March 31 Post

Tomorrow begins the month of April - and no - that is NOT an April Fool's joke!☺ The school year continues to march forward at a seemingly increasing rate as we end the third quarter and launch into the fourth and final quarter of the 2022-23 School year!  Time sure flies by when you are having fun - while learning as the pictures below show!

What I love most about these images is that it shows our students learning outside of what one would call a "traditional classroom". Now don't get me wrong, plenty of that still takes place, but what we strive for in our educational programs is to get our students "out there" and engaged in our community as the incredible learners they are so that their learning is contextualized and authentic.  This allows our students to showcase what they can do, and what our community can do to support them!  

Our schools are so lucky to have our community visibly present in our learning environments!  

Now on to the informational parts of this blog!...

RESULTS OF MOST RECENT THOUGHT EXCHANGE ON FISCAL YEAR 24 BUDGET DEVELOPMENT PRIORITY AREAS

I wanted to take a moment to thank those of you who participated in our most recent Thought Exchange regarding priority areas in our ongoing FY 24 budget development processes.  The question that was asked in this exchange was:

As we begin our FY 24 Budget Development Process for the Gorham Schools, what 2-3 things do you want our School Committee to prioritize moving forward?

Below is a summary of participation information:

As you can see, we had 457 participants sharing 293 thoughts and then those thoughts were rated by participants a total of 14,869 times to create the themes I will share momentarily.  

Participants broke out as follows... 

As you can see, approximately 31% of participants were school staff members, 63% were school families and then 6% were community members.  It is important to understand that the vast majority of folks participating in the survey are directly related to the schools, which may or may not represent the larger or broader 18,000+ population of the greater community of Gorham.  As is the case with any data set, it is important to be clear about what the limiting factors may be.

With that understanding, I wanted to share the highlights of data collected.  First up for information to share are the top themes that were generated by the data.  Those can be seen in the graph below:

The top three themes were ensuring a high quality staff and educational program in our schools, followed closely by making sure the schools continue to offer important support programs to students, which was then followed by keeping class sizes at a reasonable level.

The top three thoughts for each of those three themes were as follows:

High Quality Staff and Education Programs:

Student Support Services:

Class sizes:

The TOP TEN thoughts shared overall were:

What was clear from the results of this Thought Exchange is that respondents wanted to ensure we maintain existing high quality programs for our students.  A primary way to do that is via maintaining the high quality staff that works directly with our students.  It was also clear that respondents felt that those staff should have the supports needed to feel as though they are able to perform the tasks asked of them with high quality results so things like keeping class sizes to a minimum, providing PD and other ways to retain staff were important.

You can view the full slide presentation of survey results by CLICKING HERE if interested. 

These results were shared with the Gorham School Committee at their last Budget Workshop meeting held on March 21, 2023 and is now a resource that they can review as they continue this important work in preparing the school's budget for the coming year.

FY 24 BUDGET DEVELOPMENT WORK UPDATE

Keeping with our budget theme from above, I did want to provide an update to folks on our actual budget development processes, timelines and next steps.  

WE HAD A BIG WEEK THIS PAST WEEK with a few significant changes that will definitely impact our discussions moving forward.  Let me start with updating you on these items.

First, in continued conversations with the Town Manager we were able to increase the total value of the town (our tax value base) from an overall anticipated increase of $10 million in value to a new anticipated increase of $25 million in value.  This helps when calculating the impacts of our proposed budget on taxpayer expense and estimating a mil rate impact.

Second, we found out on Tuesday from Anthem (our health insurance carrier) that they have been able to establish the caps for premium rate increases across the state for teachers.  This isn't what we will actually pay, mind you, but it establishes what the highest increases will be. The newly established cap is 6%.  This is good news because we had started our budget process with a conservative 10% projected increase.  With this new information, we now know we can safely reduce our proposed budget by $240,000.00 without impacting any positions/programs or quality of health services being provided to our incredible staff.  Good news indeed.

Third, (and also occurring late Tuesday evening) school systems across the state were made aware of a calculation error made by the Maine Department of Education to state subsidy allocations.  Superintendents had been pushing back at the MDOE for some time wondering why they weren't really seeing the impacts of additional funding for education in our actual subsidy allocations and kudos to the state for continuing to dig and look until they were able to identify the problem.  The end result was a release of about $40 million dollars back into the distribution side of the EPS funding formula to schools.  This ultimately allowed the state to move the min. mil expectation for schools (this is the amount of money the state requires local municipalities to pay before being eligible to receive state subsidy dollars) from the originally calculated 7.29 mils to a new 6.97 mils.  For Gorham, this resulted in a much needed increase of just under $700,000.00 in state subsidy allocation.  Also Good news!

