Sticking with plans for an outdoor commencement despite intermittent heavy showers paid off for Harwood Union High School’s class of 2023 on Saturday when sunshine broke through the clouds just in time for their cap toss and photos with family and friends with their school as a backdrop. 

A new mural inside the main entrance at Harwood Union Middle/High School was painted recently by students in the Youth Enriching Wellness Club as a Mental Health Awareness Month project.

Organizers declared the spring Walk and Bike to School event last week “great success” as nearly 200 students, parents and teachers from Brookside Primary School gathered at Rusty Parker Park before heading to school on foot and wheels. 

Harwood Union High School’s 2023 commencement will be held Saturday morning starting at 10 a.m. under the tent on the school’s front lawn. Find the program, the livestream link, senior portraits, awards and scholarships presented on Thursday and more here.

It is still too early to tell for sure, but the annual surpluses that the Harwood Unified Union School District has enjoyed and put towards facility maintenance may be coming to an end this year. 

It wasn’t a wayward fire alarm or even a real emergency Friday when a Waterbury firetruck pulled up to Brookside Primary School just after 8 a.m. 

A little over a year after learning that its school district was using restraint and seclusion with students at an alarming rate, the Harwood Unified Union School District School Board has adopted a new policy that officially bans most uses of the practices starting with the new school year in the fall.  

Tonight’s Harwood Unified Union School District School Board meeting has several significant board action items on its agenda including approving the choice for Moretown Elementary School’s principal, adopting a new Restraint and Seclusion Policy, and a request to fly the pride flag during the month of June.

On Friday, the committee charged with reviewing applications, interviewing candidates, and recommending a hiring choice for the principal position at Moretown Elementary School said it has reached a decision. 

Crossett Brook Middle School may be the home of the cougars but as of Thursday, it has a new – and hopefully temporary – mascot: a little exotic pet mammal called a sugar glider that appeared out of seemingly nowhere on Thursday.

Nineteen students from Harwood Union High School recently took part in the annual University of Vermont Math Contest with two earning honors for their results. 

On May 2 in Burlington, the nonprofit Music-COMP organization presents a world premiere concert event featuring 23 new compositions by Vermont students including two Crossett Brook Middle School students. 

State lawmakers are hearing testimony in support of banning harmful restraint and seclusion practices used with Vermont school students, some as young as preschoolers. Meanwhile, the Harwood Unified Union School District is moving ahead with a policy with limitations on the practices that are stronger than what state rules currently allow.

Three local middle school writers won top honors in an annual statewide essay contest that took on the controversial topic of book banning recently.