27/02/2025
WOW- Thank you to The Town Line Community Newspaper for the great article on our presentation at the Vassalboro Community School Board Meeting about our partnership in our Horse Powered Reading Program last fall-
Also, thank you to Vassalboro Community Staff, students and parents for participating in this program-
VCS school board sees contrasting presentations on special programs
by Mary Grow
Vassalboro school board members began their Feb. 11 meeting with contrasting presentations on special programs offered for Vassalboro Community School (VCS) students.
First, they watched a slide show with video about Whispering Woods Stables, on Ingraham Mountain Road, off Route 3, in Augusta. A small group of VCS special education students attended weekly learning sessions with horses (and other animals) last fall.
Then they moved to Tech Systems Administrator David Trask’s room, to see the larger printers and other new gadgets that let students program miniature robot vehicles and shoot rockets all over the school grounds.
The Whispering Woods presentation, by owner Teresa Elvin and program director Carson Harvey, showed photos of the farm’s animals – seven horses, six miniature horses, goats, chickens, cats, a rabbit and a dog – and children interacting with them.
The program does not include riding, Elvin said. Students form relationships with their chosen horses by reading to them and leading them through obstacle courses and on hunts for educational objects.
Elvin summarized the program as “horse-powered reading, teaching skills in a non-traditional environment,” where students are less stressed.
Sessions mix relationship-building, horse care, classroom skills, physical activities, life skills and, the slide show says, “Most importantly, encourage fun and play for both the student and the horse.”
Elvin thanked special education technician Desarae Dearborn for arranging a field trip that led to last fall’s pilot program. She hopes to continue the connection with VCS.
Whispering Woods offers nine-week sessions in fall, spring and summer, for small groups of students in grades one through four. A session costs $3,000 or more, depending mostly on the composition of the student group.
Trask’s robotics and rocketry program also encourages fun and play, primarily for VCS students in grades three through eight, although there are offerings for younger students as well.
Trask showed school board members some of the products of a T for Technology grant he received. Small cars moved among colored tiles on the floor; slightly larger vehicles tried to knock over 3D printed bowling pins; against the back wall, one of the bigger new 3D printers worked on a project.
The rocketry is practiced on the school grounds: groups of students shoot rockets they made, trying to land them inside a hula hoop lying on the grass some distance away. Trask’s slide show illustrated an occasional success.
The Feb. 11 board meeting was preceded by another discussion with engineers from Energy Management Consultants of Portland, about proposed renovations and updates to the VCS building. This discussion was based on board members’ priority recommendations (see the Jan. 23 issue of The Town Line, p. 3).
During the business part of the meeting, Principal Ira Michaud reported that VCS enrollment had increased to 430 students. The school provided transportation to three area high schools for eighth-graders deciding where they want to attend school next year, he said.
Superintendent Alan Pfieffer added that high school tuition rates increased almost six percent for the 2025 calendar year. He and board members did not begin reviewing the 2025-26 school budget request; a budget workshop is scheduled for 6 p.m., Tuesday, March 4, in the VCS library.
Pfeiffer thanked the Vassalboro public works crew for continued support and collaboration, especially during recent snowstorms.
The superintendent’s report included an update on the child care program at VCS, the Neighborhood Child Care Center, from Executive Director Jennifer Lizotte. She wrote that 47 students are enrolled, including eight from Vassalboro’s pre-kindergarten program. She referred to a “staffing crisis” that is making running the program difficult.
Lizotte thanked Michaud and Assistant Principal Tabitha Brewer for their cooperation as her program shares space in the school building.
School board members accepted the resignation of Special Education Director Tanya Thibeau, effective in June, with half-serious hesitation and sincere regret.
The next regular school board meeting, after the March 4 budget workshop, is scheduled for 6 p.m. Tuesday, March 11, at the school.
