Did You Know - September is "Attendance Awareness Month"

Did you know that the month of September is national "Attendance Awareness Month"?  Of course, our goal here within the Gorham Schools is that every month is attendance awareness month - but sometimes it's good to emphasize the importance of attendance just a little more - it IS just THAT IMPORTANT!

Showing up for school has a huge impact on a student's academic success starting in kindergarten and continuing through high school.  Even as children grow older and more independent, families play a key role in making sure students get to school safely every day and understand why attendance is so important for success in school and in life!

We realize that some absences are unavoidable due to health problems or other circumstances.  But, we also know that when students miss too much school - regardless of the reason - it can cause them to fall behind academically.  Your child is less likely to succeed if he or she is chronically absent - which means missing 18 or more days over the course of an entire school year.

Did you know that research shows:

*  Children chronically absent in kindergarten and 1st grade are much less likely to read at grade level by the end of 3rd grade?

*  By 6th grade, chronic absence is a proven early warning sign for students at risk for dropping out of school.

*  By 9th-grade good attendance can predict graduation rates even better than 8th-grade test scores!

CLEARLY GOING TO SCHOOL REGULARLY MATTERS! 

As many as 7.5 million students nationwide miss nearly a month of school every year, excused and unexcused absences that can erode student achievement.  Schools across the country are launching new community-wide commitments to encourage good attendance by students in order to counteract the potentially negative consequences of doing nothing to address this important issue.  The Gorham Schools are committed to keeping good attendance at the forefront of what we do for our students.  In addition to supporting our students in lots of ways and in making sure that our classrooms are fun and engaging places to be so students want to come to school, we have also created communications protocols that make sure parents of students who have been absent for a certain number of days get a personal contact by their child's teacher just saying that we care and that your student was missed (and they truly are).  Often, just checking in is all that it takes to show that we care - and caring is what we certainly do best!

As parents/guardians, you can do your part as well to ensure that your child attends school every day and arrives on time.  Here are a few practical tips to help support regular attendance:

*  Make sure your children keep a regular bedtime and establish a morning routine.
*  Lay out clothes and pack backpacks the night before.
*  Ensure your children go to school every day unless they are truly sick.
*  Avoid scheduling vacations or doctor's appointments when school is in session.
*  Talk to teachers and counselors for advice if your children feel anxious about going to school.
*  Develop backup plans for getting to school if something comes up.  Call on a family member, neighbor , or another parent to take your child to school if needed.

Here is a link to some more great resources to check out if you get a chance:

Website:
http://www.attendanceworks.org/

Parent Flyer for Middle School and High School Students:
http://www.attendanceworks.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/AW_HS-flyer-1-pager.pdf

Parent Flyer for Elementary School Students:
http://www.attendanceworks.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Attendance_ESP1PG_English_062614.pdf

Bottom line - ATTENDANCE COUNTS!  Let's make sure to start this school year off on the right foot for all students!

If you have questions, or would like to share your ideas for helping improve attendance, please feel free to reach out to building principals - we are always interested in hearing from you!

THANK YOU!

Did You Know - September is "Attendance Awareness Month"

Did you know that the month of September is national "Attendance Awareness Month"?  Of course, our goal here within the Gorham Schools is that every month is attendance awareness month - but sometimes it's good to emphasize the importance of attendance just a little more - it IS just THAT IMPORTANT!

Showing up for school has a huge impact on a student's academic success starting in kindergarten and continuing through high school.  Even as children grow older and more independent, families play a key role in making sure students get to school safely every day and understand why attendance is so important for success in school and in life!

We realize that some absences are unavoidable due to health problems or other circumstances.  But, we also know that when students miss too much school - regardless of the reason - it can cause them to fall behind academically.  Your child is less likely to succeed if he or she is chronically absent - which means missing 18 or more days over the course of an entire school year.

Did you know that research shows:

*  Children chronically absent in kindergarten and 1st grade are much less likely to read at grade level by the end of 3rd grade?

*  By 6th grade, chronic absence is a proven early warning sign for students at risk for dropping out of school.

*  By 9th-grade good attendance can predict graduation rates even better than 8th-grade test scores!

CLEARLY GOING TO SCHOOL REGULARLY MATTERS! 

