It has been a while, but our Field Training Officer (FTO) program is starting to pick up speed again. We had the first FTO Oversight meeting of the new year on February 10th, here at the academy. Site Coordinators from four facilities attended the meeting, along with Vermont Department of Corrections’ Training Center staff. We are working to get all seven sites represented at our next meeting.
Training Coordinator Michaela Hammond has joined our FTO Oversight Team and has provided detailed minutes from the meeting. Check them out on our FTO webpage.
Meeting participants engaged in a ‘critical issues’ review, and then they worked on developing solution strategies to address the identified need areas. The committee put some plans in place to increase effective communication between worksites and the academy regarding recruit training to optimize the FTO/academy experience.
Strategies to optimize supervision of new staff included:
online meetings in week four of the academy to review supervisory notes and issues,
implementation of Site Coordinator training
and professional development opportunities that concentrate on supervisory skills, active addressing and providing good documentation
As the FTO program begins gearing up to welcome in the next generation of correctional professionals, we will be looking for new FTOs at all our worksites. We are looking for motivated individuals with common sense, a good attitude and an interest in developing high functioning work teams. If you are interested in being a FTO, please submit a letter of interest to you local Site Coordinator. As always, thank you for your support of this critical program.
If you missed out on attending the 105th VCA Graduation, well here is your chance.
I have mixed in video of the Graduation along with publishing the layout of the program.
Opening Ceremony
DOC Honor Guard
National Anthem
Jennie Holloway
Opening Remarks
William Cathcart
Academy Staff
Achievement Awards
Ross Farnsworth
Academy Staff
Class Speaker
Robert Dunham
Officer Candidate
Commissioner’s Address
Andrew Pallito
Department of Corrections
Certificate Presentations
Professional Oath Administration
Robert Kupec
Facility Executive
Keynote Speaker
Alice Emmons
State Representative
Passing of the Guidon
Class Recessional
DOC Honor Guard
The 105th Class of the Vermont Correctional Academy would like to thank our instructors and training officers for their valuable services.
Instructors
Ed Adams
Kyle Beckwith
William Cathcart
Gary Dillon
Ross Farnsworth
Gary Garrow
Michaela Hammond
Charles Keefer
Kurt Kuehl
Meredith Larson, PhD
Rob Lowell
Sue Mackin
Pat McIntosh
Milt McWayne
Jason Sanders
Nancy Simoes
Jennifer Sprafke
Scott Stevens
Benjamin Webster
Training Assistants
Ryan Duquette
Benjamin Webster
Daniel Bennett
Jason Sanders
Rob Lowell
Officer’s Oath
I, (state your name)/, acknowledge this oath and the badge of my profession/ as symbols of the public trust
in my ability and commitment/ to provide for the public safety as a professional correctional officer./ I agree
to maintain the highest ethical standards/ and serve the Vermont Department of Corrections to the best of
my ability./ I freely accept this responsibility/ and swear to uphold the humanitarian and legal principles/ of the corrections profession throughout my career.
The Members of 105th Graduating Class
"Attiude & Integrity"
Justin Acito; 5
Christopher Adams; 6
Jeffrey Backus; 1
Jeffrey Boyea; 7
Robert Burroughs; 3
Eric Candels; 7
Stanley Connor; 1
Michael Ducharme; 1
Robert Dunham; 1
Christopher Fletcher; 5
Robby Fontaine; 5
Joshua Furman; 4
Eugene Hitchcock; 4
Sarah Hunter; 3
Raymond Jablonski; 3
Marc Johnson; 1
Joseph Paul Magro; 4
Jason Marquis; 6
Michael Mason; 7
Gordon Moore; 1
Christopher Norris; 9
Claire Potvin; 3
Wayne Rickard; 2
Andrew Simpson; 5
Tiffani Vance; 2
Ernest Wright; 5
Today the 105 VCA Graduated 26 new correctional officers. They will be reporting for duty at the following worksites. SSCF, SESCF, NWSCF, MVRCF, NERCF, NSCF, CRCF, and Brattleboro P&P.
The Keynote speaker was State Representative Alice Emmons. Both Secratry Hofmann and Commissioner Andrew Pallito spoke at the graduation. The Class Speaker was CO I Robert Dunham.
Robert Kupec, the Facility Executive, administered the professional oath and the Honor Guard opened and closed the Graduation with our national Colors.
The National Anthem was sung by Jennie Holloway and William Cathcart was the master of ceremonies.
The class asked that we remember our DOC colleagues that are currently deployed. May they return to us safely, and they extend their thanks to the friends and family of our deployed staff for their sacrafice and support they provide.
Here are a couple of photos from the class.
There will be some video from the graduation to follow, so stay tune.
I have served as a Vermont Correctional Academy coordinator for training development since 2001. I am responsible for training-the-trainer core competency training, Facility Training Officer programs and also serve as liaison to our security and supervision unit for training dealing with hostage negotiation, emergency preparedness, and the Corrections Emergency Response Team (CERT). I graduate from the Vermont Correctional Academy in 1993, and previously served as a Correctional Officer I, Correctional Officer II, and the local training coordinator at the former Woodstock Regional Correctional Facility. I also part of the Emergency Preparedness team. I am involved in a range of educational development and training functions for the Department of Corrections and provides Academy instruction on emergency preparedness, self-harm, suicide prevention and use of force.
