March 4 Blog Post

Its been a great week back from the February break in the Gorham Schools!  Lots happening for sure...so we'll get right to it.  But before we get to the information...just want to start with my usual "snapshot" of our students and staff doing what they do best - Having fun while learning!

Now on to the important information!

MASKING UPDATE 

There has certainly been a flurry of information the past week on this front, so I thought it would be important to put it all in one place for families to be able to reference and understand.

On Wednesday 3/2 Governor Mills and the Maine CDC announced that they will be adjusting their recommendations and SOP for public schools to allow for optional masking.  Their start date to lift the recommendation was Wednesday, March 9.

On Thursday, 3/3 the Gorham School Committee met in an Emergency Special meeting to discuss moving that date up to Monday, March 7 in order to be more realistic in implementation of the change at the beginning of a school week vs. the middle of one.  Given that data wouldn't change significantly in that 48 hour time frame, this would be a more common sense approach for our school system since no other significant changes would need to be made.  The School Committee voted unanimously to move the initiation date for masking optional to Monday, March 7 for this reason.

Bottom line:  Our schools will move to optional masking for all school related indoor activities (including school buses) on Monday, March 7 in continued alignment with Maine CDC recommendations.

Over this same time frame, our school leaders and our school staff have been working to ensure a smooth transition from required masking to optional masking.  We have been spending time talking with our staff and students about the importance of making sure that individual choices in this matter are fully respected and encouraged.  It is ESSENTIAL that we view this as an individual decision.  Everyone will be supported, no matter what decision that they make.  

It is also important to note that our messaging is making it clear that there will be no tolerance for making comments or poking fun at anyone that chooses to still wear a mask.  It would be most helpful if you could help with this messaging as parents as well.  Everyone has their own reasons for their decision.  Some may choose to wear a mask for comfort and protection, some may choose to wear a mask to help keep their faces warm, some may choose to wear a mask in order to help individuals in their family who may have compromised immune systems.  It is not anyone's place to ask questions or make assumptions about these choices.  

As a school system we continue to focus on making sure that every child and every staff member is supported in the decision to either wear a mask or not to wear a mask.  Our Code of Conduct teaches us to be respectful, responsible and courageous and we will continue to honor our Code of Conduct through our actions moving forward.  It is time to celebrate the fact that we are at this point where this kind of a change can safely occur in our schools and we look forward to moving our focus from Pandemic to Endemic over the course of the next several months.

As usual, have gotten some questions already from families.  I thought it might be helpful to share some of those questions (with answers even) with all of you in case you are wondering similar things.  You can view the Q&A sheet by CLICKING HERE.

In closing, I would be remiss if I did not take this opportunity to point out the 2+ years of hard work and dedication it has taken us to get to this point TOGETHER.  We have been through so much, and that hard work is now beginning to pay off.  COVID 19 is not "done with us" by any stretch, but it is clear that we are moving from the Pandemic phase of this work to the Endemic phase.  In order to help us stay here, we all have a great responsibility to do our best to follow all the other safety precautions that help to keep COVID 19 at bay.  As a reminder, those are:

*  Continue your daily health screening routines.  If Sick - STAY HOME.

*  If experiencing symptoms, test.  

*  If you test positive for COVID 19, report to the School Nurse so she is aware and can help guide you regarding specific protocols.  Isolate for at least 5 days.  If asymptomatic on day 6, return to school is possible but A MASK IS REQUIRED to be worn on days 6-10.

*  Wash/Sanitize those hands frequently.

*  Maintain physical distancing of 3 ft to the extent possible.

*  Strongly consider getting vaccinated/boosted if you haven't already done so.

By continuing to work together we will ensure continued forward progress - I have no doubt! GO RAMS!

P.S. - There is A LOT of work to do to go back through all of our handbooks and other online resource materials to make sure they are updated with these changes.  This work will be ongoing over the course of the next several weeks, so please if you have questions email or call your building principals and I'm very sure they can help you in answering them.  THANK YOU!

CONTINUED 2022-23 SCHOOL CALENDAR CONVERSATIONS

As outlined in my last blog, I wanted to make sure folks are aware that we are continuing to have conversations regarding our proposed 2022-23 School Year Calendar.  The biggest item being discussed right now is an initial proposal to move to Early Release Days every week next year.  I'm not going to repeat all of what I wrote in my last blog here, but you can go back and look at that post if you need a refresher.  Bottom line is that this is an initial proposal only and I expect that through continued dialogue, we will find an appropriate balance between meeting the additional PD needs of our staff while also honoring the incredibly stressful work schedules many of our parents must juggle.

All that being said, I wanted to make sure you all had a solid understanding of timeline and process.

The School Committee will meet again on Wed. March 9 at 7:00 p.m. in council chambers to continue discussion.  NO DECISION will be made on that night.  However, it is a perfect opportunity for folks (if interested) to come out and share your thoughts with the School Committee.  There will be a public comment section at the beginning of the agenda for this purpose.  If you can't make the meeting, I would encourage folks to send a respectful email outlining your thoughts and ideas to Anne Schools, (SC chair) and then cc other School Committee members and myself.  School Committee email addresses can be found on the district website or you can CLICK HERE for the direct link.  

