November 11 Blog Post

 Today is Veteran's Day.  It is a day that we honor, acknowledge and THANK our Veterans for their service to our country and to each of us.  Our veterans and their families have sacrificed so much to serve and protect our country.  This day is about them.  My own father is a decorated veteran from the war in Vietnam.  He served four years in the army.  During his service he earned a purple heart and a bronze star serving on the front lines.  To this day he doesn't talk much about what he saw there but I know the sacrifices he made.  

Lately it has gotten pretty easy to complain about our country and its current economic and political climate from any side of the political spectrum.  It is easy to throw stones at the "R's" if you are a "D" or at the "D's" if you are an "R".  But our Veterans, our veterans know there is only our flag and the freedom it represents all over this world.  They understand the true meaning behind our flag and that our way of life isn't there by accident.  It has required the literal blood, sweat and tears of men and women of all origins over the years to protect the freedoms and liberties we still enjoy to this day.  When you have a moment, make sure to truly thank a Veteran today (and every day for that matter).  They are and have always been the individuals who have "gotten it done" for our country.  THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE AND SACRIFICE!

As always, I'll share a few pictures from our schools the past two weeks below and then on to the informational part of this Blog!  Here we go!

ELECTION RESULTS AND NEXT STEPS WITH BOND PROJECTS

First a big THANK YOU to everyone that came out to vote on Tuesday, November 8.  What a turnout!  Especially for a mid-term election!  There were results from the elections directly related to the schools and one that was tangentially related.  Here are those results:

Gorham School Committee (2 open seats):

-  Andrew LaPlaca - 2885 votes

-  Stewart McCallister - 4671 votes

-  Jennifer Whitehead - 5544 votes

Thank you to all who ran.  Congratulations to Stewart and Jen for their election to the School Committee.  They were both sworn in on Wednesday evening and have already had their first TWO meetings as School Committee members!  Busy Busy!

School Bond Question (question #2):

-  Yes - 4,952

-  No - 3,830

The bond passed!  Remember, the bond question funded a total of three projects.  One was a relatively small project for LED replacements at GHS.  The second project was the GHS HVAC replacement project with upgrades to add air cooling capacity at GHS.  The third project was to construct the third and final phase of the Narragansett Elementary School Modular expansion.  These projects are TWO-YEAR projects.  We'll be working this winter and early spring to finalize designs, engineering, etc. and to bid both projects out.  We'll then have the summer season to do some of the work but this won't be enough time to complete it.  We'll then button things up, get through the fall and Winter of the 2023-24 School Year and complete the projects in the spring and summer of 2024 in ample time to open schools for the 2024-25 School Year.  All that sounds simple, but its A LOT of work, and we'll be jumping on the bonding process right off the bat with our finance office working collaboratively with the Town to secure the bonds required for these projects.  We're excited to be moving forward and to continue to address the significant needs of our buildings in a meaningful and impactful way.

Charter Amendment (question #1):

-  Yes - 4,986

-  No - 3,826

This question also passed.  What this will do is amend the Town's charter to change language regarding the price point at which a capital project must come to the voters for referendum.  For the past 20+ years the Town Charter has required that any single project costing $250,000.00 or above would require a voter referendum to approve.  This amendment moves that amount to $500,000.00 and adds an inflationary metric that allows the amount to change and grow with inflation costs over time.  This charter language applies to municipal and school capital expenditures so this additional flexibility will be appreciated.  Please keep in mind that voters approve of the school's annual budget via referendum so that doesn't change.

ANTI-RACISM AND EQUITY COMMITTEE WORK UPDATE

The Gorham Schools Anti-Racism and Equity Committee has had its first large group meeting and is getting ready to have its second meeting on November 30, 2022 at 5:30 p.m. at the GHS Library.  Our reformed 2022-23 Committee is 28 members strong and is being facilitated by Dustin Ward, co founder of "It Is Time, LLC" and James Ford, a well known state-wide equity advocate.

The group has worked to develop several organizational resource documents that I thought you might like to see.  

-  Summary of Expectations Document

-  Organizational Chart

The large 28 member group will meet together about once every other month throughout the course of the school year.  These large group meetings are listed below and are open to public who wish to attend, although public will not be allowed to participate:

The group also has established four topic focused equity groups.  These groups will meet between large group meetings and be responsible for the more detailed work of the committee.  You can view equity groups, members, and established meetings by clicking below.  Please note, however that the equity groups are not open to the general public.  Highlights of these meetings will be reported out via large group meetings to the public.

Equity Group Summary Sheet

The public may also follow the work of the committee by viewing the live document linked below.  This is our running agendas/notes document.  As we meet we will house all meeting notes here for public viewing.

