Weekly Field Memo: Recent News and Items of Interest From the Agency

Content:

Audience: All Administrators, Educators and communities

Making education.vermont.gov easier to navigate is a priority for the Agency of Education. In response to feedback from the field, we rolled out a refreshed navigation menu on July 20th to help Vermonters find the resources they need.

We have reorganized how existing pages are grouped, and nothing has been removed. If you can't find a page or hit a broken link, please reach out and we'll help you track it down.

Contact: Agency Webmanager at [email protected]

Audience: K-5 educators, Principals, Literacy Leaders, Interventionists, Curriculum Directors

Space is filling quickly, but there are spots still available for the Monday, August 17th Read Vermont Summit, co-sponsored by the Vermont Agency of Education and the Science of Reading Center at SUNY New Paltz. Join national literacy experts and Vermont schools leading the way in literacy improvement for a day of shared learning, celebration, and connection to kick off the school year. Individuals serving grades K-5 who will carry literacy work forward are invited to register via our online form. The Summit is designed to support literacy champions as they deepen their understanding of the science of reading and strengthen their capacity to implement research-aligned literacy practices.

Contact: Emily Leute at [email protected]

Audience: K-2 Educators, Literacy Coaches, Literacy Specialists, Principals

Join cohort two of the Read Vermont Institute and earn statewide recognition as a Read Vermont Literacy Leader. As part of this statewide network, teams of principals and educators will receive job-embedded coaching and professional learning that includes classroom-ready strategies to strengthen literacy instruction in the foundational skills of phonemic awareness and phonics. You will also receive professional development hours toward relicensure for all Institute activities. Learn more about the benefits of joining cohort two in the Read Vermont Institute: Overview for Educators document.

Contact: Emily Leute at [email protected]

Audience: Special Educators, Administrators, caregivers

Beginning in school year 2025-26, the Vermont Agency of Education launched a three-year pilot program to offer facilitation of Individualized Education Program (IEP) meetings through contracted facilitators at no cost. A Facilitated IEP (FIEP) meeting is a meeting in which the IEP team meets with a neutral facilitator to develop or amend a special education plan for a student. The student is the focus of the discussion and the student's educational needs are decided by the IEP team. The facilitator helps maintain open communication among team members and assists team members in resolving conflicts. The facilitator does not write or approve the IEP. The facilitator does not run the meeting or write the agenda. They simply participate as a neutral outside party to help the parties resolve potential disputes early. Anyone interested can read more about the pilot on our website and submit a joint request form for IEP Facilitation.

Contact: [email protected]

Audience: Superintendents, Heads of School, Business Managers, Grant Managers, Curriculum and Student Support Leaders, MTSS/School Climate/SEL/PBIS Coordinators, and Principals

The Agency is excited to announce the opening of the 2026-2027 Building Effective Supports for Teaching (BEST) and Act 230 grant application in the Grant Management System (GMS). BEST and Act 230 Local Education Agency (LEA) grant funding is dedicated to building the capacity of all school personnel to foster safe, healthy, and inclusive learning environments so that every student can access universal evidence-based SEL and behavioral supports.

Each LEA may apply for up to $10,000 in BEST funding. To simplify the funding process, the Agency has combined available BEST and Act 230 funds into a single BEST funding opportunity. LEAs only need to submit one BEST application to access the full $10,000 in available funding.

LEAs do not need to be identified as PBIS schools in order to receive grant funding. For more information on the purpose and allowable uses of BEST and Act 230, see our BEST and Act 230 website. Grant applications will be approved on a rolling basis; submission is due in GMS by Tuesday, September 15, 2026.

To support LEAs during the application process, the Agency will host virtual office hours on

Monday, July 27 from 2:00-3:00 PM and Thursday, August 6 from 11:00 AM-12:00 PM.

Contact: Ashley Riendeau at [email protected]

Audience: Superintendents and school leaders, Registrars

Registrars are invited to attend the webinar Student Forms and Data for Vulnerable Learners, on Friday, August 7, from 1:00-2:30 PM. This session will provide an overview of important student forms, data entry and reporting requirements, and strategies for using the Student Information System (SIS) to support specific student tracking needs.

The webinar will include information related to the following programs and processes:

• Migrant Education Program: Employment Survey
• Multi-Lingual Learners: Home Language Survey
• Students in Foster Care: Tracking state-placed students
• HHB and other safety incident reports: Tracking in the SIS
• Students experiencing homelessness: McKinney-Vento Program

We hope this webinar will help strengthen your understanding of the processes and tools that support some of our most vulnerable learners. Please join us via our Microsoft Teams meeting link.

Contact: Lindsay Turgeon-Brown at [email protected]

Audience: All Administrators, School Librarians

Have you hired a new or novice School Librarian? The Vermont School Library Association (VSLA) offers a statewide mentorship program that pairs experienced school librarians with those new to the field, matching across Vermont regardless of location.

Districts manage logistics, including the mentor stipend, in accordance with district rates. VSLA provides the expertise and Danielson-aligned training that has been shown to increase retention.

Set your new hire up for success. Contact Robin Bryce at [email protected] to get started or complete the sign-up form. Don't delay, School Librarians often begin preparing their libraries well before students arrive.

