Good afternoon everyone! Happy Friday! Hard to believe we are just finishing week 6 and are on to week 7 here soon and going strong (knock on wood)!
Before I launch into some specific detail oriented information for families, I wanted to take a moment to DEEPLY THANK three current School Committee members who will be ending their terms and not returning to the School Committee in November.
Pictured above are current School Committee (SC) members (from left to right) Kate Livingston, Bill Benson and Jen Whitehead holding their ceremonial apples. All three joined the SC three years ago and have served the community of Gorham well! Our SC members ROCK! And these three are three of the best who will surely be missed! THANK YOU for your dedication to the children of Gorham! I'm sure we'll see you in the future on the other side of the proverbial gavel!
Ok...on to the information part!
OTHER COVID RELATED MATTERS - A QUICK MESSAGE FROM SUPERINTENDENT PERRY ENCOURAGING CONTINUED VIGILANCE
Its' been a while since I've shared a video! Here's a quick message from me regarding the importance of remaining vigilant as a community regarding the three key safety practices to prevent the spread of COVID 19 - Wearing your mask, Maintaining physical distancing, and Washing/Sanitizing Hands frequently!
Listen to the message by CLICKING HERE!
COVID 19 Q&A
I've recently has some questions that I have added to our online Q&A sheet, but thought might be best to be shared here too! These questions come from recent parent emails so I know if these folks are thinking of these questions - other parents are too! Here goes:
Question: With the Governor's new updated emergency order - what does it mean that now masks are required by everyone on school grounds (including parking lots) at all times? Does this mean children attending school will no longer be able to have mask breaks?
Answer: The intent of the Governor's most recent order is to make it crystal clear that everyone is expected to wear masks while on school grounds. Delivery folks, contractors, etc. So yes, the expectation is that if anyone is on school grounds (including parking lots), during the school day, inside or outside, they should be wearing their masks. HOWEVER...it is also clear that supervised mask breaks by students that occur outside are still able to be conducted and in fact are encouraged insofar as required physical distancing can be maintained and so long as they are supervised. So rest assured, our teachers are still doing what they can to offer students SAFE mask breaks during the course of the school day.
Question: When you post a positive case on the online summary sheet, if close contacts to that case later test positive, do you add to that number or are they then just included as the "one case" listed?
Answer: The summary sheet lists each known positive case of COVID 19 in our schools so if individuals who were close contacts to a case later test positive, they would be added to that number and not considered part of the original number. Additionally, it should be known that when a positive case has been medically cleared to return and cleared by CDC to return to school, that case will no longer be listed as an active positive case on the summary sheet. Again, you can view the summary sheet that is updated DAILY by Clicking here.
Question: Are there reasons other than positive COVID 19 cases that would cause a school to move a classroom, grade level, school or the whole district to the red model? If so, what are they?
Answer: There are TWO key things that might cause us to have to move a classroom, grade level, school or district to the red model. The first is what you all would assume - that we have some sort of a breakout of positive COVID 19 cases. So far, we have only had to move 3 high school classrooms for one group only to the red model due to 1 positive case at GHS. However, what actually may be more likely to occur that would drive a classroom, grade level or school into the red model is lack of staffing. If staff are asked to quarantine and/or are experiencing symptoms themselves and are therefore staying home and we don't have the substitute manpower to cover these classrooms the only alternative we may have would be to send the whole class, or school into the red model. I will be honest, having to send staff members home to quarantine at the high school after the 1 positive case has tested the limits of our substitute pool already. If not for the awesomeness of other teachers at GHS being willing to pick up classes during their planning time, we would likely have had to send additional classrooms and possibly even the whole school into the red model just due to a lack of staffing capacity. Certainly something to be mindful of...oh - and if you are interested in being added to our sub list - please apply online HERE! We require a high school diploma, MDOE fingerprinting, and completion of a training course...pay isn't bad at $95.00 per day and we could sure use the help! We're also still looking for full time subs and duty monitors - these are full time positions through Dec. 30! If you have questions about these employment opportunities, please email chris.record@gorhamschools.org!
Question: As the weather gets colder...will students still be able to go outside for mask breaks?
Answer: Yes. We will use similar protocols to determine if it is possible to go outside for this purpose as we do with recess. If the temperatures drop below a certain point and we can't have recess...well we probably wouldn't be asking students to go outside for mask breaks either. But by that same token, if we are sending students out to recess there shouldn't be a reason that they can't also go outside for mask breaks. Clearly there will be more days this winter where outdoor mask breaks are not as available as they have been this fall...but rest assured our teachers want our students to have SAFE mask breaks as often as is possible so we will work to follow our existing protocols through the winter as long as mother nature allows!