As many as 7.5 million students nationwide miss nearly a month of school every year, excused and unexcused absences that can erode student achievement.  Schools across the country are launching new community-wide commitments to encourage good attendance by students in order to counteract the potentially negative consequences of doing nothing to address this important issue.  The Gorham Schools are committed to keeping good attendance at the forefront of what we do for our students.  In addition to supporting our students in lots of ways and in making sure that our classrooms are fun and engaging places to be so students want to come to school, we have also created communications protocols that make sure parents of students who have been absent for a certain number of days get a personal contact by their child's teacher just saying that we care and that your student was missed (and they truly are).  Often, just checking in is all that it takes to show that we care - and caring is what we certainly do best!

As parents/guardians, you can do your part as well to ensure that your child attends school every day and arrives on time.  Here are a few practical tips to help support regular attendance:

*  Make sure your children keep a regular bedtime and establish a morning routine.
*  Lay out clothes and pack backpacks the night before.
*  Ensure your children go to school every day unless they are truly sick.
*  Avoid scheduling vacations or doctor's appointments when school is in session.
*  Talk to teachers and counselors for advice if your children feel anxious about going to school.
*  Develop backup plans for getting to school if something comes up.  Call on a family member, neighbor , or another parent to take your child to school if needed.

Here is a link to some more great resources to check out if you get a chance:

Website:
http://www.attendanceworks.org/

Parent Flyer for Middle School and High School Students:
http://www.attendanceworks.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/AW_HS-flyer-1-pager.pdf

Parent Flyer for Elementary School Students:
http://www.attendanceworks.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Attendance_ESP1PG_English_062614.pdf

Bottom line - ATTENDANCE COUNTS!  Let's make sure to start this school year off on the right foot for all students!

If you have questions, or would like to share your ideas for helping improve attendance, please feel free to reach out to building principals - we are always interested in hearing from you!

THANK YOU!

2016-17 Opening Letter to Parents

August 8, 2016

Dear Parents/Guardians,

It is with great anticipation and excitement that I welcome you back for another incredible school year here within the Gorham Schools!  The first day of school for students in grades K, 6, and 9 will be Monday, August 29, 2016.  The first day of school for all other students will be Tuesday, August 30, 2016.  Bus routes have just recently been published.  You may view them by going to the Gorham Schools website found at:  www.gorhamschools.org.  Just click on the "transportation" link to the left of the page and they should be right at the top.  They will also be published in the Gorham Times next edition.  I would like to request patience and understanding for the first few weeks of school as we iron out the details of our bus routes for another new school year.  If you have any questions regarding routes, please contact Judy at the Transportation Office (893-2547).  If you have any questions about enrollment of your child, please contact your school's office.  You can also find those numbers by going to our district website and clicking on the appropriate school tab.   As mentioned last year, our district website is getting ready for a new "upgrade" and we are planning on rolling that out early this fall - so "stay tuned" for when those changes take place so that you don't miss any important information.

All of our schools are excited to welcome you and your children to another tremendous school year here in Gorham!  As always, there are lots of outstanding things happening at our schools so be sure to check out those school websites, keep an eye on your mail and email, and watch for fliers and other materials that will be sent home with your students the first few days of school to let you know about many of these exciting planned events.

One piece of exciting news is that we will be rolling out our new Gorham Schools mission and vision and core beliefs with staff during our opening staff day planned for August 25, 2016.   However,  because parents are our special partners in educating our children, I am going to share it with all of you first!  If you remember, this is the culmination of a full year's worth of work by staff, students, parents, and community members.  Way back in September of last year, the Gorham School Committee authorized the creation of a district steering committee whose task it was to "re-vision" our mission and vision.  This committee worked to put together surveys and public forums and focus group interviews to gather feedback culminating in over 2,800 participants - the largest group of which were parents!  The steering committee compiled all this feedback to establish themes in the content and then used those themes to create a newly "re-visioned" mission, vision, and set of core beliefs for the Gorham Schools that will be used to chart a course for this district over the next 3-5 years!

You can check out the results of this incredible work by going to:  http://www.gorhamschools.org/core_documents/

The next steps in this important work will be to develop, with our stakeholder groups over the course of the 2016-17 School Year, a Strategic Plan, complete with action steps and timelines that will become the "map" allowing us to make this new vision a reality for our children.  Exciting work for sure! There will be opportunities for parents and community members to become involved in this work whether it be by active membership on the committee that steers this work, or through participation in surveys and/or focus groups or public forums so again, please stay tuned!

