A full two months into the new school year and we are having soooo much fun learning together in the Gorham Schools! Don't take my word for it! Check it out and see it for yourself in the pictures below! There were so many awesome pictures this time, I had to do TWO sets!
What great images across all grades K-12 showing our students doing what they do best - LEARNING!
Now, on to the informational part of this blog...
REMINDER TO GET OUT AND VOTE!
The Town is currently estimating a ten year bond at 2.85% interest which would equal an additional $1,798,995.57. That would bring the total bond request to an estimated $12,322,210.57.
Each of these projects is part of a ten year capital plan created by the Gorham School Committee in collaboration with the Gorham Town Council. Each request on the ten year plan is in alignment with needs identified by our recent CHA facilities study. You can view the CHA report by CLICKING HERE.
There is no question that the property re-evaluation hit the residents of Gorham hard. There is no escaping or glossing over this fact. However, that doesn't change the need for these projects for the schools. Our HVAC systems at GHS are in critical condition and need to be repaired after almost 30 years of use. We need to better position ourselves for continued growth in the community with the final phase of the modular project at Narragansett, and we need to continue to think about our longer term capital needs. Please review the information seen and linked above, reach out if you have questions, and then be sure to get out and vote! THANK YOU!
CONGRATULATIONS TO GHS FOR RECENTLY BEING AWARDED A RREV GRANT THROUGH THE MDOE!
Check out the link article from the Maine Department of Education LINKED HERE!
Gorham High School will use their grant funds to create outdoor learning spaces, fund field trips for students, and offer students and teachers learning experiences to extend their capacity toward outdoor learning.
A HUGE THANK YOU to GHS teachers Catherine Paul, Jason Tanguay and John Haley for putting this grant together! We have already begun to see the fruits of this important work and look forward to much more that will encourage our teachers and students to extend their learning opportunities beyond the four walls of our classrooms in unique, rigorous and creative ways!
UPDATED LAU PLAN AND SUMMARY OF RATIONALE FOR CHANGES IN LANGUAGE TO "MULTILINGUAL LEARNER" BY MDOE
Every school system across Maine is required to have an updated LAU Plan. This plan outlines how each school utilizes its resources to identify and serve students whose first language is not English. In the past we have called these students "ELL" students, which stands for English Language Learners. The state has now changed its terminology to remove the ELL designation and replace it with the ML designation. ML stands for multi-lingual learner.
A quote from MDOE on the rationale for this change is below:
"The Maine DOE has decided to phase out the term ELL (English Language Learner) in exchange for ML (Multilingual Learner). This change in language is an effort to emphasize students' multilingualism as an asset to learning, as sometimes it can be seen as a deficit to learning. Our multilingual learners are very fortunate to have the skills to engage in multiple languages, which is fantastic exercise for the brain and provides them with multiple cultural lenses through which they learn to view the world."
As should come to be expected with our incredible staff here in Gorham, our ML teachers were right on top of these changes and have worked with Assistant Superintendent Brian Porter to adjust our LAU plan to incorporate these required changes. Our services to our ML families will remain as strong as ever.
You can view our school's updated LAU plan by CLICKING HERE. If you have questions about our ML program across grades K-12, please feel free to reach out to Assistant Superintendent Dr. Brian Porter and he can assist. His email is brian.porter@gorhamschools.org.
INFINITE CAMPUS GRADING GRADES K-8
Just a reminder that we have moved away from the utilization of Jumprope software for our grading systems and are now using Infinite Campus software for our grading platforms across grades K-12. As you are likely aware, this is a change for our grading platform K-8. We are still utilizing the same grading scales as we have for the past several years. The only change is in the reporting software system itself. Of course, this means that parents in K-8 will see a different view online or on their reports, but know the data behind these scores is the same as it has been for 6+years now in Gorham.
You can view our full grading guide by CLICKING HERE.
You can view our "one pager" for how grades are calculated on the 1-4 scale across grades K-8 by CLICKING HERE.
You can view our "one pager" for how grades are calculated on the numeric grading scales across grades 9-12 by CLICKING HERE.
Finally, you can view a "one pager" overview of our learning system by CLICKING HERE.