On a personal note, I rushed home late on Tuesday night and was sure to buy a lottery ticket!  We'll see if anything comes of that!  ☺

On a more serious note, it is important to know that although these pieces of new information are helpful to our budget discussions, they don't truly resolve some fundamental issues that we must grapple with as a school committee and as a greater community.  Issues such as increased overall costs of doing "business", or the increases in needs of the student populations we serve, or issues such as annual increases in property values that exceed the state's average are all still significant issues that we must face and that still put us in a difficult spot for our FY 24 budget development processes.

With that said, the School Committee, the Town Council, and ultimately each of you as voters will determine how we move forward to address these issues as we continue our budget development work.  The School Committee will next meet in a budget development workshop on April 4, 2023 at 7:00 p.m. at the Municipal Center.  This meeting will be recorded and shared with the public asap afterwards.  There is then one more budget workshop scheduled with the School Committee on April 11, 2023 (same time and location) prior to the School Committee being asked to vote on the total proposed budget at their April 12 regular school committee meeting.  Once that is done - the next steps are as follows:

-  Proposed Budget Booklets are delivered to Town Council on April 19

-  Joint Budget workshop is held with School Committee and Town Council on April 25 at 6:30 p.m.

-  Town Council Votes on school and municipal budget on May 16 at 6:30 p.m.

-  Budget Validation Referendum takes place on June 13, 2023 all day at the polls.

As I close, just one more reminder that you can find "all things FY 24 budget" on our website at www.gorhamschools.org, then go to "About Us", then "School Committee" and then to "School Budget Info. "

As always, please reach out with questions if you have them!  My email is: heather.perry@gorhamschools.org

A FEW PUBLIC PRE-K SLOTS STILL AVAILABLE!

I wanted to take just a moment to let folks know that we still have a few slots available for our new Public Pre K program to be housed at Narragansett Elementary School starting in the Fall of 2023.  Applications were initially opened earlier this month and we have had an awesome response...but there are still a handful of slots left if folks are still interested!  Because of this we have re-opened the application process and will be taking rolling applications until all slots are filled.  Use the QR code below to apply today if you are interested.

As a quick recap - to be eligible a child must be 4 years old by Oct. 15, 2023.  All children and families that reside in Gorham are eligible to apply for these slots.  The program will serve students in a half day program (am/pm) format.  Transportation will be provided from home/daycare to school and back to home/daycare each day.  Feel free to call 222-1295 if you have ANY questions.  

We are so looking forward to the start of this program!  Such exciting work!  As a quick update, we've begun screening appointments with families.  We have ordered key supplies and equipment, and have accepted a new playground design to move forward specifically for Pre K aged students.  The playground may not be fully ready by start of school, but it will be ready shortly there after and we have plans for the interim.  We will begin hiring processes for staff later in the month of April, and we are currently meeting with Child Development Services (CDS) to nail down agreements for needed services to begin.  

Additionally, we have solidified our partnership for a second year with the Gorham Arts Alliance to host up to 10 public Pre-K students and we have recently solidified our new agreement with Seedlings to Sunflowers to host up to 32 public Pre-K students.  Much more work is planned and going on behind the scenes and things are moving along nicely!  We have no doubt that we will be ready for programs to begin this fall!  We can't wait to better serve our "Little Rams" via these programs and it is awesome to BEGIN to see some of our work outlined in the "Bright Futures For Little Rams" document come to life!

LET'S HEAR FROM STUDENTS ABOUT OUR SCHOOLS!

With all the political turmoil going on across our country and some of the stories of what is or isn't happening in our public schools that are out there, it is sometimes hard to know what is really happening in our schools.  As a parent, especially of a MS or HS aged student (which is often when students start to clam up when asked what did you do today in school) it is hard to know.  You can't go to school and sit with your child each day.  We can't live stream our classrooms to the public.  You can look into google classroom to see the "stuff" that students may be working on, but you don't necessarily have the context within which that "stuff" is being taught.  When asking about curriculum, grading, and reporting practices the level of information that is out there can sometimes be overwhelming.  

We do our best as school professionals to provide "windows" into our schools.  We publicly share our standards, performance indicators, and learning targets, we share syllabi, and summary achievement data.  We have weekly updates, we have blog posts.  We have see saw and other software to share information.  We schedule Parent/Teacher Conferences and we encourage parents to reach out to our teachers directly with questions you may have. We do a lot...but sometimes the student voice is missing.  

Earlier this winter, as a school system we asked ourselves:  "What do our students think about our schools and how can we better allow them to tell their stories?  An idea was born.  What if we did just that?  What if we allowed students to share their stories about what they think of our schools?

We have some pretty talented videographers in our schools (both staff and students) and so we reached out to them to help tell our student's stories.  So far, we have been able to create THREE video stories using the voices of our students.  One student from 6th grade, one from 7th grade and one from 8th grade.  Each video is under three minutes in length.  We are working now on putting together stories from the HS as well, but that is going to take a little longer.

These stories are told by the students themselves, recorded by students and then with a little help from some of our talented staff, put together in some brief videos.  My plan is to share one of these in each of my next three blogs and then share the high school ones when they are completed as well.

