School News News Summary

DVUS Fresh Pond Visit

Mon, 03 Nov 2025 20:36:00 GMT

Grade 6 students went on a field trip to Fresh Pond and the Cambridge Water Department Lab. They made observations of human impacts on the environment, and had a Q + A session with Ranger Omar to learn more about how the Fresh Pond rangers work to keep the pond clean. In the water lab students practiced pipetting liquids, completed a scavenger hunt in the lab (and were excited to meet Henry the turtle!), and interviewed water chemists about their jobs.

Grand Opening Tobin Montessori and Darby Vassall Upper School

Tue, 28 Oct 2025 15:30:00 GMT

Thank you to all who attended the Grand Opening Celebration for the Tobin Montessori and Darby Vassall Upper School and Community Complex! Neighbors, families, staff, city officials and guests gathered Saturday, October 18 for a ceremonial grand opening and ribbon cutting. The celebration included the dedication of the Dr. Carolyn Turk Auditorium, named after former CPS Assistant Superintendent, Dr. Carolyn Turk and employee of over 40+ years, a ceremonial ribbon cutting and tours of the facility.

Watch the ceremony below:

Important Notes About Back-to-School

Fri, 15 Aug 2025 15:32:00 GMT

Dear Darby Vassall Upper School Families,

We are so excited about the start of this school year and cannot wait to open the doors of our beautiful new building to our students and families!

Some important notes about the start of the year:

Our NEW Building: we will be ready to welcome students on Tuesday, September 2, for the first day of school. Between now and then, we are all working hard to move in and set up classrooms while the building crews complete their work. In the meantime,
CHECK OUT THIS SNEAK PEEK OF THE NEW BUILDING!
Back to School Events: because of ongoing construction, we are not able to have our annual back-to-school popsicle party before the start of the year. We have moved our Back to School Night to Tuesday, September 16 and will give families tours of the new space between 5-6PM before the rest of the event.
Start of the Year for Students: In the opening days, we will give plenty of tours and support to students so they know their way around. We will be greeting all students as they arrive on Day 1 and will make sure they know where to go!
Schedules in Aspen: Schedules are complete and are in Aspen. Students will get paper copies of their schedules on the first day of school, Tuesday, September 2.

Next Week: We'll share info on back-to-school materials, new DVUS staff, and more!

Staff Prepares to Open New Tobin Montessori/Darby Vassall School

Mon, 11 Aug 2025 12:21:00 GMT

Pictures taken May 2025

Construction on the new Tobin Montessori/ Darby Vassall School project is nearly complete! Throughout the Spring and Summer, principals, Jaime Frost and Daniel Coplon-Newfield, led staff in touring the building and their classroom spaces in preparation for the coming school year. Furniture has recently been delivered and we are excited to welcome students to their permanent building after 4 years of waiting! Stay tuned for more updates and photos!

Grade 8 Civics Showcase

Mon, 02 Jun 2025 18:35:00 GMT

Over 400 grade 8 students participated in the third annual CPS Civics Showcase at the Massachusetts State House last month. Students presented their civic action projects to over 75 community advisors, toured the State House, and met with Representatives Marjorie Decker, Mike Connolly, and Steve Owens in the House Chamber. At the end of the event, 24 projects were announced as finalists. Students presented these projects at the finalist showcase, at Cambridge City Hall.

One student group from each upper school was selected to represent CPS at the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) statewide showcase in Boston on Friday, June 6.

Humans of VLUS: May 30, 2025

Fri, 30 May 2025 19:35:00 GMT

We have chosen to do this project by highlighting members of our VLUS community as a way to celebrate them. We aim to accomplish this goal by learning about what connects us all, while showing our community that we should not judge a book by its cover, because there is more to each of us than what our appearance presents. We hope that by getting to know the people in our school, we can achieve a deeper understanding of our VLUS community, and a stronger sense of connection.

Celebrating each other is another way we all become better versions of ourselves.

Meet Ms. Terri Bowman
Ms. Bowman is our VLUS Health teacher. She was born in Springfield, Massachusetts. Her favorite classes at school were Health, Social Studies, and Art. Math didn't come easy to her, but she had a wonderful math teacher, so for her it mattered a lot who the teacher was.

She has an Undergraduate Degree in History, Psychology, and Fine Arts, and a Master Degree in Health Education.

Overall, her biggest struggle has been dealing with anxiety, which she has had her whole life with different peaks here and there. She is learning different strategies to help her cope, and learning what hurts her and what helps her.

Since returning from maternity leave, she has been trying not to sweat the small stuff. One of the goals she has set for herself is trying to be more present in the moment.
She gets between 7 and a half and 8 hours of sleep.

A life experience that impacted her was working with a student with Cerebral Palsy in her early 20. He had severe physical and cognitive disabilities and at 13 he was experiencing puberty and asking questions about his body at school. No one was willing to teach him about the changes happening in his body, so he is the reason she went back to school to get her degree in Health Education and become a Health teacher.

Ms. Bowman strongly believes that all people have the right to learn about their own health regardless of their disability status.

Her favorite book is “My side of the mountain” by the author Jean Craighaed George. It’s about a boy living alone in the Catskill Mountains. She read it in fifth grade and it meant a lot to her because as a kid, being independent and free was important.

Some of her favorite artists are the Smiths and George Michael. She walked down the aisle at her wedding to an instrumental version of the song “There is a Light That Never Goes Out” by The Smiths.

She is proud of her two children and her work as a teacher. In her free time she likes to hang out with her kids, her husband, and their cat Lemmy, which they call Aya. They got Lemmy when her five year old, Jessy, was a baby. They used to read a book to Jessy called "Welcoming Elijah". In the book Elijah shows up as a cat, so her son thought Elijah meant cat, and since he could only say “aya” whenever he saw a cat, he’d say “Aya, Aya”
She has good days at school when her students are interested in what they are talking about in class and have a lot of questions. They may not necessarily get everything done on the agenda, but she has a good day if her students are excited to talk about what they’re learning.

Ms. Bowman wants to shout out to all the teachers and students that helped her transition back to school from her maternity leave. because it was difficult to transition back when you have been gone for months, and have a new baby. Teachers were really great, and her students were very positive.

Thank you Ms. Bowman for your dedication to our VLUS community!

Civic Action Project District Showcase

Fri, 30 May 2025 19:33:00 GMT

Civic Action Project District Showcase at Cambridge City Hall yesterday. Six finalist groups made VLUS proud as they presented their projects to peers and selected community advisors whose ranks included teachers, City Council members, the city manager, the superintendent, and other members of Cambridge government and CPS.

Congratulations to Mia, Matilda, Joshua, and Declan, whose project on banned books was selected to represent VLUS and Cambridge at the State Civic Action Showcase next Friday at the Edward M. Kennedy Center.

VLUS Students Take Part in Participatory Budgeting Voting

Thu, 27 Mar 2025 18:02:00 GMT