All of this information (and much more) can be found on our website by going to www.gorhamschools.org, clicking on "About Us", then on "Our Learning System" and then "Parent Resources"
The first quarter for grades 6-12 will end on Nov. 4. The first trimester for grades K-5 will end on November 25. More information will be coming out from your child's schools on the details of what to expect. You can also reach out directly to your child's teachers with any questions you may have regarding grades and grading practices.
SUPERINTENDENT PERRY'S LISTENING TOUR REMINDER
This is important enough to repeat again...please read from my last blog...
As a refresher, one of my goals for the 2022-23 School Year as approved by the Gorham School Committee is as follows:
You can view my complete goals by CLICKING HERE for reference.
One of the specific action steps outlined in this goal was to "Implement a Listening Tour to hear from Gorham Parents/Guardians about what they are interested in learning more about regarding our K-12 curriculum."
I wanted to give it a few weeks to get settled into our new school year before launching such a tour. I also wanted to have a chance to complete the most recent Thought Exchange survey and to review data to help better inform this process. I think it is now a great time to launch such a tour.
My listening tour will focus on assisting myself and the Gorham School Committee in answering the following question from the perspective of our families:
What do YOU want to learn more about regarding our schools and our curriculum?
We know that as a result of the most recent pandemic, our parents and families feel less connected to our schools than pre pandemic times. We also know that the past three years have been some of the most tumultuous years in our community, our state and our country on many different levels. We want to make sure that our families feel as though you know, understand, and support the curriculum that is being taught in our schools at the local levels and I want to use this listening tour as a means to better understand what our families are "wondering about" so that I can ensure that any potential "clouds" of uncertainty are lifted and that folks can at least say with assurance that they understand what is currently being taught in our K-12 classrooms and why this curriculum is in place. For now, that is the focus of this tour.
This will indeed be a LISTENING TOUR. Although I may start each session with a brief overview of the results of our most recent Thought Exchange to set some context, I will not spend a lot of time talking. Instead, I want to hear from parents/families what your genuine questions might be regarding what is taught in our schools, at what age levels, and why. My plan would then be to compile these questions and to use them to create themes that can be shared with the School Committee. I will then work with the School Committee to determine how best to keep the conversation moving forward in achievement of the goal outlined above.
I will use a hybrid meeting approach that will focus on meeting in person, but allow individuals to participate via zoom as well if their schedules do not allow for in person attendance. I will not record meetings, just because the hybrid approach may not provide the best quality of access to a recording.
I have scheduled 1 meeting at each school. Parents who can't make the meeting at their assigned school may absolutely attend another school's assigned meeting night if that is preferred. Each meeting will take place from 6:30 - 8:00 p.m. at a location designated at each school. Here are the dates for each school:
Village - 11/7
A GREAT STORY TO CLOSE WITH...
AND A POEM TO SHARE!
So I have to admit that I am "borrowing" this story from Mr. Jandreau and his most recent parent newsletter, but I thought this story was such an incredible example of how our entire school system works together to truly instill our Code of Conduct within our students - I had to share!
In his newsletter, Mr. Jandreau shared a social media post from a Gorham family. The post is seen below:
What a great story! What a great example of our Code of Conduct in action!
When I read that story, I immediately thought of what our schools must be doing RIGHT. It isn't all about academics, although don't get me wrong, that remains a very important part of what we do! When I read results of recent Thought Exchanges, or when I talk to parents and families and business owners in the community and ask them - how do you define "success" for our students? They don't often mention the ability to solve quadratic equations at the drop of a hat or the ability to accurately diagram a sentence. We do teach those things, but what most people talk more about is making sure students can do things like...
- Think for themselves.
- Ask good questions and learn new skills quickly.
- Solve problems creatively and collaboratively.
- Be kind, respect themselves, others and the greater world around them.
- Contribute to their community in a positive way.
- Have choices and be happy as adults
These skills aren't academic. They are bigger than academics. They have more to do with integrity and character and what it takes to be a well-rounded and successful adult in our current world. These really are the skills outlined in our state's Guiding Principles. When we define success for our graduates, these are the things we think about.
So what makes a student WANT to pay for a stranger's ticket to a game? How are those skills taught? How are they learned? The answer lies not just in schools, but in families as well. It lies in community. And that thought then reminded me of one of my favorite poems. I thought I'd share it with you as well as a way to close out this month's last blog post. Definitely food for continued thought.
Thanks for wandering with me! HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND and see you again for my next blog post scheduled for: November 10!
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.