Brookside Blast June 19,2026 | | |
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| | June 19, 2026 Dear BPS Families, As we bring another incredible school year to a close, we wanted to take a moment to reflect on all that we’ve accomplished together. This year has been filled with learning, laughter, challenges, and growth—for students, staff, and families alike. Our students have worked hard, shown resilience, and demonstrated kindness throughout the year. From classroom projects and school events to field trips and friendships, the memories made here will stay with them for years to come. We are so proud of how each student has grown, both academically and personally. To our fourth graders: Congratulations! We are so excited to see you move on to middle school. While we will miss you dearly, we know you are more than ready to take this next step. Carry the lessons you’ve learned here with you and continue to shine. To our families: Thank you for your unwavering support and partnership. Your involvement in our school community makes all the difference, and we are grateful for your trust and collaboration. To our teachers and staff: Your dedication, creativity, and care have made this year a success. Thank you for going above and beyond every single day. Wishing all of you a joyful and restful summer. May it be filled with time to relax, explore, and make more wonderful memories. Warmly, Sarah & Chris | | |  | Sue Rooney It is hard to find the right words to capture a career that has spanned 43 incredible years, with 40 of those dedicated entirely to our students here in the HUUSD community. From her early days at Duxbury Elementary School, she has been a foundational force in our district.
- 1982- Started career as a paraeduactor.
- 1983- Hired as a teacher in Eden for an annual salary of $10,000.
- 1985-1996- Taught Special Education and Title I intervention at Duxbury Elementary School.
- 1996-2021: Taught Special Education and Literacy Intervention at Thatcher Brook Primary School.
- 2021- 2026 - Taught Literacy Intervention at Brookside Primary School (formerly Thatcher Brook).
Sue has gracefully anchored our schools through historic community mergers and major school name changes (from Duxbury Elementary to Thatcher Brook, and finally to Brookside Primary), and at least nine different principals—including Bill Regal, Karen Hess, Judy Granger, Don Scheider, Barbara Tomasi-Gay , Cindy Senning, Andrea Erchak, Michael Freed-Thall, and Denise Goodnow. Through every single transition, her steady presence and focus on students never wavered.
As a special education teacher and literacy interventionist, she has unlocked the gift of reading for thousands of young learners. She didn't just teach children how to decode words; she completely changed their lives by giving them confidence and a lifelong love for learning.
Some things you might not know about Sue......... - Was inspired to be a teacher while working as a peer mentor in the the 7th or 8th grade. Mr. Daniels encouraged her:)
- She put herself through college and was the first in her family to go to college. This was the path she found to fulfilling her dream of becoming a teacher.
- Attended Johnson State and put herself through college.
- She earned her Master's degree in 1995.
- She worked In Reading Recovery, Literacy Intervention, and Special Education over the course of her career.
- She drives a Mustang (but only in the warm weather).
- Sue and her husband owned a store in Bolton for over 35 years. So this is technically retirement #2 for her.
Thank you, Sue, for your immeasurable contributions, your endless compassion, and a truly extraordinary career. You will be deeply missed, and your legacy will always be remembered with immense admiration. Enjoy every second of your well-deserved retirement!
Sue plans to spend time with her grand kids and family, drive her mustang fast, enjoying not rushing around, and gardening:) | |  | Brenda Hartshorn Brenda retiring after 44 years of dedication to Vermont’s children, families, and schools. Brenda’s 44-year career in education includes 41 years within the Harwood district.
1982: Started career as a paraprofessional at Waitsfield Elementary School. 1985–2021:Taught kindergarten through third grade at Moretown Elementary School. 2021–2026: After retiring from the classroom, she continued to serve our community as a School Administrative Assistant at Moretown Elementary and later at Brookside Primary School.
Some things you may not know about Brenda........
Served as a literacy consultant for the Vermont Department of Education and the University of Vermont's Vermont Reads initiative. Co-created Vermont’s Primary Number and Operations Assessment (PNOA), a vital mathematics tool used extensively across the state and beyond. Trained teachers throughout Vermont in mathematics data analysis and served as a faculty instructor for Castleton State College’s Educating Children Outdoors Institute. Contributed to the book Educating Children Outdoors: Welcome Home, Welcome to Nature. She earned her the University of Vermont Outstanding Educator Award and the highly prestigious Presidential Award in the Teaching of Mathematics and Science.
