Stamford — the little school that could

By Jeanne FederPrint Story | Email Story
STAMFORD, Vt. — Only one school of all the schools in the state earns the distinction of being named the Gold Medallion School each year. Last week, that honor was given to the middle school at Stamford Elementary School. The Vermont Business Roundtable named 12 Medallion Schools earlier this year, based on the schools having test scores in the top 15 percent of statewide ratings, but earning the Gold meant having that something extra — something that goes beyond test scores and numbers. During a time when everyone hears so much about the crisis in educational standards around the country — and with national initiatives and incentives being implemented to raise the bar — Stamford’s small-town achievement could send a message: The pre-kindergarten through eighth-grade school, with only 79 students, made the grade while its 2005 per pupil spending was $7,120, just $320 above the minimum allowed by the state and far below the statewide average. The expenditure also included $130,000 spent for a new roof. Principal Leo Ethier, who has been at the Stamford helm for 32 years, is a strong, no-nonsense role model who has created continuity and a commitment to excellence that students, parents and teachers are proud to follow. According to Ethier, money does not buy a good education. He attributes his school’s success to “basic teaching methods” — the kind of learning that many experienced one or two generations ago — and the fact that he and teachers set “high expectations” for their kids. The math textbooks are not the very newest, but Ethier said, “Math hasn’t changed that much,” and his students are doing just fine, thank you. As one tours the school and speaks to parents, students and teachers, the secrets to their successes become clear: This is a community. Stamford is the kind of village that Hillary Clinton said it takes to raise happy, productive children. It is virtually impossible to separate the school from its residents and town government – nor would they want to. The school building is truly a community center. Nancy Bushika, town clerk and treasurer for 11 years, has her office in the building. Her two sons, both engineers, graduated from Stamford before going on to Drury High School, Renssalaer Polytechnic Institute and Wooster PolytechTech. The school library serves as the town library as well. It is run by the School Board and the library trustees, with one set of encyclopedias for all, and the public is welcome during school hours. Town meetings and voting are held in the gym, along with several other town functions. Principal Ethier is a member of the Volunteer Fire Department (and former chief) — he monitors its calls each day and is proud that his own two sons graduated from Stamford — Paul is now town fire chief and Glenn deputy chief. The school maintains a consistency and a positive environment for everyone involved, according to teachers and townspeople. Two of its teachers, Carol Fossbender and Daniel Trudeau, have been there for 31 and 34 years, respectively. The school’s administrative assistant, Debra Davignon, who is in her 21st year, said, “It’s the people – the families. Most families are involved in their kids’ education — they have a relationship with the teachers. The school is so small, the teachers really know the kids, where the kids might get lost in a big school.” The school cook, Patricia Erdeski, a mom whose three children have gone to Stamford, loves her job. “Pat has turned the school lunch program around,” Either said, noting that she prepares hot snacks and lunches for 60 children each day (well over 50 percent of the students have opted for the program), and they choose from a varied lunch menu, including pizza, macaroni and cheese and shepherd’s pie. Stamford’s students excel and seem to thrive in their creatively structured small-school environment. Classes have been combined as a result of lower enrollment, so they now have two grades in most classrooms, a program that has actually been implemented at lab schools around the United States, in the belief that the interaction of the older and younger students benefits both. Stamford has seven students in kindergarten, the only class that is not combined with another grade. It has 16 students in first and second grades, 11 in third and fourth, 23 in fifth and sixth and 22 in seventh and eighth. Ethier said the recent Science Fair was a great example of the school’s mentoring program, in which older students serve as mentors for the younger students throughout the school year. Each individual science project was a partnership between an older and a younger student, with the older students handling the hypotheses and research, and the younger students contributing to implementation of the projects. The mentors work with their student buddies on a weekly basis – time can be spent reading with them or taking them to the library to check out a book. The teaching staff is exceptional, according to Ethier — and flexible, with each classroom teacher, from grades one through eight, teaching English, history, math, science and geography in individual classrooms, rather than having the students move from room to room for individual subjects. Ethier credits his very supportive School Board for the broad array of programs. There is a music appreciation class, and the evidence of the school’s vibrant art curriculum decorates virtually all hallways and classrooms. Specialists visit the school to provide speech, physical and occupational therapy. There is a full-time reading specialist, and the two-teacher special education staff splits its time between the upper and lower grades. The school takes advantage of the community and state and national programs to complement and enrich its educational and extracurricular programs. Parent volunteers are an integral part of the school’s support system as well. Two parents teach the ELF (Environmental Learning for the Future) Program to grades K-4 each week. This unique program was created by VINS (Vermont Institute of Natural Science), a nonprofit started in 1970, whose mission stresses “education as the way to change attitudes and maintain a healthy environment.” VINS provides natural objects and teaching materials (birds’ nests, stuffed eagles, puppet theaters) and provides trainers who visit once monthly for the first five years of the program (twice a year thereafter) to train parents to