Question: What are the different levels of Red instruction?
Answer: Depending upon conditions, individual classrooms can be asked to go "red" by group (A or B), by whole classroom (both A and B), by team (at GMS), by grade level, by school and by district. This gives us lots of flexibility for how to address the safety of our students and staff while also attempting to balance the needs of our students to be in school as much as possible. We absolutely share this common goal! Please know our primary goal is to ensure students are able to continue to access face to face instruction as much as possible. We will keep this goal at the forefront of decision making, right along side of CDC rules and safety practices! Rest assured, if your child is asked to remain home, if your child's classroom, grade or school is asked to stay home - our teachers and staff will be prepared to help you and your children navigate our red models and we will work to keep these red experiences as short as safely possible!
As always, if you have questions - please reach out to ask!
HAVE TECHNOLOGY RELATED QUESTIONS?
Just a reminder to families out there that may have the need to ask technology related questions and to seek technology help! Your first questions should always be to your child's classroom teachers as they are typically the ones best able to troubleshoot and answer questions in context. However if you find yourself with a real "techie" question and you need answers...here's how to get them:
Students & Parents
High School & Middle School:
You may reach out to the technology staff assigned to your school (listed above), or email Tech Support <techsupport@gorhamschools.org> or call the tech support line: 207-222-1188
Elementary School:
please email your teacher, and:
Joanne Gauley <joanne.gauley@gorhamschools.org> or
email Tech Support <techsupport@gorhamschools.org>
or call the tech support line: 207-222-1188
All
If you are unable to resolve your issue or get an answer to your question, please contact the technology director, Dennis Crowe <dennis.crowe@gorhamschools.org>
RECENT REMINDER ABOUT THE IMPORTANCE OF NOVEMBER 3 BOND QUESTION
On Tuesday of this week I was in the middle of a meeting of our Pandemic Advisory Committee via zoom when several of the Committee members from Gorham Middle School heard a fire alarm. There was pretty thick smoke in the 2nd floor of the building and someone did the right thing and pulled the fire alarm. This was after school, so adults evacuated the building and the Gorham Fire Department quickly arrived on the scene. Everyone was safe. The Fire Department then proceeded to try and determine the source of the smoke...after much investigation they discovered the culprit. One of our Heat Pumps had broken down causing that section of the system to fill with smoke. Now, this is not a significant fire hazard, more of a disruptive event involving smoke...and everyone was safe and the building was cleared to house students the very next day. The point of my sharing this story is to simply share that another of our heat pumps went down at GMS and without the approval of this referendum we will have difficulty doing more than simply placing another "bandaid" on the problem.
If you want to learn more about the School Bond Question on the November 3rd referendum, please CLICK HERE for a one pager informational sheet and then go to my blog posts on Sept, 28, October 2 and October 9 for more detailed information! Then - make sure to get out and vote!
MEET THE CANDIDATES NIGHTS COMING RIGHT UP!
There is nothing more important than serving your community in the capacity as an elected official! There is also nothing more important than trying to inform your vote! If you are interested in learning more about the candidates for both Town Council and School Committee - Gorham GOCAT has you covered! Candidates for Town Council will go on camera on Monday, Oct. 19 at 7:00p.m. while candidates for School Committee will go on camera on Wednesday, Oct. 21 at 7:00 p.m. You can CLICK HERE for the link to the facebook live event. Flyer is below!
UPDATE ON DRAFT ANTI-RACISM POLICY WORK
At its regular meeting held on Oct, 14, 2020, the School Committee heard initial public comments from folks regarding a draft Anti-racist policy that is being considered for adoption. This was a first reading only. The policy itself is not planned to come back to the full School Committee for a vote until its regular meeting in December (12/9/20). In the meantime, if folks want to offer comments and feedback regarding the policy draft, I'd first urge you to review the draft policy itself by CLICKING HERE. Then, please reach out directly to either Assistant Superintendent of Schools Chris Record (chris.record@gorhamschools.org) or to Anne Schools, Chair of the Policy Committee (anne.schools@gorhamschools.org) with your specific feedback. This feedback will be collected by the Policy Committee and reviewed in order to inform revisions to the draft policy that will be brought back to the full School Committee for final recommendations in December.
