Sept. 30 Blog Post

How is it already the end of September?  I wonder if anyone else out there is like me and wishes time could simply slow down just a little bit?  It seems like just yesterday that my granddaughter was timidly stepping on the school bus for her very first time and now, she is already a practiced "pro"!  She is now confidently boarding the bus, going to school, interacting with her peers and her teachers and coming home brimming with excitement and sharing all that she did each day.  I'm sure many of our Gorham Kindergarten parents - and even more likely - the parents of our seniors wish that time could just move a little more slowly!

Its been a great two weeks in the Gorham Schools and our students are most definitely back into the full swing of the new school year!  Everyone is firing on all cylinders in our incredible learning environments!  Check out some pictures below to see what I mean!

Now onto the informational part of this blog!

PLANNING FOR POSSIBLE PRE K EXPANSION 

IN FALL OF 2023

One of my goals for the 2022-23 School Year is:

This goal has been a multi-year goal starting during the 2021-22 School Year as we worked together with the Little Rams committee to develop a vision for early childhood learning in the community of Gorham.  This work was just completed and is culminated with a new report called our "Bright Futures For Little Rams:  Gorham's Early Childhood Partnership Plan".  This report will be presented to the Gorham School Committee at their upcoming meeting on Oct. 5, 2022.  You can tune in if you'd like, but know there is much more information coming on this full report in my next blog.  For now, I'll just entice you to review the plan, and understand that our Pre K expansion work is a part of a much larger vision for early childhood learning in Gorham!

So what does our Pre K expansion portion of this plan look like?  

First, it is all about partnerships!

Quietly, behind the scenes, our schools have been working with our community early learning partners to develop partnerships and ideas for how we can work together to increase access to Pre K programming in our community.  One small step was taken last spring when we (The Gorham School Department) entered into a public/private partnership with the Gorham Arts Alliance to offer up to 10 Pre K seats through their Pre K programming that would be publicly funded.  With this small pilot we were able to work our way through the process of gaining Department of Education Pre K program approval, we developed Memoranda Of Understanding (MOU's), and we worked with the state to provide funding.  This small pilot has helped us to learn a lot and we are now ready to take the next steps in this important work.

At this time, we are planning to expand public Pre K programs in Gorham in TWO important ways.  We hope this expansion will begin in the fall of 2023, but final timing and details will be determined by Gorham School Committee and their approval will hinge strongly on whether or not we are successful in receiving a Pre K expansion grant from the MDOE.  Here is what we are currently thinking (again, subject to School Committee approval and receipt of grant funding from the State):

1.  The Gorham School Department would open TWO Pre K classrooms to be housed at Narragansett Elementary School. 

-  These two classrooms would serve a total of 64 Pre K students within half day (AM/PM) programs.

-  These two classrooms would focus on serving CDS eligible children and families by targeting 50% of student served to be CDS eligible children.  The other 50% will be comprised of non-eligible CDS children.

-  Slots open for non-eligible CDS children would be filled based upon the economic need of the family.

-  Transportation would be provided from home/child care to school and from school back to home/child care for each session.

-  Facilities at Narragansett would be renovated to meet the unique needs of our early learners.

-  Staff and services would be provided by the Gorham School Department.

-  The "east wing" playground would be renovated to accommodate for appropriate play equipment for this age level.

2.  The Gorham Schools will expand its public/private partnerships with the anticipation of adding another 32 available public Pre K slots through private partnerships with local providers.

- Additional MOU's will be created.

-  Additional Programs will be approved via the Maine Department of Education.

If all goes well, beginning in the Fall of 2023, we hope to serve a total of 106 Pre K children in our community EITHER via on site programming at Narragansett Elementary School or via public/private partnerships with local providers.  This is approximately half of the anticipated total Pre K population of children in Gorham.  Our longer term goal will be to see our public/private partnerships increase to the point that we can say we are able to offer "universal Pre K programs" to all 4 year olds in Gorham!  We certainly have some work to do to make that ultimate vision a reality, but hopefully with these planned expansions for Fall of 2023 we will make some significant progress!

Again, there is A LOT of work going on behind the scenes in this area between the Gorham Schools and our community partners and there is A LOT more work to be done!  Please reach out with questions if you have them, and follow along as I continue to keep folks informed of our progress!

P.S. JUST A QUICK SHOUT OUT TO OUR EARLY CHILD CARE PARTNERS IN THE COMMUNITY OF GORHAM!  FROM FAMILY CHILDCARE FOLKS TO CHILDCARE CENTER FOLKS, EARLY CARE ADVOCATES AND EVERYONE IN BETWEEN...IT IS CLEAR THIS COMMUNITY KNOWS HOW TO WORK TOGETHER TO MAKE POSITIVE THINGS HAPPEN FOR OUR CHILDREN IN COLLABORATION WITH OUR PUBLIC SCHOOLS - THANK YOU FOR ALL THAT YOU DO ON BEHALF OF OUR CHILDREN AND FAMILIES IN GORHAM!

