Vermont Business Magazine The District is pleased to announce the Committee on Public Secondary Schools voted to award Burlington High School (BHS) continued accreditation in the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC) at its April meeting.
The accreditation occurs every 10 years for New England schools choosing to be members. The process involved a self study (conducted in September 2015), followed by a team visit to the school (conducted by members appointed by NEASC in November 2016). A visiting team of 16 members spent four days at BHS interviewing staff and parents, shadowing students and reviewing curriculum, teaching, assessment, policies, procedures, staffing and the facility.
In its correspondence notifying BHS of its reaccreditation, the NEASC cited areas of commendation and areas for improvement to School and District officials. Among the accolades BHS received were:
- the faculty’s commitment to align academics with the clear graduation expectations;
- the wide variety of assessment strategies and measurable criteria for success in place;
- the safe, positive, respectful and supportive learning environment;
- the high level of acceptance of a wide range of diversity in the student body by students and faculty;
- technology use and support;
- opportunity for family involvement and the active role taken by multilingual liaisons to engage English Language Learning (ELL) parents and families as partners in their children’s education.
NEASC’s areas for improvement centered on the BHS facility. Its correspondence rendered the determination that the school building does not fully support a 21st century curriculum and school standards for learning, specifically due to the following:
- handicap accessibility;
- aging, leaking roof is in need of repair;
- two aging and poorly performing boilers, in need of repair/replacement and negatively impacting the learning environment;
- an insufficient quantity of electrical outlets in classrooms for students to power educational technology;
- outdated science labs;
- inadequate locker rooms facilities;
- antiquated food science classroom;
- inadequate storage space throughout the building;
- auditorium curtains in need of replacement;
- the need for additional meeting space for guidance, special education and other meetings.
To address these facility and infrastructure concerns, NEASC requested that BHS develop, fund and implement a long range master facilities plan for deferred maintenance and a plan to address handicap building accessibility. A progress report is due March 1, 2018. The full NEASC reaccreditation letter is available on the District website.
“The District is committed to upgrading and improving its facilities,” said Superintendent Yaw Obeng. “The overwhelming support by City voters last March for the bond to address deferred maintenance at our other schools confirmed that the people of Burlington share in this commitment. These concerns for the BHS facility raised by NEASC are not a surprise, and our team has, and will be continuing to work to make sure they are addressed.”