We have conducted a study of Cumberland County school systems to determine what they do for Early Release or Late Start days and will be presenting that on Wed. Night.  I thought folks might also find that information interesting, so you can CLICK HERE to view.

Additionally, we will present a more thorough overview of what this additional time might be used for, where our focus points would be and how we would measure success.  Again, thought folks might be interested, so you can view that information by CLICKING HERE.

After this meeting, we plan on spending another chunk of time on this discussion at our March 23 Workshop meeting.  Again, no decision will be made at this meeting, but additional information will be shared and questions asked. Then the plan would be to bring the item back to the April 13 regular meeting agenda for final decision making.  The March 23 meeting will be at 7:00 p.m. in the upstairs conference room at the Municipal center and the April 13 meeting will be at 7:00 in council chambers.  The March 23 meeting will not be live streamed but both the March 9 and April 13 meetings will be using the town's website (CLICK HERE for quick link).

Bottom line, we are still very early in the conversation and learning phase of this topic, but I am sure that through continued open and respectful dialogue we will find the right balance to meet the needs of our staff and our families moving forward.  I'll continue to keep folks updated and will most definitely share the final approved calendar after our April 13 meeting as I know many of you are "itching" to know those dates for next year! ☺

FINAL CHA GORHAM FACILITIES REPORT

I had mentioned this important work a while back, but wanted to follow up with the completed report that folks can view if you are interested.  As a quick re-cap the Town of Gorham and the Gorham School Department hired CHA (a state Architectural Firm) to conduct a long range facilities plan in November of 2020.  The Town recognized the need to prepare a long- range facility plan to be used as a planning tool for the Town Council and the citizens of Gorham in evaluating options for growth at Town owned buildings. The completed report draws conclusions and make recommendations. Only the residents of Gorham can determine the final solutions and decisions. This study prepares an analysis of existing conditions, organizational concepts, population and school enrollment projections, and education visions for school organizations. This report recommends that the Town embark in a series of public workshops to begin the dialogue and help the Town establish priorities for tackling overcrowded and outdated facilities as well as opportunities. The Town inevitably will have to make major investments with local or state funding to renovate, expand, or construct new schools and municipal facilities. 

You can view the full and final report by CLICKING HERE.

The topic of capital facilities needs across our community is going to continue to be a large topic in the community of Gorham as we grow.  It is a relatively lengthy report, but worth the read!

Next steps will be for the Town Council and School Committees to establish a timeline of joint meetings and joint work to do exactly what is recommended above.  To engage our community in establishing priorities for tackling overcrowded and outdated facilities as well as to address the various opportunities these discussions can present.  Once those priorities are established together, we will then work collaboratively to make them a reality for our community over time.

The next Joint meetings of the Town Council Facilities Committee and the School Department Facilities Committee will take place on Monday, March 7, 2022 at 6:30 p.m. in the downstairs conference room of the municipal building.  A full agenda can be found on the Town's website.

ASPIRE GORHAM

It has been a while since I have updated people on this important work so I thought it might be nice to take a moment or two to do that very thing!

This community-wide initiative encourages students in every grade, in every Gorham school, to think about their futures.  Collaborating with businesses and community organizations in and around Gorham, the Aspire Gorham team is connecting students to professionals in order to ensure meaningful real-world learning opportunities are at the center of our curriculum for students.  We do this through a focus on THREE key elements:

EXPOSURE:  Building future-ready skills and inspiring students.

This foundational state of Aspire Gorham provides introductory career-related opportunities that incorporate dramatic play, experiential learning, time for discussion, parent engagement, and development of future-ready skills that foster children's aspirational strengths and interests.

EXPLORATION:  Supporting students to explore their strengths and interests.

Deepening the career exposure that occurs in early childhood and elementary education, this stage encourages students to actively "try it" and explore many different careers and skills, without fear of failure.  Students continue to focus on the development of future-ready skills through ongoing exposure to and engagement with their community.

EXPERIENCE:  Empowering students to craft their future stories.

Building upon the foundations of career exposure and exploration, students partner with teachers and community mentors to pursue authentic career experiences that are directly tied to future goals and are located in the community.  Students also actively engage in career exposure and exploration activities as they refine their skills and take steps towards realizing their aspirations.

For this year's work we've established FOUR key goals:

We've done incredible work in this initiative so wanted to just provide a brief overview of the work done thus far towards accomplishment of these goals:

Goal #1:  

* We have created written and video resources to all staff K-12 via google classroom platform.

*. We have provided a short presentation to each school's staff about Aspire Gorham and provided access and training on use of google classroom materials.

*. We have created a business panel (Thank you Shawn Moody, David Willis, Marti Allen, and Lisa Shaw for participating) that has visited one staff meeting at each school to talk about partnerships and the importance of connections between our school and business community.

Goal #2:  

*. We have worked with leaders at WRVC and PATHS to solicit input and find meaningful ways to celebrate and promote our CTE programs and students.

*. We've strengthened our semester long workplace learning experience program at GHS.

*. We have started a new Tech Start program for GMS 8th graders.

*. We have written grants to support the establishment of pre apprenticeship and apprenticeship experiences for our students.

*. We continue to lean heavily on our steering committee for their incredible guidance and vision.

Goal #3:

*. We've created a way to follow up with graduating seniors and track their success in order to collect meaningful data.

