Fall is most definitely in the air in Gorham! Beautiful weather to be outside and learning in Gorham! Here's a few recent examples, and then on to updates!:
COMMUNITY COORDINATORS FACEBOOK PAGES ARE READY FOR PARENTS TO JOIN!
First of all, a HUGE THANK YOU to our parent volunteer community coordinators! These brave souls have all volunteered to help administer School/Grade level based facebook pages for families in Gorham to join so that they can work together to share resources and support one another during this most unique school year! Every School has at least one page so there is an opportunity for all families to BOTH get and give support to one another. These resources are for ALL GORHAM PARENTS! The incredibly awesome thing about our community is that we really do support one another - join a page today and learn how!
INFORMATION ON VOTING FOR NOVEMBER 3rd ELECTIONS
The November 3rd elections are coming up fast and furious! Let's make sure we get out and vote - Here's how! First, if you are interested in absentee ballots, it's not too late...please check out the information on the Town's website LINKED HERE and follow directions.
If you go to that page you will also note that the polling locations have changed. Due to the anticipated high volume of voters and the need to physically distance during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Gorham Schools will be closing our schools on Nov. 3 and moving that date to a remote learning day for all students. Group B student's face to face learning day that week will be moved to Friday, November 6. This will leave the schools open and available for use as polling places. Here's how the ward assignments play out:
- Ward 1-1: GORHAM MIDDLE SCHOOL
- Ward 1-2: GREAT FALLS ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
- Ward 2: GORHAM HIGH SCHOOL
Polls will be open on Nov. 3 from 7:00 a.m. - 8:00 p.m.
SPEAKING OF VOTING...HERE'S DETAILED INFORMATION ON THE LAST OF 6 PROJECTS FEATURED ON THE SCHOOL'S BOND QUESTION...
Two blog posts ago, on Sept.18, you learned about two of the projects that comprise the bond requested on the November 3rd ballot for the Gorham Schools. Then on my previous blog post on Oct. 2 you learned about two more. As a quick reminder, this potential bond, if approved, would fund six much needed Capital projects. Those six projects are outlined below:
Project #1: GMS HVAC Heat Pump Upgrades and Repairs - $2,265,000.00
Project #2: Narragansett Expansion Project - Phase II - $1,423,000.00
Project #3: Narragansett Bus Loop and Sidewalk Upgrades and Repairs - $351,000.00
Project #4: Middle School Sidewalk Repair - $300,000.00
Project #5: Field Lighting Safety Repairs for Competition field, baseball, softball and tennis fields - $1,275,000.00
Project #6: Necessary Civil Engineering Costs to support project designs - $75,000.00
The Sept. 18 blog post focused on the Narragansett Bus loop and sidewalk upgrades and repairs as well as on the middle school side walk repair. The October 2nd post dug more deeply into the GMS HVAC Heat Pump Upgrades and Repairs and the Field Lighting Safety Repairs for Competition field, etc. This blog post will provide additional details on the Narragansett Expansion Project Phase II and on the Necessary Civil Engineering Costs to support project designs.
I'll start with the easier one first...
Project #6 - Necessary Civil Engineering Costs to support project designs - $75,000.00
This project supports all the other projects listed above (#'s 1-5) and future Capital Improvement Projects. As you know, when projects are brought forward for a referendum vote, they aren't at the final design phase yet. If the projects listed above are approved, we'll need to bring the designs to their final stages before being able to move forward with actual work. These funds will support the final design phase work needed to get these projects "shovel ready".
Project #2 - Narragansett Expansion Project - Phase II - $1,423,000.00
This project is the 2nd planned phase of the originally planned Narragansett Expansion Project. The Narragansett Expansion project is part of our overall "master plan" for K-5 facilities here in Gorham that was voted on and approved by the Gorham School Committee back in 2018. This facilities master plan first called for a shifting of our original K-5 attendance zones. The shift in attendance zones occurred just this year, moving just under 100 students from their current schools to Narragansett Elementary School to begin the 2020-21 Year. By doing this, we hope to reduce populations at the other two K-5 schools (Great Falls and Village) to give them room to continue to grow and simultaneously to point future growth so that it is more concentrated at Narragansett Elementary School. We did this because Narragansett Elementary School had the largest campus to work with that would allow future expansions. Over the 2019-20 School year and through the summer of 2020 we worked diligently to construct Phase I of the modular expansion to Narragansett Elementary School. This expanded classroom space and cafeteria space is now opened to students and fully functioning as we await the completion of the kitchen project. A schematic and some photos of the phase I project are below.
