Andra Bowen: Elementary School Principal
Photo of a woman in green, smiling with a stuffed toy tiger.

Principal Bowen has been serving as a shared Elementary principal for the Bethel and South Royalton Communities since 2019.  She has been an elementary educator since 2000 and started her career teaching first grade in Bethel.  Andra shares two beautiful daughters with her husband, Jim. She is a gardener and enjoys the food from her large vegetable garden.  Reading, taking walks, sitting by the fire pit at camp and spending time with family are among her favorite things to do in her free time. Andra is a Vermonter and has been a resident of Bethel for over 15 years.  You can reach Principal Bowen at abowen@wrvsu.org.

a LETTER FROM PRINCIPAL BOWEN

Welcome to the White River Elementary School - home of the Wildcats!  Our elementary school consists of two campuses - Bethel Elementary and Royalton Elementary - both serving students, preschool through fifth grade.

A typical day of learning for a White River Elementary School student includes a morning meeting, literacy, math, social studies, science, and writing. A wide range of “Essential Courses” are offered on both campuses and include outdoor education, music, physical education, guidance, art, and library.  We believe that these offerings, in addition to our core academic curriculum, enhance and benefit our students' educational experience and develop the growth of their social-emotional learning.

Our multi-tiered system of support (MTSS) is a framework that unifies educational opportunities and supports, in an effort to improve outcomes and ensure equity for all students. Through our use of data-informed decision-making, we are able to ensure a culture of continuous improvement that focuses on meeting the academic, behavioral, social and emotional needs of all of our students. We are committed to teaching and expecting respectful, responsible, safe and kind behavior from everyone in our school community.

We pride ourselves on providing a layered system of high-quality, evidence-based instruction, intervention and assessment practices that are matched to student needs. Through our continued professional development that supports our teaching staff in providing and delivering a rigorous curriculum we are able to guide our students to meet proficiencies. Our teaching staff is committed to ongoing professional development to ensure the delivery of a rigorous curriculum that enables students to meet proficiencies.

We encourage all of our parents, and community members, to be an active part of our students' learning and success here at the campuses of White River Valley Elementary School.  As your school principal, I look forward to working with the families and children of Bethel and Royalton.