Wednesday, March 28, 2018



For More Information 

If you would like to learn more about the details of the merger, the links below can help you find information and updates from each committee.



Subcommittee Instructions - https://tinyurl.com/Subcommittee-Instructions

Committee Minutes and Summaries - https://tinyurl.com/Merger-Committee-Work-Updates

Merger Calendar - https://tinyurl.com/y8all3fy 

Merger "Matrix" - https://tinyurl.com/Merger-Matrix 

The matrix is our communication tool for the Steering Committee to follow all merger work, post brief updates, and ask questions.      

 


High School Course Selection Begins

It will be an exciting few weeks for the new White River Valley High School, as students begin the
process of selecting courses for the first time. Teachers have spent the last two months developing
and fine-tuning the curriculum and will present next year’s offerings to all high school students, who
will gather in Royalton later this month.

The course selection process gets underway in advisory groups, where students will review
graduation requirements with their teacher advisors and create a four year plan for their studies.
These plans will consider each student’s interests as well as their hopes and goals for after
graduation. Whitcomb and South Royalton High School currently have different graduation
requirements, so new requirements have been developed for our merged school. Students who are
in grades 9-11 this year will have the option of following their current school’s graduation
requirements or using the White River Valley High School guidelines. Future high school students
(current 8th graders and younger) will follow the graduation requirements of our merged school.

When students gather in Royalton, they will listen to presentations from each department in the
high school, from math and social studies to art and music. In addition to explaining what students
can expect in specific courses, teachers will lay out potential pathways to help in the course
selection process. For example, students who are interested in a career in nursing will see a
recommended course load to help them pursue this career path. After listening to each
department’s offerings, students will make their preliminary course selections. Each student will be
sent home with a copy of the course descriptions and their own class choices. Students will be
expected to discuss and review these with their families and have parents sign off on their
selections. Once student choices have been received, the process of building a final master
schedule will begin, with individual student schedules to follow.

If you or your student have any questions about the course selection process, please do not
hesitate to contact their school guidance counselor or teacher advisor.


DON’T FORGET THE SCHOOL LOGO CONTEST!

Bethel and Royalton students and community members are invited to submit a design
for the WRVS Logo Contest. The design should be no more than 10” x 10” and should
incorporate the name and/or mascot. All entries need to be camera ready (2 colors--
green and gold--with clean lines). Students and community members should put their
full name ONLY on the BACK of all entries.
Please submit entries to

Mrs. Melanson in Royalton or Mr. Bradley in Bethel by March 20th.

We Have A Budget!

Voters from Bethel and Royalton convened in the Bethel gym Tuesday night and approved the
budget for the upcoming year by a vote of 119-49. This first annual meeting of the district was a
big milestone, and it was great to see our two towns come together to take the important step of
approving the budget for next year. We would like to thank everybody for coming out, asking
questions, and taking part in the democratic process. Also, special thanks to Girl Scout Troop
#48 for organizing the delicious Crock Pot Dinner prior to the meeting, and to the
Bethel/Whitcomb PTO for providing child care during the meeting.

Now that there is an approved budget, and everybody has returned from vacation, work is
picking up again to get everything ready for next year. Stay tuned for next week’s newsletter,
which will detail the next steps in our merger process. If you have any questions about the
merger, feel free to email us at wrvschoolmergerinfo@wrvsu.org.

In the meantime, come out to the Community Thaw event Friday March 9th from 5:30 to 8:00 on
the Royalton green. This is an opportunity for people from both communities to get together in a
more social atmosphere. There will be a campfire, complimentary pizza, coffee, cocoa, popcorn,
games, and an open mic for aspiring musicians. We will have a table there with people
available to answer questions about the merger.