Buses roll Monday for start of 2022-23 school year
August 28, 2022 | By Lisa Scagliotti 
Harwood Union Middle/High School has a staggered start for students with only 7th and 9th graders attending on the first day to ease their transition to a new campus. All students in grades 7-12 will be in school starting Tuesday. Photo by Lisa Scagliotti
Summer break comes to a close for thousands of Vermont’s K-12 school students this week.
In the Harwood Unified Union School District, buses roll bright and early on Monday morning for most of the students in the district’s six towns. At Harwood Union Middle/High School, students in grades 8 and 10-12 get one extra day of summer vacation given that the school opens for just new students in grades 7 and 9 on Monday.
Teachers and staff already began the year last week with an opening assembly of their own in the auditorium at Harwood. Approximately 350 district staff gathered for the kickoff led by the district’s new Superintendent Michael Leichliter who officially began his tenure on July 1.
Leichliter has spent the first two months getting acquainted with staff and moving into two offices where he will work this year -- one at the central offices in Waitsfield and one inside Harwood Union High School. The district’s new top administrator said he’s overseen updates to information on the school district’s website for parents, staff and students to use as the academic year commences.
Bus routes, for example, have had some adjustments and families should review the list online at huusd.org/bus-routes to be sure they know the times buses will be picking up and dropping off their students. The master list format has been updated to include a table of contents to make it easier to find specific routes.
School schedules remain the same as last year with elementary schools starting earlier than the middle schools and high school, Leichliter noted.
Staff openings to fill
Like many districts around Vermont, Harwood is still looking to fill a number of staff positions including special educators, food service workers, custodians and substitutes.
“We’re in fairly good shape to open in relation to some other places around the state,” Leichliter said in an interview on Friday.
While most teaching positions have been filled across the district, a number of support staff jobs remain open as schools prepare to open this week. “There are no huge gaps in services,” Leichliter said, noting that the state Agency of Education in recognizing the challenges schools are facing with staffing has loosened requirements for licensing and credentials in some categories.
The HUUSD website lists job openings that include paraprofessionals, special educators, food service staff, custodians, etc. “Cafeteria substitutes are non-existent,” the superintendent noted.
In addition, substitutes across the board are needed as the list of those to call upon has dwindled during the COVID-19 pandemic. An application for those interested to get on that list is on the HUUSD website homepage.
Latest state COVID-19 guidance
For the first time since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020, schools will be opening without any specific precautions or changes in operations due to the virus. Leichliter in an email to families last week noted that the school district’s COVID-19 information has been updated on the district’s website with a link to an Aug. 10 guidance memo issued by Vermont’s Health Commissioner Mark Levine, M.D., and state Education Secretary Daniel French.
“As we begin to think of COVID-19 as an endemic disease, we once again need to shift our thinking. COVID-19, like the flu, is now a part of our lives,” the state’s top health and education officials wrote.
“With testing no longer a first-line strategy for COVID-19 prevention in Vermont, school nurses should revisit their pre-COVID-19 school sickness policies. This is an opportunity to identify possible improvements based upon lessons learned during the COVID-19 pandemic, keeping in mind public health principles in the prevention of all respiratory diseases,” they said.
The memo goes on to outline how school nurses should monitor students and staff who are sick with the emphasis on those with symptoms staying home. It notes that schools will have some COVID-19 tests for nurses to share but testing will not be required.