BAMS NEWSLETTER

A MESSAGE FROM PRINCIPAL LYMAN 

Dear BAMS Families,

As we enter the month of December, I want to extend my gratitude to all of you for the ongoing school-to-home partnership that supports our students each day. Your involvement, encouragement, and collaboration make a tremendous difference in their educational experience, and we value the trust you place in us.

We have been busy here at BAMS since our last Newsletter. Some highlights from the past month include successful Parent/Teacher Conferences, a NECCA performance that was followed by a question and answer session, a Storyweaving presentation,  field trips ice skating and our campus hosted the District VI Fall Festival before the Thanksgiving recess.  

December has started with BEAMS session 2B, kicking off with a wide range of clubs offered to our students. Winter Athletics started last week, and we look forward to watching our athletes learn, grow, and represent our school with pride.

This month brings a significant transition within our school community. We are pleased to welcome Mr. Walsh, who will be joining BAMS and stepping into the role currently held by Mr. Daughton, who will be retiring at the end of December. Mr. Daughton has served as our Assistant Principal for the past ten years. His dedication, his impact on our culture, and especially his ability to build meaningful relationships with students will be deeply missed. We wish him the very best in his well-deserved retirement.

Mr. Walsh joins us from Putney Central School and brings with him a wealth of experience as an educator and leader. He holds a Master of Education from Antioch University New England and a Bachelor’s degree in Environmental Studies from the University of Vermont. His career reflects a deep commitment to students, equity, and community. Mr. Walsh has taught across multiple grade levels in both public and independent schools and has held leadership and founding roles in independent school settings.

His professional background includes classroom teaching, crew leadership, Educational Support Team coordination for grades 6–8, intervention support, co-teaching across multiple subjects, behavioral and student support, and meaningful contributions to strengthening Multi-Tiered Systems of Support. He is well known for his ability to build strong, respectful relationships with students and to support colleagues across roles and grade levels.

Outside the classroom, Mr. Walsh has served as a coach, mentor, facilities manager, and outdoor educator. His many years as a coach, including serving as head snowboard coach at Mount Snow, demonstrate his ability to motivate and guide young people while working collaboratively within dynamic team settings. His combination of leadership experience, hands-on skill, and values-driven approach makes him an excellent fit for BAMS and for continued leadership in middle-level education.

Please join me in welcoming Mr. Walsh to our community. We express our heartfelt gratitude to Mr. Daughton for his remarkable decade of service to BAMS.

I wish all of our families a joyful December and a strong finish to the calendar year. Thank you, as always, for your partnership and support.

Warm regards,

Mr. Lyman,Principal

Winter Testing/Benchmarks

Three times a year we give what we call "benchmark assessments" to students in math and reading. Our math assessment will be tomorrow (Tuesday) and the reading assessment will be on Wednesday. We use these assessments to determine what additional supports a student might need in addition to their regular classes. Please help support these important assessments by helping them get a good night's rest and being on time for school. We will share results later in the winter.

BEAMS Update from Mr. Yialiades, BEAMS Director

BEAMS Session 2 is well underway with over 95 students participating in clubs! (That’s almost 40% of our total school population!) This session, we have been thrilled to offer a variety of sports-focused clubs, including Volleyball and Basketball, to help fill the gap between sports seasons for our student-athletes and allow for some pre-season skill development. These offerings, along with other Session 2A clubs have wrapped up successfully.

Session 2B clubs started after the Thanksgiving break and run through Friday, December 19.  A special Saturday offering with Breadmaking and Crafting options is available on December 13 from 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM. Lunch will be provided. There are still spots available! Contact BEAMS Director Nick Yialiades (nyialiades@wsesdvt.org / 802-451-3588) for more information.