We looked to build the overall modular expansion at Narragansett out over 2-3 different phases as populations continued to grow in Gorham. The modular expansion was built to last between 10-15 years with the overall long term goal being to apply for and receive funding from the state to build a new elementary school, about the same size as Great Falls on the Narragansett School site. Of course all of this is part of a long term plan. What is "in our face" right now is the need to go ahead and move forward with the 2nd phase of the modular construction project as we believe, especially once COVID 19 is behind us (which is hopefully not too far down the road) that our enrollments will continue to increase. During the 2019-20 School Year Narragansett Elementary's total population was approximately 291 students. This year, after the impacts of the attendance zone changes, the population at Narragansett Elementary School stands at 384 students. We anticipate that for 2021-22 Narragansett's total population will sit at approximately 410 students. Phase II of the project would allow us to build on six additional classroom spaces, which should account for the 2 classrooms needed for 2021-22 and allow us four additional spaces to "grow into" over the next few years. The six classrooms are highlighted in the orange portion of the schematic below. The blue section is what was completed this year and the green section allows for a third phase of the project as needed in the future.
Well that's the deeper level of information for the last two projects. Again, if you wish to review all six projects that make up the question, just go to Sept. 18's blog post and Oct. 2nd's blog post. You can also view a "one pager" overview of the Nov.3 referendum question by
CLICKING HERE.
Please get out and vote on November 3!
ASPIRE GORHAM - A BIRTH TO ADULT ASPIRATIONS PROGRAM - CONTINUES IN 2020-21!
The Aspire Gorham program is a community-wide initiative that encourages students in every grade, in every Gorham school, and beyond - to think about their futures. Collaborating with businesses and community organizations in and around Gorham, the Aspire Gorham team is connecting students to professionals for career exposure, exploration, and experience opportunities from early childcare to kindergarten through 12th grade and beyond! For the early ages, our focus is on exposure to opportunities, for late elementary and middle school ages the focus is on exploration of careers, and for our high school students, the focus is on experiencing those careers first hand!
EXPOSURE: Younger students are exposed to a wide variety of careers through group tours of businesses, classroom speakers, and school-wide activities. The goal is to help them connect the concept of work, jobs, and careers to the people and products they see in their lives. Participating businesses and organizations include the Gorham Police and Fire Departments, Hannaford, EcoMaine, Great Falls Construction, and the Animal Refuge League of Greater Portland.
EXPLORATION: Students begin to identify areas of interest and explore how those interests could affect their future plans. In addition to classroom speakers and activities throughout the year, each grade level has a day designed to help students dive deeper into their interests and skills. Participating businesses and organizations include Sunday River, Ethos Marketing, Moody’s Collision Centers, and Cianbro Construction.
EXPERIENCE: Students plan for life after high school by identifying career fields that match their interests. Students have opportunities to participate in career-focused field experiences, job shadows, and extended workplace learning experiences (similar to internships), as well as college campus visits. The Career Speaker series brings in professionals from all walks of life to talk about their career paths with small groups of students who have expressed a genuine interest in the topic. Participating businesses and organizations include Coastal Women’s Health Care, Tyson Foods, News Center Maine, NorDX, University of Maine School of Law, and the American Red Cross.
The data is clear - this work is making a positive difference in the lives of our children and in helping them think about their own future stories! You can check out the year end data summaries by clicking on the links below to learn more.
You can also check us out on social media by clicking on the links below, and finally, you can view our most recent newsletter!
Stay tuned over the course of the year for more incredible news from this program!
Well that's enough for this week! I hope you all enjoy your long weekends! See you back at school on Tuesday, Oct. 13th! GO RAMS!
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