WINTER 2015-16 VOL. 10, ISSUE 1

The New Vistas

School Progress

is published triennially by the Development Office.

Inside this Issue:

ContentsContentsContentsContents

Meditation 2 Community Corner 3 Alumni 4

Faculty & Staff 5,7 Beyond the Walls 5

Round of Applause 6 Grant Approvals 7

Calendar of Events 8

ADMINISTRATION Charlotte G. Morgan

Head of School

Lisa J. DeJarnette Assistant Head of School

Lori Bell

Guidance Counselor

Shannon Watts, CFPE Development Consultant

Mission of the School: Given the belief that each child deserves the opportunity to reach his or her full intellectual and emotional potential, New Vistas School provides a safe, nurturing, and individualized educational environment that fosters academic and personal growth necessary for life-long, productive citizenship. The school serves students with learning, attention, and socio-emotional challenges. New Vistas is independent and non-sectarian, organized as a non-profit institution open to students in grades 3-12 of all races, creeds, ethnic, and socio-economic backgrounds.

NVS Students SERVE This fall, Tabitha Abbott, United Way’s Director of Marketing & Special Events, came to NVS to ask if our students could help with their October Food Drive. Our “Caring for Our Neighbors” Community Service Team Leaders Adrienne Robertson, Diane Roy, and Jessica Sledge determined that this effort was the perfect project for their group. Assisted by Zann Tweedy for transportation, and with the help of parent Jen D’Orio, students and staff spent six afternoons organizing and then sorting donated supplies for twelve different local non-profits that serve the hungry in our region. Said senior Jean Cook, “We love helping others.” The Annual Serve-A-Thon, where NVS students help out at Awareness Gar-den, The Boys and Girls Club, Jubilee Center, Kids Haven, and Lynchburg Dai-ly Bread, raised almost $5,000 thanks to each child’s sponsors. Ford Mays Wealth Management generously donated funds for this year’s T-shirts, which students wear with pride as they work. Proceeds will help “finish the floors.”

At Left: Seniors Tyler Thomas and Josh Bryant get ready to “dig in” at Awareness Garden. At Right: Guidance Counselor Lori Bell and Jaiden Lambert at work at the Boys and Girls Club during the Serve-A-Thon.

Progress

PAGE 2

MEDITATION FROM THE HEAD OF SCHOOL

VOL. 10, ISSUE 1 PROGRESS

“The visionary starts with a clean sheet of paper, and re-imagines the world.”

Malcolm Gladwell, Author, Researcher, Journalist

Certainly the five Founding Mothers of New Vistas School—Dell Hancock, Patricia Kirtley, Dorsey Mayo, Libby

Jarrett, and Lucy Guggenheimer Ross—were visionaries, starting with “a clean sheet of paper” imagining what New

Vistas could be, and needed to be, to meet the needs of students who often “fall through the cracks” because they

learn differently. But they could not have had a crystal ball to see to 2016, with the explosion of children diagnosed

with Attention Deficit Disorder and/or Autism Spectrum Disorder. From 10-12 % of the school populations with

Specific Learning Disabilities in 1986, we now have numbers upwards of 20% with some combination of these

learning issues, not to mention the pervasive anxiety disorders professionals tell us children as young as five and six

are experiencing related to schooling.

While the Founding Mothers saw a need for a special school for exceptional children and did all of the hard work to

get it up and running, the field of learning disabilities has grown exponentially in the intervening thirty years. And

this is occurring at a time while the classrooms in public schools are getting ever more crowded—up to 20 plus chil-

dren in elementary classes, closer to thirty in many upper school classes. A child who demands special individual-

ized attention is less likely than ever to be able to thrive academically and socially in such an environment.

The research on bullying and students with learning problems is chilling. Vicky G. Spencer of George Mason Uni-

versity reports that “The students with disabilities also tended to be less popular, have fewer friends, and struggle

with loneliness.”

Add to that the increased likelihood for a child with learning problems to enter the juvenile justice system, and even-

tually adult prison. Latest numbers place it at twice the likelihood for underserved problem learners.

United Way of Central Virginia recognizes the importance of reading as the foundation for academic success, with

its commitment to a three-year Education Reading Initiative. The goal is to have 90% of children in the region read-

ing by 2025. NVS will be here for those other ten percent who need us.

The NVS Founding Mothers re-imagined what education could be for those students in the region who struggle un-

duly.. At commencement 2015, Libby Jarrett remarked to me, “This school, today, is exactly what we dreamed it

could be.” It’s so gratifying to know NVS has helped over 700 young people on their way to independence and suc-

cess. And it is even more relevant and essential now.

