Week #27 is in the books and what a great week it was!  The first full week of spring and Maine's weather did not disappoint!  It was great to see students and teachers out and about this past week beginning to take advantage of those outdoor learning spaces once again!  I have just a few pictures I wanted to share...spring is definitely here and with it a sense of renewal, optimism and hope on so many levels!

Lots to talk about, so let's get to it!

WE NEED YOUR PARENT VOICE IN AN IMPORTANT K-12 SURVEY!

On Wednesday evening the Gorham School Committee met to listen to a presentation of three scenarios that could increase face to face instruction time for students across the district.  It was a very informative meeting attended by well over 200 members of the public.  You can view the meeting in its entirety by CLICKING HERE. I'm not going to go over all the complex information shared at this meeting, but I did want to provide some highlights and access to some of the specific materials shared at the meeting.  

First and foremost, I want to acknowledge the passionate feelings that are out there in the community on this topic.  There are folks that are passionate about returning to more face to face time for our students to help address social/emotional and academic needs of children. There are also folks that are passionate about not rushing for the safety of our students, and folks who are passionate about those very same social/emotional and academic needs, but see a return to more face to face instruction this spring as potentially causing more issues than they would resolve.   Then there are passionate folks every place in between on this complex issue.  

One of the many things I LOVE ABOUT GORHAM is that folks can be passionate, they can share their thoughts and opinions, but do so in a respectful way...always focused on what is best for students.  I hope our discourse continues to represents these important community values as we move forward in continued navigation of this world wide pandemic together.  

This conversation is a complex one, made even more complex by the fact that what one individual interprets as being "best for children" another individual may just as passionately interpret as not. On top of this complexity, layer on the exhaustion and frustration many are feeling as we stretch beyond the full year mark of this pandemic and it becomes even more important for us to do our best to practice civil discourse.   Gorham has navigated this pandemic TOGETHER since the beginning, and we must continue to do so.  We can't let this conversation pull our community apart.  Our children are indeed watching.

Ultimately it will be the responsibility of the Gorham School Committee members to make the final difficult determination as to what is in the overall best interest of our students.  I wish to commend them for taking the time to gather information, to ask questions, to understand the perspectives of their constituents (staff, students and parents) and to then balance all of that information in their final decisions.  In my opinion, one can ask nothing less of their public servants and I believe that our School Committee members are doing these very things as best as they can.

The information that was presented on Wednesday night was significant.  We presented three scenarios, each with a complete list of unintended consequences and potential positive outcomes for students.  Those are linked below:

*  Scenario #1 - Return K-12 to school 4 days per week beginning April 29, 2021.

*  Scenario #2 - Return K-8 to school 4 days per week and use 1/2 days on Friday mornings for GHS students to rotate A and B groups for additional face to face time.

*  Scenario #3 - Return K-5 to school 4 days per week and return Gr. 6-12 to school 5 days per week with 1:00 p.m. dismissals daily.

Also presented was information from the Medical Advisory Committee who reviewed each scenario with a specific focus on COVID 19 safety.  That feedback is LINKED HERE.  

Finally, summary information was shared from a K-12 staff survey on each of the three scenarios.  That information is LINKED HERE.  

After information was shared, questions were asked by School Committee members, and provided by myself or other members of the district leadership team.  Lots of great questions were asked either by SC members directly or by members of the audience via direct chat to me.  You can watch the video to hear the SC questions so I wanted to review some key Q&A from the public chat that might help answer questions I know continue to "swirl" in social media land:

Question:  Why can other school systems move to move face to face time while Gorham struggles to find a way to do it?

Answer:  It is often the case that we try to compare ourselves to other neighboring school systems, or even neighboring states.  What is important to understand here is that in the case of COVID and trying to find ways to operate our schools safely within this Pandemic each school system is working with a very different set of tools.  For example:  In some neighboring districts, student enrollments have been steadily declining over the past few years and as a result, they have facilities that when you create a student per square foot ratio it allows them to maneuver within safety rules far better than others.  In Gorham, we have not had this experience and in fact have the opposite situation.  For years we have struggled with increasing enrollments and the capacities of our schools to handle this issue under "normal" circumstances.  Throw a Pandemic into the mix and, things become even more difficult.  This is not an excuse...just a reality and one we must face while other systems may not.  Other systems may have access to more buses and bus drivers, while some systems have access to more funding, and some have more technology, etc. etc.  The point is that each system works with its own unique tools as creatively as they can to maximize the safe operations of their schools during this pandemic for their students.  Gorham is not alone in this struggle.  Other systems such as RSU 51, RSU 14, Westbrook, Scarborough, Cape Elizabeth, South Portland and Yarmouth all continue in their hybrid models.  Each is unique so to compare across is like comparing "apples to oranges" as my father used to say.