*. We have begun a process of annual meetings with GHS graduates in a focus group setting in order to collect data on success.

*. We have presented and analyzed annual Aspire Gorham data to determine areas of success and areas of challenge moving forward.

Goal #4:

* We have created the Little Rams Early Learning Project to develop a community wide vision for early learning in Gorham ages birth - 5.

*. This team has analyzed data and created partnerships with local childcare partners to build meaningful and trusting relationships upon which future work can be built.

*. We continue to sponsor the incredible work of the "Little Learners" program in partnership with Baxter Memorial Library.

This of course is not everything we have done so far this year, but it is a nice overview.  I hope it allows you to see into the objectives of this important work a bit more clearly.  I would most definitely welcome additional questions if you have any - just reach out!  heather.perry@gorhamschools.org

In the meantime, please enjoy the most recent March, 2022 Aspire Gorham Newsletter spotlighting so many of our incredible students and their "future story journeys"! 

WINTER SPORTS REVIEW

Basketball-Girls basketball won the Class AA South Regional Championship over Scarborough Saturday night. The girls will play in the state championship game on Saturday night vs. Cheverus at 7:00pm.  Anna Nelson was named Red McMann Outstanding Player, the Ms. Basketball semifinalist honrs, and received, along with Elijah Wyatt, the Maine McDonald’s Academic recognition award.

Skiing-the girls Alpine Ski team finished 16th of 24 teams and the boys finished 11th of 21 teams. The girls were awarded the Sportsmanship Award!

Indoor Track-The boys team finished 5th in State Championship meet highlighted by Andrew Farr winning the state championship in the 400 Meter Dash and setting a new state record as well as winning the 200 meter dash. The girls finished as the Class-A runner up—highlighted by state championships by Alyvia Caruso I the 55 Hurdles, Emma Green in the High Jump, and the 4x200 relay team of Maddie Michaud, Ashley Connolly, Emma Green, and Sydney Connolly who won the state championship with a new state record time.

Ice Hockey—the boys team is the 7th seed in the Class B South Play-offs. The girls team was awarded MPA Sportsmanship Award!

Swimming—Boys swimming finished 9th and girls finished 11th at the state championships!

We are congratulate all of our athletes for a job well done!

UPCOMING GMS MUSICAL

The Emperor's New Clothes will be presented by Gorham Middle School Students on Friday March 11 at 7:00 p.m., Saturday, March 12 at 7:00 p.m. and again on Sunday, March 13 at 2:00 p.m.  Tickets are $5.00 at the door.

I've seen rehearsals...it is going to be good! Check out the flyer below for more details:

UNIFIED BASKETBALL 

The last game of the GHS unified team's schedule will be next week Wednesday at 3:30 pm at GHS.  

Gorham Middle School will be starting their own Unified team this year with their home games coming up at GMS on March 10 and March 24 at 3:30 p.m.

If you have a moment, you should most definitely check these games out...we are so very proud of our unified athletes!  GO RAMS!

Maine Department of Education Resources on Helping Young People Safely Navigate the Internet 

The information below is shared from the Maine Department of Education as an incredible resource I wanted to remind parents about!

Maine DOE Offers Parents, Educators, and Students Free Resources By Grade Level 

Augusta, ME—During his State of the Union address this week, President Biden called for increased measures to ensure young people are protected on the internet and while using social media. The Maine Department of Education offers parents, educators, and students a number of free resources, by grade level, to help young people safely navigate the internet and avoid dangers that can impact their physical and mental health.  

The Maine Department of Education’s comprehensive web-based social emotional learning resource SEL4ME embeds specific lessons in interest safety at every grade level. For example, the second grade module Be Fine Online helps students learn ways to stay safe when online, including the importance of never revealing their personal information; sixth graders have lesson like Be Aware What You Share in which they gain a deeper understanding of internet safety and social media and on cyberbullying; the eighth grade lesson User Beware: The Scary Side of the Internet helps students understand that not everything on the internet is safe, including how to spot online predators and the dangers of sexting; and in 11th grade, students have access to Cyber Bullying and Digital Citizenship which goes into the effects of online bullying and the virtual footprint that can follow them into the work place.   

SEL4ME is free to all Maine schools, families, and community partners and offers more than 450 PreK-12th grade learning modules. Each grade level hosts lessons within the five key elements of social emotional learning (SEL): self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationships, and responsible decision making. Educators, families, and students can learn more and sign up here.  

The Maine Department of Education’s Digital Learning Specialists, in partnership with the MLTI Ambassadors, also provide professional learning, resources, and support for digital citizenship, social media use, online safety, and cyber security. MLTI also partners with Common Sense Education to share digital citizenship and online safety resources with educators. Educators can also reach out to specialists directly to explore ways to integrate these skillsets into their instruction to help students stay safe online.  

“The internet is a tremendous resource for students to explore and activate their passions, develop skills and knowledge, build connections, and expand their digital literacy, and Maine educators and schools are constantly integrating technology into teaching and learning in innovative ways,” said Education Commissioner Pender Makin. “We’re also committed to making sure students have the tools and resources they need to navigate the internet safely and avoid the very real dangers that President Biden outlined in his State of the Union speech that pose a threat to the physical and mental health of our young people. We encourage educators and families to take advantage of our free resources.” 