Running Agenda/Notes Document

We have gotten off to a great start with our goals for the year which are outlined below.  I will continue to update the public on this important work and would encourage individuals to reach out if you have questions or would like to learn about ways in which you might be able to get involved.

SUPERINTENDENT LISTENING TOUR OFF TO A GOOD START!  LET'S KEEP IT GOING!

So far I've met once with parents/guardians at Gorham Middle School and once with parents/guardians at Village Elementary School.  Each meeting has been attended by a small group, yet thoroughly engaged group of parents who have been articulate and extremely helpful in helping to better understand what families need from our public schools as we create our new "post-COVID" normal.  I'm not going to spoil it by sharing (YET) the highlights of these meetings as I want each meeting to be organic and highlight topics of interest to each audience but I will say the information gathered thus far has been extremely valuable.  I have three more listening tour meetings planned (list below) and would welcome and encourage continued participation by parents/guardians in Gorham.  It really is so very important that I continue to hear directly from our families what your hopes and dreams are for our schools so that I can better navigate and lead our schools in the right directions.

After the conclusion of my listening tour, I will absolutely spend some time in my next blog highlighting the themes of data collected and the great thoughts and ideas shared!  Here are my remaining dates/times:

-  Narragansett Elementary School - November 14 from 6:30 - 8:00 p.m.

-  Gorham High School - November 15 from 6:30 - 8:00 p.m.

-  Great Falls Elementary School - November 16 from 6:30 - 8:00 p.m.

I would love to see folks there!

ASPIRE GORHAM NOVEMBER NEWSLETTER 

READY TO VIEW!

The Aspire Gorham November newsletter is ready to view.  If you haven't been clicking on my monthly links - YOU SHOULD!  Aspire Gorham is an INCREDIBLE program unique to the Gorham School Department.  Yes - it is a "one of a kind" program that is focused on increasing aspirations for all children and young adults from ages birth to adult!  It is a community wide partnership between the Gorham Schools, our business partners, our university partners, our nonprofit partners, our municipal partners, our staff and our student partners and more!

CLICK HERE to view the newsletter and check out for yourselves this incredible work!

NATIONAL APPRENTICESHIP WEEK

Did you know that the Gorham Schools is working collaboratively with the Maine Department of Labor, Southern Maine Community College and the University of Southern Maine to develop an Educator Apprentice Program?  We actually have six apprentices working in our schools right now as part of the very first pilot for this incredible new program!  This program takes individuals with a high school diploma who are interested in becoming educators and it places them on a track to be able to work full time with benefits and (in a reasonable manner, using workplace learning as a means of earning college credits) allows them to attain an Associates degree in education through SMCC in just two years.  This qualifies participants to become certified Ed. Tech. II's in Maine. Participants can then stay in the program for another year to earn their Ed. Tech. III certification through a partnership with USM and then if they want to continue, they can earn their bachelors degree in one more year of the program through USM and become fully certified to teach!  Yes, that does say a Bachelor's degree in education in four years while working full time!  This is the incredible type of programs that are available through our national and state Apprentice Programs!  We are just getting started here in Gorham and we know this is going to take off and help all schools in Maine build stronger pipelines for high quality teachers to work in our classrooms.

More on that specific program later...but for now, I wanted to draw your attention to Apprentice Programs and their value.  Did you know that National Apprentice Week is this coming week?  No?  Neither did I until I got involved with Apprenticeship planning!  Check out the link below and learn more about apprenticeships and their incredible value as we all work together to meet our workforce challenges head on in Maine!

National Apprentice Week Link:  https://www.apprenticeship.gov/national-apprenticeship-week

IN CLOSING...

OUR SCHOOLS CELEBRATE A "DAY OF WELCOME"

Each of our five schools in Gorham has a Civil Rights Team.  These are student led teams focused on ensuring that our schools are indeed welcoming places to EVERYONE who enters regardless of their diverse backgrounds.  You can learn more about the State's Civil Rights Teams by CLICKING HERE.

Last week, each of our five school's Civil Rights Teams hosted a "Day of Welcome" where the students planned special events to make sure everyone knew they were welcomed.  Activities ranged from advisory projects to the creation of banners to the sharing of videos.  The Great Falls Civil Rights Team created this incredible video I thought was definitely worth sharing...definitely worth the watch!  As I close this week's blog...enjoy - it will definitely warm your hearts and put a smile on your face!

Video Link:  https://drive.google.com/file/d/12MZgRYjLThtq2CYl1ovb9Q1OrhMjunX5/view?usp=sharing