Update From Last Night's School Committee Meeting

 I will be sending out A LOT more  information later this weekend and on Monday for parents but I wanted to get a quick bit of information out today for folks  to be clear about  what the decision was of the Gorham School Committee last night to re-open schools.  First, you can view the entire 4.5 hour meeting by CLICKING HERE.  Votes related to the re-opening plan were as follows:

Vote #1:  Motion by Kate Livingston, 2nd by Darryl Wright to approve of the Gorham Pandemic  Operations Plan (Re-opening Plan) with the following two revisions:

1.  Add a statement in each Red, Yellow and  Green category that makes clear our goal is to provide 100% of the curriculum even though we may fall short.

2.  Add a statement in the Red and Yellow category  that our preference is to utilize SYNCHRONOUS Learning methods whenever possible.

Motion carried by a vote of 6-1 with Phil Gagnon voting in the negative.

Vote #2:  Motion made by Anne Schools and Seconded by Jen Whitehead to open Gorham High School (grades 9-12) in the Red Model (as described by Principal Jandreau) with Co and Extra Curriculars operating under the Yellow  model and with instruction beginning on Sept. 8.

Motion carried by a vote of 5-2 with Phil Gagnon and Darryl Wright voting in the negative.

Vote #3:  Motion made by Jen Whitehead and seconded by Kate Livingston to open Schools in  grades K-8 in the  yellow model (as outined in re-opening plan) with instruction beginning on Sept. 8.

Motion  carried by a vote of 7-0

Individuals may view the full  re-opening plan by CLICKING HERE. I will  be sending along an  executive summary this weekend.

Finally wanted to remind parents and staff that we have Q&A sessions scheduled for next week Monday Tuesday and Wednesday.  Staff scheduled meetings will be held at 10:00 each day via zoom with K-5 on Monday, 6-8 on Tuesday and 9-12 on Wednesday.   I will send links separately.  Parent scheduled meetings will be held at 6:30 on Monday for grades K-5, 6:30 on Tuesday for grades 6-8 and at 5:30 on Wednesday for grades 9-12.   Zoom information can be found on  our  district website, just go to the  home page and click on the events calendar for links.

That's it for now.  Again, I'll  be sending more information later this weekend and on Monday.  The BIGGEST   next step for parents is to be prepared to respond to a survey that will be sent out on Monday and due on Friday next week.  This survey will  ask you to determine whether you will be sending your children to school in the models described above  or if you will be participating in  the fully virtual model.  The survey will also ask about transportation. 

I know that these decisions have been difficult and  that there is no single  decision that everyone will be pleased with.  These decisions were made in the best interests of our students and staff and  their safety while balancing the needs of our families (and most importantly our students) to return  to school.   I encourage  everyone to be kind to one another and to do what Gorham always does in times of difficulty -join together to support one another in times of need.   

I hope you all have a restful weekend.  We will be back at this important work on Monday.  

THANK YOU!