RESOURCES FOR TALKING WITH YOUR CHILDREN ABOUT UKRAINE

With all that is happening in the world right now, I thought there might be some families looking for resources to help talk with their students about what is happening in the Ukraine right now.

*. The Best Teaching & Learning about the Russia/Ukraine Conflict - Culmination of Resources From Educational Blogger Larry Ferlazzo

*. Your Kids are Hearing About the Ukraine, Here's How To Help Them Understand - Washington Post

*. How to Talk to Kids About the Ukraine Invasion - PBS Kids

*. How to Talk to Kids About Ukraine - NY Times

UPCOMING PIHCINTU CONCERT

A concert happening right here in Gorham of the Maine Multicultural Girl's Choir.  Check out flyer below for details if Interested!

Well that is it for this post.  I'll blog again on March 18!  Have a great weekend everyone!

 

Feb. 18 Blog Update

Happy Friday to everyone and best wishes for a positive beginning to your February breaks!  By the time we return, February will be pretty much a thing of the past and we'll be quickly on to March already!  The School year is certainly flying by and even with our challenges, we certainly have much to celebrate!  As usual, I'll begin this blog with a "snapshot" of our students doing what they do best - learning!  And oh, by the way - having fun while doing it!

These nine photos each blog post are truly just a snapshot of what occurs in our schools daily.  I remain so very proud to walk through our schools and to see the incredible learning that is going on in our classrooms.  I look forward to continuing my walk-abouts after the February break!  Now on to the information update...

ONGOING 2022-2023 SCHOOL CALENDAR DISCUSSIONS

I've seen some recent "chatter" in social media land regarding our initial (and still very much ongoing) discussions about the 2022-23 school calendar.  The first draft of the calendar was presented to the School Committee on Wed. night, 2/16 for their very first look to begin our annual discussions.  What is likely getting folks' attention this year a bit more than in years past is that our first draft calendar is requesting that we move to having Early Release Days each Wednesday throughout the School Year.  This request would move us from our current 8 Early Release days that are typical each year to a new number of 36 Early Release Days. 

The biggest reason for this initial request is NOT THE SAME as why we have requested additional early release days this school year.  This school year was all about substitute coverage and basically just working to make the school year manageable for our teachers.  Due to our incredible community members stepping up to the plate, we have worked hard to resolve this issue (at least for now) and have moved from what was just 25 substitutes on our roles to now a new of 88 substitutes.  An incredible job for sure, and we thank our new substitutes for helping us to begin to lift a significant burden from the plates of our teachers!

The reason for the early release request for THIS COMING YEAR is NOT about substitutes.  Instead, it is about the need for PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT TIME for our teachers in areas (to be frank) that we have had to neglect a bit in order to simply be present for our students during this most difficult school year.  

If there is one thing we have learned throughout the Pandemic it is that we need time with teachers to train them if we are going to ask them to do things differently.  We can’t ask them to “do more” without finding a way to “increase time” to do it.  For this coming year, we are greatly concerned about our ability to do all that will be asked of us, again, without additional time for our school and district leaders to work with staff in real time.  We will continue to experience the following challenges in the coming year:

* Addressing academic learning gaps of students created by the Pandemic.

* Significant increase in mental health and SEL (Social/Emotional Learning) needs of students created by Pandemic. We need to continue to increase the capacity of our staff to work with students through aspects of Trauma Informed Teaching and Learning, as well as Restorative Practices.  This requires significant and ongoing professional development opportunities and time for staff.  This will begin to expand Tier 1 Social Emotional interventions made possible by regular ed staff members in an effort to lighten or “diffuse” the increased needs of students that is currently landing on our affective services support staff at each school such as social workers, school counselors and other support services providers.

* Significant increase in mental health and SEL (Social/Emotional Learning) needs of staff created by the Pandemic.  We need to address concerns related to “the Great Resignations'' that we see beginning to happen across schools even right here in Gorham by:

- Making the job more “doable” for our teachers

- Providing more support to our youngest teachers by bolstering our induction and retention programs.

- Providing time for us to support our support staff - i.e. training time needed for learning facilitator program, training time needed to onboard new bus drivers, etc.

* All this while still also trying to push our district forward in other important areas such as:

- DEI (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion) work (training, curriculum review, implementation of new practices, etc.)

- SEL (Social/Emotional Learning)work (training and assessment of effectiveness of programs using data).

- Aspire Gorham (continued emphasis on embedding programs into existing curriculum, coordination of programming, strengthening “out of school” or extended learning opportunities (ELO’s), and strengthening partnerships for things like apprentice programs, internship programs, etc. with a focus on ensuring all students K-12 have embedded "real world" learning experiences into their regular learning.

All of this work takes time, precious, precious time.  We can’t add days to the calendar without significant financial impact so we must get this additional work done within our existing calendar.  The only real way to do that is to add additional early release days.

Now, will we wind up with a school calendar that has an early release day each Wednesday? Perhaps, but perhaps not. We are still very early in our discussions which will include administration presenting additional details and information to the School Committee and the School Committee asking lots and lots of additional questions and ultimately deciding upon what is that best balance moving forward.

