This article was written by the members of the Journalism class.
On Wednesday, September 11th, our new principal Rebecca Tatistcheff sat down with the journalism class to answer questions about the most up-and-coming topics around U-32. This is the first article in an ongoing series called Principal’s Press.
9/11 Topics:
- Becca Outside of School
- Start of School Year Field Trips
- School Budget
- Community Structures
- Students’ Voice
- Community-Driven U-32
Becca Outside of School
By Grace Cannella
As the new principal, Becca currently spends a lot of time at U-32. She has a son that goes here, and her partner works as a coach for the MS Cross Country team.
When she has free time, Becca loves to adventure. These adventures consist of swimming, paddle boarding, hiking, and gardening. Becca swam competitively, so she enjoys spending time on the water. A main topic Becca brings up is hiking. This has been a hobby of hers throughout stages of moving.
Becca enjoys walking in the Cabot woods with family. “We went through a phase where we went and found various waterfalls,” she said.
More recently, she has been getting to know East Montpelier. In particular the East Montpelier Trails system. Becca thinks the community of land owners are friendly. “There’s a lot of them, and folks are really kind with their land, so I can walk from my house.”
Becca has a big garden in which she grows many fruits and vegetables. For the first time this season, she was able to grow watermelon and cantaloupe. She thinks having a big garden this year is “fabulous”.
When Becca isn’t at school you will definitely find her somewhere outside.
Start of Year Field Trips
By Gregory Hayward
The year started off in a different way at U-32, with the four grades going on separate field trips. Becca said, “We’re still calculating the totals, but they were in at about the $15,000 range. It’s a lot to take people off campus… Location, food, bussing”
Becca thinks these trips were worth the money, “The choice to go off campus was one that I do think the benefits [of the field trips] outweigh the cost. I don’t know that we would do it in the same way again, but I think that we see a real difference for our for some of the folks who [find] it’s hard to come in and start the year right, like it’s hard to go from summer and unstructured time to fully structured inward.”
The plans for next year are undecided, as there is a long period of time before the end of summer 2025. “Some of the feedback has suggested shifting the trips to Thursday and Friday of the first week and to consider having a soft start on Wednesday in the building. As we continue to read the feedback, we will share those revisions in the spring,” said Becca. There is a survey students can fill out to give feedback on the trips.
School budget
By Lexi Briskie
Becca Tatistcheff has many ideas, helpful knowledge and background to optimize the school budget.
Becca thinks, “We do not have a small budget at U-32, we are well funded.” She explained that although the narrative around budget cuts and a small school budget is talked about a lot, it’s far from the truth.
Becca believes that cutting a big budget is “relative”. Making decisions on how to spend the money wisely and knowing where all the money is going is the part they need to focus on.
She explained that decision making plays a big role in the school budgeting.
“I know it’s going to be a big question, and I want to figure out a way to be transparent about it,” Becca said. She further explained that she’s still learning her way around the U-32 budget and she wants to thoroughly understand it before making any altering decisions.
“We all make decisions about spending, right,” She wants to be very open with everybody about it.
It can’t be that you just come to me and ask about the money and budget, and I say yes to some people but no to others,” Becca said. She expresses that there needs to be framework, fairness, and structure to the way she runs things.
Community Structures
By Inkwel Young
Becca is making plans to improve and bring together the community at U-32. Community means a lot to Becca “We operate in a space of unity and coherence […] we hold each other together,” she said.
Becca is serious about the community holding each other up, and believes that one should be given this care even when they have harmed the community. She hopes to understand what community means to us and compare it to what it means to her. This is all in an effort to hold our community together and to improve the community in her career as principal.
To do this, Becca has a few plans for structures in the community. Becca wants U-32 to have organized ways to solve problems that give students a larger voice. These structures take many things into consideration, but mainly she considers when to ask faculty for their input. Becca also asks the question “In what ways do students have ownership, agency and input in governance?”
This is because Becca believes that all students are contributing members of their community, and wants them to have a say. She has noticed that there are some students who do not feel that they can give input on governance, and wants to see that change. Becca is determined to support the U-32 community, “Our individual success is our collective responsibility.”
Student Voice
By Molly Pepin
Becca wants to bring student voice into the school community by getting students active in clubs and school related activities. “There’s large school activities like pep was a good example. How do we bring voice into that space through sort of like activity oriented pieces?” said Becca.
As Becca has taken on the new role of being the principal at U-32, she wants to create an environment where teachers recognize student voice. “My question would be do you feel like that’s happening in your classrooms, and what could we do as adults to ensure that you have some voice of choice in your daily instruction?” said Becca. Becca wants teachers to be aware of letting students voice their opinion on their learning instead of only lecturing the students.
Becca believes that students can take initiative in bringing the school community together by starting groups. “And I’m learning that there are some of those, and I’m learning that that’s real work we can do together,” said Becca. Becca wants the teachers in the school community to help support students in building groups to make students feel included. “And my hope is that [the] student council lady [will] set the table for that work, and then as that builds, there are other folks we ask the question of who’s not included?” said Becca.
Becca wants classrooms to be a community where it’s not just about the teacher, but also a space where students feel comfortable with speaking out in and out of the classroom. “You know, folks should feel like they have some agency to ask questions, to govern the kinds of instructors for the learning that they engage in,” said Becca.
Community-Driven U-32
By Margo Cannella
Becca Tatistcheff shared her plans to create a stronger community. She wants to build a robust community for U-32 so that U-32 can have hard conversations if needed. She said we must “start low-stakes so that we have a foundation for high-stakes.”
Becca believes that U-32 needs to be purposeful in creating a stronger community. One way to do this is to positively impact students so that the school can grow and strengthen as a whole. As Becca puts it, “We are one community together.”
Becca organized the activity on the football field, joining everyone together as a whole school, with this in mind. She said that she wants everyone to appreciate each other, teachers and students, and that’s why everybody was in a circle together.
Becca understands that our school is already centered around small communities, with circle groups, such as in TA. It’s important to Becca that “Everyone can see each other, and acknowledge each other.” She wants the whole school to focus on accepting everyone, and not “icing anybody out”.
In Becca’s words, she said that her focus for the year is to be “community driven”. Having Becca as principal at U32 will create well-built bonds between students and teachers at U32, as well as build a stronger community and better foundation for when we have problems to solve.
