All OSSU Schools Closed on Monday, April 8, 2024:

On Monday, April 8, 2024, a total solar eclipse will pass over North America, and in northern Vermont, we will have the rare opportunity to witness this amazing event. Due to the timing, intensity, and projections of “eclipse viewers” arriving in droves to our state that day, all OSSU schools will be closed on April 8; students will be sent home with special solar viewing glasses. During totality, the sky will become dark similar to dawn or dusk and will be extra apparent if we have no cloud cover. During the partial eclipse period, no one should look at the sun unless wearing special solar viewing glasses.

All of our schools will be educating students on this event and many special events are being planned around the region. Vermont will not experience totality again until 2079!

Here is a partial listing of events being planned:

March 13, 3:30-5 p.m.: Community Eclipse Exhibit at Craftsbury Academy (through WonderKids; open to the public!)

March 13, 2024, 6 p.m., Craftsbury Public Library: Astronomer Dr. Doug Arion will present “Darkness in the Daytime: The Solar Eclipse Explained”.  In preparation for the total solar eclipse on April 8, students, families, and the community are invited to learn about what happens during a solar eclipse and how to view one safely. Weather permitting, attendees can take the opportunity to view the night sky following the program.

March 18, 2024: Educator Bobby Farlice-Rubio will host an eclipse presentation at the Greensboro Free Library from 10-11 a.m. for Lakeview students, local home study students and teachers/caregivers; a presentation for adults and community members will follow from 11a.m. - 12 noon. A Zoom option is in the works so to check the library website at https://greensborofreelibrary.org/ or contact Emily Purdy at greensborokids@gmail.com for more information. 

March 20, 3:30-5 p.m.: Community Eclipse Exhibit at Wolcott Elementary (through WonderKids; open to the public!)

March 22 (7 p.m.), March 23 (7 p.m.), March 24 (2 p.m.): When Light Bends at the Highland Center for the Arts. Various classes from Craftsbury Schools and Hazen Union will attend the production on Friday, March 22. A play with music that riffs on the science of relativity with interludes of magic and illusion, When Light Bends tells the story of Albert Einstein’s struggle to complete his General Theory of Relativity and Arthur Eddington’s fight to confirm that theory by observing the positions of the stars during the 1919 solar eclipse. The public is invited to learn more and can purchase tickets at https://highlandartsvt.org/.

April 2, 3:30-5 p.m.: Community Eclipse Exhibit at Hardwick Elementary (through WonderKids; open to the public!)

April 8, 2-4 p.m.: Eclipse Viewing on the Craftsbury Common in the Path of Totality! Eclipse glasses and solar telescopes will be provided.