Charlotte G. Morgan, M.Ed., MFA

At left: Libby Jarrett, Patricia Kirtley, and Dorsey Mayo visit NVS. At right: All five Founding Mothers at Commencement 2007.

PAGE 3 PROGRESS VOL. 10, ISSUE 1

COMMUNITY CORNER

School LifeSchool LifeSchool LifeSchool Life

Directly above: STEAM Family Night Punkin Chunkin Team Megan Kail, her dad ,oe, and Emelia Hytree. The “Chuck-A-Licious” project went on to win. Above right: Eleventh graders Brittany Blankenship, Bradley Brown, and Dominique Randolph work together on a science project. Right: Founding Mother Libby Jarrett and Board Member Bob Gillette at the Family Fun Picnic September 3.

NVS Volunteers at The Daily Bread during Serve-A-Thon, from left: Dominique Ran-dolph, Interim Development Di-rector Leslie King, Julian Clark, Mi-chael Christian, Teacher Mary Harvell, Corbin Hudson, Brittany Blankenship, and Caroline Kling. Serve-A-Thon was held October 6.

PROGRESS VOL. 10, ISSUE 1 PAGE 4

Molly McCully Brown, who a�ended NVS for two years, has been awarded the

Lexi Rudinitsky First Book Prize for her poetry collec#on “The Virginia State Colo-

ny for Epilep#cs and Feebleminded.” It will be published by Perseus Press in

Spring of 2017.

Ms. Brown said of her #me at NVS: “New Vistas was an incredible place for me. I

needed my schooling to be really flexible and my teachers to be very understand-

ing. New Vistas gave me skills to help compensate for things that came less easi-

ly for me.”

In January on Facebook, a5er no#fica#on of her prize, she wrote, “I’ve spent the

past couple of days feeling thrilled, grateful, and, frankly, more than a li�le disbe-

lieving at the news.” At Le5: Ms. Brown at a poetry reading recently.

ALUMNI CONTACT INFORMATION

Full Name: ____________________________ Today I’m _______________________________

Former Name: _______________________ Years Attended NVS: ________________________

Mailing Address: _______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

Phone: _______________________________ E-mail: ________________________________

ALUMS: WE WANT YOU BACK!!!! As we celebrate our 30th year, many of you are “missing” and we would like current contact information for students who attended New Vistas. PLEASE submit updated information, by calling Missy Craighill at 434-846-0301 OR mcraighill@newvistasschool.org please return this form to Missy Craighill, Administrative Assistant, New Vistas School 520 Eldon St., Lynchburg, VA 24501. THANKS!

Above left: Arborist Tom Unsworth shows NVS visitors to Ciderworks the grafts of the three apple trees purchased for

the garden. Above right: Senior Tyler Thomas works as an EMT for Campbell Volunteer Rescue Squad.

ALUMNI

PAGE 5 PROGRESS VOL. 10, ISSUE 1

Faculty & Staff

Beyond the Walls

Above left: Science teacher Diane Roy helps students Aidan Pick, Aiden Camden, and Marquel Johnson at a weaving demonstration at Point of Honor. Below left: Seniors Corbin Hudson, Heather Sloan, and Gabby D’Orio sample fresh cider at Albemarle’s Ci-derworks, after learning the entire process from seed, graft, to apple, to harvest, to beverage. Above right: Dominique Randolph helps a lower school student with the scavenger hunt at Point of Honor.

Head of School Charlotte Morgan, Assistant Head Dr. Lisa DeJarnette, and Guidance Counselor Lori Bell attended the Virginia Department of Education Regional Meeting on the new state regulations for special education facilities. NVS is most fortunate that the 2015 spring licensing visit by Dr. Judith McKinney used the new regs for assessment. This evaluation resulted in a three-year renewal of the VDOE License to Operate. Categories served include SLD (which includes dyslexia), OHI (AD/HD), and Autism Spectrum

Disorder (high functioning)

Ms. Morgan and Dr. DeJarnette also participated in the United Way’s Community Education Summit.

January 26 Dr. DeJarnette also attended the seminar “Seven Things We Know About the Brain and Learn-

ing” at Lynchburg College’s Teaching and Learning Center, presented by Terry Boyle.

Faculty focus this semester is on Respect for Self, Respect for Others, Respect for NVS—the long-time guiding principles of the school. Faculty spent two professional development afternoons viewing and dis-cussing the film “Bully.” Guidance Counselor Lori Bell is following up with a whole-school “Great Kind-

ness Challenge,” a project of the Kids for Peace Experience.