UPCOMING BOND REFERENDUM QUESTION FOR 3 GORHAM SCHOOL DEPARTMENT PROJECTS

I shared this in my previous blog post, but sometimes repetition is good!  

At the Sept. 6 Gorham Town Council meeting, the Town Council voted to approve moving forward with adding a referendum question to the ballot on behalf of the Gorham School Committee.  This question will be Question #2 on our local ballot for elections that will be held November 8, 2022. 

In preparation for the upcoming vote the Gorham School Committee has put together a "one pager" that outlines what each of the projects are that are being requested, and why they are so important to the support of our schools.  Please view the one pager below (Or CLICK HERE for pdf Version)

I've also had some folks ask about what would the modular expansion look like at Narragansett?  How many classrooms?  Where would it be placed?  You can view detailed information by CLICKING HERE, but I thought the images below might also assist in giving you an idea of what we are looking at:

Site Overview Image (New Modular Expansion in Brown)

Classroom View Image (8 additional classrooms, bathrooms, and utility space w/connector):

Again, please reach out with any questions you may have and be sure to get out and vote on November 8! 

THOUGHT EXCHANGE REMINDER

Just a reminder to everyone that there is an active thought exchange out there.  The question that was asked is:

What can we do to make our schools more welcoming to students, staff and families of all diverse backgrounds and identities?

So far we have had great responses from our students...but would LOVE to see more from our parents and staff!  

The survey is STILL OPEN!  The Deadline to provide your ideas and your feedback is Oct. 5!  Please take a moment and share your important thoughts!  I would love to see that number of parent participants up closer to 500 and I'd love to see that number of staff participants closer to 200!  

Here's the link to participate:

https://tejoin.com/scroll/151381365

You can also view a summary sheet of work completed thus far for reference by CLICKING HERE.

We really need YOUR VOICE to help drive our continued work!  Please participate today!

UPCOMING NWEA TESTING DATES

Just a quick reminder to families that Fall NWEA testing will be occurring soon.  This Fall NWEA testing is not the state's assessment.  The state's assessment is done in the spring.  The Fall NWEA testing is used by our schools for benchmarking purposes, and to assist us in tracking overall program, school and district level performance.  We really do dig into the data deeply to help inform instruction from the classroom level all the way up to the district level.   

Students in grades 1-10 will be participating in NWEA testing in the areas of math and reading during the following window:

-  Oct. 3, 2022 - Oct. 28, 2022.  

If you have questions, please reach out to your child's teacher to learn more!

UPCOMING LOCAL CANDIDATES NIGHT

Want to learn more about individuals running for your local School Committee and Town Council seats?  GoCAT is sponsoring an in person meet the candidates night to be held on Oct. 11, 2022 starting at 6:00 p.m. at Baxter Memorial Library.  

If recent times has taught us nothing, it is that the quality of leadership for local elected officials is of the utmost importance as our community continues to grow and thrive!  Check out the flyer below for more details and mark your calendars to attend!

GHS INTERACT CLUB COMMUNITY SERVICE PROJECT NEEDS YOUR HELP!

 

Gorham High School's Interact Club is doing a community service project to benefit Maine Needs and they could use your help!  The donation drive is being held in conjunction with the Homecoming and Senior Football night scheduled for Oct. 7, 2022 at 7:00 p.m. but you don't have to attend the game to help out!  You can just drop off your items if you prefer!  Check out the flyer below for more details and feel free to reach out to Neile Nelson, GHS Interact Club Advisor with any questions you may have!  Her email address is:  neile.nelson@gorhamschools.org!  Thank you!

FALL PARENT/TEACHER CONFERENCES COMING SOON!

Just a quick reminder that Fall Parent/Teacher Conferences will be coming right up.  Our school calendar marks a single day for conferences (10/21), but our schools often open up evenings for a week or more ahead of this date in order to accommodate for parent's work schedules and ensure every parent that wishes to participate can participate.  We definitely want to see you this year - and here's the good news - we will be offering face to face conferences this year!  Whooo Hooo!  and YEAH!  ☺

Conferences are a great time for parents to learn about how their children are doing and what they are learning in our schools.  When we think about transparency this is an EXCELLENT way to talk face to face with your child's teacher about how your children are doing, what they are learning now and what you should anticipate they will be learning about in the future!  It is just a great opportunity for open dialogue and we'd love to see ALL OF YOU there!

Each school has a mechanism for parents to sign up...so please look for communications from your school, and reach out to your school's office with questions if you have them!  

BUS DRIVERS NEEDED!

Some of you may have seen our buses parked out by Cherry Hill Farms!  We still need bus drivers!  We don't just need full time drivers...we also need part time drivers for things like Athletic trips or Field trips, and spare drivers to fill in when our full time drivers may need to be out!  Its a great way to give back to your community and here's the deal - WE WILL TRAIN YOU AND PAY YOU WHILE YOU TRAIN!  NO PREVIOUS EXPERIENCE IS NEEDED!