Question:  If we can't open schools this spring, how will we do it this fall?

Answer:  First, let's be clear.  No decisions have been made by the School Committee that says we can't...or that we can.  This is the purpose of our current conversations - to determine what is or is not possible and with what repercussions.  Second, almost all of the "unintended consequences" associated with each of the scenarios linked above can be eliminated or at least mitigated with a summer's worth of planning and an ability to build schedules, etc. around different conditions that we now know far more about than we did even last fall.  Bottom line - unless some new variant pops up and completely changes things once again, we believe we absolutely CAN open our schools to five days per week instruction this coming fall even though doing that same task this spring may prove difficult.  The work required to reopen this spring and in the fall are really very different tasks.

Question:  Why do we have to buy new desks and chairs?  Why can't we just use the ones we have?

Answer:  In the fall of 2019 before the Pandemic, our classrooms were set up to operate in a "normal" environment.  At the elementary levels we had large tables with chairs so students could do center work.  At the middle School we had lab tables for science and large tables for collaboration.  Across all our classrooms we had some traditional desks/chairs set up - but not necessarily one for every student.  In working to set up classrooms with 6 ft of physical distance, we had to remove these large tables because we couldn't fit enough students around them with 6 ft of distance.  Instead it was much more efficient to move the large tables out and move in individual desks/chairs to get the most students in each classroom.  When we move to 3ft of physical distance the same issues apply.  The large tables simply don't work.  What is most efficient to get all students to fit safely into a classroom is individual desks/chairs.  We never had these for each student, hence we need to purchase or find a way to borrow them.

Question:  If pick up and drop off at each school has to increase significantly, causing traffic flow problems...can't you just stagger the times each cohort drops off and picks up?

Answer:  We certainly can, and in fact that is what we would need to do.  The problem is that when you do this, you need to dismiss earlier in the afternoon so now rather than instruction ending at say 2:45 for dismissal...you may have to end instruction at 2:20 for dismissal.  Now, think along those same lines for when you begin instruction each day and that is 40 minutes of lost instructional time per day to make that move.  Now layer on the possibility of having to deal with double bus runs for parents who cannot transport their children, and you can see a significant amount of instructional time can be "eaten" because of transportation concerns.  Again, as stated in the meeting...these issues are not insurmountable...but they do carry unintended consequences that add to the complex discussions regarding the cost/benefit analysis for movement this spring.

Question:  Why can't we just extend the school day to accommodate for these time change needs?

Answer:  Our teachers work under an association contract which defines the expectations for a regular work day.  Our teachers are AWESOME, and would gladly give of their own time for our students (and routinely do by the way), but to ask them to give an additional 1 hour each day when they already give so much would be a very difficult ask indeed.  

The ultimate outcome of the meeting on Wednesday was a straw poll vote 4-3 to be willing to look at the reduction of the current 6 ft physical distancing requirement that is part of our Pandemic Operations Plan and to align this rule with the Maine Department of Education's health and safety requirements.  The MDOE requirements allow for a minimum of 3ft of physical distance between students in classroom settings.  What this straw poll does is allow myself (in collaboration with the District's Leadership Team) to dig another level down in our planning for potentially increasing face to face instruction for our students this spring.  The "homework" that was given to me by the School Committee as a result of this vote was to "sharpen" a plan to increase face to face instruction for students and to present that plan to the School Committee at a special meeting on April 1 at 7:00 p.m.  I was also assigned the task of surveying our 6-12 students to ask their opinions and the task of surveying our K-12 parents to ask their opinions of how folks would like us to move forward.  This data will be brought back to the School Committee at their upcoming meeting on April 1, 2021 for a decision regarding whether or not to change schedules for this spring.