Brenda plans to spend plenty of quality time with family and friends, stay involved in the community, dive into outdoor adventures, and explore new interests. We extend our deepest thanks to Brenda for her decades of service and the unforgettable impact she has made on our kids. We wish her a joyful, incredibly well-deserved retirement! | | Yearbooks 25-26: New & Improved Have Arrived The yearbook had several edits that needed to be corrected. The book was reprinted and arrived from Treering yesterday. All students and staff who ordered one, recevied a second copy this morning from their teacher if they were at school. If they were not at school, then you can stop by the school office anytime on Monday, June 22 7:30-3:30 to pick up your child's yearbook. If you didn't order a yearbook and would like to do so, you can purchase onlie directly from Treering. It will be mailed directly to your home address and there is an additional s/h fee for this.
To order BPS Yearbook 2025-26 online directly from Treering using the QR code below or this link: https://www.treering.com/purchase?PassCode=1014562533402033 If you need a passcode, use this: 1014562533402033
How to Order Yearbook After Deadline
| Band Opportunity for 26-27 CBMS Fifth Graders | | Four Winds Volunteers Needed for 26-27 Four Winds Nature Education Program @ BPS: Volunteers needed for 2026-27 school year! Calling all parents, grandparents and community members! Do you enjoy the outdoors and want to get involved in the classroom? Brookside Primary School's Four Winds Nature Education program is seeking volunteers to help teach students about our natural world in the 2026-27 school year. The theme for the year is “Patterns in Nature” and we will be teaching 6 different lessons over the course of the academic year. Curriculum materials including background information and activity descriptions are provided by the Four Winds Institute and are accessible online. We have an in-person training session prior to teaching each of the 6 lessons. The training sessions are led by a professional environmental educator and naturalist. There are a variety of different activities for each lesson, including an informative puppet show, hands-on experiments, games, crafts, dances, songs, examination of provided specimens, and observations in nature. Our training sessions are on Thursday mornings, and if you can’t make the in-person meeting you can study the materials at home to prepare for teaching the lesson. Ideally each class is taught by a team of two or more volunteers. The classroom teacher is always there to help with managing the kids as well. Applying to be a volunteer in the HUUSD district and getting your background check complete is the first step, which sometimes takes a while, so start now:). Please email Heather LaRocca at [email protected] to let us know if you are interested in volunteering next year or if you have any questions about the program. | |  | | From the Nurses Ticks – The top 10 things to remember 10. Ticks crawl up – Ticks don’t jump, fly or drop from trees onto your head and back. 9. All ticks (including deer ticks) come in small, medium and large sizes. 8. Ticks can be active in winter. 7. Ticks carry disease-causing microbes. 6. Only deer ticks transmit Lyme disease bacteria. 5. For most tick-borne diseases, you have at least 24 hours to find and remove a feeding tick before it transmits an infection. 4. Deer tick nymphs look like a poppy seed on your skin. 3. The easiest and safest way to remove a tick is with a pointy tweezer. 2. Clothing with built-in tick repellent is best for preventing tick bites. 1. Tick bites and tick-borne diseases are completely preventable. Top ten things to know. (ND). The University of Rhode Island. Retrieved May 6, 2024, from https://web.uri.edu/tickencounter/ticksmart/top-ten-things/ | |  | | Middle School Booster Club Message Good afternoon, This past winter, we distributed a community survey regarding the long-term sustainability and future of middle school athletics in our district. We received a significant amount of thoughtful feedback covering many aspects of middle school sports, and we are grateful to everyone who took the time to share their perspectives. One consistent theme that emerged throughout the survey feedback was the idea of establishing a Middle School Boosters Club to help strengthen and support middle school athletics in a variety of ways. As we began exploring what this could look like, we wanted to reach out to a broader group of community members for input and collaboration. We believe that, to be successful and sustainable, a Middle School Boosters Club would ideally be built through a partnership of: Having representation and support from PTOs across our district could help create a stronger pipeline of volunteers, leadership, and institutional knowledge from year to year, recognizing that HUUSD’s Middle Schools experience is only two years. At its core, we envision a group that could support middle school athletics in a variety of ways such as: To begin this conversation, we would like to bring interested individuals together for an initial meeting and idea session. The goal would be to: If you believe there is someone else who should be included, please let me know so we can make sure they are part of the discussion. We believe there is a real opportunity to strengthen our Middle school programming across HUUSD. We plan to have this conversation in September and hope you will consider being part of the conversation. Thank you for your time and continued support. Ian Fraunfelder and Meg McDonough Athletic Director Principal HU
| | Fall Middle School & High School Sports 26-27 Fall sports registration is live as of June 12th at noon. Please note that registration closes on Aug 26th at 3pm. Please click here to register.
