"Proud to preserve a tradition of excellence."

4/18/25 Email to School Board from Co-Presidents Beth Adreon & Noah Everitt:

Wednesday’s meeting was an unfortunate example of the continued treatment of South Burlington faculty and staff and what we came to express. The folks working in schools every day with the students of our community, and their families, felt that we were not being represented and that our voices were going unheard. Whether by design or not, an opportunity arose for our leader, Superintendent Nichols, to demonstrate the kind of leadership and courage we need. Ms. Nichols could have welcomed the feedback from the employees she oversees, and instead remained silent. What was a chaotic, and ill-informed attempt to silence the experiences of the employees of the SBSD out of the public comment portion, should have been opposed by the person on the board who purports to “want to listen, value and support the work [we] do,” as she wrote to all of us in an email at 5 PM on Wednesday, April 16th.

Instead, just a mere hour later, Ms. Nichols took no opportunity to encourage or support us, and availed herself of her positional authority, to express only her opinion in public. Hearing critical feedback is never comfortable.  We have in our culture here at SB both the mechanism in the master agreement, as well as a culture of support, from supervisors to teachers and support staff of providing constructive feedback, meant to improve practice. Wednesday night's meeting just provided another example to faculty and staff of the lack of support we feel and experience from Ms Nichols.

Again, we urge the South Burlington School Board to reconsider its choice to hear only from the Superintendent and her Central office team. We believe there to be intimidation and directives attempting to silence dissenting voices by Ms. Nichols. In a policy governance model BOTH the employees and the board rely heavily on the judgment and skills of the superintendent.  We encourage this board to collaborate with other boards in our area. We do not believe they are having these difficulties with public comments, with staff feedback, or with their Superintendents.  

Further, Ms. Nichols comments, regarding her conduct and directives for a member of color fly directly in the face of what we teach our students and believe to be right.  She may not have intended to harm Mr. Lokossou, or act in a discriminatory manner, however that is what has happened and the impact of these choices is real for Mr. Lokossou, and for all of us.  Regardless of our system of authority, we deserve better, and we, at a minimum, want a leader who understands the difference between intent and impact.  A leader who encourages voices, especially from our communities who have been historically disadvantaged, and leads us to be inclusive, tolerant, and exceptional as an educational institution for all.  

We want to close by thanking and highlighting how acts of courage are possible and make a difference. After our comments at the Board meeting, we were convinced that the Board and Ms. Nicholas would refuse to hear our stories. We believe the courageous act of Mr. Lokossou refusing to be silenced changed the fundamental dynamic of the meeting and allowed a limited number of our stories to be heard. At this moment, our local schools, and our Democracy, need these acts of courage.  We encourage everyone to follow this example, and be willing to speak truth to power.  Together, we can make South Burlington a school to be proud of. To do this, we must have courageous leadership, which can not only tolerate, but embrace difficult feedback and make changes. 

We urge you to meet with us so we can fully share the results of our listening tour with you. Without this, you offer us no options other than to continue our advocacy for our students and our staff in a more public fashion.

Beth Adreon and Noah Everitt

Co-Presidents, SBEA

4/16/25 Public Comment from Co-Presidents Beth Adreon & Noah Everitt:

As representatives of the SBEA, our mission is to provide the best possible education for our students.  As you are aware, we undertook a listening tour at all of the schools within the South Burlington School District. We have completed this tour with a participation rate of well over 75% of those represented by the SBEA. Both Members and non-members were asked three open-ended questions: positive aspects of their job, what issues and challenges are making their job difficult, and what changes they would like to see to improve working conditions for themselves and learning outcomes for students.

Last week, we presented the results to our membership. Educators across our district emphasized that students and colleagues keep them returning to school every day. Our findings showed that folks across the district reported that watching their students grow, both academically and socially, brought them joy. Our educators noted the commitment to student learning by their colleagues.  This commitment to colleagueship was cited as a primary resource for improving their own practice and motivation to be their best every day.

When folks were asked what issues or challenges made their job more difficult, the overwhelming consensus was the Central office Administration. Across the district, folks cited a lack of trust in Central Office administrators, specifically the superintendent. 

As a result of this work and data collection, we are here tonight to share a brief sample of our stories, inform you of our next steps, and encourage you to reconsider the ramifications of closing lines of communication from the folks who are working day in and day out with students.  

We have collected the stories and will provide them to the board digitally.

The following closing message was unable to be delivered to the School Board as the Chair "shut down" public comment before all in attendance had the opportunity to speak.  

4/16/25 Co-Presidents Beth Adreon & Noah Everitt

Tonight you heard from the folks across the district as they shared their experiences. We urge you to listen to these student-facing employees that spoke to you tonight. These folks have real concerns about the lack of leadership and poor judgement in decision making at central office. Over the coming days and weeks, we will continue to share these stories.

We feel we have a vital role in ensuring that our educational system continues to improve and support the students, families, and community of South Burlington. To this end, we have provided our members with the opportunity to provide specific feedback for our superintendent, based on the Core Teaching and Leadership Standards for Vermont Educators.  We are committed to continuing our work.  Which we will share with this board.  We will continue to advocate and encourage you to consider meeting with us to work together.  Our Leaders at the district level have not done an adequate job in this respect, and there is no longer the ability to wait and see; we need leadership we can trust now.  

We, again, cannot compel the board to meet with us. However, we feel it is right to continue to ask. In the absence of meetings, we will continue to advocate in the public spaces of our community. Our staff and especially our students deserve better.

Thank you for your time.

4/15/25 Email from Co-Presidents Beth Adreon & Noah Everitt to Superintendent Violet Nichols:

Hello Violet-

We are concerned about this plan that you shared with folks yesterday. We thought we were clear last Thursday that these types of “engagement sessions” would be inappropriate for you or Central Office staff to have with faculty and staff. The power dynamic between the supervisor and employee is such that there can be no freedom of expression for  people. What assurances do we have that what people say in these sessions will be anonymous? What assurances are there that there will be no reprisals for people who share critical feedback?

We would never ask our students to give us feedback face-to-face. Why do you think it is okay to solicit feedback in a non-anonymous way, given the power differential? It seems like a misuse of power. Remember, both in our statement and in our conversation we told you that people are scared and fear Central Office staff.