SO AS PARENTS - HOW CAN YOU VOICE YOUR OPINIONS?  You can participate in the K-12 parent survey!  That survey is LINKED HERE and the scenario it is focused on (Scenario #2) is linked above for your review.  Please participate in this survey by Tuesday, March 30, 2021.  Summary results will be shared with the School Committee to help inform their decision making process.  If you have already participated and information in this blog has adjusted your thinking...no worries...log back in and you can edit your original responses.

HOW DO I STAY INFORMED OF THESE DISCUSSIONS?  You can watch the video of the meeting held on Wednesday night linked above and you can plan on attending the zoom meeting on April 1.  That meeting will begin at 7:00 p.m. and the link is below.  

Join Zoom Meeting https://networkmaine.zoom.us/j/89969195599?pwd=cGxDbVpFS0htenUvWGt4dGpmc1paZz09 Meeting ID: 899 6919 5599 Passcode: 184894

As we continue to learn more and work to inform our opinions regarding what may or may not be best for this spring...I would urge parents to remain informed and to reach out with specific questions. As is so often the case in these difficult and complex discussions...the place to seek answers is likely NOT on social media platforms. The best factual information can be gleaned by watching the School Committee meetings and by reaching out to folks like myself (heather.perry@gorhamschools.org) or Assistant Superintendent Record (chris.record@gorhamschools.org) or School Committee Chair Darryl Wright (darryl.wright@gorhamschools.org) to ask specific questions to which we will do our best to provide specific answers. We have navigated this whole year together, let's continue through the remaining 3 months of this school year for the sake of our students and the fabric of our unique and wonderful community. We can be passionate. We can disagree with one another...but at the end of the day - WE ARE ALL GORHAM RAMS!

THANK YOU!

A REMINDER ABOUT THE IMPORTANCE OF COMPLETING YOUR DAILY HEALTH SCREENERS

Just a quick reminder of the importance of completing those daily health screening surveys sent to you via email each school day.

Currently as we see a little "uptick" in the number of positive cases of COVID 19 in the Cumberland County area, one thing to note is that the increases seem to be among our youngest populations (under 20). This makes it even more important that we pay attention to completing these screeners and making sure that if your student feels sick and is experiencing one of the "common symptoms" or two of the "less common symptoms" that they remain home.

By making sure to take the time to complete these screeners each day, and keeping students home who are experiencing symptoms, it helps us all to monitor student symptoms and hopefully "catch" students from coming into school with positive cases of COVID 19. This limits the numbers of positive cases, and it also limits the number of students who may need to quarantine as a result.

As of March 25, 2021 we've had a total of 72 positive cases associated with our schools since opening in September. My goal...let's try to make sure we DO NOT go above 85 before the end of the school year! WE CAN DO IT!

LET'S START THINKING ABOUT SETTING UP POSITIVE TRANSITIONS FOR OUR STUDENTS!

We've actually been thinking about this for a while now, but I wanted to start sharing with parents some of what we are thinking regarding this important topic of how it is we will once again focus on ending the school year on a positive note and ensuring that our students and families feel secure in transitioning from one year to the next.

Each week of my blog posts for the next few weeks I'll focus on one school's end of year transition plans and share them with all of you. First up - Village Elementary School! Here's what Village has planned for their end of the year transitions.

Village Elem. School Transition Summary Page

Next week I'll focus on Narragansett Elem. School! 

GORHAM MIDDLE SCHOOL STUDENTS PRESENTS THEIR FIRST VIRTUAL PLAY. . . "ONCE UPON A ZOOM"! 

Gorham Middle School will present it's first ever virtual Play on March 28th.

Once Upon a Zoom focuses in on a group of students trying to complete a school project during modern-day quarantine times. Sounds boring, right? It seems that way until their Zoom meetings get bombarded by a steady parade of fairy tale characters!

The show will PREMIERE on Sunday, March 28th at 6pm.

Click here to watch it!

It will be available to view FOR FREE on our website until April 11th.

IN CLOSING

That's plenty for this week folks...but in the spirit of offering up some positive encouragement as we continue to navigate this pandemic together...I wanted to share a quote I find encouraging. HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND!