Dear Vermont Educators, Students and Families:
I am delighted and honored to be joining this incredible community, and I’m eager to begin the work to build lasting relationships with our students, families, educators, and civic leaders. As I step into this role as the new Secretary of Education for Vermont, I’m confident that together we will build upon a strong foundation and lift Vermont’s public schools to new heights. On a deeply personal level, this new role provides me an opportunity to be near family and to lead a state education agency that my own kids will count on.
I have spent my entire career working to improve student outcomes, open pathways to post-secondary education and training for all students, and to make sure that every student has access to a great public school. I was raised with rural roots in a union family that valued collective action and community support. This upbringing helped shape my personal and professional outlook. From the start of my career, I have been unwavering in my commitment to foster and expand an environment where equity, access, and opportunity are at the forefront of our educational agenda.
I do not expect the work ahead of me to be easy: nothing worth doing is. Like many other states, Vermont faces challenges – some of which were exacerbated by the pandemic and others that are compounded by national and regional economic challenges. Working collaboratively, I’m confident that we can turn challenges into opportunities and provide every child in Vermont with pathways to a bright future, every educator with support and resources to grow in their profession, and every district leader with the empowerment and trust to lead.
I promise to be all in with you on this important work and to commit my professional time and energy on priorities that center around students.
- To our students, you are the reason we are here. You will be a central part of my focus and my most important advisors.
- To our educators and school staff, I cannot overstate how important you are to Vermont’s educational success and economic competitiveness. Your commitment to our students is a foundational investment that drives our state’s workforce creation, job growth, and every other measure of quality of life. I promise to support your work and to celebrate your success.
- To our school building and local district leaders, I promise to always be accessible and to be a trusted partner in your leadership. I firmly believe that Vermont cannot be successful unless every school and every district in our state is successful.
- To our parents, I pledge to bring my perspective as a Vermont public school parent into every meeting I attend and every policy we consider.
- And to our education partners, I commit to working with you to prepare our students for success throughout their educational journey, from early childhood to career.
I cannot wait to start working with you. I know that when we come together as a community, our students’ potential is limitless. I look forward to earning – and keeping – your trust.
Sincerely,
Zoie Saunders
Secretary of Education
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Categories: Education, Press Release, State Government
“BUILD UPON A STRONG FOUNDATION AND LIFT VERMONTS PUBLIC SCHOOLS TO NEW HEIGHTS”
Here’s the list of how I know she’s not there for anything but to collect more money from taxpayers:
-“every student has access” – it’s public education every student already has access, what she really means is FUNDING
-“collective action” – communist term…
-“equity” – Anyone who is telling you we need equity instead of budget reform is a communist.
-“educational agenda” – Why would education need an agenda? Isn’t it in the name…
-“exacerbated by the pandemic” – Believes in the scamdemic
-“every educator with support and resources” – You need to spend less so you will have less resources unless you spend more
-students most important advisors – Kids don’t know how to spend money wisely
-“educational success”: Downward trend from 4th in the nation in 2009 to the middle of the pack in 2020 and teachers and students creating literal horror stories in real life classrooms is anything but eductional success.
-“economic competitiveness”: Being theFourth highest cost in the nation isn’t being competitive unless you are the top of the pack for success (see above)
-“foundational investment that drives our state’s workforce creation, job growth”: Now we want to be the nations foremost state of teachers employed by the state? Who is going to pay for that? Nevermind I get it….
Let me reword it for her:
“BUILD UPON A STRONG FOUNDATION (of debt) AND LIFT VERMONTS PUBLIC SCHOOLS TO NEW HEIGHTS (of financial income)”
That must have been what she meant to say.
Welcome to Vermont fellow educator. I hope you and your family are settling in well. You’ve declared your vision for all the stakeholders and you’ve alerted us that you wish to “…expand an environment where equity, access, and opportunity are at the forefront of our educational agenda.” Might I suggest that your vision the agenda would best be fulfilled if parents were re-empowered to purchase the schooling, teachers and curriculum they think best for their kids. Good luck.
I’m not holding my breath that anything will change within our schools, like keeping the parents in the dark about the concerns of their children, pushing liberal agenda-driven policies, and ask for increased funding, because of said policies, Hope I’m wrong !!
Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic go a long way in the real world………………………….
Well, for starters, I’m sorely disappointed in Ms. Saunders’ remarks. Her vision is myopic, at best. This sophomoric missive could have easily been written by one of her students. Not a word about interacting with anyone or any organization, other than the educators and school staff that are already a pampered ‘workforce’. What about the taxpayers and businesses that pay for her services and rely on the education system’s end product, ostensibly intended to sustain, and contribute to an entrepreneurial society for decades after school?
And clearly, that Governor Scott let this introduction see the light of day tells me he doesn’t get it either.
Speech credit goes to the staffer utilitzing artificial intelligence with appropriate, platitude narratives and heartfelt, feel goodness. The biggest point missing – no mention of costs or busting budgets or is that cited under the code word “challenges?” Notice parents were way down on the bullet point list? Congrats for locking down a new grifter government job in the gifters paradise of Vermont! When will we see the Amazon Bezos Indoctrination Academy? (as mentioned in the Sun Sentinel before bolting Broward County upgrade job after three months?)
Here is a message for her stop all the DEI b.s. and tell the districts to teach. Let the parents worry about their children . Teachers are there to teach their subjects they were hired to teach. No one cares about their orientation or pronouns keep your personal life at home.