Reflections after a week at ESBR

Originally Published 9/10/23

By Assistant Head of School, Gary Blodgett

The ship at the Expeditionary School At Black River, has left the dock of 2023-24. We are so grateful to everyone that has helped us get to this important stage to our journey.

We started the school with understanding that we, the staff, the students, their families, and the trustees are all part of the crew of this ship we call the Expeditionary School at Black River. We are on a journey to learning and growth. This year we are concentrating on the Ludlow area. We will start with understanding the flood and learn about the history, government, employment, and services of our area. We will also relate this to the world around us.

We excitedly welcomed new instructors in math, English and Spanish, along with other support staff. We continue our Morning Meetings at the beginning of each day, where we greet each other and discuss, social skills, recent news , and the day’s happenings.

We are gaining background information on the flood that recently hit our state and town. We had a great presentation from Pattie Potter, the manager of the Ludlow Transfer station about all the materials they had to take care of from the flood, the hazards of contaminated materials, and what the transfer station does with all its recycle material. We visited damage areas nearby and the Ludlow Sewer Plant to see how they dealt with the flood. Kelly Stettner, who is the organizer of BRAT (Black River Action Team) came and discussed the work her organization does to help clean up the Black River. Then we visited the shores of the Black River at Buttermilk Falls to see the damage there and to see how the river is showing life. We observed many water bugs in the river. This is a good sign that the river is getting healthier.

We learned, with our science teachers, about making an educated guesses about why things happen in science, forming a hypothesis and with data how theories get formed. We will continue to work on the scientific method.

Thanks to Okemo Valley TV, OVTV for an orientation with the use of cameras for videoing our studies. Watch for our productions.

Safety is always our concern. We have gone over many safety procedures and will continue to do so. The doors are locked. If you want to visit the school, you are indeed welcome. It would help if you let me know when you would like to visit. When someone rings the doorbell, it interrupts teaching and learning and a teaching adult will need to answer the door. All visitors are asked to sign in by the door as well. My number, for now, is 802-558-3147. You can text or call before school or during lunch around 11:45. I also check myemail before and after school. My email is gblodgett@esblackriver.org If you really need to get in touch withme, texting works better. I turn off the sound during class , as I ask the students to do as well.

We will be out again this week to visit at least one of the Ludlow dams.

Thanks to all the people who share their knowledge and experiences with us at ESBR.

Gary Blodgett and the ESBR staff