A few reminders for students participating in BEAMS: 

• BEAMS does not run clubs on Early Release Days or Teacher In-Service Days. 
• BEAMS clubs are dismissed at 5:15 pm. Please make sure that your student knows their Dismissal Plan, and that adult pick-ups are ready promptly at 5:15. 
• If your student will not be participating in BEAMS for a day (e.g. appointments) OR will have a different pick-up plan, please be sure to contact the BAMS Front Office or the BEAMS Director.

BAMS Equity & Social Justice Update

Equity & Social Justice: As part of our district-wide equity theme, “Voices of the People,” we focused on Water Justice for November - access to clean, safe, and affordable water is a fundamental human right. Students listened to We Are Water Protectors and discussed the book in Advisory. Groups talked about why some people don’t have access to safe, clean water, and watched Uncovering the Flint Water Crisis: Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha about Flint, MI.

Our focus for the month of December is Disability Justice. Disability justice goes beyond simple accommodation; it calls for a shift in how society views and includes people with disabilities. Rooted in the disability rights movement, it challenges systems that perpetuate inequality. Disability justice is about recognizing the rights, dignity, and potential of all people. This movement ensures that those most affected by injustice lead the way in creating change (“Nothing about us without us”). Understanding disability justice is the first step toward building a more inclusive and fair society for everyone.

BAMS Athletics

Winter Athletics are underway. Team practices and sports information are located in the BAMS Daily Announcements, linked here, and through the BAMS website,  bams.wsesdvt.org, click on the Athletics header on the homepage, and then click on Sports Announcements.

Every Friday, the complete sports schedule for the upcoming week is posted in the BAMS Daily Announcements.  

BAMS Athletics will not make decisions on same-day schedule changes until 2 PM. Please do not call the BAMS office for information or updates before that time. If same day changes occur, they will be posted on The BAMS Daily Announcements page or under Sports Announcements on the BAMS Website. In addition, you can request to be added to our email “blast” that advises you of late changes. Email a request to Kevin Myette, Athletic Director at kmyette@wsesdvt.org.

Any questions or requests for more information should be directed to Kevin Myette, BAMS Athletic Director, at 802-451-3576 or email kmyette@wsesdvt.org.

Thank you for supporting your student athlete's efforts to be a part of BAMS sports. 

Chocolate Chip Cookie Week- From Ms. Goodhue

 Last week was chocolate chip cookie week. I promise that we'll make chocolate chip cookies until everyone is sick of them. My first Google search shows 19,400,000 recipes. Thin and crispy. Soft and chewy. Thick and cakey. Nestle Toll House, Betty Crocker, Neiman Marcus, Martha Stewart, Alton Brown. Who can I trust?

Day 1- I throw each group of three middle schoolers a bag of Nestle toll house chips. You've got to be able to read a recipe from a package. I remind students to wash their hands, and I go sit down to watch. I'm not sitting for long when I hear, "I need more baking soda, we are all out." I leap out of my chair and scream, "NO!" In this room,  I need more baking soda, or baking powder or salt, really means, I read the recipe wrong and put in 1⁄2 cup instead of ½ teaspoon. True enough. With a flourish, I dump out what's in the bowl: all the flour, the rest of the dry ingredients, and stamp around like Rumplestiltskin. Start over girls.

It is actually incredibly difficult to follow the recipe on the bag. Tsp looks a lot like tbs. 1 cup butter (2 sticks) softened might mean 1 cup butter plus 2 softened sticks, right? The whisk seems like the right tool, and then suddenly, it is filled with batter, stuck.  Which one is the granulated sugar? Brown sugar looks like sand- granulated sand, so that must be it.

Everyone starts with the same pile of ingredients, but no two cookies look alike. Group 1's cookies are as white as paper plates. Group 2 made what looks like a baking sheet filled with toffee. Group 3's cookies look like the Keebler elves dropped them off, but they taste like salt. Group 4 never got to bake their cookies. No one was able to recall the symptoms of Salmonella when they were caught sticky-handed eating raw cookie dough, so their dough went in the refrigerator until the next day. Most of Group 5's cookies look perfect, but I won't eat any today. As a rule, I don’t eat anything the students make. 