Below is our first story from Devon Paradis, a 6th grade student at Gorham Middle School.  

6th Grade Video Link: https://vimeo.com/811806070/7e106c9422

A SPECIAL THANK YOU to the following student videographers who made this work possible and learned a lot in the process! (check out their pictures below too)...

8th grader - Cohen Landry

Freshman - Colby Jordan

Sophomore - Aidan Madore

Junior - Cole Allen

Seniors - Mikaela Pellerin & Tabitha Ishimwe

THE POTATO TORNADO IS BORN!

If you follow some of our social media feeds, you would have seen earlier this year that some of our 5th grade Gifted and Talented students at Village Elementary School started learning about how to develop business plans.  As a result, they invited Kate into their learning spaces.  Kate is the owner of Mow's Munchies Food Truck.  Students got to tour the food truck and talk to Kate directly about how she started her business and some of the ups and downs of being an entrepreneur.  Students immediately wanted to learn more and immersed themselves in figuring out the question of:  How do you start a food truck business?  Students from Great Falls also got involved and well - student curiosity took over!  

More recently, Kate challenged students to develop a new food item.  Students accepted the challenge and worked together to create a tasty new fry burger that Kate loved and will be including in her summer 2023 menu!  Students named it, and Kate agreed to keep the name - the new burger will be called "The Potato Tornado"!  WHAT FUN!

This is the great stuff that can happen when our students connect with our incredible community!  Check out the photos below, and check out the new menu...perhaps you can be sure to stop by Mow's Munchies Food Truck this summer for a taste! 

BAXTER MEMORIAL LIBRARY CELEBRATES THE WEEK OF THE YOUNG CHILD!

The week of the Young Child is coming up NEXT WEEK! If you are curious to learn more, check out my last blog post from March 17 for details and how you as a family can celebrate...but I also wanted you to know that Baxter Memorial Library right here in Gorham is celebrating this special week and they INVITE YOU to join them!  Check out the flyer below and call 222-1190 with questions!

DO YOU HAVE A 7TH or 8TH GRADER INTERESTED IN THE TRADES?

Check out the information below and CLICK HERE to learn more about a summer Trades camp being sponsored by Gorham Recreation Department in collaboration with Moody's Collision, JMG, CMP, Harvey Performance, Gorham Sand and Gravel and Portland Ship Yard!  Wish they had these camps when I was a kid!  Details about how to apply are on the flyer and website! 

Well that's enough for this Blog Post!  My next post will be April 14 just before vacation week!  I'm sure by then spring will have fully "sprung"...ENJOY!

March 17 Post

What a week!  A recent full moon, time changes, snow storms, snow days, power outages, early releases and P/T conferences.  And through it all, we keep focused on our student's learning here in the Gorham Schools!  Check out these photos from the past two weeks to see what I mean!

Plenty to share this week, so will get right to it!

FY 24 GORHAM SCHOOL BUDGET DEVELOPMENT PROCESS UPDATE

As I said I would, I'm going to devote a section of my blog post each time to budget updates so that folks can follow along as we go and/or so that folks can go back and reference this information if wanting to learn more later on as we work our way through the process.

At this point, the Gorham School Committee has been presented with the initial draft proposed FY 24 budget (Feb. 8, 2023) and they have had two full workshop meetings on the proposed budget (3/7 and 3/14).  You can view all information presented thus far by going to our website linked below:

Website Link:

https://www.gorhamschools.org/apps/pages/index.jsp?uREC_ID=456522&type=d&pREC_ID=1150991

To this point in the process the first meeting was spent providing a significant amount of background information to the School Committee.  The second meeting was spent talking about big picture ideas and philosophies to make sure the remaining work is grounded in what we believe to be in the best interest of students.  Our second meeting was cut a little short due to power outages but we got a lot accomplished for sure.  

Our next SC budget workshop meeting will be Tuesday, March 21 at 7:00 p.m. and will be held at the Municipal Building in the second floor conference room.  We will also record this meeting and share it with the public as soon as is possible after the meeting is done.  At this meeting, the intention is to work with the SC to set a mil rate impact target, share the results of the most recent Thought Exchange and then to dive deeply into potential cost reduction measures.  That cost reduction conversation will likely continue strongly into the March 28 and April 4 scheduled budget workshop meetings as well.  All of which leads up to the School Committee's vote on a proposed budget scheduled for April 12, 2023 at their regular meeting beginning at 7:00 p.m.

If you want to learn more about the process thus far, please check out that link above.  There is A LOT of great information there!  Still have budget development questions?  Please reach out to me at heather.perry@gorhamschools.org. and ask away.  I'm happy to answer direct questions and far prefer addressing those than the social media "rumor mill" that can sometimes go a little astray.  Thanks!