The Gorham Schools pride ourselves in staying abreast of best instructional practices to support your children's learning and as a result, our schools are also busy planning and implementing some new initiatives that we hope will enhance your child's educational experiences within our schools.  Whether it is the implementation of our new reading curriculum for grades 3-5 (Making Meaning) or extending our Pilot of Jumprope, our standards-based grading and reporting software, at the Middle School, or the implementation of our new schedule at Gorham High School - there are lots of exciting things going on in our schools!  Of course, none of these exciting things is more important than our continued work on creating a Proficiency-Based Learning System (PBL).  The creation and implementation of our PBL system will be the key driving force that will allow us to make our new mission and vision a reality for our children.  Our focus for this year's PBL work at each grade level will be:

    *  K-5 will be extending and strengthening our pilot of tracking student learning progress in ELA, Math and now Science, Social Studies, and the Creative Arts using our new standards-based reporting software system called Jumprope.  Final student grades will still be reported to parent/guardians using the traditional reporting systems, but how teachers arrive at those final reported grades will be tracked differently for these content areas.  Be sure to ask your child's teacher about this as we move through the school year if you have questions!

    *  K-5 will also be working on creating a Skills for Life rubric that will allow us to track these essential learning skills separately from academic/content skills and report out to parents their student's progress in mastering these skills.  What we call Skills for Life are target skills and behaviors that are important for all students to have and exhibit to maximize their learning.  Students will be measured on the development of skills such as:  Preparation for Learning, Engagement with learning, and Communication with peers and adults to support their learning.  Our hope is to create the rubric this year, pilot it in the fourth quarter, and then revise as necessary to prepare for full utilization in the 2017-18 School Year.

    *  6-8 will be piloting with our teachers the tracking of student progress in several key content areas using Jumprope as well.  During the fourth quarter last year, grade 7 students in the content area of science piloted the use of Jumprope.  This pilot will continue at the 7th-grade level, again in the area of science, and then extend into 8th-grade science as well as some select 8th-grade world language and creative arts classes.  Other grade level and content area teachers may also experiment with the utilization of Jumprope, but those listed above will report out to parents using Jumprope and the parent portal for Jumprope will be open for parents to view their student's work for those courses.

    *  9-12 will also begin working to pilot the use of Jumprope.  This will be done with some selected 9th-grade teachers and content areas "behind the scenes".  Final student grades will still be reported to parent/guardians using the traditional reporting systems.

In addition to these areas of focus per grade level, all teachers in grades K-12 will be working to develop a system for tracking and reporting student progress on skills associated with the Guiding Principles, and developing strong assessments that are aligned to our Graduation Standards and Performance Indicators so that we can track student learning progress with fidelity.  Finally, teachers in grades K-12 will be working to coordinate all of our initial PBL work across grades K-12 to make sure our total system is completely aligned and flows together smoothly so that our students can graduate from Gorham High School prepared to successfully meet any challenge our complex world may throw at them!

We know that many parents may still not understand exactly what PBL is, or why the Gorham Schools has worked so hard over the past few years to create this new system to benefit our students.  Therefore, another major goal this year will be to engage parents, students and community members in conversations about our PBL work so that we can work together to improve both an awareness of what the work entails so that we can all better understand why it is so important for our children, and to promote continued support for the work at all levels.  We will be working to host informal sit-down conversations with parents at all grade levels on an every-other-month basis this year for this very purpose.  Additionally, we will work to incorporate PBL information into school level newsletters, blog posts, and news articles.  Finally, we will be working to create several "PBL Handbooks" that will be posted on our website.  Our hope is that through this multi-pronged communications approach, we might be able to provide the answers to many of the questions you have while simultaneously listening to your feedback and making sure we are staying true to our new mission, vision, and core beliefs as we continue this important work.

Finally, I wanted to remind all parents/guardians of our excellent volunteer program here in the Gorham School Department.  The Gorham Schools are well known for our robust volunteer programs where parents and community members are encouraged to actively participate in the educational processes of our schools in various ways.  Last year we had well over 2,000 hours donated to our schools by our awesome volunteers!  THANK YOU!  Each year we welcome new volunteers into our classrooms and work to align the specific skills of our volunteers with the needs of our students.  In order to continue to keep this program vibrant and strong, WE NEED YOU!  In order to make sure our students are safe, and that we are working to help meet the needs of all children through our volunteer programs, we also need you TO REGISTER.  This registration process is required for both short and longer-term commitments.  All of our forms can be found on the district website at http://www.gorhamschools.org/volunteer/ .    When parents/community members click on the link it will take you to the Gorham Schools Volunteer Program website where the process is outlined and the individual forms can be accessed.  The forms will be updated and accessible by August 22nd.  You may also inquire at your school's Principal's office for more information.

