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:
PARENT QUESTION: HOW DO I FOLLOW WHAT IS HAPPENING IN OUR SCHOOLS?
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
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:
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:
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!
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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!
Well that's enough information for this post! I hope you all enjoy your long weekends! My next blog post will be Sept. 16!
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