they shouldn't be given a raise, you are probably saying this about your own neighbor.
Also remember that it is very difficult to throw out a union and still have a school to educate the children of our town. Our negotiating team does their very best to balance the budget needs with the need to maintain an education system in our town. I often hear that it is time to throw everybody out, but I also hear many people praise our school and our teachers for what they provide for our children. Fairfax students represent our town well when they compete at the regional and state levels. They are well prepared to go out in the world and make a difference. Many times, they come back to Fairfax because they were raised in a town that cared enough to offer a great community and a great education. Ask any of them why they wanted to return to teach in our schools and raise their children in our town after seeing what other areas of Vermont, America and the world has to offer.
Rachelle
3
« on: March 16, 2014, 07:11:41 AM »
1. I'll have to find the answer to the ipad question. We have a technology line item in the budget and I don't remember the number. I believe it is somewhere in the $200k range. This technology number would be a logical choice for cutting if we have to level-fund the budget. We have been trying not to touch this line item because it is so difficult to bring back after cutting.
2. We chose to increase the budget more than inflation this year because we had level funded the budget and only increased modestly in the past. As the economy has been picking up, we wanted to put back in some previously cut funding before significant impact to physical plant or programs. The residents that attended our budget forums these last 2 years have consistently asked us to restore funding and increase programs for students. Also, for the second try this year, we only cut modestly because we are only guessing at why it failed. There was very low voter turn out and we wanted to give the opportunity for more residents to weigh in.
3. The bus has not been cut from the budget. I mentioned the bus because it has not previously been included in the budget. Bus purchases have previously been separate articles. This 90,000 represents almost a full percent increase to the budget. We have to purchase a bus this year, it isn't really an option. If we were to purchase a bus and level-fund the budget, we would have to significantly reduce programs.
4. We can't level salaries. We have a negotiated agreement with the teacher's union that includes automatic increases to their salaries. To level-fund salaries, we would have to cut teacher positions. Teacher salaries are the largest portion of the school budget. When we look for areas to cut, teachers are an easy choice because the number is so large.
Please keep the questions coming!
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« on: March 15, 2014, 07:34:14 PM »
Hello, Fairfax Neighbors.
In this post, I'd like to discuss your questions and comments about the future of the White House/Old Town Office on the corner of the school property. First, I've seen posts about selling or renting the house to a resident in need of a home. I can tell you that renting would require costly renovations to bring the house up to code suitable for renting. Also, as a school, we do not wish to start in the property rental business. To sell the property would require subdividing it from the remainder of the school property. Either of these tasks requires locating every Bellows decedent for permission. The Bellows family has spread their wings somewhat over the past century and are not all easily located.
I had to pause reading some of the comments about preserving the history. When watching/reading about artifacts from only 50 years ago, I would often stop and wonder why so many have been destroyed. I don't want this to happen to a structure that has such rich history in our town and school. I have been considering ideas for preserving the history of the building in some way before any permanent decisions take away that option. I will be in touch with our arts departments to consider a photographic essay that would help in historical preservation. I'd also like to flesh out ideas to preserve a physical piece of the structure in an art work or other display alongside the photographic essay. I think it is possible to compile a journal of memories and public records to keep together with the same display.
Please keep the comments and ideas coming. I think we are all looking for the same things, low school budget and preservation of our past.
Sincerely,
Rachelle LeVau
5
« on: March 15, 2014, 07:25:33 PM »
Hello, Fellow Fairfax Residents.
I apologize for not paying more attention to the questions and information related to the school on this forum. In this post, I would like to address the issue of the school budget. On Tuesday, March 4, 2014 the Fairfax school budget was defeated by 53 votes. The vote was 278 for the budget and 331 against the budget. This budget had an increase of 4.9% and included $90,000 for the purchase of a replacement bus. On Monday March 11 the school board met to discuss implications and options. A revised budget with a 4.3% increase has been warned and will be presented to the Fairfax residents on April 10 for a vote. We had to cut some money from freshman sports and put off a sound system in the Richard Brown Gymnasium. If this budget fails to pass, the school board will interpret his to mean additional cuts are needed. If we need to further decrease the budget, we will be looking at cutting freshman sports further, reducing the funding for co-curricular supplies and eliminating teacher positions. If this budget fails, we need to hear from our community about what is important in order to put forward a budget that will be approved in a vote.