Fall Sports for HS start 8-13 Fall sports for MS start 8-27
Many of our middle school programs are always looking for volunteers to help. If you would like to volunteer please reach out to Ian Fraunfelder at [email protected]
All HS Sports Aug. 13 Middle school first day: Aug 27 HS/MS First day to play games: Aug. 28 HS/MS Last day to play games: Oct 17 HS Playoffs (tentative): Playdowns: Oct 20-21 Quarter Finals: Oct 23-24 Semi-Finals: Oct 27-28 Finals: Oct 30-31
For the Fall we have the following open positions: If interested, please click here to apply. | | HUUSD Central Office Has Moved New Location & Contact Info | | | | |  | Please note that the opportunities/events listed below are not specifically endorsed or screened by school staff. As always, families should use their own standards and review processes to determine appropriate activities. | | Waterbury Rapids Swim Team | | | Waterbury Youth Soccer - Fall 2026 Registration is Open! |  | |  | | 17th Annual Green Mountain Mile To Run Before Waterbury Parade on Jun 27, 2026 The Annual Green Mountain Mile will take place just before Waterbury’s Not Quite Independence Day Parade on Saturday, June 27th, at 3:45 PM sharp.
The one-mile course starts on the access road to the Ice Center in Waterbury. The course then merges onto VT Route 100 north and continues up Main Street to finish on Bank Hill at the intersection with Stowe Street.
Applicants are encouraged to pre-register for the race on Friday, June 26, from 5 to 7 p.m. at Brookside Primary School. There will be race day registration from 2:30 to 3:30 PM at the Ice Center. Registration forms can be found at the link below. Entry fees are: $5 for kids (14 and under), $10 for adults.
Proceeds benefit the Cross Country Ski Equipment Fund fund at Brookside Primary School.
2026 Green Mountain Mile Form | | Important Live Y'ers After School Info for 26-27 | | |  | SLEEPY HOLLOW SUMMER CAMPS 2026 SLEEPY HOLLOW SUMMER CAMPS 2026
Sleepy Hollow Ski & Bike Center has openings for its “Slammin’ Outdoor Camp” on July 13-17th. Spend the day outdoors, on the trails, making crafts, playing games and having fun. Biking is optional! Go to the Sleepy Hollow Summer Camps webpage for the registration link. Questions? Reach out to the Summer Camp Director, Heather LaRocca, at [email protected]
SLAMMIN’ OUTDOOR CAMP: Get outside and adventure in Sleepy Hollow’s 850 acres of forest and trails! We head out on the trails every day to explore the natural world around Sleepy with a new outdoor theme every day, including forest, stream and pond studies. We also do fun outdoor activities every day- hiking, mountain biking, swimming and more! Campers can expect a fun week outside packed with activities, art projects and games. Ages: 8-12 years old Cost: $350 per camper Weeks: July 13th - 17th OR July 27th - 31st Time: 9:00 am – 3:30 pm SUMMER SKI CAMP: Spend the week outside at Sleepy Hollow’s 850 acres of forest and trails, with running, hiking, mountain biking, rollerskiing*, swimming and more! The camp is geared towards kids that are excited to try some summer Nordic ski activities. We get out on the trails every day and do activities, art projects and games too, all with the focus of summer fun outside! *Rollerskis not needed- we team up with NENSA for rollerskiing, and they provide a fleet for us to use. Ages: 10-14 years old Cost: $350 per camper Weeks: July 20th - 24th Time: 9:00 am – 3:30 pm | |  | | Lost Nation Youth Summer Camps Our Summer Production Camp will be THE LION KING - KIDS!, June 21 - 27! For ages 9 - 17, this will be an exuberant collaboration between LNT, Alexa Kartschoke, Jen Greenwood, and Shidaa! With age appropriate roles for a wide range of participants, we are excited about presenting this inspiring musical! Song, dance, and African drumming will bring this show to life! Here's Alexa's invitation to this awesome camp: https://youtu.be/-veHoqUif2g
To end the summer, Theater Play for Everyday, half day camp for ages 6 - 9 will feature NEVERLAND, August 3 - 7 and led by LNT producing artistic director, Kathleen Keenan and myself! It's always fun to explore the world of Peter Pan, Wendy, & Tinkerbell! | | Equine Summer Camps Horses & Pathfinders, LLC
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 | GMCF Summer Camp June 22-Aug. 14, 2026 | |
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