In closing, I would just like to share how proud I am to be your Superintendent of Schools here in Gorham.  If there is one thing I learned via my 250+ entry plan interviews conducted last year (my first year) with parents, staff, students, and community members, it is that our community strongly supports our schools and cares greatly about the success of our children - and that our schools care deeply about our community and its success as well.  Our students understand what a community truly means, mostly because our community models what it means for our students on a day in and day out basis.  Our students strive to live our Code of Conduct by demonstrating respect, honesty, courage, compassion, and responsibility because our community as a whole actually lives it!  I know I've only been here a year - but already - I am a Ram through and through!  I look forward to another great year this year!

Please do not hesitate to reach out to me with questions, comments, or concerns.  My email is heather.perry@gorhamschools.org and my office phone number is 222-1012.

GO RAMS!

Budget Validation Referendum Reminder

Just a friendly reminder to get out and vote on Tuesday!  And as always, if anyone has any questions about the proposed FY 17 school budget - PLEASE ASK!  My email address is heather.perry@gorhamschools.org and my office phone number is 222-1012.  Thank you!

End of Year ALREADY?

So I'm looking at my calendar the other day and I notice that today is May 23!  How did we get here so fast?  It seems like just yesterday I was starting my new job here in Gorham, which is now 11 months ago!  I guess the saying really is true that time sure does fly when you are having fun - and fun is what I've been having!  It has truly been a pleasure to have served this great school system and this great community for almost a year now.  Gorham is truly blessed to have such dedicated students, such incredibly talented staff, such caring parents, and such a supportive community!

Just recently, I was sent a copy of a video presentation done by a group of our Sophomores at GHS who had spent the year working with a group of Village Elementary School students on their reading skills through a program called Teen Trendsetters.  To me, watching this video exemplifies what I am talking about when I talk about our great dedicated students, staff, and community.  Check it out:  https://youtu.be/lCXfaxiyfVo

Of course, this video is just one example of MANY MANY MANY things that our students do for each other, and for our community.  Just a few weeks ago, I was walking to GHOP (Oh yes, I do LOVE GHOP) for a quick lunch and noticed groups of our high school students out and about all over the town cleaning up lawns, and doing other community service projects.  It is one of the things I truly love about this community.  You don't have to go very long to see evidence of our students in the community helping out or evidence of our community in our schools helping our children.  As just another quick example, I was at Great Falls Elementary School just a few weeks ago for their Career Day.  During this day, staff at Great Falls had worked to invite in many many local business people to set up shop in the cafeteria and the gymnasium to show off their careers and to talk to students about why they do what they do, and what they had to learn in order to be able to do it.  Students in grades K all the way up to 5 came through and were thoroughly engaged by our community members' stories!  I must have seen 100 or more newly deputized Gorham PD students walking around with their sticker badges!  It was awesome to watch and I was so thankful to have been a small part of it.

We have so many things to brag about in our schools like:

*  Gorham has been named one of the top 15 places to live in Maine with high rankings on School Excellence.
*  Our HS offers 45+ clubs and activities for students with strong performances from those who participate.  Our Girl's Gold Ball this year, and our Odyssey of the Mind champions and robotics champions are just to name a few!
*  96% of our graduating seniors went on to post secondary experiences last year - and its looking like we will match that number again this year!
*  Village Elem. School was one of just 4 schools to qualify across the state as a Blue Ribbon School this year.
*  GMS jazz band students won "gold" at their competition earlier this spring.
*  GMS students provided happy holidays to more than 20 local families.
*  Narragansett Elem. School won "gold" from Maine's 5-2-1-0 program exemplifying what it means to live a healthy lifestyle!
*  Great Falls Elem. students raised thousands of dollars for local food pantry in their "empty bowls" project work this past fall.