PAGE 6 PROGRESS VOL. 10, ISSUE 1

ROUND OF APPLAUSE

THANK YOU! John Winn for the yummy Barbeque Supper for the Family Fun Picnic.

Firecracker Jam for their red hot music at the picnic.

David Poole at Depot Grille for hosting New Vistas Night November 17.

All Serve-A-Thon sponsors. The Moore Family, for the amazing GaGa Pit!

Plum Creek Foundation for a generous gift toward the purchase of a new bus. Jen D’Orio for helping our students with the United Way Food Project.

Lynchburg College Bonner Scholar Michael Wertz for his help with development. All the Parents and Friends and Board Members who helped with the Poinsettia Sale.

Biff Bowen for speaking to our Upper School about the environment. Judge John Cook for talking to our Upper School about the US Government and laws.

Board Member Neil Moore and J.B. Moore Electrical for a gift-in-kind. Lynchburg Retail Merchants for funds for a SmartBoard.

Alum Mari Assensio for volunteering in the elementary classroom. The Forest Rotary Club for inviting Charlotte Morgan to speak about NVS January 20.

CONGRATULATIONS! Alum Molly McCully Brown, for the Lexi Rudinitsky First Book Prize.

Perseus Press will publish her poetry collection in Spring, 2017. The Class of 2016: Below, Christian Kriehbel, Trey Williams, Corbin Hudson,

Heather Sloan, Gabby D’Orio, Jean Cook

(Missing: Joshua Bryant, Tyler Thomas)

Semester Honor Roll Semester Honor Roll Semester Honor Roll Semester Honor Roll Lower School

Michael Christian Kira Neisch

Julian Clark Jacob Owen

Dylan Duane Aiden Pick

Emelia Hytree Landon Roach

Marquel Johnson

Megan Kail

Jaiden Lambert

Brittany Maddox

Gabe Moore

Upper School

Caroline Kling

Jean Cook

Brittany Blankenship

Tyler Thomas

PAGE 7 PROGRESS VOL. 10, ISSUE 1

Grant Approvals

The Plum Creek Foundation has awarded New Vistas a generous gift toward the purchase of a

new activities bus. Combined with funds from The Easley Foundation, NVS is close to having

enough funds to purchase the much-needed vehicle for the numerous Beyond the Walls adventures

teachers plan.

Additionally, the Lynchburg Retail Merchants Association has awarded New Vistas funds for a

SmartBoard to be dedicated to the Upper School history classes. Head of School Charlotte Morgan

says, “I’m thrilled to have this up-to-date electronic instructional aid. Students love using it, and it

greatly expands our research options during classes. What a fantastic gift.”

NAP CREDITS AVAILABLE Annual Fund Still in Progress

2015-2016

Change A Child, Change A Family, Change A Community

Neighborhood Assistance Program (NAP) provides a 65% state tax credit for gifts over $500. Please call Business Manager Barbara Johnson at 434-846-0301 for details.

NVS Welcomes Two New Board Members Deanna Keith, Education Professor at Liberty University, joined the NVS Board this August. She brings a

wealth of expertise with special education and special education law to the trustees.

Also joining the NVS Board is local businesswoman and marketing expert April Wood Farmer. She has agreed

to co-chair this year’s Annual Feast with Board Member Patti McCue.

Right: Judge John Cook Speaks to Upper Schoolers.

Clockwise above: New faculty Cassidy Houston,

Ellen Humphrey, Addie Hedge, and Jessica Sledge.

NON-PROFIT

ORGANIZATION

US POSTAGE

PAID

LYNCHBURG, VA

PERMIT No. 235

BOARD OF DIRECTORS Ford Mays, Chair

Neil Moore, Vice Chair Wren Roberts, Treasurer

2016

February 18—22: School Closed: Mid-Winter Break

March 11: Quarter Ends

March 14 & 15: Noon dismissal; 1/2 day teacher work day

March 18: Academic Comments & Grade Reports

March 28—April 1: School Closed: Spring Break

May 30: School Closed: Memorial Day Holiday

April 30: The Annual FEAST

June 3—8: Noon Dismissal: US/MS Exams

June 9: Community FUN Day ALL students & staff

June 10: COMMENCEMENT: ALL students & staff

Dates to Remember!Dates to Remember!Dates to Remember!Dates to Remember!

Lois Asensio Andrea Bain Mason Basten April Farmer Bob Gillette Deanna Keith Diane Ludwig

Ford Mays Patti McCue David Neumeyer Larry Ouellette Rosie Spann-Johnson Ex Officio: Lisa J. DeJarnette Charlotte Morgan