RESOURCES TO HELP PARENTS TALK TO CHILDREN ABOUT MENTAL HEALTH

March in Maine is a really long month, challenging even the most optimistic of sorts (such as me) to remain optimistic!  Its that time of year when you know spring is almost here, but it just isn't yet...and the long winter days just seem to get longer!

Recently the Gorham Schools has been working to bring in a nationally known speaker and performer to work with our students, staff, and families on the topic of Mental Health.  Things are looking good to get this person into our schools in October of 2023 as part of Mental Health Awareness Month, but as with any good training or professional development - it's not just about the individual.  It is about the resources and materials shared with students, staff and families leading up to the event and after the event that contextualizes the learning in a way that ensures it is not just a "one and done" thing.  If there is something we all know about the topic of mental health, especially after the Pandemic, there is NOTHING that is "one and done" when it comes to working to meet the increasing mental health needs of our children.

One organization that we are working with on this important topic is the Cook Center for Human Connection.  This is a nationally known and recognized foundation whose mission is to bring together the best organizations, programs and products to prevent suicide, provide mental health support, and enhance human connections essential for people to thrive.  One of their focus areas is on providing specific resources for families.  This leads me to the information and resources I wanted to share with all of you today via my blog today.

As part of the FREE resources this organization offers, they provide a specific cadre of resources for PARENTS via their website parentguidance.org.  ParentGuidance.org is an online service by licensed therapists that provides trusted and specialized courses, professional support and a safe community for parents to learn how to support their children and get answers to mental health questions.  The courses are all online and asynchronous so that they can be viewed at any time.  I will be adding a direct link to these resources from the front page of our district website.  

I would encourage families to click on the links above and do your own research before perhaps sitting down and viewing some of the courses offered.  As is always the case, these resources may work well for some, and not so well for others.  My only hope in sharing these with you is that at least some of you find value in these resources.  If there is one thing I do know it is that the mental health needs of our children is paramount to us all.  If you do participate in any of the courses, I'd love to hear your feedback!

In addition to this new national resource, I also wanted to make sure families were aware of another resource on the topic of mental health, more specifically on suicide prevention and this resource is much closer to home!

Community Action 4 Mental Health is a new local nonprofit with very local roots.  One of the leading team members and board president is our very own Kristin Tugman, PhD who lives right here in Gorham.  Their mission is dedicated to raising awareness, reducing stigma, and improving access to mental health care.  They are just getting up and fully running so I am sure they would love to have folks reach out with questions.  You can view their website by CLICKING HERE.  

Finally, I wanted to remind folks of some great resources provided through the Maine Department of Education.  These resources were created by the MDOE during the pandemic, but they have been kept up to date and remain a great place for parents to go and search by grade level or content for resources you can use with your children to talk about a wide range of topics from helping children to deal with issues of confidence to issues of body image to issues of suicide prevention and lots more.  If you haven't already logged in as a parent to check out these free resources - I would encourage you to do so!  It only takes a minute to set up an account!  Here's the link:  https://sel4me.maine.gov/loggedout#sign_in

WEEK OF THE YOUNG CHILD IS COMING 

APRIL 1 - APRIL 7!

The Week of the Young Child is a national event promoting the importance of high-quality early learning sponsored by the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC).  It celebrates children from Pre K to grade 3 and their unique needs as the little learning "sponges" that they are!  

This year the Maine Department of Education, Maine’s local NAEYC affiliate, Maine AEYC, are teaming up with local school systems such as ours to support early childhood educators across the state to join the celebration and promote the vital work they do every day in their early childhood programs and Pre-K through third grade classrooms.

The event takes place the Week of April 1st – 7th with a Kickoff on Saturday and interdisciplinary daily themes for the following week!  We'd love for families to join in as well!  Here are the Monday - Friday themes...

Music Monday:

Tasty Tuesday:

Work Together Wednesday:

Artsy Thursday:

Family Friday:

I can't wait to see what kinds of creative things folks come up with to do with their early learners in alignment with those themes!  We hope that you will join us in celebrating the Week of the Young Child! Today more than ever we need to help our communities understand the importance and value of quality early care and learning.  

To spread the word and highlight the critical role that early childhood educators play, please share photos through social media to show how you celebrate the Week of the Young Child.   Be sure to use the hashtags: #WOYCMaine and #WOYC23.

You can find MORE RESOURCES to assist in your celebrations of the Young Child at MDOE's Week of the Young Child website!  Check it out!  https://www.maine.gov/doe/learning/earlychildhood/woyc

5 SNOW DAYS HAVE BEEN USED - WHAT IS NEXT???

Just a reminder that our plan has been to utilize the existing 5 "traditional" snow days in our calendar and to then consider use of remote learning snow days from there so that we are not having to extend the last day of school into the summer.

Well, I didn't want it to happen, but we have used all five of our snow days at this point.  I would like to think that Maine's winter is done with us, but I've lived in Maine all my life and I know it would be a mistake to think that so early yet in the month of March!

So what is next?  