Contact: Robin Bryce, VSLA Mentor Chair at [email protected]

Audience: All Administrators, Educators and communities

Last week, Secretary Saunders provided a series of presentations that reinforced the Agency's resolute focus on education quality. The presentations focused on student feedback for the proposed statewide graduation requirements, the comprehensive redesign of Vermont's accountability system, and the next phase of the state's education transformation strategy. Together, these presentations demonstrated how clear academic expectations, meaningful accountability, and differentiated support are being integrated into a single, coherent framework to strengthen educational quality.

• Youth Feedback on Statewide Graduation Requirements: It has been incredibly valuable to partner with students in developing Vermont's new statewide graduation requirements. Elevating student voice is essential because they are the ones most directly impacted by these expectations. We are deeply grateful for our partnership with UP for Learning and for participating youths' work gathering feedback from more than 1,500 students across Vermont, ensuring that this proposal reflects the perspectives and aspirations of learners from across the state. Following UP for Learning's presentation on Youth Engagement and Feedback on Statewide Graduation Requirements, Secretary Saunders and Dr. Erin Davis reflected on students' thoughtful and meaningful engagement with our efforts to set a universal standard of excellence through statewide graduation requirements. Student feedback has substantively informed the Agency's proposed graduation requirements and affirmed the overall direction while strengthening implementation and the rationale for the final recommendations.
• Vermont's Accountability Redesign: Secretary Saunders was joined by the Agency's Chief of Strategy and Accountability Grace Shelton to discuss the direction of Vermont's accountability redesign, build a shared understanding of accountability, and gather feedback before major decisions are finalized. The proposed approach represents a ground-up overhaul of Vermont's accountability system rather than incremental revisions to the existing model. The redesign will modernize every major component of the system - including performance reporting, growth measures, school identification, accountability determinations, and differentiated supports - to create a coherent framework that provides timely, accurate, and actionable information for educators, families, policymakers, and the public. Following discussion, the State Board expressed support for the overall direction of the redesign and voted to submit a letter of support for the Agency's proposal requesting limited, time-bound federal flexibility. The Board recognized that this flexibility will allow Vermont to complete a thoughtful redesign that is informed by stakeholder feedback, technically sound, and aligned with the state's broader education transformation efforts.
• Next Steps in Vermont's Education Transformation: Finally, the Agency presented on next steps in Vermont's education transformation. They discussed roles and responsibilities for the upcoming merger committee process and reiterated the principles of this transformation: quality, equity, and sustainability. Although governance decisions will be flexible in this process, achieving educational quality is not voluntary. The presentation outlined a coordinated statewide framework that aligns implementation, accountability, and district supports around shared education goals. The Agency and State Board also reaffirmed their commitment to working together to establish the criteria by which merger proposals will be evaluated. The September State Board meeting will focus on building consensus around a common checklist and evaluation rubrics before merger committees begin meeting in earnest, ensuring proposals are reviewed consistently and against Vermont's statewide expectations for educational quality.

These presentations reflect the Agency's commitment to building a coherent statewide education system where high expectations, meaningful accountability, and strong support work together to improve outcomes for every student. They also demonstrate that lasting transformation is only possible through partnership with students, educators, communities, and the State Board of Education. Secretary Saunders is grateful for the Board's continued collaboration as we advance our shared commitment to making Vermont's education system the best in the country. For more information, we encourage you to view the recording of Wednesday's meeting as well as review the meeting materials.

Audience: School District Administrators/Leaders

Free Resources:

Self-Paced Low-Cost Trainings ($10/learner):

• Teaching Inclusive Sex Ed : For health educators who want to create and offer expansive and inclusive sexual health education. Building on evidence-based best practices and guided by lived experiences of LGBTQ+ youth in Vermont, this course offers the foundational concepts for creating inclusive classrooms that can support health educators at any grade level. Download our bonus Digital Resource Guide!
• Building Solidarity with LGBTQ+ Youth: Provides tools and frameworks for adults who work with LGBTQ+ youth, to combat adultism and move in solidarity with young people. This self-paced course takes about two hours to complete.

If schools are interested in working with Outright VT in person, they offer multi-year training partnerships. District leaders can reach out to RobynFreedner-Maguire at [email protected].

Contact: Jeneve Joslin at [email protected]

Audience: School Administrators, Educators, School Nurses

Did you know that you just need soap and water for everyday classroom clean-up? Disinfectants, including wipes like Clorox or Lysol, contain harsh chemicals and fragrances that can trigger asthma, cause eye, nose and throat irritation, and may disrupt hormones and harm reproduction. Children should never use disinfectants, including wipes. In fact, most disinfectant labels include the statement, "Keep Out of Reach of Children." To learn more, see this flyer for health impacts of disinfectants and safer alternatives to include on classroom supply lists.

Contact: Michelle Thompson, Agency of Human Services, at [email protected]

Audience: All Administrators, Educators and communities

The Vermont Agency of Education is hiring. To support our ongoing recruitment efforts and keep the field informed, all current open positions at the Agency will now be shared in the Weekly Field Memo (WFM). We encourage you to review, share, and distribute these opportunities throughout your schools, districts, and professional networks. View current openings on the VT Careers website. Thank you for helping us spread the word and connect talented professionals with meaningful work in Vermont education!

The following position has been posted:

Grants Management Systems Specialist II