If you are interested, you can go online at www.gorhamschools.org and then click on "Human Resources" and then click on "Employment Opportunities" to apply today!  If you have trouble with the online application process - don't give up!  CALL US!  You can call 222-1012 and talk to Rhonda who can help you through the application process!

Please feel free to spread the word...we offer VERY competitive pay and benefits...but even better than that - we just have GREAT STUDENTS who need your service!

Well, that's all I have for this blog post...in my next post I'll have a new "Curriculum Corner" piece for the month of October and I'll go more deeply into the Bright Future for Little Rams Report among other topics.  In the meantime, there are lots of great things happening in our schools!  Keep informed by going to our website and checking out our social media pages!

September 16 Blog Post

Hard to believe three weeks have flown by already, but they have!  The good news is that the positive energy just keeps flowing!  I've been able to get out into classrooms to read, attend athletic events, and student/staff meetings and can say with confidence that all our schools are incredible places to be right now (per usual)!  Let's check out some great pictures taken these past two weeks across our schools to show you what I mean!

Now onto the information! 

UPDATE ON UPCOMING BOND REFERENDUM QUESTION FOR 3 GORHAM SCHOOLS CAPITAL PROJECTS!

At the Sept. 6 Gorham Town Council meeting, the Town Council voted to approve moving forward with adding a referendum question to the ballot on behalf of the Gorham School Committee.  This question will be Question #2 on our local ballot for elections that will be held November 8, 2022. 

In preparation for the upcoming vote the Gorham School Committee has put together a "one pager" that outlines what each of the projects are that are being requested, and why they are so important to the support of our schools.  Please view the one pager below (Or CLICK HERE for pdf Version)

I've also included what the question itself will look like on the ballot.  Please see image below and note that this is NOT THE OFFICIAL BALLOT.  You need to either request an absentee ballot from the Town of Gorham or you must show up at the polls on Nov. 8 to vote to view the official ballot.

Please see the Town of Gorham's Website by CLICKING HERE to access information on voter registration, polling locations and how to access absentee ballots if you are interested.

I encourage anyone with questions regarding Question 2 on our local Gorham ballot to please reach out!  My email address is heather.perry@gorhamschools.org!

GORHAM SCHOOLS ANTI-RACISM & EQUITY COMMITTEE UPDATE

As a reminder, the Gorham School Committee passed it's Anti-Racism Policy, Policy ACA back in December of 2020.  With this policy, there are several specific actions and expectations that are laid out by the School Committee regarding this important work.  In order to advise and support the administration in administering this policy, the School Committee also created the Anti-Racism & Equity Committee as an "Ad Hoc" Committee of the Gorham School Department.  This subcommittee has been meeting since that time.

The Gorham School Committee stands on the principle of rejecting all forms of "racism as (it is) destructive to the district's mission/vision, values and goals."  The Anti-Racism & Equity Committee continues these efforts by establishing a path to eliminate racism, intolerance, inequity, and disparity in the school system.  Doing this work ensures each school creates a welcoming and equitable culture, with an inclusive environment that reflects and celebrates the growing diversity of the district's student population, their families, and the community - all within an environment that reflects our Gorham Schools Code of Conduct in action.

Over the past few years we have been working with the Maine Intercultural Communications Consultants (MICC)  to facilitate the work of this group.  As a single organization, MICC no longer exists, although its overall work continues.  As a result, we had to spend some time this summer working to find a new facilitator for the group.  I am happy to report we have been able to find a talented new facilitator.  His name is Dustin Ward.  We would like to welcome Dustin to working with the incredible community of Gorham in this new role.  James Ford will also work as a support facilitator as he has the past two years.

At our first meeting planned for Oct. 19, 2022 at 6:30 p.m. we will begin by reviewing some draft goals for the group's focus during this school year.  Those include (in draft form), the following:

1.  Students, Students, Students - The Anti-Racism Committee will build upon its already vast interaction with students, allowing them to continue to tell the narrative of their own identity and what they desire from their school experience and environment.

2.  Community Engagement - This aligns with our overall district goal of increasing community engagement.  The Anti-Racism Committee will look to establish a link to the work of the District, the School Committee, and the larger Mission and the reason for the work being undertaken with our community.

3.  Building Trust - The Anti-Racism Committee in its own construction will work to build trust among its members to establish a foundation for future members to be effective at carrying out the District's Anti-Racism policy and the larger Mission of the Committee and Community.  It also will set a focus on how the District and Community can build trust overall.

4.  Processing the Mental Health, Trauma, and Healing - The Anti-Racism Committee will look to fortify a way for students, teachers and administrators who have been harmed through discrimination, bullying, racism or other traumatic events, a way to work through and find a path towards healing.

5. Reaching Families with Learned Lessons - The Anti-Racism Committee will look to strengthen the communication, and advocacy, that families obtain for their student and child, and understand how they too can build upon a lens of Anti-Racism and embrace one's full identity.

