Happy Friday to everyone...the last full Friday of the 2020-21 School year! Over the past few weeks and in the upcoming week there will be a lot more "last of the 2020-21 School year" milestones! The end of a school year is always a positive time for students and staff...but it is also a time of transition and a time for reflection. If the pandemic has helped us in one area, it is in the area of helping us to understand what is most valuable in our lives. Our families and Each other. Strange how a year full of forcing 6 ft of physical distancing may have actually helped us to all find different ways to come closer together! Let's be sure to celebrate together all that we have accomplished this past year!
Here's a quick peak at some of the fun learning occurring across our incredible schools this past week...
Now on to the updates!
GHS SPRING CHORAL CONCERT
For those of you, like me, who couldn't make it to the GHS Spring Choral Concert held outdoors on Tuesday night in Old Orchard Beach...good news! Someone recorded it! Link is below! Kudos to our GHS chorus members who pulled together an incredible concert! Our students continue to amaze me! GO RAMS!
https://youtu.be/xyTgyz6_SkQ
THE GHS SENIOR WALK RETURNS FOR CLASS OF 2021!
I believe it was 4 years ago now (may be five...oh how time flies!) when Mr. Jandreau and others "hatched" the idea of having our GHS seniors walk through the hallways of their K-8 schools again to celebrate their accomplishments and to remind all of our students that they too can be successful and walk in those maroon, black and white robes as GHS graduates in the not too distant future! This event has been such a positive one -not only for our graduating seniors who get one last chance to show off their accomplishments to their teachers and younger siblings...but also for our younger students who get to see themselves as future graduates!
As you know, the COVID 19 pandemic prevented the class of 2020 from participating in a senior walk, and to be brutally honest, until just a few short days ago we were unsure if we could "pull it off" for our 2021 GHS seniors, but WE HAVE! I am excited to announce that our 2021 seniors will be able to do their "senior walks" at each of the K-8 schools in Gorham on the last day of school - June 10, 2021.
The seniors will be starting their "walks" at about 9:00 a.m. and will be visiting each K-8 school. The "walks" will take place outside at each school's location. Unfortunately, this event is CLOSED to the public...however, I will be LIVE STREAMING the event on our district Facebook page for those who may be interested in watching that way. Additionally, we will have some of our incredible technology team members working to video record the event which will also be shared at a later date.
Thank you to Mr. Jandreau (GHS Principal), Judy Philbrick (Assistant Transportation Director), Becky Fortier (GF Principal), Cynthia Remick (Narr. Principal), Brian Porter (Village Principal), and Quinton Donahue (GMS Principal) and their incredible teams for helping to make this possible for our 2021 graduates and for our K-8 students!
LOOKING FOR A WAY TO CELEBRATE OUR 2021 GHS GRADUATES?
A reminder that we'll be having our 2nd annual GHS graduate "Convoy" on Sunday, June 13! See details below:
Gorham High School, in collaboration with Gorham Project Graduation, the Gorham Police Department and the Gorham Fire Department will also be honoring our graduates in a graduation convoy, which we hope will become a new tradition here in Gorham started by our 2020 graduates! The convoy will commence at 7:30 p.m. on Sunday, June 13th beginning at the Gorham Industrial Park and conclude at Gorham High School. Graduates will be joined by their families for the convoy in their cars. The convoy will follow route 25 and Main Street from the Industrial Park through Gorham Village. The convoy will turn left onto South Street and enter the Gorham High School Campus via Morrill Avenue.
WE INVITE MEMBERS OF OUR GORHAM COMMUNITY to line Route 25 and Main Street, South Street, and Morrill Avenue to cheer and wave signs that celebrate our seniors. We ask that participants and spectators refrain from throwing candy or other items, either from vehicles in the convoy to spectators or from spectators toward the convoy.
Please note that, at the conclusion of the convoy, seniors will be dropped off at GHS for a closed event. There will NOT be a public fireworks display as there was last year.
Below is an image showing the convoy route...WE WOULD LOVE TO SEE THE COMMUNITY OUT SUPPORTING OUR SENIORS! (Red dot is GHS, Blue dots indicate the route that will be taken from the industrial park).
FY 22 SCHOOL BUDGET APPROVAL PROCESS UPDATE
I sent out a brief update earlier this week, but wanted to make sure folks got the information in time to inform their decision making on June 8's upcoming budget validation referendum vote. As you know, on April 14, 2021 the Gorham School Committee voted unanimously to approve of a proposed FY 22 school budget totaling $44,568,143.00. This originally proposed budget was a 4.34% increase over the previous year's budget and had a projected impact on the mil of an additional $0.59 cents. On Tuesday, June 1, the Gorham Town Council voted to approve of an FY 22 School budget with a $300,000.00 reduction to the original proposal. This change was able to be made by the School Committee without additional reductions to planned positions or programs. The new budget that is now moving forward to voters on June 8 is a total of $44,268,143.00, which is an overall increase of 3.64% in expenditures over the previous year's budget. This new proposal is anticipated to have a projected impact on the mil of an additional +$0.42 cents. For a home valued at $400,000.00 this would equate to roughly an additional $167.00.
IT IS IMPORTANT TO NOTE that these budget approvals are based on the funds we anticipate for state funding of education that are most recently approved. THIS DOES NOT INCLUDE anticipated additional state subsidy dollars if the Governor's proposed biennial budget changes are approved as we will not know the results of this work until after the budget approval process has been completed.
Right now, the Gorham Schools anticipate that we should receive AN ADDITIONAL $1.16 million dollars in state subsidy for FY 22 if the Governor's current biennial budget proposals are approved by the Legislature. If the new state budget is approved (which we are 99% sure that it will be)...the Gorham Town Council also voted on June 1st that these funds would be utilized by moving 50% towards the creation of a new capital reserve account for the School Department and then taking the other 50% and moving those funds to directly and immediately offset taxpayer expense in FY 22.
If these changes occur (and again, we are 99% sure that they will) and we receive the additional $1.16 million in funding. We would move approximately $580,000.00 to the creation of a new capital reserve account for the schools and we would offset taxpayer expense by the other approximate $580,000.00. That would mean that the projected tax impact of the proposed FY 22 School budget would move from the current +$0.42 cents on the mil to a new +$0.05 cents on the mil. That would change the impact for a homeowner with a home valued at $400,000.00 from the original +$167.00 to now just a +$19.00 anticipated increase for FY 22.
Bottom line...the Gorham School Committee supports this proposed FY 22 Budget and believes it provides the necessary supports and programs our students and staff will need for the coming school year. The Town Council has also approved of the FY 22 Budget and we have positioned ourselves nicely to even further reduce taxpayer expense after the Governor's proposed biennial budget is finally approved at the state level.
The next (and final step) in the budget approval process for FY 22 will be for the voters of Gorham to "validate" the proposed FY 22 budget with their votes on June 8. A "yes" vote will "validate" the votes of the School Committee and Town Council and will finally approve of the proposed FY 22 budget as it stands. A "No" vote will NOT "validate" the votes of the School Committee and Town Council and would send the proposed budget back to the School Committee to adjust and to then bring forward through the entire process again until a proposed budget can be approved by the School Committee, by the Town Council, and validated by voters.
WE URGE EVERYONE TO GET OUT AND VOTE ON JUNE 8! THANK YOU!
DRAFT 2021-22 PANDEMIC OPERATIONS PLAN IS READY TO VIEW
Please pay close attention to that word "DRAFT" in the title, but with that in mind...I wanted to be sure to share with families and staff what the latest thinking is for what school will look like this fall and how we plan on approaching the opening of the 2021-22 School Year.
You may review the DRAFT Pandemic Operations Plan for 2021-22 by
CLICKING HERE. I am still very much open to feedback on the document itself, and ALWAYS welcome questions...please share either with me anytime via email (heather.perry@gorhamschools.org).
For those of you who may not be interested in reading the full 47+ page document...here's a "cliff notes" version of highlights in no particular order of importance that will give you a solid sense of what to expect this coming fall based upon what we know at this time. Please note that as always, we are planning for what we believe to be the "worst case scenarios" and will be prepared to immediately adjust if rules/guidelines are less restrictive than they are right now. Generally speaking for current planning purposes we are using existing rules that are in place at this time. Again, we will be prepared to adjust quickly if things "loosen up" even further over the course of the summer.
*. FIRST THING to understand is that there is likely to still be several changes to COVID 19 safety guidelines and rules over the course of the summer. That is one reason why this document will remain "draft" until the early part of August.
*. We are planning for all schools across grades K-12 to open with 5 days per week of instruction for all students every day utilizing our normal school day hours.
*. At this time, we are planning that we may still need to maintain 3 ft of physical distance between individuals (adults and students) at all times unless eating. While eating, we are planning to still have to follow the 6 ft rule across grades K-12. Because of this, we will still likely have to utilize parts of the Municipal Building to offset necessary space for GHS students. THANK YOU TOWN OF GORHAM for your flexibility and support! If this rule gets less restrictive this summer, we will immediately adjust.
*. At this time, we are planning that all students and staff across grades K-12 will still have to wear face coverings during the course of the school day WHILE INDOORS regardless of vaccination status. Again, if this rule gets less restrictive over the summer, we will immediately adjust.
*. At this time, we will continue to emphasize hand washing and sanitization protocols over the individual sanitization of objects or "things".
*. At this time, we are planning that we will be able to increase capacities on our school buses (by how much right now we do not know) but that individuals riding buses will need to sanitize hands as they board and as they get off the bus and they will need to wear face coverings at all times while on buses. We would still STRONGLY ENCOURAGE those families that can provide transportation to and from school for their children to please do so again this coming year. We will put out our summer transportation needs survey later this month and develop routes from there.
*. At this time we anticipate that our youngest students (K-6) will not have access to approved COVID 19 vaccines until AFTER the school year begins.
*. At this time, we anticipate still having to conduct contact tracing protocols for those positive cases associated with our schools. Individuals who are not vaccinated will still have to quarantine as close contacts. If vaccinated, individuals do not have to quarantine in close contact circumstances as long as they remain asymptomatic.
*. We will be offering a LIMITED Remote Learning Program for students across grades K-12 whose medical needs require that this program be provided. Information on this was in my previous blog post and if you have questions, please reach out to your school's principal and they'd be happy to help!
*. At this time, we will KEEP the Green, Yellow, and Red model designations. We will start in GREEN, and the data we would use to move to yellow or red (other than in small contact tracing circumstances) would be school transmission data - NOT community transmission data. In other words, as long as data continues to demonstrate that COVID 19 is not spreading within schools...we would remain in the green operations model of 5 day per week instruction for all students.
*. Even in the "Green" model, there will be times, when small groups of students or whole classrooms may have to "go red" due to a close contact scenario and the need to quarantine. When this occurs the classroom teacher will work with each group of students to ensure educational programming continues for those impacted students.
*. At this time, we anticipate that we will be allowing volunteers back into our schools and classrooms as long as they have completed volunteer training.
*. At this time, we anticipate all co and extra curricular programming will be able to occur when schools resume this fall.
Those are the big ticket items that I thought folks would want to make sure they knew about...there is a lot more in the DRAFT Pandemic Plan if you want to read more closely. Also please note that when you are reviewing the DRAFT plan there are items in there that are highlighted in yellow and typed in red font. These are areas where we will fill in more specific details over the course of the summer.
NEXT STEPS in the process will be for us to "wait and see" what safety rules and guidelines may change over the summer. We will then come back together in early August as a District Leadership Team to make final adjustments to the plan. The plan will then be brought back to the School Committee for approval in August and then we are "off to the races" to begin the 2021-22 School Year on a positive note!
BOTTOM LINE - the opening of this coming school year is going to be a whole lot closer to "normal" than last year's was...and we'll have all students back into the buildings Monday through Friday. Definitely something we can all look forward to!
UPDATE ON SUMMER LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES
As a reminder, the Gorham Schools will be offering three key summer learning opportunities for students this summer.
The first program is a remote for RTI Tier III students across grades K-8. This program will be focused on providing an extension of their Personal Learning Plans for three weeks after school lets out in an effort to reduce potential learning loss that typically occurs over the summer. Families should have already been contacted about this program if your child(ren) are eligible. This program will run from June 14 to July 1 Monday through Thursday to offer approximately 2 hours of small group instruction per day. This program will serve approximately 10-12 reading and 10-12 math students per K-8 school.
The second program is a six week summer learning program that will be offered at Great Falls Elementary School for qualifying students. This program will be offered 3 days per week (T,W,TH) from July 6 - August 13, 2021 and will offer approximately 3 hours of instruction per day with lunch and recess factored in. Students that participate in these programs will also be eligible to participate in afternoon summer programming through the Gorham Recreation Department at no cost to families.