teach the program. The ELF curriculum, which includes designs in nature, habitats and hands-on outdoor activities, is integrated with the school’s art program, producing imaginative drawings and prints of the animals students learn about. The program is funded by the School Board, which works with the Parent Teacher Group on various projects. The PTG and the town also came together to build a playground for the students. Few programs appear to be missing at Stamford. Despite its numbers, the school fields a mixed boys/girls soccer team and separate girls’ and boys’ basketball teams, which compete in the Windham district. It has two tennis courts, a basketball court and a regulation-size soccer field, which was donated by Williamstown businessman Harry Patten. Its computer lab boasts nine computers recently donated by GE — a parent who works as a dental hygienist had a patient who was in charge of computer disposal for the company. Plans are for the students to learn typing and be able to visit Web sites that enhance what they are learning in the classroom. The school has its own weather station and posts the local weather online. School plays? No problem. The stage is right in the gym, and parents readily supply lighting. During lunch on Monday, the music teacher accompanied a Middle School student on guitar, as she rehearsed a song on stage and serenaded her classmates as they ate their hamburgers. Stamford has added several enrichment programs through its participation as a member of the Foundation for Excellent Schools, a national nonprofit that, according to its Web site, “has helped more than 140,000 students in 220 public schools earn better grades, score higher on standardized tests, graduate from high school, and pursue postsecondary education and training. By tapping into readily available resources — parents, community organizations, area businesses, regional colleges — and helping schools strategically align themselves, the organization works to ensure every student succeeds “in school and beyond.” This year, FES member schools Williams College and the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts worked with Stamford on a variety of programs. Williams sent 17 of its foreign students (representing Southeast Asia, Asia and South America) to speak with Stamford students in grades five through eight. They spoke in their native languages and brought homemade foods, including a very special chocolate, to the delight of the students. Ethier said he saw that as “ a tremendous experience in diversity for kids from a small Vermont community.” The Williams girls’ hockey team has conducted gym classes, a Williams student offers a four-to-five-week Spanish program. MCLA students helped students erect the weather station on the school roof. Students and staff were able to tune in to find out latest conditions during Monday’s thunderstorms. The public is welcome to visit the Web site ((http://stamfordschool.org) for local weather updates. Stamford students are also pretty savvy about the world outside their tight-knit community. Kindergarten teacher Judy Spencer, who has been at Stamford for seven years, shared her view of the family atmosphere at the school. “A kindergarten parent, who is a member of Berkshire County Junior Achievement, spoke to the students about achievement in business and the business of making money,” she noted. This semester, Spencer read an article in the local paper on the Kidspace program at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, called the museum and arranged for the pre-K, first and second graders to visit the space. This past week, lucky eighth graders left on a three-day trip to Philadelphia, for which they raised the money. The eleven students, accompanied by nine parents, are visiting Six Flags Amusement Park, the city of Philadelphia and an Air Force base, where they will have the rare and lofty experience of flying in a C-5 simulator. That last Stamford Elementary memory for them was arranged again, by a parent, who happens to fly for the U.S.Air Force. Finally, of course, is the question of exactly where Stamford kids go from here. As the town does not have its own high school, the students can choose their next schools. In accordance with Vermont law, the town pays the tuition for their public school of choice and if they choose a private school, a contribution to tuition is made based on state guidelines. As for being accepted, when you come from the Gold Medallion Middle School in Vermont, which has also won and been a semi-finalist in the regional and state geography and spelling bees, and you have an amazing support team behind you, well, one gets the picture: The school is a shining example of the success that can be achieved when a few people come together in the very simple and time-tested tradition of community. In Stamford, it clearly doesn’t take money; it takes a village — a village where every community member matters.
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Lanesborough Fifth-Graders Win Snowplow Name Contest

LANESBOROUGH, Mass. — One of the snowplows for Highway District 1 has a new name: "The Blizzard Boss."
 
The name comes from teacher Gina Wagner's fifth-grade class at Lanesborough Elementary School. 
 
The state Department of Transportation announced the winners of the fourth annual "Name A Snowplow" contest on Monday. 
 
The department received entries from public elementary and middle school classrooms across the commonwealth to name the 12 MassDOT snowplows that will be in service during the 2025/2026 winter season. 
 
The purpose of the contest is to celebrate the snow and ice season and to recognize the hard work and dedication shown by public works employees and contractors during winter operations. 
 
"Thank you to all of the students who participated. Your creativity allows us to highlight to all, the importance of the work performed by our workforce," said  interim MassDOT Secretary Phil Eng.  
 
"Our workforce takes pride as they clear snow and ice, keeping our roads safe during adverse weather events for all that need to travel. ?To our contest winners and participants, know that you have added some fun to the serious take of operating plows. ?I'm proud of the skill and dedication from our crews and thank the public of the shared responsibility to slow down, give plows space and put safety first every time there is a winter weather event."
 
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