******* Half days for Students ********
Middle/High School will dismiss at 11:30 and
Elementary students will dismiss at 12:30 on the following dates:
Wednesday February 9, 2022
Wednesday May 25, 2022
You can find the weekly community letters below:
The WCUUSD School Board accepted the 2021-2022 school calendar on April 28, 2021.
Humanity and Justice Vision Statement
You may have heard recently about the Humanity and Justice Coalition that was created and has begun work recently. At the board meeting on October 20, 2021 the WCUUSD School Board adopted the Humanity and Justice Vision Statement.
Washington Central Unified Union School District (WCUUSD) experienced a criminal cybersecurity attack. The privacy and security of student and employee/staff and related information is a top priority for us and we are working diligently to deal with this incident. We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this may cause you.
On October 24, 2021, the School District learned it was the victim of a cybersecurity attack. The attackers deployed malware causing the encryption of certain School District systems and files, and accessed or acquired certain documents in our systems that likely contain certain student and employee information. We promptly took steps to secure our network and engaged a third-party cybersecurity firm to conduct a forensic investigation into the cause and scope of the attack.
The elements of personal information of affected students compromised in the attack may have included name, address, date of birth, certain information in the student’s education records, and potentially allergy and prescription information in student files. Student Social Security numbers were not involved in the attack, nor were the credit or debit card number of parents or guardians.
The elements of personal information of teachers/staff and related individuals compromised in the attack may have included: name, address, date of birth, health insurance numbers, Social Security Number, and in some instances financial account information. At this time, we have no indication that any student or teacher/staff and related information has been used to commit identity theft or fraud.
Since discovering the attack, we promptly took steps to secure our networks and engaged an expert cybersecurity firm to conduct a comprehensive forensic investigation into the cause and scope of the attack. We also contacted law enforcement, including the FBI and the Vermont Attorney General’s office.
Prior to the attack, the School District had been in the process of moving applications and files to cloud environments to enhance security, which substantially reduced the impact of this incident. In response to the attack and in an effort to prevent future attacks, the School District changed passwords, deployed an end point monitoring solution, and began the process of upgrading its virus and malware protections.
In addition to doing our best to communicate to the School District community as promptly as possible, we have been arranging for ID theft and credit monitoring services to help affected persons mitigate harm. Please see below for more information on enrollment at no cost. We also include additional information.
As with any data incident, we recommend that affected persons remain vigilant and consider taking precautionary steps to avoid identity theft, obtain additional information, and protect their personal information. Affected persons who would like to enroll in identify theft and credit monitoring services, should call 866-346-4861 as soon as possible. Representatives are available Monday through Friday from 9:00 am to 5:30 pm eastern time. Please note the deadline to enroll is February 5, 2022.
Again, WCUUSD sincerely apologies for this inconvenience and appreciates your patience as we address this unfortunate criminal attack on our school community.
Pre-K Screening will occur sometime after April break.. more details to come . Please note: Registration is not yet open for 2022-2023
PREKINDERGARTEN SCREENING/REGISTRATION
REGISTRATION WILL OPEN ON MARCH 8, 2021.
Important Information for Prekindergarten Registration
Prekindergarten online enrollment for the 2021-2022 school year will open on March 8, 2021. We will begin offering placement to students shortly after March 12th. Here are a few important details for you about enrollment:
If you need help accessing the parent portal, please contact Michelle Ksepka at mksepka@u32.org.
Equity Supports
For a copy of the Equity Supports letter for our District please click here.
We are writing to apprise the Washington Central Unified Union School District (WCUUSD) community of some new education tax rate estimates for the WCUUSD Budget 21-22. This new information was received after the printing of the Annual Budget Report.
Using the latest education tax information provided by the House Ways and Means Committee, all 5 towns in Washington Central are projected to have a tax decrease for the upcoming budget year. The new tax information uses the budget presented to the voters along with, updated equalized pupil information received from the Agency of Education.
In summary, the equalized education tax rate is projected to decrease by 7.1 cents. At the local level the amount varies using the Common Level of Appraisal. Here is the new information by town showing the decrease in taxes:
Berlin -15.5 cents, Calais -4.3 cents, East Montpelier -8.3 cents Middlesex -1.7 cents and Worcester -5.7 cents.
Please refer to the chart in the Memo for more informaiton: Updated Tax Calculations for Budget FY 21-22 Memo
