School Committee Meetings & Other Online Meetings

Just wanted to quickly share information for the public on how to access an upcoming School Committee meeting that will be held via zoom on Wednesday, March 25, 2020 beginning at 6:30 p.m. 

I also wanted to share a few opportunities I am setting up for parents and community members to join me in a live Zoom meeting to get additional information, ask questions, and provide critical feedback that will help our school system continue to provide the best programming possible for our students while we continue our distance learning adventure!

March 25, 2020 School Committee Meeting

First, you can view the School Committee meeting agenda for March 25, 2020 starting at 6:30 p.m. via zoom by CLICKING HERE.  This meeting will be broken into TWO separate meetings.  The first will be a special meeting beginning at 6:30 p.m.  During his time, I will provide an update to the School Committee on our COVID-19 work.  I will then provide a review of the Gorham School's Distance Learning Plan which the school committee will need to approve in order to allow us to "waive" having to make up the days we have not been physically in school due to COVID-19.  After that, I will review recent flexibility announced by the legislature that allows us to hold our school committee meetings online and that will also allow us to potentially adjust our budget approval processes for FY 21.  Finally, I will ask the school committee to think about their upcoming meeting schedule and to adjust that as they deem necessary to meet our needs. 

After the agenda items for the special meeting are completed, we will adjourn that meeting and then re-open a new meeting for the purpose of reviewing our proposed FY 21 budget.  This is intentionally a workshop meeting so that it is clear that any decisions made during this meeting are "straw pole" in nature and not final until the school committee as a whole is asked to vote to approve a proposed FY 21 budget (which we hope will occur later in April).

BOTH MEETINGS (the Special meeting starting at 6:30 and the workshop meeting starting immediately after) ARE OPEN TO THE PUBLIC VIA ZOOM.  Additionally, both meetings have an opportunity for the public to comment before the school committee moves into the agenda.

We ask that members of the public who zoom into the meeting please make sure their side of the connection is muted immediately following entrance into the meeting.  Once the meeting begins, the chair (Stewart McCallister) will provide an overview and some quick training on how to use the zoom platform to provide public comments.  Given that the school committee has much to talk about, the public comments portion of the agenda may be limited as needed by the chair to ensure that appropriate time remains for the school committee to conduct its business.

The link to the meeting, as well as a phone number to join the meeting can be found on the agenda itself (linked above), but just in case, I have also included the internet link below:

https://networkmaine.zoom.us/j/509799102

Finally, it is important to know that the meeting will be recorded in its entirety and posted on our website for members of the public to view.

Opportunities For Parents to Communicate Directly with Superintendent Perry

I am converting my already scheduled "Dunk and Discuss" meeting series into an online platform for parents to join me.  ANY PARENT who wishes to join either via web or phone on the dates and times listed below is welcome to do so.  Just like the "Dunk and Discuss" meetings, there will be no formal agenda.  These times will be an opportunity for me to share any updated general information, but MORE IMPORTANTLY, these meetings will be a time for me to LISTEN...to answer questions...and to collect valuable feedback on how we are doing in this brave new world of distance learning.  That  important information can then be taken back to the District Leadership Team to use in future planning and to make necessary "tweaks" to our systems moving forward.

Below is a list of the dates for each zoom meeting as well as a table with web and phone links.  Please mark your calendars accordingly and let me know if you have questions!

Meeting Date/Time	Web Link	Phone Link
March 26 6:00 – 7:00 p.m.	https://networkmaine.zoom.us/j/125429184	1-646-876-9923
April 1 6:00 – 7:00 p.m.	https://networkmaine.zoom.us/j/602036021	1-646-876-9923
April 9 6:00 – 7:00 p.m.	https://networkmaine.zoom.us/j/725115112	1-646-876-9923
April 14 6:00 – 7:00 p.m.	https://networkmaine.zoom.us/j/181599688	1-646-876-9923

In closing I wanted to continue to re-emphasize the importance of social distancing.  Below is an image shared with me by our very own Dr. Colby Wyatt (A Doctor and Parent of students here in Gorham)...I thought it might help send an important message in a humorous way!  ENJOY!☺

Public Service Announcement:

With COVID-19, This is safer than letting your kids have a sleepover or hang out with friends right now:

I will continue to send at least one broad update each evening via this blogsite to all parents Sunday - Friday each week.   As always, if you have any questions, please email me at heather.perry@gorhamschools.org.

THANK YOU!