Please call or email your school board representatives if you have any questions or suggestions.
Sincerely,
Rachelle LeVau
6
« on: December 29, 2013, 02:32:58 PM »
The Fairfax School Board has approved forming a facilities committee to address current short and long-term facility planning at BFA. Jasen Boyd and Rachelle LeVau will be leading the committee and are seeking volunteers from our community. The committee will gather the information and report findings their to the school board. The charge of the committee includes projected facility needs for the next 10 years, costs as well as options with a plan for the White House. The commitment will likely be monthly meetings in the library lasting approximately 2 hours through June.
If you are interested in volunteering on this committee, please email Rachelle at rlevau@fwsu.org. The Board of Directors will approve the committee in February.
7
« on: October 15, 2013, 09:11:10 PM »
BFA Fairfax is excited to participate in the 4th annual Chinese Cultural Exchange Camp. This two-week program offers English language immersion for Chinese students and an amazing cultural education opportunity for BFA students and families.
In order to make this program possible BFA must secure host families for approximately 30 Chinese students and two Chinese teachers. The commitment is simple: house two students for two weeks, and receive a stipend of $200 per student to help with expenses. These students are in school weekdays from 8-5:00.
The two-week exchange will take place in July. Transportation is available. Don’t have an extra bed-one can be provided! Have a previous engagement during the exchange-we can help find a temporary housing while you are away! We are happy to accommodate your needs.
If you are even a little bit intrigued, please take that next step to ask any questions. We have many families that have hosted in the past and would be happy to share their experiences, too.
You will be surprised how much of a difference this opportunity makes in the lives of the students and families with a simple exchange of culture, ideas and friendship.
For more information please contact Sara Villeneuve (svilleneuve@fwsu.org) or Rachelle LeVau (Rachelle.LeVau@gmail.com) right away. Housing must be secured by October 31, 2013 to make this program possible.
8
« on: February 24, 2013, 12:25:06 PM »
I don't think anybody is in favor of bullying. The bill before the Vermont house illustrates well how negative bullying can be for a work environment. I don't believe we need legislation to mandate what bullying is, how it should be addressed, or the consequences that should be imposed if it occurs. I have seen bullying in the work place, I have been bullied in the work place. I have done my share of bullying as a supervisor in the past. In the school system, we have avenues for personnel to point out bullying to supervising staff. As a School Board member, I advocate for education of supervisory personnel as to what comprises bullying and why it isn't acceptable. Personnel issues are never discussed in open session out of respect for the confidentiality of the people involved. Additionally, the actions taken to educate any personnel involved would not be public information. I believe the policies and procedures as well as the philosophy of the Fairfax school community address bullying enough and no additional action is needed to protect the rights of school personnel.
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« on: February 19, 2013, 03:55:36 PM »
I'm pretty sure that it needs to be my name spelled correctly. Rachelle LeVau. Thanks for your question.
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« on: February 19, 2013, 08:29:31 AM »
Hello to my fellow Fairfax Community members. My name is Rachelle LeVau (although my user name is still set up as my former married name Howard). I am writing because I didn't get the signatures to file my petition to be included on the ballot for the position on the school board. First, I apologize to everybody for not taking care of that. Second, I would like to ask everybody to set that aside and write my name in for the open position. If you do this, the Chair will have an option to appoint me to the position and I will have another opportunity to submit a petition to be on the ballot for the remainder of the term next year. If there is somebody else running, please write my name in anyway. I've served on the board for 6 1/2 years total. I love my work on the school board, I believe that I bring a good voice to the meetings.
I would be happy to answer any questions that you may have through this forum.
Sincerely,
Rachelle LeVau
11
« on: December 04, 2009, 04:35:59 PM »
Parent's Night Out to support Girl Scout Cadet Troop 30083
Saturday, December 19, 2009 5pm-10pm at United Church of Fairfax. All ages welcome.
Cost = $5/hour per child or $20/child for the whole event with a family maximum of $45.
$2 extra for pizza dinner. Supervised by Troop leaders: Jodie Millette, Rachelle Howard and Penny Blair.
This event will be completely tree nut/peanut free.
Offering: Crafts, games, movies, snacks.
Please register with Jodie at 849-9384 or littleacademy@myfairpoint.net
This event is to raise money for a trip to Minnesota this summer.
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