What is next is that we will continue to keep a close eye on the weather and as we see a potential storm approaching, we will prepare for the possibility of a remote learning snow day.  If we see that possibility, we would send lunches home with students whose families ordered them earlier this year on the day before the storm.  We would also make sure student learning packets were sent home and that all google classroom materials and assignments were up to date to support student's remote learning during a remote learning snow day.  Teachers would be sure to make clear to students and families what the learning expectations are for their remote learning days as well so additional communication would be provided.

With any luck, we won't have to use one...but if we do we will.  By doing this, we will ensure that our last student day of the school year will remain June 16 and that we will not go beyond that.

The good news is - we now know our last day of school will be June 16!  Seniors can all be happy we used the maximum number of snow days allowed!  Yes - seniors - I expect some sort of a gift or acknowledgement at graduation for that one!  ☺

Please reach out with any questions you may have...and know that if we have another storm that requires us to cancel school...we will be learning remotely on that day!

WE ARE ALL "BETTER TOGETHER" IN THE GORHAM SCHOOLS

As we wrap up a week of Parent/Teacher Conferences, I hope that families had an opportunity to meaningfully interact with your children's teachers.  This is such an incredible time of the year when we can celebrate the great success of our children and their growth as learners.  Not everyone makes that growth at the same time, but growth is ALWAYS evident in every child by the time we get to spring conferences and I hope parents walked away with a sense of that growth for your children and a sense of pride in the work they have accomplished as learners.

In Gorham, we truly do believe that parents and families are our partners in education.  We share a common goal of "Preparing and Inspiring" ALL our students for their future success!  Do we fall short sometimes?  Yes, none of us is perfect.  But do we constantly strive to ensure our families and community members feel a full part of our incredible schools - AND - that our schools feel a full part of our incredible community?  Oh the answer there is a resounding YES!

As some of our neighboring states move towards implementing additional laws regarding things like Parents Bill of Rights, I feel it is important for our families to know we already care tremendously about you and want you to reach out to us directly with concerns you may have.  We also already have some pretty big and far reaching laws in place to protect parent's and student's rights that I'm not sure all families know and understand.  I wanted to take just a moment to review TWO of those key laws:  the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (F.E.R.P.A.) and the Protection of Pupil Rights Act (P.P.R.A).  Here's a little about each:

F.E.R.P.A.:

F.E.R.P.A. stands for the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act and it is a federal law that has governed the issue of confidentiality and privacy of information in schools since the mid 1970's.  I know this isn't usually the case, but the best summary of the law I could find actually comes from the U.S. Department of Education website LINKED HERE.  On this site you'll find a complete overview with links to FAQ's and other resources.

But for the "cliff notes" version...what this law does is ensure that student information in all its various forms (even in today's digital world), is kept confidential.  It also ensures that parents have the right to view their student's records, to inspect them, and to request that information they feel to be inaccurate be corrected via a specific process.  It requires that schools post this information and parent's FERPA rights in a visible area.  In Gorham, we have this information on our website LINKED HERE. 

P.P.R.A.:

In the 1980's a companion law was passed known as P.P.R.A.  This stands for Protection of Pupil Rights Act.  Folks can find an overview of this law also created by the Department of Education by CLICKING HERE...but generally this law ensured that as software programs, testing programs, and digital surveys were becoming more widely used - that student information privacy extended into these more digital areas as well and that parents had clear rights to opt students out of participation in some of these areas.

A very simplified way of distinguishing between these two laws is to understand that basically FERPA protects information that the school district already has about a student and PPRA protects information that the district does not have, but might otherwise obtain from students that is private in nature.

Of course, both laws are far more complex than these summaries can provide - but I wanted to provide parents with this information and resource links as discussions at the federal and state level talk more and more about parental rights when it comes to their child's public education.  As a starting point, it is important for parents to know what rights you already have and understand how to utilize them when and if you feel the need.  I'd encourage you to click around on those links to learn more and to please reach out with questions if you have them.

In Gorham, we know what the research tells us.  Students succeed when schools work to connect to the larger community and when their families are active parts of that school community.  Our students are "out there" whether it be through Aspire programs like internships co-op experiences, or our "X" learning series or whether it be through community service projects by our student clubs and organizations or our littles partnering with Gorham House and others to visit seniors, or when our littles visit our public safety and municipal buildings or when our GMS alternative education program grows food in their garden to donate to the Gorham Food Pantry and ...well I hope you get my point!☺ 

Additionally, our families are active members of our schools via our Partners In Education (P.I.E.) groups, or through our vibrant volunteer programs.  We work hard to communicate effectively with our families via weekly updates, social media, our website school based family nights and more.  We seek feedback from families via Thought Exchange, other surveys, public forums, listening tours, and more.  We share what students are learning in our classrooms, we share how our grading practices work, and we share our policies and procedures for how families can express any concerns they may have with our curriculum via our policies published on our website.  We transparently share our governing conversations by streaming/recording School Committee meetings, posting agendas and minutes of all meetings, sharing our budget development processes, all also on our website.  I've actually gotten feedback in the past that perhaps we share too much information and it is hard to keep up.  

I'm not sharing this to "brag" - although I could do that all day long about the Gorham Schools as well!  

I'm sharing this because I feel it is important for our families to feel a part of our schools and for our schools to feel a part of our community and I know that goal is shared by our School Committee and by our entire staff.  

It is this kind of "village" that most benefits our children's learning experiences and this is something we constantly strive for in our schools.  If we are somehow "missing the mark" for a large group of our families, I want to know about it and would encourage families to reach out to me directly or to reach out to your school admin. directly to let us know what realistic ideas you have that would help us to improve in these areas.  

Folks on all sides of the political spectrum can argue about what new laws and regulations need to be passed and for what reasons impacting our schools.  I leave that to our elected officials to eventually decide.  As a public school leader, what I believe we all need right now is more community, more dialogue and positive relationship building and I want to empower all of you as Gorham families and community members to reach out to establish that important dialogue and we'll do our best to do the same!

GETTING INTO THE BUSY SPRING!

It is hard to believe that in just a few more weeks we will be entering the month of April!  It won't be long and we'll be seeing that green grass, we'll blink and we'll be at the April break, and then - well then the rest of the school year will be a BLUR of all kinds of fun and exciting activities!  Graduations, year end projects, internship experiences, finals, grade level transitions, athletic and theater/music productions and so much more!  I mention this only to say that the best way to follow all the action is on our website!  District level activities can be seen on the front page calendar...but you can also click on each school and see each school's activities on their calendars.  You can also follow our district and school based social media pages for all the exciting events and activities.

So as we get geared up to hit this most exciting time of the year - be sure to follow the action there!

District Website:  www.gorhamschools.org

ASPIRE GORHAM MARCH NEWSLETTER

Aspire Gorham's March newsletter is ready to view.  CLICK HERE to read about our recent Math X events, to read our most recent student spotlight and to follow all the other incredible work going on in our Aspire programs!  

G.A.T.Y OFFERS FREE NARCAN TRAINING IN COLLABORATION WITH PORTLAND PUBLIC HEALTH

Gorham Action Team For Youth (GATY) is hosting a FREE event in collaboration with Portland Public Health on March 21st. The event/training will focus on harm reduction, substance use resources, and then also cover Narcan administration.  Those 18 and over will be given a free Narcan spray should they encounter an overdose in our communities.   Interested in learning more...see the flyer details below:

GHS INTERACT CLUB HOSTING ANIMAL REFUGE DONATION DRIVE!

The GHS Interact will be hosting an ANIMAL REFUGE LEAGUE DONATION DRIVE on SATURDAY, APRIL 8th from 10:00-12:00PM at the Gorham High School gym parking lot. We are collecting the following items for the ARLGP. Please bring your furry friends with you so we can treat them to a PUP CUP!!!!  See flyer below for more details!

RESCHEDULED "EAT AND LEARN EVENT" DATE ANNOUNCED!

Please see flyers below for more details, but the Eat and Learn Event has been rescheduled to Tuesday March 28 at 5:00 p.m. at GHS.  Same agenda as was originally planned!  Child care will be provided!  Remember to RSVP on the eventbrite link provided! 

Well that is enough information for this blog!  My next one is scheduled for March 31st!  See ya then and as always, please reach out with any comments/questions!  Have a great weekend everyone!

March 3 Post

Well it has been a little while since my last blog post due to the February break!  I hope everyone enjoyed the break!  Based upon what I have seen so far this week and in the pictures below, it looks like everyone has come back refreshed and ready to keep on learning - having a good amount of fun while doing it!

Love those pictures!  Now on to the update!

GORHAM PUBLIC PRE K APPLICATIONS ARE NOW AVAILABLE - IF ELIGIBLE - APPLY TODAY!

The Gorham Schools has opened up our initial application process for any Gorham Resident who has a child that will be four years old by Oct. 15, 2023 to apply for our new Public Pre K program that will begin in the fall of 2023.

If this is the first time you are hearing about this program and want to learn more - I'd suggest you click on the link to our Pre K Informational Night Video to get many of your questions answered. If you still have questions and want to reach out, please feel free to email me at heather.perry@gorhamschools.org.

The initial applications will be open now through March 20, 2023. From there we will work with interested families to make screening appointments and go from there. The full outline and link to the online application is below in the flyer. You can use the QR code or the link to access. If you have any trouble, feel free to call 222-1295 and we can help!

Bottom line - if you have a young child in Gorham who will be 4 years old by Oct. 15, 2023 -

YOU SHOULD APPLY TODAY!

And just in case the link didn't work on that image, the link for the application is here:

https://forms.gle/pNScGUm5qzGgvv2T8

FY 24 BUDGET DEVELOPMENT UPDATE

Well it seems like mother nature wants to have Maine's "second winter" in the month of March this year doesn't it? Weather has certainly played a role in delaying our budget development processes and throwing off our scheduled meeting timelines. Not to despair however, we've simply shifted things down a week and will still be able to fit it all in as planned!

We've now shifted our budget timeline to start with our first meeting on March 7 at 7:00 p.m. at the Municipal Center in Conference Room A (downstairs). This meeting will be recorded and a link shared with the public as soon as is possible. If you are interested, you can also attend the meeting in person. Just remember, budget workshop meetings are meetings for the School Committee to do their work, they are open to the public to attend, but not necessarily to participate. If you have thoughts/ideas we'd still love to hear them though. I will soon be putting out a Thought Exchange to the broader public asking the following question:

"During what looks to be an upcoming difficult budget development process, what 2-3 things do you want our School Committee to prioritize moving forward?"

We will definitely use input from this exchange to contribute to our thinking as we navigate the budget development process.

You can find a link to all budget workshop meeting agendas by going to our website and clicking on "About Us" and then "School Committee" and then "Board minutes and Agendas" and then click on the link at the top of that page for the most recent meeting folders. Once there, know you can see all active folders, but you are looking for Workshop Meetings. Then just follow the appropriate folder for the appropriate date and you are there! If that seems a little hard to follow - I'll "cheat" and give you the direct link to SC meeting packets by CLICKING HERE.

You can also CLICK HERE to directly view the March 7 Budget Workshop agenda with links. This is a "treasure trove" of information that will be presented to the School Committee at that meeting to help provide the full context and background for where we are and where we need to go in this important process.

Finally, to make sure folks know what the full Budget Development process looks like in its revised form, you can view the schedule below.

All budget workshop meetings will begin at 7:00 p.m. and will be held at the Gorham Municipal Center. The April 25 workshop meeting with Town Council will start at 6:30 p.m. and the May 16 Town Council vote will also start at 6:30 p.m.

Any questions, at ANY TIME, please reach out to me via email at heather.perry@gorhamschools.org.

CURRICULUM CORNER

Here's the last round from our first survey of Curriculum Corner "Q&A". Apologies in advance for formatting...sometimes the copy and paste feature in the google blogs is a little challenging! Feel free to reach out with follow up questions!

Question:  My child has interests in foreign language, I know the K program doesn’t include                     learning foreign language but will there be any classes offered thru the rec program? Does K have             any social clubs for kids like space club or science club?

Answer:  We are not aware of any world language programs that have been offered by Gorham Recreation, but perhaps this is something that could be pursued through Cindy Hazelton.  There are no school sponsored clubs like this.  Gorham Recreation offers an after the bell program.  A community partner offers a “Girls on the Run” program that all K-5 students may participate in and other community organizations use our school facilities to meet such as brownies, girl scouts, cub scouts, etc.

Question:  Do all students learn basic sewing skills, like how to sew on a button, etc.?

Answer:  We do not currently offer a specific course like the old “home economics”. At GHS, we introduced a course called Senior Seminar where students do learn how to sew a button on a shirt, check the oil level in the car, create a budget, menu, and simple day-to-day tasks like this. The purpose of this class is to prepare students to enter the world after graduation.

Question:  How are you grading our children's learning? What is the criteria for how your teachers grade?

Answer:  We use the following grading scales:

• K-8 Grading Scale

• 9-12 Grading Scale

• 2022-23 Grading Guide

At the K-5 level, we use common assessments in all content areas.  We’ve designed these to align with our grade level performance indicators and common scoring criteria. K-12 grade based on grade level performance indicators and scoring criteria. K-12 Graduation Standards, Performance Indicators and Scoring Criteria

Question:  How can parents access their child’s full curriculum so we can see what is being taught as the year goes on?  Now everything is on computers I have no idea what my children are doing in school. Would be nice to see or know what they are learning.

Answer: The best place to access this information as a family would be to ask your child what they are learning in school. Of course, I realize that as students get older, the answers to those questions get a little more broad and unhelpful from your child. That being said, at the grades 6-12 levels much of our daily work is housed in google classrooms. You can ask your child to login and view those materials. Those are just a few quick ways. Another great way to get this information is to reach out and to start a dialogue with your child's teacher, especially if you have any concerns. The relationship between the classroom teacher and parents is something we take very seriously and want to ensure is the first place parents feel comfortable going to for information about their child. Parents can also reach out to our building principals to ask broader questions regarding curriculum if you have any. Parents of students at GHS can go on the GHS website and click on the syllabus for each class as well as the program of studies, which outlines each course offered at the HS.

As part of my listening tour with parents this past fall, one thing we gathered for great feedback and are currently trying to figure out how to do is to perhaps look at some additional information being shared for K-8 classrooms. Of course we can't do full blown syllabus for each of those grade levels because they simply don't work the same ways, however we are looking to create something more than the K-12 standards document linked above that perhaps outlines larger projects by quarter or trimester to help parents gain a broader understanding of what is being learned at these grade levels. We hope to have some of these things in place for Fall of 2024.