Chocolate chip cookie week is legendary. We make cookies at school. Every day. Because. I call it science and math, following directions, and working together. I teach home economics. Even the salty cookies are gobbled up, and the toffee-like cookies are peeled off the parchment paper and consumed greedily. I always start the semester with chocolate chip cookies. Nobody wants to make omelets, soups or salad dressing until we make cookies. Baking is a gateway to cooking.

It is astounding when given the same recipe, and the same pile of ingredients, five groups of students, can create five different cookies. Was it the recipe's fault? Not this time. An equipment failure? Probably not. Most likely, it was the cooks' fault. Ultimately, though, it is the instructor's responsibility to ensure success. Did I create the right groups? Can everyone in Group 2 read at grade level? Is group 1 distracted by the upcoming dance? Half of Group 3 was absent yesterday. Group 4- all boys. Group 5- all girls. I will change it up next time.

Up next is Martha Stewart's Thin and Crispy recipe. Same ingredients, different amounts. Varying success. It will be epic.

Team Draco News

On November 14th Draco hosted the first dance of the year! The theme was “Fall Harvest” and it was a successful fundraiser for the team. Thank you to all of the students and families who helped with planning, decorating, and donating food! 

In Math class we have begun our fourth unit of the year. Topics and skills that we will explore include proportions, slope, and linear relationships represented in written descriptions, tables, graphs, and equations.  In science, we are exploring the physical and chemical properties of matter and how combining matter with other substances can change its properties.                       

 Our ELA classes have wrapped up our first novel and have moved on to the Young Reader’s Edition of The Omnivore's Dilemma. Our upcoming unit is all about food production and where our food comes from, as well as analyzing the author’s point of view in an informational text. In Social Studies, students have just completed their 2nd unit by connecting the colonization of the Americas to modern issues surrounding Americans, and had a productive discussion with each other about it. Team Draco is now learning about why the American Revolution happened, and they are going to be reading the novel “Chains” in class every day until they finish.     

BAMS Core Values and Vision

At BAMS:

Safety: We make safe choices.

Community: We respect each other; we work together.

Learning: We are curious, seek new knowledge, and learn from our mistakes.

Our Vision Statement:

• We support a safe, welcoming, and inclusive environment
• We work collaboratively and support all learners in an inclusive and diverse community
• We believe in the capacity of everyone to learn, and create structures that support social, emotional, and academic growth
• We help students discover their strengths and the confidence to excel in their academic and personal pursuits

Building a Positive Community

Parents and Caregivers of 6-12th Graders - We’d love your input!

Please take a few minutes (about 5) to complete our anonymous survey on youth mental health and substance use. Your feedback will help Building a Positive Community share valuable insights with parents and guide future programs and resources for our community.

Take the survey here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/Fall25WCP. Survey closes on January 5th!  Your voice matters. Thank you for helping make a difference.

Looking Ahead- Dates to Remember

Tuesday, 12/9- 9:00-10:00 am- Math Benchmark Testing

Wednesday, 12/10- 9:00-10:00 am- Reading Benchmark Testing

Wednesday, 12/10- 7:30-8:30 am- Select Chorus Rehearsal

Wednesday, 12/10- 7 pm- BAMS Fall Concert- BUHS Auditorium 

Thursday, 12/11- Benchmark Testing Make-ups

Friday, 12/12- Benchmark Testing Make-ups

Saturday, 12/13- 10-2 pm BEAMS Saturday Special- Breadmaking & Crafts

Wednesday, 12/17- 7:30-8:30 am- Select Chorus Rehearsal

Wednesday, 12/17- 5:30-6:45 pm- Jazz Band Rehearsal

Friday, 12/19- BEAMS Session 2 Ends

Tuesday, 12/23- 12:30 pm- Early Release 

Wednesday, 12/24-Friday, 1/2/26- December Recess

Monday, 1/5/26- Classes Resume