COMING SOON - STAY TUNED... REMOTE BREAKFAST & LUNCH DELIVERIES FOR ALL ON AT HOME LEARNING AND REMOTE LEARNING DAYS
As you are likely aware, we are currently operating two pick up locations for families to pick up meals for students on their "at home" learning days or for the case of fully remote students, every day. Cold weather is coming and we are looking to move these services entirely to at home delivery services for those families that need school breakfast and lunches on these days. Please CLICK HERE to read an important message regarding how to access these important services moving forward! Sometimes links from other linked documents are a little funny, so just in case - here is the direct link to the survey mentioned in the letter...
INFORMATION ON CARES RELIEF FUNDS (CRF)
Last but not least, I wanted to share an overview of how the Gorham School Department is utilizing its Cares Relief Funds (CRF). Before I go into details, it is important to provide some background. These funds are federal funds that were allocated to the state of Maine directly by the Federal Government back in April when the Pandemic was in full swing. The total allotment by the Federal Government to the State was $1.4 billion dollars and there were relatively few strings attached to these funds other than to say that they must be used to specifically address COVID19 related issues. Governor Mills has distributed these funds in lots of different ways - to support early child care programming, to support businesses, and unlike a lot of states in the country - to support public schools.
There have been two allotments of these funds distributed to public schools across the state between August, 2020 and October 15, 2020 totaling over $300 million dollars. These funds must be expended on COVID 19 related needs. They cannot be used to offset revenue shortfalls. They cannot be used to pay for items that were already budgeted for. And they cannot be expended beyond Dec. 30, 2020. These rules are from the Department of Treasury at the Federal level.
Gorham's first allotment was approximately $2 million dollars and could not have come at a better time - August, 2020 when we were just trying to get our schools opened up in this new COVID 19 world. I'll be honest...if it weren't for these funds - we would have had a hard time opening our schools! Our focus for this first round of funding was on purchasing the required PPE and other sanitizing equipment needed to open our schools and on ensuring we had the appropriate staffing capacity to do all that we needed to do to open our schools safely. On the PPE and sanitizing side, we bought face coverings, face shields, gloves, thermometers, gowns, disposable face masks, plexiglass for barriers, hand sanitizing gel, sanitizing spray, sanitizing wipes, refill bottles, electrostatic sprayers, and much much more. On the staffing side, we hired 25+ new temporary positions ranging from Nursing aids to full time subs to what we call duty monitor positions that help us sanitize our schools thoroughly twice each day while teachers teach and in between each cafeteria seating. Like I said, without these funds we literally would have had a very difficult time opening our doors!
Our second allotment, which was announced just two weeks ago, and whose applications were just due on Oct. 15 was approximately $2.1 million dollars and once again could not have come at a better time! Our focus with these funds are on technological improvements both in the form of purchasing additional devices for our staff and students to use for direct instructional purposes, but also in the form of updating our wireless and network infrastructures for several sites (one of which is the Gorham Municipal Building since that building is now being used to house several GHS classrooms), upgrading our radio communications between buildings and across the district and in upgrading our phone systems - all core components of our communications systems that have been highly impacted by COVID 19. Another focus of funds in this round was in purchasing instructional supplies and materials that can allow for more materials to be sent home with students so that they are available for them during their "at home" learning days (if participating in the hybrid model) or on a more regular basis for students who are participating in our fully remote learning programs.
I share this information with all of you for several reasons: 1) I want you to know how these federal dollars are being best utilized by our schools to offset additional costs to taxpayers, 2) I want you to know how important these funds were in allowing us to reopen and sustain the opening of our schools in our hybrid model, and 3) I want you to know that these funds are being utilized not only to help the schools in the short term, but to best position and assist our entire TOWN/COMMUNITY for the longer term in these uncertain times.
I also want to be clear that even though you may see headlines in the papers about these funds flowing to schools - and even though these funds have been extremely useful for our schools to offset additional and unplanned COVID related costs, you should not expect that these funds are going to be enough to offset all costs associated with COVID 19 or the potential future loss of revenue that is likely going to impact us in FY 22 in the form of less state subsidy. Building and maintaining a school budget has always been complex, requiring lots of different balancing acts. The process for FY 22 is going to be far more complex as the implications of COVID 19 to expenditures and funding streams becomes more and more clear. We are in good shape for FY 21 as the Maine Department of Education has promised no subsidy curtailments this fiscal year...however, the biennial budget process is coming. Please stay tuned, and I will do my best to keep you informed!
That's all for this week. ENJOY YOUR WEEKENDS!
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