Join us in the Loft for food and fun as we honor 50 years of summer camp with the Burgundy Center for Wildlife Studies. This is a rare opportunity for non-campers to experience celebrate the magic of BCWS camp without leaving home. There will be a "pop-up museum" to showcase BCWS artifacts and the stories that accompany them. The event is FREE to attend, but we ask that you register by Friday, September 21, so we may plan accordingly. 

Text Message Alerts

Burgundy will again offer parents the opportunity to receive inclement weather announcements as well as other emergency alerts from Burgundy via text message. To receive these alerts, please text "ready" to 80464. Standard text messaging rates apply. Please contact Erin Futrowsky with any questions: erinf@burgundyfarm.org or 703.842.0474.  

Introducing Paige Pluymers-Durand
and Julie Vega

Q. How would you introduce yourself to the Burgundy community?

A. I am excited to be here and truly love what I do. I'm really into music -- my husband is a musician, and we love to go to shows...I love to travel, and I've lived all over the place but consider myself to be from the West Coast. I'm a photographer, and I'm a big fan of going to the beach off season when it's storming. My dog loves the beach. 

Q. What inspired you to become a teacher?

A. I was volunteering at the Seattle YMCA with homeless and gang-involved kids who were otherwise out of the system.  A woman I was working with said, "Please tell me you're going to be a teacher," and that was that. I admit I was thinking about it, but someone seeing that potential in me sealed the decision. I also come from a family of teachers.

Q. What do you love about teaching at a progressive school, in particular?

A. I was always the progressive teacher in traditional schools, so I think I'll like not feeling like the oddball. I like that as a class meanders into current events or topics the students are excited about, I won't get stressed about huge time constraints of making sure every factoid that might be on a standardized test gets covered. I know the class is going to go where it's supposed to go.

Q. Why did you decide to teach at Burgundy?

A. I decided to work here because it's the only interview I have ever left thinking, "I really want to work there." It's the only place I felt was going to be more than a job. Plus the campus reminds me of the Pacific Northwest. I set foot on campus, and felt like I'd come home.

Q. What are you most looking forward to at Burgundy?

A. I'm excited about everything outdoors: the Cove with the kids, the garden, the sheep, the goats. I'm also excited about how friendly everyone is, and how it feels so positive. We spend much of our lives at work and it should be a positive experience. Busy, challenging, sometimes hectic but positive.

Julie Vega, Middle School Math Teacher  

Q. How would you introduce yourself to the Burgundy community?

A: I really like to do outside activities such as kayaking and going for a hike. I also enjoy lacrosse -- I don't play that often, but it is fun. As an indoor hobby, I like drawing because it allows you to look at the details of an object and see the beauty that we miss when we just pass by.

Q. What inspired you to become a teacher?

A. It was working with my classmates... I really enjoy getting a problem that's difficult and bringing it to the table. When working in a group everyone brings a different perspective, which allows you to solve problems that you would otherwise not be able to. Math is more than computation, it's about using resources and working together.  

Q. What do you love about teaching a progressive school, in particular?

A. This will be my first progressive school, and I am really looking forward to the sense of community and the fact that everyone is really open to new ideas. We can talk through anything to come up with a solution that is best for the school.  

Q. Why did you decide to teach at Burgundy?

A. I decided to work here because the goals of the school line up with my own personal philosophy, and it seems like a really welcoming community.

Q. What are you most looking forward to at Burgundy?

A. Getting to know everybody! Getting to know every student, what they really like to do, and how they learn.

Summer Updates Around Campus 

In preparation for a new school year, we were busy throughout the summer, completing projects to keep the campus at its best. In addition to general maintenance such as pruning trees and trimming bushes, we spread 20 cubic yards of mulch in our gardens and flower beds and 60 cubic yards of wood chips in the playgrounds (under the swing sets we had equipped with new seats and chains). Each of our 21 classrooms sports a new coat of paint, as do our bridges, guard rails and picnic tables. We also rebuilt the entire East wall of the Library and created some bulletin boards over windows in the French classroom. Extended Day even got a new sandbox! 

One of the most significant projects was the replacement of the Middle School deck, which had reached the end of its lifespan. The old wooden deck was replaced with a new, sustainable Trex deck, otherwise known as composite wood.  

Many thanks to our hardworking maintenance team: Jerry Vaughan, Norm Maywright, Russell Boone and Gene Douglas. 

Be sure to check your child's backpack and be on the lookout for the Parent Handbook and Student Directory, which includes important information about the school, as well as a listing of each family's address, telephone number and email address. This publication also includes a complete list of group email addresses to help facilitate communication among class parents and teachers. As we announced in last week's Constant Comment, Burgundy has transitioned to Google Apps for email, and we decided to use this transition as an opportunity to "standardize" our parent email lists. All parent email list addresses now start with "parents-". If you previously set up one of the former parent email list addresses as a "contact" in your email system, please delete it because the old addresses will not work.

You should receive your 2012-2013 issue of the Parent Handbook and Student Directory by this afternoon. If you would like to purchase an additional copy for $5.00, please contact Michele McCabe (michelem@burgundyfarm.org or 703.842.0470). As well, if any of the information listed in the directory is incorrect, please contact Kathleen Hennessey with any corrections (kathleenh@burgundyfarm.org or 703.842.0472).  

Handbook Updates

Brody, Ava - 4/5 Coopers

Brody, Noah - 6th

Jacob Brody: Please replace the listed email address with jakebrody@mac.com 

Conner, Katherine - 7th

Tom Conner

3746 Gunston Rd.

Alexandria, VA 22302

thomas.conner99@comcast.net

tconner@reedsmith.com

Entabi, Sammy - 8th

Wasim Entabi
1820 Anderson Road
Falls Church, VA 22043

Leckszas, Kai - 2/3 Buckeyes

Manfred Leckszas would prefer to be referred to as "Opi"

Vincar, Emma - 2/3 Viceroys 

Parents: Ela and Hinko Vincar

571.388.0443 

elavincar@gmail.com 

To keep our students safe, please remember that our campus speed limit is 10 m.p.h. If you'd like to walk your student to his or her classroom, you must first drop him or her off with the administrators in the drop-off area before parking your car, meeting your child on the Blacktop and then walking him or her to class. It's important that parents never back up their cars to depart from the traffic circle during carpool, and that they yield to car and bus traffic when leaving the Middle School parking lot. And please refrain from using cell phones or doing anything with your hands or minds that distracts you while driving and carpooling.

To preserve our friendly relationship between school and neighbors, please observe the 25 m.p.h. speed limit on neighborhood roads, be courteous at stop signs and when moving around stopped cars, and avoid using driveways to park or turn around. We ask that when waiting for carpool to begin, you form a line on Norton Road. When traveling on Burgundy Road, you can get into this line by making a right turn at Tremont Drive, a left at Elmwood Drive, and another left at Norton Road. Common sense and courtesy regarding safe and thoughtful practices are appreciated!