I could just keep going.  REALLY, I could!  In Gorham, we have what is known as the Code of Conduct that drives the culture of all 5 of our schools.  "The Code" as it is lovingly referred to by both students and staff describes the five core community values we hold that cut across all that we do here in our schools.  Those five values are:

1.  Respect
2.  Honesty
3.  Courage
4.  Compassion
5.  Responsibility
(You can read more about these by going to:  http://www.gorhamschools.org/core_documents/code_of_conduct )

Our students work hard to exemplify this code each and every day.  There are so many examples of this that again, I could go on for pages and pages, but I think one example comes to mind that really says it all about our Gorham students - and it's the example of one Great Falls student.  Here's a quick peek:

Doesn't that example just say it all about our students?

Over the course of the year, I have had so much fun being invited into classrooms to read, or to participate in assemblies, or to watch band concerts, or athletic events, etc.

My father always told me that if you want to get a true sense of a place, just get out there and walk around, introduce yourself, talk with people, share stories, etc.  He always gives the best advice.  I feel like I have definitely gotten a true sense of this place and it is good!  Have we had a few "bumps" in the road over the course of the year - sure, and I'm sure there will be more down the path - but overall I am proud to be a member of this community - serving its children every day!

Well enough of all that, I'm sure I'm "Preaching to the Choir" (another of my father's great sayings) and that you all already know what I'm trying to articulate here so I'll move on.

As the last school day quickly approaches, our schools are entering a "fever pitch" in trying to wrap up the year, get those last minute lessons in, and to celebrate all the great things that have happend in our schools.  Below is an overview of some of the exciting end of the year events we have planned here in the Gorham Schools.  Please know this is NOT an all-inclusive list as that would take many more pages to post!  As I said earlier, we've got some awesome students and some incredibly dedicated staff, and it seems they all like to show off their stuff at the end of the year because there are many more events happening in our schools than I can possibly list.  I would suggest strongly going to our website for each school to see a more comprehensive list of all the year events.  In the meantime, here are just a few:

*  Senior Internships - May 23 - June 3, 2016
*  5th Grade Elem. Field Day - June 3, 2016 at USM
*  K Elem. Field Day - June 6, 2016 at USM
*  Gr. 1 Elem. Field Day - June 7, 2016 at USM
*  Gr. 2 Elem. Field Day - June 8, 2016 at USM
*  Gr. 3 Elem. Field Day - June 9, 2016 at USM
*  Gr. 4 Elem. Field Day - June 10, 2016 at USM
*  Step up day for MS to HS - June 6, 2013
*  Step up day at Elem. to MS - June 13, 2016
*  8th grade Celebration - June 10, 2016
*  GHS Graduation - June 12, 2016
*  Last Day of School - June 14, 2016

Again, each school has all kinds of things happening, so please reach out to your school's office to get the most up to date information on what's happening!

Finally, before I close, I just wanted to make sure everyone was reminded to GET OUT AND VOTE on June 14, 2016.  On this day, our school's proposed FY 17 budget will need to be "validated" via public referendum.  It's important that as many people as possible get out to vote.  As we teach our students here in Gorham, our democracy is only as good as the individuals who participate in it!  So be sure to save the date on your calendar so you can be an active part of our local democracy!  I will be posting one more blog post in early June to review highlights of the budget one more time, and I will also be placing a one-page summary in the Gorham Times for the June 2nd issue so keep your eyes open for that.  Also, you can find a complete copy of our proposed FY 17 budget by clicking here:  http://www.gorhamschools.org/pbl/Proposed%20FY%2017%20School%20Budget.pdf

And as always, if you have any questions, please don't hesitate to reach out and ask!

Gorham Schools Proposed FY 17 Budget Summary

Gorham School Department
Proposed FY 17 Budget Summary

Before we get into the “dollars and cents” of the proposed FY 17 Budget, I felt it would be important to give everyone a sense of what the process to get to this point has been thus far so that you can see just how much time, dedication, and effort has been put in by the staff, by the leadership team, and by the School Committee to get to this proposed budget.