If you would like to get involved - I have good news!  We are CURRENTLY, LOOKING FOR THE FOLLOWING STAKEHOLDERS TO JOIN OUR COMMITTEE:

-  One (1) K-5 Parent

-  Three (3) 9-12 Parents

-  Three (3) Community Members

If you are interested in serving in this capacity and in helping to actualize the vision for the work in our schools as outlined in our policy, please reach out to Superintendent Perry via email (heather.perry@gorhamschools.org).  Please know that in filling these slots, we will be mindful of the make-up of the group in trying to ensure the group reflects the diversity of our community as well as the diversity of stakeholders.  Individuals will need to be able to commit to meeting at least once per month with the potential for an additional meeting in between.  The commitment will be for one year.

SEPTEMBER'S CURRICULUM CORNER!

As was shared in my last blog, one of my formal annual goals for this year is as follows:

In my last blog I shared an open survey with parents/guardians and community members that asked the following question:

This survey was shared via my blog, and via our social media posts.  So far, we have had 24 participants in the survey who have asked some great questions.  My intention is to share questions and answers gleaned from this survey each month as part of my blog.  Below are FOUR question that were asked with corresponding answers:

Question #1:  Can you define the term Anti-Racism?

Answer:  The Gorham School Department uses the Webster's Dictionary definition of Anti-Racism which is seen below:

Question #2:  Could you explain how your vision of anti-racist compares to Ibram X. Kendi's definition of anti-racist?

Answer:  Kendi defines an anti-racist as "Someone who is expressing an antiracist idea or supporting an antiracist policy with their actions".  He goes on to state that he defines an antiracist idea as "any idea that states the racial groups are equal."

The School Board, in its Anti-Racism Policy outlines the following vision for the work:

"The Gorham School Committee and the Gorham School Department reject all forms of racism as it is destructive to the district’s mission, vision, values, and goals. This policy is established in an effort to eliminate all forms of racism, intolerance, inequity, and disparity in our school system. We aim to ensure that each school creates a welcoming equitable culture and inclusive environment that reflects and celebrates the diversity of the district’s student population, their families, the community, and an environment that reflects our Code of Conduct. The School Committee is committed to the following principles: 

1. Building, strengthening, and sustaining a school community that shares the collective responsibility to address, eliminate, and prevent actions, decisions, and outcomes that result from and perpetuate racism. 

2. Eliminating inequitable practices whenever detected. 

3. Continue to create equitable practices in order to cultivate the unique gifts, talents, and interests of every child in accordance with the district’s mission, vision, values, goals, objectives and curriculum. 

4. Respecting and championing the diversity and life experiences of all community members to support and strengthen/enhance the district’s mission, vision, values, goals, objectives, and curriculum. 

5. Acknowledging that racism is compounded by other forms of discrimination, including, but not limited to those protective classes as specified by federal and state statutes and school policy. 

6. Recognizing this work is complex and requires patience, flexibility, and compassion in order to carry it out." 

Question #3:  How are materials selected by teachers and librarians? Is there oversight or doublechecks about anything potentially controversial and how often are they reviewed after being added?

Answer:  Any purchase for instructional supplies or books follow a strict purchase order (PO) process that ensures every item is approved by the building principal prior to the item being purchased.  This is our typical procurement process for any instructional supplies.  When it comes to purchasing of core curriculum materials, there is a curriculum review committee that meets and reviews materials and works within an established content area review process that rotates approximately every six years.  This is for large scale curriculum purchases like Reveal Math or Writing without Tears.  Additionally, curriculum standards and performance indicators are reviewed on an annual basis.

In regards to specific library materials purchase processes, I thought that our GHS Librarian Sandra Rockett did a TREMENDOUS JOB reviewing the processes she uses for materials selection at GHS in June of last school year.  She gave a presentation to the School Committee so its on video if you'd like to watch!  You can view the presentation by CLICKING HERE.  If you view topics under "Administrator Reports" you'll see it listed to save you time!

Question #4:  Do all classes have a syllabus?  Can the syllabus be sent home to parents for review?

Answer:  At the high school level, yes all courses have a syllabi and they can actually be found on our website.  Just go to www.gorhamschools.org then click on "Our Schools" then go to "Gorham High School" and then click on "School Info." and you'll see the option to click on "GHS Course Syllabi"

At the Elementary and Middle School level, we do not have specific course syllabi as courses are more general in nature.  If a parent is curious about overall course content and topics to be taught throughout the year, you may certainly email your child's teacher and ask for this information and they should be able to provide a general overview.  Additionally, we encourage parents/guardians to talk openly with their children about what they are learning.  Its a great way to get insights, not only as to what students are learning, but what they think about it!

If you would like to ask questions to add to my ongoing list, feel free to use the same survey link shared before.  I will be continually "culling" questions from this and sharing them each month via my blogs!  

Survey Link:  https://forms.gle/6baVMTDM3Qgvi2Jk8

F.O.A.A. REQUESTS ARE NOW AVAILABLE ONLINE!

Just to be clear - FOAA stands for the Freedom Of Access Act.☺

Over the past year, and continuing into the 2022-23 school year, the Gorham School Department has been inundated with public records requests. Searching for and assembling records in accordance with state law is very time intensive and expensive for the school district. 

 In the name of transparency and the hope that this effort can reduce the number of public records requests pertaining to the same matters, we have decided to make public all record requests, along with the corresponding records that were shared with the individual or groups making the requests. 

You can now view all FOAA requests on our website by CLICKING HERE. This page contains the date of the FOAA request, the name of the individual making the request, the topic of the request, when the request was completed, a link to the completed materials shared, and a listing of the estimated time it took to produce the materials requested.

As noted, we take our responsibility to provide transparency to the public very seriously, and we welcome the opportunity to share information. Please know that you are always welcome to attend our school boards meetings, held monthly. The board’s agendas, minutes, and other information is posted on our website, at www.gorhamschools.org or may be viewed by CLICKING HERE.

ASPIRE GORHAM WORK CONTINUES TO SHINE!

Of course, I'll continue to share our monthly Aspire Gorham newsletters this year, but the first one won't come out until October. I have to be honest, I just can't wait to brag about the INCREDIBLE work going on through this partnership...so I'm going to share a little here to entice you to read more in October!

What you see below is a written report from Jen Belanger, our Aspire Gorham communications coordinator. This is a monthly report that is sent to myself, to JMG and to MELMAC who are the two sponsoring organizations for this work. You can learn more about the overall program by going to our website...but in the meantime, just check out all the activity reported below that has occurred in just three short weeks!

Greetings everyone,

It has certainly been a joyful and busy start-of-school for Aspire Gorham. Although we are only closing our 3rd week of school, there is much to report on.

Top 3:

• The 2021-2022 Year in Review “Snapshot Document”

• Gorham is launching two new grant-funded initiatives directly tied to Aspire goals:

• Maine DOL Apprenticeship Grant

• Maine DOE Extended Learning Opportunities Grant 

• Teacher-led Aspire collaborations are already being planned

Community Partnership Portal - Educator Dashboard

Our new tool for educators is completed and will be shared with teachers each month when I share the Aspire Gorham Newsletter. I still have some data entry to do, and then I will focus on making a Community Dashboard version that allows local businesses to find interested educators.

Community Partnership Portal: Educator Dashboard

Programmatic Updates

As alluded to earlier, Aspire has hit the ground running this year! Here’s a short synopsis of activities happening throughout the district:

Gorham High School:

• Extended Learning Opportunities: 

• Eliza has 13 students taking the Workplace Learning Experience class, which is now in its third year. The timeline expects all students to be in their placements by October.

• GHS has also onboarded its new ELO Instructor, Grace Olsen. We are so excited to have her executing the ELO grant. In her first week, she has already met with the school counseling team to identify the priority and secondary priority students, met with 9 of these students, and 1 is already placed at ODAT Machine. Grace is dynamic, organized, and skilled at connecting with students - what a dream!

• Career X:

• Eliza is developing 2-day career exploration events with interested departments. This is a huge undertaking and one that will have a significant impact on our students.

• Currently in active development: Science X and Arts+Music X.

Gorham Middle School:

• Try It Days / Amazing Race:

• I sent a survey to staff about which Aspire events were most of interest to staff - while I got positive feedback about virtually every Aspire-aligned activity, there was a strong consensus from teachers that we should continue to use the Try It Day model for 6th grade and the Amazing Race for 8th grade. I was also able to solicit numerous staff members willing to help take on some responsibility for executing these activities.

• Teacher-Led Collaborations:

• In the past three weeks, I have received outreach from numerous colleagues at GMS:

• Refreshing our library with a collection of relevant career exploration materials.

• A field experience for the Alternative Education students to tour multiple businesses in the Gorham Industrial Park

• Two career panels revolving around the theme of careers in the “Maine Outdoors”

• And this is only about half of the requests I’m working on at GMS, in full collaboration with staff.

Elementary Schools:

• Future Story Shirts:

• The Class of 2035 will be receiving their shirts next week! I cannot wait to share photos.

• Author Visit: Jennifer Nielsen

• Popular young adult author, Jennifer Nielsen, will visit Gorham in April. This was spearheaded by a 4th-grade teacher at Great Falls and will be open to all students in grades 4-7 throughout the district.

• Teacher-Led Collaborations:

• We also have numerous new projects in the works at the K-5 level, as well as some educators who are seeking to repeat their successful Aspire field experiences from past years. 

As each of these programmatic updates show, Aspire is truly impacting the culture of Gorham schools. Not only do the vast majority of teachers believe in our goals, but they also work to weave Aspire into the fabric of their classroom culture and the wider school culture.

One of the key goals for all Gorham schools in 2022-2023 is to reinvigorate connections to the community, and Aspire will be a core component of this work.

Aspire-Aligned Grant Work

MDOL Apprenticeship Grant:

Gorham has hit the ground running - there are 6 people who are in the Educator Apprenticeship pathway, and they have already gained 3 credits from SMCC and begun working throughout the district. Adult Education is also working to get the CNA Apprenticeship pathway up and running soon, and developing a CDL Apprenticeship pathway.

• Our first Quarterly Report is due on 10/15.

MDOE Extended Learning Opportunities Grant:

Gorham has hired its new ELO Instructor, who will work closely with Eliza Kenigsberg to ensure that the GHS students who sought programs at the local CTE centers are able to get a relevant extended learning opportunity in an area of interest. Together, they will work to expand ELOs and workplace learning at Gorham High School, and spearhead the implementation of the Maine Career Exploration Badging, in collaboration with GHS’s core JMG Specialists, Ryan Chicoine and Mia Kaufman.

Upcoming Priorities

• Pre-K Grant and Little Rams Vision work

• Successful launch of ELO programming and Maine Career Exploration Badging

• Facilitating teacher-led Aspire collaborations

IN CLOSING...

I recently came across this quote and thought it was worth sharing. . .

When I read this quote, I think about the purpose of public education today. Sure, when public schools were created 200 years ago, perhaps the overarching purpose then might have been strictly the original 3 R's (Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic). That was good for its time, but the reality is that simply isn't enough to prepare our children for success after they leave our schools in today's complex American society. As a result, the skills we now need to focus on are a new 3 R's - Rigor, Relevance, and Relationships. Our children can no longer be the "empty vessels" that are filled by knowledgeable teachers through memorization and understanding facts. The world is much larger and more complex than that now. Instead, we must teach students to be curious. To research and explore and to sift through mountains of information while thinking critically. Our students need to become the leaders of their own minds and in turn, the leaders of their futures.

I continue to be so proud to work in a school system and in a community that values these same ideals.

PROUD TO BE A GORHAM RAM!

Have a great weekend, and see you again for my next blog post on Sept. 30, 2022!

What an incredibly positive opening of school across all of our schools this past week here in Gorham!  On Monday we welcomed back our 6th and 9th graders so that they could have their new schools all to themselves for the day.  Then on Tuesday we welcomed back students in grades 1-5, 7-8 and 10-12.  Last, but certainly not least, we welcomed back our new kindergarten students yesterday.  The schools are once again alive with the positive energy and enthusiasm that can only be seen/heard when students and staff are present and learning together.  It is a delightful "hum" that was certainly missed this summer! 

Each of our K-8 schools also had their open houses this past week.  I have NEVER SEEN so many parents in our schools - even before the pandemic!  What a great turn out and a great indicator of the positive things to come this year in partnership with our families!  Gorham High School will have their open house this coming week.  See Principal Jandreau's parent newsletter for details!

As usual, I'll try to share a few pictures from the past week or so to give all of you a glimpse into our schools.  Here goes for week #1!

OK, time to launch into the more informational material for this blog!

OPENING MESSAGE FROM SUPERINTENDENT PERRY & QUICK OVERVIEW OF DISTRICT FOCUS POINTS 

FOR 2022-23! 

Please check out my quick video message below welcoming parents and families back into our schools and sharing three "big picture" focus points for the coming year in our schools!  Here's the link to the video message:

https://youtu.be/1NjqABNqD1M

PARENT QUESTION:  HOW DO I FOLLOW WHAT IS HAPPENING IN OUR SCHOOLS?

I get this question every year so I thought it might be nice to start this year's blog post with a quick overview of how to access information about our district and our individual schools.  The first thing I will always say is that if you ever have any questions, please don't hesitate to reach out!  Seriously - no question is too small!  If the question is about your child specifically, it is likely best to reach out to your child's school directly.  If the question is a little larger than that, then feel free to reach out to me.  You can find your child's school phone number on our website and my phone number is 222-1012.  You can also email me at heather.perry@gorhamschools.org.  If I can't answer your question, I bet I know how to direct you to find those answers!☺

District info:

Speaking of our website.  That is a great place to find lots of information!  Our web link is www.gorhamschools.org.  Once there you will see any big announcements on the front page.  You should also look over to the right side of the page where you will see "Upcoming Events".  These are district wide events such as school committee meetings, notifications of early release days, etc.

District Social media sites:

Also from our website, you can access our district Facebook and Twitter Sites.  You can see those on the top right side of the district webpage.  Just click on the links and there you go!  Each school also has their own social media sites - often either Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.  These links can be found on individual principal newsletters or by a quick search on the web.  When you are searching and looking for our schools, just look for our logo to make sure it is an "official" school site sponsored site.  

Superintendent's Blog:

You can also access my every other week blog post from our website.  Just go to the main district page and click on the "Info" tab at the top and it will take you right there.  Or you can click HERE as well.

School Committee:

All of the work of the School Committee is made publicly available via our website.  A few key places to go if you want to follow along with the work of the School Committee:

1.  School Committee meeting agenda and minutes can be found on our website or by clicking HERE.  Please note that at the top of that web page there is a link to the full School Committee meeting packets for each meeting.

2.  School Committee subcommittee meeting materials can also be viewed on our website or by clicking HERE.  These are subcommittees like finance/facilities, policy, Anti-racism and Equity, etc.  If the subcommittee is inactive, you can still access archived materials by clicking on the links provided.

3.  Each month the School Committee's regular meeting is live streamed via GoCat TV.  Later these recordings are also posted to their website.  You can find that link on the Town of Gorham's website or by clicking HERE.  

Town Council:

The Town of Gorham also maintains a very informative website where you can access agendas and minutes from Town Council meetings, or watch meetings live, etc.  You can check out their website by clicking HERE.

School info:

If you want to follow more about your child's specific school.  You go to that same website.  On the top left side of the page you will see a tab that says "Schools".  Click on your child's school and you'll find information about what is happening at each school.  Each school's website also has an active events calendar which is kept up to date.

School Newsletters:

Each school sends out a weekly newsletter to all families.  Often these are also linked on websites for quick access by families.  These newsletters are the details about what to expect each week and a look to the horizon on what to expect in the coming weeks for events, important dates, etc.  These are often emailed out to families using our school messenger system.  If you have not already been getting updates from the school via this system...you should reach out to your school's admin. assistant to make sure you are on the list!

Again, if you ever need anything, just reach out.  We're here to help support you in supporting our children!

SUPERINTENDENT'S 2022-23 DRAFT GOALS

In my earlier video message I shared three overarching district focus points for the year.  Each year, I also work with the Gorham School Committee to create annual goals.  These goals drive much of the work that I focus on in my role as district leader.  Because of this, they often drive a good amount of the work that is done at the school levels as well.  I thought you might be interested in seeing the five goals that I have drafted for the year.  They are "draft" until approved by the School Committee at their upcoming meeting on Sept. 14.  

I am just listing the overall goals below.  If you want to dig more deeply to see the draft action steps feel free to CLICK HERE to see more details!

I am very much looking forward to leading this incredible school district for another year and working together with the School Committee, staff, families and community of Gorham to accomplish these goals!

INCREASING ACCESS TO QUALITY EARLY CHILDHOOD LEARNING EXPERIENCES IN GORHAM

As you can see from my third goal above, the Gorham Schools is continuing to collaborate with our incredible early childhood partners in the community to work to increase access to quality early childhood learning experiences in Gorham from birth to age 5.  

Next month you will see a report we are lovingly calling "Bright Futures For Little Rams:  Gorham's Early Childhood Partnership Plan".  This plan is the culmination of a year long community wide planning process that was conducted over the course of the 2021-22 School Year.  You can see our mission, vision and who we are below:

That report will be coming out soon and will be broadly shared across the community to help set the stage for this important work.  As just ONE PART of this important work, the Gorham School Department is embarking upon a process that we hope will result in the creation of at least 2 public Pre-K classrooms that will offer Pre-K services specifically for students age 4 that qualify for Child Development Services (CDS) and their peers on site at Narragansett Elem. School.  We are hoping to serve a total of 64 students beginning in the fall of 2023 via half day programs.  Of these 64 students, we hope that approximately 32 of them will be students who are eligible for CDS services.  

Just recently we launched a parent survey to help us in our planning processes for this important work.  If you are a parent of pre school aged children (birth - age 4), we would love it if you would take a few minutes to complete the survey below.  Again, much more information will be coming out on this important topic as we move throughout the year.  Please reach out with question if you have them, and stay tuned for more information!

Survey responses are due Sept. 12.  Here's the link:  https://forms.gle/Yqj2SmF5gDRKuV8AA

UPCOMING SCHOOL BOND REQUEST FOR MUCH NEEDED CAPITAL IMPROVEMENTS

The Gorham School Department operates five schools.  Here's a refresher on each school, when it was built, and when it was last renovated :

*. Gorham High School - Built in 1959 and renovated in 1994.  Currently has 4 modular classrooms.

*. Gorham Middle School - Built in 2003.

*. Great Falls Elementary School - Built in 2011

*. Narragansett Elementary School - Built in 1981.  Currently has 12 modular classrooms.

*. Village Elementary School - Built in 1963 and renovated in 1988.  Currently has 2 modular classrooms.

During the course of the 2021-22 School Year the Gorham School Committee worked closely with the Gorham Town Council to conduct a town-wide facilities needs assessment in order to identify outdated systems, estimated costs for replacements/repair and suggestions for how we should move forward.  You can view the full study completed by CHA by CLICKING HERE.  

From this work, the Gorham School Committee created a ten year capital needs plan detailing the projects that we would need to focus on over the next ten years in order to properly maintain our schools and address changing conditions within our community.  This plan was shared with the joint facilities committees of both the Town and School last spring.  You can view it by CLICKING HERE.

As a result of these efforts, the Gorham School Committee voted to move forward a bond request to the Town Council for six projects, that would total $20,025,956.00.  A summary of these projects can be seen below:

The Town Council will be considering this request for possible inclusion on the November, 2022 ballot at their upcoming meeting on Sept. 6, 2022 starting at 6:30 p.m. in council chambers.  

If you'd like to learn more details about these projects, you can CLICK HERE to view the Q&A Sheet developed with questions from the Town Council.  On this same sheet is a link to detailed folders for each project.  

As you will see in viewing the Q&A document, of these six projects, the School Committee has TWO very clear priority needs.  Of course, all of these projects are needed, or we wouldn't be requesting them.  However, of those six, two are what we would deem immediately critical.  Those are the GHS HVAC renovation (which would include the GHS LED lighting project) and the Narragansett Modular Expansion project.

The GHS HVAC project is of critical need as many of the mechanical systems of this building are 30+ years old and are failing.  Catastrophic failures are very likely possible within the next few years.  If this project is approved, we would be able to hopefully renovate and revitalize the existing system so that catastrophic failures can be avoided.

The Narragansett Modular Expansion project is of critical need for two key reasons (1) this final phase of modular expansion will allow us to make the final adjustment in our attendance zones that were planned 4 years ago to address continued growth in Gorham.  The idea here is to continue to point additional growth towards Narragansett Elementary School while we position ourselves to apply for state funding for a new Elementary School.  The State will re-open applications for capital projects in 2024.  The second (2) reason this expansion is needed is because the State of Maine has made it clear that within the next few years, Child Development Services (CDS) for 3 and 4 year olds will become the responsibility of public schools.  This space will be needed to house important programming for this inevitability.

Both of these projects if approved in November of 2022 will not be fully completed for two years.  Delays now would put these needed projects off until as late as 2025.  This would have its own set of significant implications for our schools.

Please feel free to follow this decision making process along by listening in on the upcoming Town Council meeting on Sept. 6.  And as always, if you have questions, please ask!

CURRICULUM INFORMATION

One of my goals listed above (#2) is to work to increase transparency regarding our school's curriculum.  My plan is that in one of my blogs per month I will include information that helps families to better understand our Gorham Schools Curriculum and how it works across grades K-12.  This will be my first opening installment of information.  

I thought I'd start with some simple background that you can find on our website and that I will link below for your convenience.  This background information includes several handbooks and pamphlets that we have created to help families understand what our curriculum is and how we use this curriculum in our classrooms and how we assess student knowledge and skills as they progress through our learning system.  

When you go to our website, you can click on "Our Learning" under the "About Us" tab.  This page will bring you to a plethora of information about our systems... some of which I have drawn out for you below:

- Our Mission/Vision and Core Beliefs About Learning

- Our Commitment to Equity and Inclusion

- 2022-23 Gorham Teaching and Learning Handbook

- 2022-23 Grading Guide

I am purposefully starting "big" here...and will of course narrow the focus as we move throughout the year.  This should be a good foundational start though.  Please review the information above and let me know if you have questions.  

In order to help me more narrowly address what YOU are looking for for information as a parent, I would love it if you would take 5-10 minutes to complete the survey below.  I would then take the questions from the survey and use these as the basis for future blog posts so that I am sure I am addressing what parents/families want to know most about!  THANK YOU in advance for your participation!

Survey Link:  https://forms.gle/2oSAsLjRBasvnxDi9

VIDEO ABOUT SOCIAL AND EMOTIONAL LEARNING

I ran across this video in my "wanderings" of summer learning and thought families might appreciate a nice succinct video that talks about what Social and Emotional learning is all about.  SEL is sometimes such a "big" term...I thought it was nice to see a video that clarified for folks what it is, and more importantly at times, what it isn't...check out the video to learn more:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZSLmNr2sOMQ

WINTER KIDS GRANT PROGRAM NEEDS YOUR HELP!

Please see a message from Sarah Titus, GMS Physical Education Teacher below:

Gorham Middle School and Gorham Mountain Bike Club have both applied to the WinterKids D24 Outdoor Fund to help more Gorham kids get outside and be active. 

For the inaugural year, WinterKids will be granting $25,000 to 4 organizations. Winning organizations are determined by a community vote. We need your help!

Gorham Mountain Bike Club - Applied for funds for mountain bike rentals. This will help get students who do not have access to mountain bikes the experience. Additionally, in the winter months, to provide a fat tire riding opportunity. 

Gorham Middle School - Applied for funds to get new basketball hoops for the GMS Courts which students use daily as well as the community.

Voting is open 09/01-09/30

VOTES AS MANY TIMES AS YOU CAN!

COMPOSTING AT GHS!

Gorham High School Eco Club Members are leading the charge to bring composting to GHS!  Want to hear more?  Listen in to our Sept. 14 School Committee meeting on GoCat TV or come to the meeting at the Council Chambers.  7:00 start time...Chloe and friends will be there sharing their story of composting then!

IN CLOSING:  A VIDEO:  WHAT IT MEANS TO BE A GORHAM RAM

This video was shared with all GHS students during opening day assemblies.  It says A LOT about what it means to be a Gorham Ram - not just for our GHS students, but for ALL of our students across grades K-12.  Check it out!

https://vimeo.com/736731653/cc3f7204f6

Well that's enough information for this post!  I hope you all enjoy your long weekends!  My next blog post will be Sept. 16!