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Curriculum Grants of up to
$1,500 available to VRP Schools!

VRP members! Your site is entitled to apply for a mini grant for the current school year. Grants may be up to $1,500. All teachers who document and publish their project on VRP's web site will receive a personal check for $250 upon publication. We have $5,000 in stipends available. more



Our Curriculum Library contains teacher created examples from the classroom and community, along with many Vermont History units. more



Reflections contributed by VRP students, educators, and community members. more

VRP's Web site is made possible in large part through the generous support of the Bay and Paul Foundations.





VRP Resource Partner

Rural School and Community Trust
www.ruraltrust.edu


VRP Resource Partner


VRP Resource Partner



VRP Resource Partner



VRP Website development
support provided by
Community Works Institute (CWI)
Contact Webmaster

School and Community Partnerships

We encourage our schools and communities to take their own actions to ensure the long-term vitality and well-being of the community. The school is increasingly viewed as a "hub" of the community. We work to promote youth and adult partnerships through school and community collaboration.

The State of Vermont has long upheld the proud traditions of local involvement and community spirit. Such ideals are born from the small size and rural character of most towns throughout the state, and sustained by the bonds of communal economy, tradition, and culture.

The schools of the Vermont Rural Partnership (VRP) uphold these values, continually emphasizing the importance of the Vermont student’s sense of place. With an articulated partnership between school and community that reaches well beyond finanicial support, a symbiotic sustainability flourishes between school and community: the community collaborates with teaching and administrative staff to define and direct the school’s growth. Everyone’s voice is heard and carries weight.

The vision for the school is a composite crafted from the ideas and priorities of the group. The vision springs from connectivity and dialogue: from the principal, from the town elders, from the parents, and from the students. It is in that sense of true and universal collaboration from which the vision of the school, and its role in the community, draws its strength.

The goal in establishing a real partnership is the kind of sustained positive change that can’t happen in a vacuum, or with the support of only a few proponents. Too often, the opportunity for just this kind of community-wide reform is lost when a single site leader can’t sustain the project. Effective long-term positive change can only come about with the support of community members. This support ensures that the partnership is more than just a theory; it is a collaborative reality that only serves to promote the principles of the Vermont Rural Partnership at the heart of the communities it tries to reach.