What’s Been Done:

What’s Left To Be Done:

·       September – November, 2015 – Reviewed and discussed budget dev. Timeline with School Committee (SC), Finance Committee, and District Leadership Team (DLT) ·       November, 2015 – SC and DLT “Dine and Discuss” event held and individual school and programs began budget development processes with their staff. ·       December, 2015 – Superintendent worked with DLT and SC Finance Committee to establish district budget priorities for FY 17.  School budgets were due to Superintendent Dec. 11 and Program Budgets were due Dec. 18. ·       January, 2016 – Superintendent met multiple times individually with each principal and program director to review budget requests line by line.  A Prioritized list of “new initiatives” was created with input from DLT. ·       February, 2016 – Superintendent created the 1st “Status Quo” * budget and the 1st “Superintendent’s Proposed Budget”.  Superintendent and DLT presented these proposed budgets to the SC on Feb. 22 and Feb. 29. ·       March, 2016 – Superintendent, DLT and School Committee met for THREE budget workshop meetings held on March 14, 21, and 30 to review the proposed budget and to make changes as necessary. *”status quo” budget is a budget developed to show what the approximate cost of operation of the schools would be in FY 17 to run the SAME programs as FY 16.  This budget is used as a reference point only.

·       April 13, 2016 – Final presentation of the Proposed FY 17 Budget will be made to the School Committee.  Public comment will be accepted.  School Committee will vote to accept the proposed FY 17 Budget (with or without changes). ·       May 17, 2016 – Budget Workshop between School Committee and Town Council to review proposed FY 17 budget and adjust as necessary. ·       June 7, 2016 – Town Council Meeting, public hearing on FY 17 Municipal Budget (including School Budget) and Town Council Vote to accept the proposed FY 17 Budget (with or without changes). ·       June 14, 2016 – Public School Budget Validation Referendum on FY 17 proposed School Budget.

As you can see from the chart outlined above, there’s been a lot of hard work that has gone into the development of this proposed budget thus far.  The process has involved many “ups” and “downs” during our conversations.  There have been lots of hard questions asked, and data shared, all with the ultimate goal of developing a budget that attempts to balance the needs of educating our growing student population, with the needs of the taxpayers who support our school system.

Below are some highlights of some of our budget conversations and where we wound up reducing costs, as well as adding costs in several ways.  I hope you can see that, with the exception of our CIPS request, many of the increases that were allowed to remain in the budget were offset with decreases.

Reductions Found in the FY 17 Proposed Budget (highlights only):

• Copy/Print Management (due to new contract)                          -$20,000.00
• Workers Compensation Costs (due to focus on prevention) -$50,188.00
• Unemployment Costs                                                                  -$13,405.00
• Retirement Stipends                                                                    -$25,128.00
• Jump Start Program Stipends                                                      -$8,000.00
• Professional Course Reimbursements                                         -$21,600.00
• Special Education Legal Lines                                                    -$14,786.00
• Out of District Placement Costs                                                  -$105,000.00
• Removal of Contingency                                                             -$60,000.00
• Gas/Diesel Costs                                                                         -$86,250.00
• Reduction of LP Gas                                                                   -$25,000.00
• Reduction of Bus Lease Costs                                                    -$35,940.00
• Reduction of WRVC and PATHS assessments -$5,928.00
• Reduction of Telephone and Computer Equipment                    -$16,000.00

Total Reductions                                                                            -$487,225.00

“Additions” Found in the FY 17 Proposed Budget (highlights only):

• Increased rate of Pay for Substitutes                                         +$44,789.00
• Transportation Office Clerical Asst. & PD days increase +$17,191.00
• Increased Central Office Support Staff (accountant) +$67,500.00
• Addition of .3 Elem. Music Teacher                                         +$21,000.00
• Addition of .6 Elem. Library/Media Specialist +$42,000.00
• Addition of K-5 Library Book Replacements                          +$4,000.00
• Purchase of Pilot Pro-Social Curriculum Gr. K-5                    +$5,000.00
• Addition of Part Time MS Athletic Trainer                             +$9,600.00
• Purchase of Chrome Books (35 as a pilot at K-5 level) +$9,000.00
• Phase II of Converting Ed. Tech. II’s to III’s                           +$8,500.00
• Change to Title II PD Funds & Positions                                +$8,079.00
• GHS New Software                                                                +$8,045.00
• GHS Textbooks (American Studies and Science)                    +$28,600.00
• Grades 3-5 “Making Meaning” Reading Curriculum              +17,889.00
• Addition of 1 3rd Gr. Teacher at Village (enrollment)             +$70,000.00
• Addition of 1 K Teacher at Great Falls (enrollment) +$70,000.00
• Increase in Capital Improvement Program (CIPS)                  +$560,000.00

Total Additions                                                                           +$991,193.00

Many of our overall reductions were made possible by good management techniques that were able to decrease our Worker’s Comp and Unemployment rates significantly.  Additionally, because we focus on improved health and wellness with our staff, our insurance rates were actually able to hold steady with a 0% increase.  Both of these major factors are saving our community tremendous amounts of potential employer related costs.

Our overall expenditure increases were mostly due to either the Capital Improvement Plan (CIPS) increase to address some much-needed capital renovations and maintenance for our buildings or they were due to our need to address our growing student populations.  The latter is a good problem to have as next year we will receive additional revenue for these students from the state through the EPS funding formula.

In summary, the proposed FY 17 Budget is $36,491,178.00, which represents an overall expenditure increase of $1,416,647.00 or 4.04%.

On the Revenue side (assuming an overall value increase of $10 million dollars), this proposed budget is expected to increase the mil by an additional .87 cents of 8.37% with a projected actual mil rate of 11.28.

If members of the public wish to voice your opinions on this proposed budget, we would encourage your attendance at either the April 13 School Committee meeting when the School Committee will be voting to approve the proposed budget, or you may also attend the planned June 7 Town Council Public hearing.  Also, the “final vote” will be made by the community as a whole during the planned June 14th Budget Validation Referendum.

That was a lot of information to share, without the benefit of all the background conversations that have gone into this budget, so I suspect you will have questions.  I know that members of our School Committee, and I are always open to questions and communications.  Please feel free to reach out to me via email at heather.perry@gorhamschools.org or to your individual School Committee Members.  You can find their contact information by going to our website:  www.gorhamschools.org.

We look forward to your future participation in these very important discussions.

THANK YOU!

Gorham Middle School 4th Quarter Proficiency Based Learning (PBL) Pilot

Good evening everyone!  It's been about a month since my last post so I thought I'd take a moment to share a little of what we have planned for 7th graders at Gorham Middle School for this upcoming 4th quarter.  During the 4th quarter we will be conducting a pilot of our Proficiency Based Learning (PBL) system with all 7th grade students in the content area of science.

Teachers across all content areas at GMS have been using our new Graduation standards, Performance Indicators, Learning Targets and Scoring Guides over the course of this whole school year in their classroom instruction, but this pilot is taking our work up to a whole other level in trying to put all the moving parts together into a cohesive unit!

OK, let's pause for a key terms explanation:

*  Proficiency Based Learning - A system of learning whereby students must demonstrate skills and knowledge based upon the attainment of specific rigorous standards of learning.

*  Graduation Standards - The "next to the largest" sized components of a proficiency based system.  There are usually 3-8 graduation standards for each content area.  These are what must be met in order to graduate from a proficiency based learning system.

*  Performance Indicators - The "medium" sized components of a proficiency based system.  There are approximately 4-6 indicators by grade/grade span or course/learning experience for each content area standard that move students toward the achievement of graduation standards.

*  Learning Targets - The "smallest" components of a proficiency based system.  These are the learning objectives that guide the design of curriculum units of study that move students toward the achievement of Performance Indicators.

*  Scoring Guides - These are also sometimes referred to as "rubrics".  They communicate expectations of quality around a particular task or skill attainment.  In Gorham, we use what are called "I CAN" Statements.  For example, if a performance indicator states that a student will use "algebraic concepts to solve complex math problems, then the Scoring Guide might be something like a "3" or "meets" means that "I can identify an unknown variable and create an algebraic equation to solve for that unknown."

All of these together might look something like this:

Gorham Middle School Science Scoring Criteria - 7th Grade
Graduation Standard 1: Stability and Change: Explain how stability and change shape engineered or natural systems.
Performance Indicators	1	2	3	4
7.1A Construct an argument supported by empirical evidence that changes to physical or biological components of an ecosystem affect populations (MS-LS2-4).	I can identify parts of an ecosystem	I can show the relationship between the physical and biological components of an ecosystem	I can construct an argument supported by empirical evidence that changes to physical or biological components of an ecosystem affect populations.	I can evaluate specific changes to and ecosystem and predict the effects it would have on a population.

For this pilot, we will be assessing students toward meeting these performance indicators, and tracking student learning towards standards using our new standards-based grading software called "Jumprope".

Before I get too far into the details, let me take a moment to step back and help everyone to understand why we are piloting at the 7th-grade level and where this work fits in with the "grand plan" moving forward with our PBL implementation.

The Gorham School System has been working to create a proficiency-based system of learning for several years now.  We believe that engagement and student achievement improve when the components of a proficiency-based learning (PBL) system are in place across all grades and content areas.  Those components are:  clear learning targets and performance indicators, aligned instruction and assessments, timely interventions, and grading/reporting that reflects this learning.

Parallel to this work, the state of Maine passed legislation requiring that the class of 2018 graduate from all public schools with a PBL diploma.  Gorham applied for an extension that would require the class of 2021 (our current 7th grade) to be the first class to graduate from our system with a PBL diploma.

The major reason we are piloting with this class is that we believe it is important to pilot our PBL system before the current 7th grade gets to the high school, which is when our system must be fully operational for our students.

Change is most definitely a process and NOT a single event, hence the reason for this pilot with this grade and in this content area.  We are trying to see how our system will work in enough of a "closed system" to identify what works well, and where our challenges are so that we can continue to support our strengths and focus our attention on improving our challenges.  Our hope is that by the time this current 7th grade class moves into the 9th grade, our PBL system will be strong, and better able to prepare ALL our students for success in the complex world that awaits them!  That is a goal, we all most definitely share!

During this pilot, students and parents will be able to access their grades via Jumprope, our new standards-based reporting software.  Within Jumprope, students will still get a composite score on all performance in science.  A "composite score" is like a "final grade" in the content area of science, but it is made up of the student's performance in all Performance Indicators contained within the content area.  All grades for all performance indicators will be reported out using  a 4 point scale where a range of scores between 2.5 - 3 will mean that the student has met proficiency.  Parents will be able to see how composite scores are constructed.  Our hope is that students and parents will have a clearer understanding of learning goals and what actions they need to take to acquire understanding.  As an example, a student learning report in Jumprope might look something like this:

Additionally, student scores will reflect their academic performance and not include their performance on "Skills for Life" which will be reported separately.  "Skills for Life" are things like being prepared for class, turning in work on time, and using class time effectively, etc.  These are important skills, so rather than mixing them up with content area skills, we will instruct these, and report out on student learning in these areas separately.

Our plan will be to spend time during this fourth quarter to train students in how to use Jumprope so that they, in turn, can teach parents how to use the system.  "Welcome" messages to open the parent portal will be sent out to student email accounts for all 7th grade students later this week.   We will then send another message to all 7th grade parents letting them know that this information was sent and that their students have the email that will allow them to login.  Parents who have difficulty, or whose student might have misplaced the email can call the office and we will assist to make sure all parents can access the portal.

Well, this blog post is long enough. .. but before I go - I just want to give a quick glimpse into how this pilot fits into the other work that is going on across all grades to create our PBL system.  This year, K-5 teachers have been tracking student learning in Jumprope for ELA and Math; next year, student learning will be tracked in science, social studies, and the creative arts as well, but still reported out to parents using IC.  This year, 7th grade science teachers will use Jumprope to track and report student learning progress during teh 4th quarter.  Based on the results of this pilot, we will then determine the next steps for a larger pilot at GMS next year, as well as a small pilot with 9th grade at GHS for next year.  Then, during the following year, we would "phase in" our full PBL system, complete with Jumprope reporting, across all 9th grade GHS courses and then continue to phase in through the high school as these students move up through the system.  Eventually, all grades K-12 will fully implement our PBL system and be asked to utilize Jumprope to track student learning and to report that learning to students and parents.

During the course of this summer and the next school year our Grades 6-12 Grading and Reporting Committees will continue to work in order to finalize recommendations for full implementation of our PBL system.  Decisions will need to be made in the following key areas:  1)  Final Skills for Life Rubrics 2)  Grading scales and associated implications for things like honor roll, athletic eligibility, class rank, etc. 3) GHS Transcripts and Profiles that will be sent to post secondary institutions, and 4)  Guiding Principles rubrics.

All through this work, we will continue to emphasize parent communication and engagement.  As always, if you have any questions about our PBL implementation, please reach out to your child's teachers, principal, or even myself!  We are all very interested in helping to answer your important questions!

That's it for tonight (and isn't that enough. . . phew!).  My next post will be an in depth review of the proposed FY 17 Gorham School budget and information on how you can get involved in the budget approval process if you are interested!

THANK YOU!