The third program is an online learning platform called IXL that can be used by any family with students in grades K-8. This program is great for a little or as much learning that parents and students want to accomplish over the summer and can be completely self paced. The program provides support in the areas of literacy and math. If you are interested in learning about this tool that we will be making freely available to all families this summer, please attend the upcoming Parent training. Information is below:
IXL Math & Literacy Summer Resource Training for Parents/Guardians (K-8)
- What
- IXL Math & Literacy Summer Resource Training for Parents/Guardians
- When
- 6/7/2021, 6:00 PM – 7:00 PM
- Where
- networkmaine.zoom.us/j/84221565055
IXL is a personalized learning platform that will be available to K-8 students throughout the summer to reinforce learning in the areas of Language Arts and Mathematics. Kim Fadrigon, K-8 Instructional Leader, and Assistant Superintendent Chris Record will present to families how to utilize this resource this summer for voluntary student skill work. IXL uses insights from a Real-Time Diagnostic to generate personalized guidance for each learner. These personalized action plans seamlessly link students to the skills that will help them build on their knowledge and remediate gaps in understanding. It's an easy way for to personalize student instruction and accelerate learning.
END OF YEAR EVENT REMINDERS
* June 7 - Gr. 9-12 Vaccine Clinic #2 (1/2 GHS students)
- Great Falls 5th Grade Celebration Parade (5:00 p.m.)
- Parent Information Night on IXL (summer online learning software, 6:00 p.m.)
* June 8 - K-12 Virtual Step Up Day!
- VOTING DAY - GET OUT AND VOTE!
* June 9 - Vaccine Clinic #2 (All GMS and 1/2 GHS)
- GMS 8th grade celebration parade (5:00 p.m.)
* June 10 - Last student day, students dismissed on Early Release Schedule
- Class of 2021 Senior walk (9:00 a.m. via facebook live)
- Village 5th Grade Celebration Parade (2:00 p.m.)
* June 11 - Last staff Day
- Narragansett 5th Grade Celebration Parade (12:00 noon)
* June 12 - POSSIBLE rain date for GHS Graduation (1:00 p.m. if announced)
* June 13 - GHS Graduation (4:00 p.m.)
- Note: Each of our schools have other activities going on as well. Best place to keep up with the various "happenings" is by visiting each school's website at: www.gorhamschools.org
COMMUNITY BASED ANTI-RACISM "PLAYBOOK" WORKSHOP BEING OFFERED
G.A.R.D. (Gorham Anti Racism Development) is a community organization designed to combat racism and help to cultivate a community rich in diversity and inclusion. This group will be sponsoring a 3 day comprehensive anti-racism workshop for children ages 8-13 in Gorham. If you are interested, please see the flyer below for more details on how to register and get involved!
THINKING ABOUT TRANSITIONING YOUR FAMILY FROM SCHOOL YEAR TO SUMMER???
HERE'S A POTENTIAL LOCAL RESOURCE...
Presented by Dr. Delvina Miremadi-Baldino
Topic: The Summertime Switch: 4 Simple Questions to Help Your Family Transition Into Summer with Hope, Connection and Resilience
LINK TO PRESENTATION IS BELOW:
Dr. Delvina Miremadi-Baldino is the founder and Chief Resilience Officer of Realize Your Resilience, a company dedicated to helping individuals, schools, and organizations build upon their strengths and foster resilience so they can grow, succeed and thrive. Dr. Miremadi-Baldino also currently works as the Director of Research and Program Development at Life Advantages, LLC, where she applies over fifteen years of experience specializing in resilience education and program development. Dr. Miremadi-Baldino has created and delivered a multitude of resources and programs for colleges and universities, including the Realize Your Resilience Toolkit , the Resilience Success Assessment (RSA), and the Thrive Through It student resilience course. Prior to this, she worked for Children’s Hospital of Boston’s Department of Psychiatry, developing innovative depression and suicide prevention tools for middle and high school students. Dr. Miremadi-Baldino received her Ed.M. from Harvard University in Human Development and Psychology and completed her doctorate in Educational Leadership at Simmons College, where her research specialized in understanding and fostering resilience in minority students. Dr. Miremadi-Baldino is a Certified Applied Positive Psychology Practitioner (CAPP) and Certified Coach. Dr. Miremadi-Baldino’s extensive training in Education and Psychology places her at the forefront of developing programs that promote resilience to help children, young adults, parents and professionals live more flourishing lives.
In closing, I wanted folks to know that I plan on sending out my FINAL BLOG for the 2020-21 School Year on Thursday, June 10! Until then - enjoy your weekends and remember...celebrate the good as we wrap up this historic school year in Gorham!