I hope you have heard the word "balance" before. It is an important word that we have been focused on here in Gorham as we have worked through the past two years of a global Pandemic TOGETHER. We know and understand the burden that early release days or other non-school days place upon our families. We also understand that when we have early release days that that reduces overall instruction time for students. What we seek when we consider these changes is to find that all important BALANCE between minimizing these potential negative impacts while maximizing the potential positive impacts. Yes, for each early release day there is a reduction of about 2 hours of instruction time. HOWEVER, there is also an increase of 2 hours of professional development time for teachers that we use to strengthen our overall practices and to focus in on better meeting the needs of our children. Yes, we want our children's needs met, and we want to move our schools forward to be the best possible schools they can be to support our children but we can't do that without our incredibly talented staff feeling confident in what they are doing or honoring the time they need to learn new skills to help make these moves.

I have full faith that with continued conversation about our proposed calendar for 2022-23 we will wind up with that correct balance for our community. The School Committee will be meeting again to discuss the 2022-23 School Calendar at their March 9 regular meeting. I would encourage folks to please feel free to share your thoughts and opinions with me, or with School Committee members via email and/or to come to the meeting on March 9 to share your thoughts during public comment. The Gorham School Committee ALWAYS welcomes the thoughts and ideas from our community. It is the sharing of these thoughts/ideas that make us the strong community that we are!

My email address is: heather.perry@gorhamschools.org. You can find our School Committee member's email addresses on our website or by CLICKING HERE. Please address emails to the School Committee to School Committee Chair, Anne Schools and know that although you may only get a response from one of us, all School Committee members read your emails.

THANK YOU!

RECENT ANNOUNCEMENTS FROM MAINE CDC RE: SOP, TESTING, & MASKING

On Tuesday, Feb. 16, 2022 the Dr. Shah and the Maine CDC announced an initial change in our SOP that may likely pave the path towards optional masking by mid March. As you are likely aware, the conversation about masking has once again heated up across our country. Recently some New England states have moved from mandatory masking policies to recommended masking policies. Some states such as Vermont are looking to make masking optional based upon specific metrics such as community vaccination rates or case rates while others are simply looking to drop the mandate and make masking optional without any additional requirements. These decisions are being made state by state and Maine is no different than others in wrestling with this difficult question.

On that same day (Feb. 16) Dr. Shah met with Superintendents from across the state to share information and to hear from us what we are seeing on the ground and what our ideas are for moving forward. Dr. Shah was very receptive and open to these discussions. At the conclusion of the meeting, The Maine CDC announced it would release guidance around mask wearing in schools.

The following guidance was discussed, and it was determined that required masking in schools will be in place for at least a week following the end of February break. The guidance says:

 

1. Maine CDC is expanding access and encouraging all families to take advantage of the free test kits that are available to Maine families. Testing before returning to school after the vacation is recommended. Further information on how to get testing kits mailed to homes will be provided.
2. Contact tracing will be uncoupled from universal masking in the SOP. The SOP document will make it clear that while schools can opt to continue contact tracing, they are no longer required to, regardless of mask wearing policies.
3. Masking will remain a requirement in the SOP for any positive cases of COVID-19 returning to school/work in the 5-10 day window after confirmed diagnosis or symptom onset.
4. Maine CDC is carefully monitoring federal CDC’s words on making changes to masking recommendations for school settings. In the event that there are no changes next week, and if there is a continued positive trend related to COVID case counts in Maine, CDC will begin Maine specific conversations that could establish plans for moving toward a masking optional recommendation for schools.
5. It should be noted that the federal transportation requirement for masks is currently in effect until March 18, including for school buses. Any changes to this timeline would have to come from federal CDC.
6. At this time, pooled testing will continue to be supported by the state.

You can get your free test kits by CLICKING HERE (and yes, this one works - I tried it)!

So What does all this mean?  Let me break it down for you...

FIRST - the Maine CDC continues to follow the federal CDC to recommend masking remain in place in public schools, at least until after the February break.  At that time, during the first and second week in March the Maine CDC will be tracking the data and meeting with School Superintendents.  As long as data indicates it is safe to do so they will likely make a recommendation to allow schools to move to optional masking by the mid part of March. 

TO BE CLEAR - THE GORHAM SCHOOLS WILL CONTINUE TO FOLLOW MAINE CDC RECOMMENDATIONS FOR UNIVERSAL MASKING UNTIL SUCH A TIME AS THEY CHANGE THOSE RECOMMENDATIONS THROUGH THE SOP.  I know it's been a long two years, but we have followed these recommendations from the beginning and it has served us well so we will continue to do so.  I fully expect the Maine CDC to adjust the SOP sometime in mid March based on data.

SECOND - it is important to note that they will be tracking data to help make this determination.  If you want to do something to help make sure this change can occur, I'd STRONGLY ENCOURAGE YOU to reach out to the free testing site or use other resources available to you to test your students on Saturday or Sunday before they return to school on Monday.  There will be lots of opportunities for exposures to take place over the February break, and the more we can keep these potential exposures from spreading when school reopens after the break the better our data will look!  So once again, we'd strongly encourage folks to use a home test kit to test children before returning to school on Feb. 28.

THIRD - Assuming data looks good and the Maine CDC adjusts its SOP to make masking optional in our schools by mid March, we will need to have a School Committee meeting to make that final determination.  We will be prepared to hold a special meeting if necessary to make that adjustment as quickly as possible.  The Gorham School Department has always followed Maine CDC recommendations, so if those recommendations change, we will act quickly to align practices to the adjusted SOP.

FOURTH - Just because masking MAY become optional by the end of March does not mean our schools will drop all other safety protocols.  Our main goal has been and will continue to be ensuring the safety of our students.  As has been the case from the beginning, we have utilized a layered safety approach and we will continue to do so.  IF/When this change occurs, masking will still be optional so that anyone that wishes to wear a mask may do so without fear of ridicule.  Our Code of Conduct will be followed.  We will also continue to emphasize hand sanitization/washing protocols.  We will continue to ensure our air exchange and ventilation systems across our buildings meets requirements set by the state.  We will continue to encourage physical distancing when possible, we will continue to utilize air purification systems in our cafeterias and we will continue to encourage outdoor learning experiences whenever Maine's weather permits.

OVERALL - We realize that whatever happens after the break, whether the Maine CDC moves to optional masking or not - there will be folks that are "happy" about that and folks that are perhaps even a little "fearful" about that.  This has been a long two years with emotions running high in all kinds of directions.  With a significant potential change on the horizon, it is normal to feel all kinds of emotions.  I would urge people to step back and pause.  To think about how we have navigated these difficult times TOGETHER since March of 2020.  Since that time we have followed Maine CDC recommendations.  We have worked to ensure a layered strategy is in place to make sure our community and our children are safe.  We will continue to do so.  Two years ago we didn't have vaccinations.  We didn't have widespread access to testing.  We were just learning about the importance of physical distancing and proper air ventilation.  We now have far more tools to keep our children and our community safe than we ever have and if the Maine CDC makes a move to making masking optional in our schools after the February break, those tools will still exist.

We would encourage continued patience and vigilance as we move closer towards making this Pandemic an Endemic here in Maine.  We will continue to keep you informed every step of the way as new information comes out and, as always, encourage you to reach out with your questions directly.

LEAD WATER TESTING RESULTS FOR OUR SCHOOLS

Over the past few weeks you have gotten individual email messages from me regarding lead water testing results in our schools.  The State of Maine now requires that all schools in Maine test their water annually for lead and report said results to the public.  At this time, we have received back all first round testing results for our schools and have communicated those to you directly.  These results include clearly outlined action steps and timelines for mitigation strategies if any of our results were higher than the state benchmark.  

You can find all testing results with these outlined plans on our district website.  Please go to www.gorhamschools.org and then scroll down under news and announcements to the link with our Lead Testing results.  Click there and you can view all information for all five schools.  We will keep this information updated as some of our schools will require additional rounds of testing.

If you have questions, please do not hesitate to reach out to our Facilities Director, Norm Justice at norm.justice@gorhamschools.org

READ ACROSS AMERICA DAY

Read Across America day will be upon us after the break.  This year it falls on Wed. March 2, 2022.  Many of our schools will be celebrating the joys of reading throughout the whole week and we encourage our families to do the same!  What can you do as a parent to add to the fun?  Here are some ideas from some parenting sites across the internet:

*. Parenting nest.com ideas

*. Pintrest ideas

*. Sign up Genius Ideas

Parents can check out the Read Across America Website by CLICKING HERE.  And you can check out our Diverse Books Read Aloud Classroom space created by our very own teachers for some ideas on Diverse book selections too by CLICKING HERE.  

Whatever you do, big or small...the point of this day is to just have fun reading!  So, whatever you do - make it fun and have a great time with your children and books - and know we'll be doing the same in our schools!

ASPIRE GORHAM NEWSLETTER

Our Aspire Gorham Newsletter is ready to view!  Check it out!  Lots of great information and some details on our Baxter Library partnership called our "Little Learners" project.  Bet you didn't know we partnered with Baxter Memorial Library for this awesome program!  Read the newsletter to learn more!  Here's the link!

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1KKd5VUvyoJ0Wp-SgAvxcMNsrKz-MWKBZ/view?usp=sharing

GHS ONE ACT PLAY COMING SOON!

Check out the information below for dates and times:

Art for the flyer above was done by 9th grader Alauna Worden.  NICE JOB!  See you at the play!

GORHAM OUTDOORS SNOWHOLD BIATHALON EVENT

Looking for something to do near the end of the February break?  Check out this event hosted by the Gorham Outdoors Club - a snow hold biathalon!  Sounds cool...what is it.  Check the link below to learn more and to sign up to participate!

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/a-fun-outdoor-biathlon-incorporating-snowshoeing-and-cornhole-tickets-270993628237

LOOKING FOR OTHER WINTER ACTIVITIES IN MAINE DURING THE BREAK?

Just thought I'd share this great resource from the state of Maine for winter activities across the state that might be of interest to folks as we launch into the February break...check out the link below to see some of what our great state has to offer!

https://visitmaine.com/things-to-do/winter-activities

That's it for this blog, other than a reminder that once we return from break, things will begin to "heat up" for spring activities.  We have our Kindergarten Parent night on March 1, we have our 9th grade family night on March 2, and much much more!  Best place to keep up with all the activities is on our website (www.gorhamschools.org).  Once there you can click on each school to view their calendar of events!  

I wish you all the best and will blog again on March 4!  And between now and then...here's a little food for thought:

Let's make sure we don't forget to have some fun and play whenever the opportunity arises!  Its good for our brains and its good for our souls! Have a great break!

February 4, 2022 Blog Post

February already!  Wow...this year is flying by.  Unfortunately according to Phil the groundhog, looks like we have another 6 weeks of winter in our future...but something tells me our students don't mind the thought of more winter fun in the snow.  Ah, the days of youth when snow was ALWAYS a good thing!  Not sure we can say that now as adults and that is likely OUR LOSS !

As per usual, I want to start this blog post off by sharing some images showing our students and our staff in their "elements" having fun while learning across our schools!  Check it out!

Now on to the information and updates...

AN UPDATE ON OUR DIVERSITY, EQUITY, AND INCLUSION WORK AS A DISTRICT

A few months ago in my Dec. 3 blog post, I provided a quick update on the work of our Anti-Racism and Equity Committee.  In this blog I wanted to provide an update to that post that I hope continues to demonstrate our district's commitment to this important work now and well into the future.

As a quick reminder, the Dec. 3 blog post included a link to a summary document outlining work accomplished thus far, which at that time went through September, 2021.  You can review that document by CLICKING HERE.  Since then, we have continued this important work in the following ways:

*. School Based D.E.I. leadership teams (or what we call our Intercultural Leadership Cohorts or ILC's) continue to meet at least monthly with leadership and facilitation provided by Maine Intercultural Communications Consultants.  The major purpose of these school based groups is to build capacity and understanding for staff around issues of D.E.I. such that these staff members can then serve as respective resources in their schools and assist in driving the daily learning, understandings, and aligned activities of the school around this topic.  Basically their job is to work to integrate these important conversations into the very fabric of each school's culture.  No small task indeed, but great progress is being made!

* Phase II curriculum audit work continues in the area of social studies across grades K-12.  This work digs more deeply into the content area of social studies in order to determine what strengths exist in our current curriculum and what areas may need to be strengthened in our curriculum using the lens of D.E.I.  Most recently, we have engaged the consulting services of Lawrence Alexander to assist our curriculum committees in this important work.  Our goal is to have a specific list of recommendations brought to the Teaching & Learning Committee for approval and hopeful implementation to begin in the Fall of 2022.  

*. Just before the Holiday break significant work was done to purchase additional diverse children's literature across grades K-5 to be added to our school's libraries and classrooms for use by classroom teachers and our students.  These books were selected by teachers to ensure we could strengthen the diverse themes and stories in our libraries.  Emphasis was placed on ensuring the characters in these stories better reflected the diversity and experiences of our student populations across our schools.  

*. We are working to expand our diversity hiring practices.  We will be working with Lawerence Alexander to provide specific training to members of our district leadership teams on diverse hiring practices in March.  We also hope to post an updated equity statement for our website, and place additional materials on our district website to highlight our commitment to diverse hiring practices, diverse recruitment and retention practices.  Additionally, we are seeking to post positions in ways that encourage more diverse applicants moving forward.  These are small steps that we hope will lead to bigger outcomes to strengthen our overall D.E.I. work. 

*. We have recently engaged the services of Lawrence Alexander to assist us in the development of a specific training for students and staff across grades 6-12 on the topic of Micro-aggressions later this spring.

*. Our Anti-Racism and Equity Committee continue to meet on a regular basis to help steer this work and generate ideas for how best to move forward.  You can follow this group's meetings by CLICKING HERE.

Please know this is NOT an all inclusive list of the things going on in our schools focused on the topic of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.  These are just highlights of the ongoing work of our district to meet the vision outlined in our district's policy, which states:

Please stay tuned...more great work is yet to come!

JOINT FACILITIES STUDY:  GORHAM SCHOOLS & MUNICIPAL BUILDINGS

Over the past year+ the Gorham Schools, in collaboration with the Town of Gorham has been working with CHA Architects to complete a comprehensive facilities study.  Last month this study was presented to both the Town Council and the Gorham School Committee in a Joint meeting.  The full report is still being finalized and I will share that once it is received, but I thought folks might at least be interested in seeing the slide presentation that was shared as it provides a really nice overview of information.

CLICK HERE to view the slide presentation.

Next steps in this important work are for the Joint facilities committees of the Town and the School Department to meet and begin to "dig in" to develop a prioritized list of capital projects over the next 10-15 years that we will work together to try and tackle.  As always, if you have questions, just reach out and ask!  heather.perry@gorhamschools.org 

UPCOMING PUBLIC FORUMS

The Gorham Schools will be hosting a series of THREE open community forums to assist us in informing the development of our next 3-5 year Strategic Plan.  You can view our old Strategic Plan by CLICKING HERE.  This plan was created to move our district forward in meeting our Mission/Vision back in 2018 and is up for renewal.  WE NEED YOUR VOICE to make sure we are moving our schools forward to best serve our children and our community as a whole.  

Two of the three public forums will be virtual and one will be in person for folks that prefer that more personal touch.  Each forum will last 1 hour and is open to all parents/guardians and Gorham community members.  Dates and zoom links are below...WOULD LOVE TO SEE YOU THERE!

-  Monday Feb. 7 at 6:30 p.m. (VIA ZOOM)

Join Zoom Meeting https://networkmaine.zoom.us/j/87940389839?pwd=ZE00ZERFTHRFeThoT0RPSkZZUFNnUT09 Meeting ID: 879 4038 9839 Passcode: 085975

-  Tuesday, Feb. 8 at 6:30 p.m. (VIA ZOOM)

Join Zoom Meeting https://networkmaine.zoom.us/j/88623185288?pwd=ald5WjRUb1E4bTV3VUNSclYvVTBSUT09 Meeting ID: 886 2318 5288 Passcode: 340960

- Thursday, Feb. 10 at 6:30 p.m. (IN PERSON)

Location: Gorham High School, back of MPAC.

LEAD TESTING RESULTS

Maine Schools are now required to test their water for lead contamination on an annual basis regardless of where the water is sourced from.  All of our schools are on town water, but as anyone knows, it isn't just about the water source with lead contamination, it can also be about pipes and fixtures.  This is the intent of this new law, to ensure we are addressing all these possible areas of lead contamination in our water supply.

As a result, you will be getting a series of emails from me over the course of the next few weeks with the specific results of our lead testing across all five schools.  In these notices, you will find the detailed lab test report, a summary of findings, and if specific mitigation strategies are required, an outline of what those specific mitigation strategies may be.

If you happen to miss an email, don't worry...you can ALWAYS go to our website and click on the link located right on the front page under "News & Announcements" to check out all information posted to date regarding each school's test results.  You can also CLICK HERE to view.

Please know we take the safety of our water supply very seriously here in Gorham and if any concerns are detected, prompt action will be taken to mitigate and ensure our students are not exposed to lead in our water supply.

SNOW DAY PLANS REMINDER

Just a quick reminder of our overall plans for snow days this year in Gorham.  We have five snow days built into our calendar.  With those five days built in, we plan on the last student day of the year to be the 15th of June.  

So far, including today, we have used three snow days, which gives us two more to use.  We will continue to use snow days in a traditional manner until we use all five of our planned snow days.  If we go over the five planned snow days, any further snow days will move from "traditional" snow days to "remote learning" snow days so that we do not extend the end of the school year beyond June 15th.

What does this mean?  It means we have two more traditional snow days to use and then if we need to cancel school for inclement weather after that (which may or may not happen) we would move to remote learning days.  Our hope is that this plan balances that we want our students to still experience the traditional snow day, while also making sure our summer vacations begin on time as we know many families make travel plans, etc. around our school calendar.

As always, any questions, please ask...and in the meantime - ENJOY YOUR SNOW DAY!

CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR VERY OWN STEPHANIE NICHOLS (Narr. Teacher)

Just wanted to share a quick congratulations to our very own Stephanie Nichols, teacher at Narragansett Elementary School, who was recently elected to serve as a Board member on the NATIONAL Social Studies Council!  Check out the LINK HERE (scroll down just a bit)...and be sure to congratulate her if you see her around!  A well deserved honor indeed!  GO RAMS!

REMINDER - KINDERGARTEN ENROLLMENT INFORMATION NIGHTS ARE COMING RIGHT UP!  MARK YOUR CALENDARS!

CLICK HERE for the flyer information with active links.  Then mark your calendars for March 1 if you are a parent of an incoming K student for the 2022-23 school year!  We can't wait to have you join the Gorham Schools Family!

AN INTERESTING ARTICLE TO SHARE

So I was talking to my Superintendent colleagues the other day across Cumberland County about staffing issues that we are currently facing.  Gorham is not alone in facing these difficulties.  Although in most cases we are fairing better than our neighbors - the challenge is still very much present and one that concerns me now and into the coming year's hiring cycles.

Just the other day I did a quick calculation and we have 41 teachers in our district who are eligible to retire THIS YEAR!  Now, thankfully, not all of them will retire (WE LOVE OUR TEACHERS)...but the fact of the matter is that eventually they will, and we will need to fill these positions.  In the past we'd often get 100-150 applications for classroom teaching positions.  In the past few years, we were very happy to get 20-25 applicants.  Couple the challenge of upcoming retirements with the current trend called "the Great Resignation"...and well - you can see why I was talking about staffing with my colleagues and trying to better understand what keeps folks in their positions, what helps to recruit new folks, and what prevents issues of burnout among our staff.

As I was scrolling around recent articles and blog posts on these topics, I came across this most interesting article written from the perspective of a military veteran sharing their thoughts on why employees might be leaving their positions - not just in education, but more broadly.  I read the article and thought immediately to myself what a wonderful job this military veteran did in putting some real context into what may be going on in our employment lives as a result of the COVID 19 Pandemic.  I certainly wrote my fair share of notes when reading this article, and I will take away some key thoughts for how this information can help our schools to continue to grow and thrive even in the fact of the ongoing Pandemic but what I also thought when I was reading this is that - many of YOU might also be interested in reading it.  

Its a quick read - I promise...but worth the time.  I have always so respected our military veterans, their thoughts, their opinions, and their strong character.  This perspective really helped me to frame what I continue to hear from employees and employers as we all "come back from deployment"...Check it out!

"A Military Veteran Knows Why Your Employees Are Leaving."

IN CLOSING

As we continue to celebrate Black History Month, I thought I might share a poem from one of my all time favorite poets - Maya Angelou...

My next blog post will be on Feb. 18, right before the February break!