In the meantime, my best and always first answer would be to talk to your child, and then talk to your child's teacher.

Question:  How do parents have a voice in what’s being displayed or taught at the school?

Answer:  We would always suggest to any parent that has questions or concerns about 

what is being taught in the classroom to first reach out to your child’s classroom teacher to discuss your concerns and to follow up with the building principal as may be needed.  If there are still concerns, parents may utilize policy IMBB (Accommodation of Sincere Beliefs in Required Instruction) to request that their child not participate in specific learning activities or a parent may utilize policy IJJ-RR and IJJ-E to request that specific curriculum materials be removed.

Question:  What is the handoff of individual student information (academic/social) process from one teacher to the next? For example, from third grade to fourth grade.

Answer: Report cards are filed in the student’s cumulative file, along with any Personal Learning Plans reflecting support/goals received in addition to the classroom.

Question:  How does the district intend to help kids close the learning gap acquired during the pandemic? What can parents do to help overcome this?

Answer:  First, it is important to know that we feel as though we did a great job at mitigating the growth of learning gaps during the pandemic.  That isn’t to say that some gaps were not created, its just to say that we believe we did minimized those gaps greatly due to what we did for instruction and supports during the pandemic.  That being said, we continue to offer a multi-tiered system of supports for all our students based on achievement data.  RTI teams review student data on an every six week cycle to ensure students are not falling between the cracks.  We assess student proficiency each fall and spring (and in the winter as well for our youngest learners).  Data from these assessments is then used by our teachers to target specific instruction and supports for students who need it.  Additionally, we have offered summer programming for those students most in need for the past two summers.  Overall, we will continue to monitor data closely for each child, identify specific support needs, and provide individualized supports for students who need them through RTI, Alternative learning programs, special education, and other support structures.

Question:  What books are they expected to read as part of the curriculum in high school? I'm fascinated that my 10th grader is reading new books(not the same old classics) but would LOVE to be able to share that and maybe learn something new. So would love to know what books they are reading and why so I can help facilitate conversation at home and maybe add to her list.

Answer: In each course, we strive to reach a balance that will engage student interest and expose students to both classics and contemporary perspectives. You can find detailed lists of titles on the course syllabus for each class posted on our Gorham High School website under school info at GHS Course Syllabi.

Question:  What does the social skills curriculum look like?

Answer: At the K-5 level, we are fortunate that our English Language Arts and Math curriculum offer a dual focus of both academic and social emotional learning. In addition, k-2 students receive social emotional learning through our Second Step curriculum taught by our teaching counselors each week. More information about Second Step curriculum: https://www.secondstep.org/social-emotional-learning

Question:  How does the math curriculum carry over from one year to the next? (If you don’t make it through all material, do some students have gaps?)

Answer: Classroom teachers do communicate with next year’s teachers, including 5th to 6th. We have experienced some gaps in learning due to the pandemic. Teachers are differentiating to meet student need, and supplementing with IXL, K-5 and Aleks, 6-8.

Question:  What does Alternative Education curriculum look like at the elementary level?

Answer: Alternative education has the same goal of meeting grade level standards, but work toward achieving those goals through pathways that are different from what is offered in the classroom.  At the elementary levels services for alternative learners are "push in" models and are delivered within the regular classroom environment for the most part while as students get older, these services may be provided in a combination of "push in" and "pull out" models.

Question:  In what ways do teachers diversify curriculum to meet the needs of all learners, ensuring that students get the support or the opportunity to move along at their own pace based on strengths and needs?

Answer: The Gorham School Department provides an array of instructional programs aligned to our mission/vision and geared towards meeting the needs of all students.  These programs include:

In Gorham, we believe that all students can learn and that every student is entitled to outstanding instruction throughout their time in our schools.  We believe that student engagement and achievement improve when the components of our learning system – clear learning targets, aligned instruction and assessment, timely interventions, and grading/reporting that reflect those targets – are fully implemented in all grades and content areas.

Classroom instruction:  Comprehensive grade-level instruction in all content areas 

(ELA, Math, Science & Technology, Social Studies, Visual & Performing Arts, World 

Languages,Career and Technical Education and Health/PE) across all grades, K-12.  

Additionally, we provide a full suite of multi-level courses at the high school level 

(general, honors, advanced placement, dual enrollment, online, and more) as well as 

Career/technical courses at both WRVC and PATHS as well as a comprehensive Adult Education program for our adult Learners.

Targeted Instructional programs:  These programs offer support and/or extension 

opportunities for individual student learning.  These programs include:  Title I Reading 

and Math (K-5), English Language Learner (K-12), Alternative Learning (K-12), Gifted 

and Talented (3-12), Literacy and Math Labs (6-12), Daily intervention/enrichment periods (6-8).

Special Education Programs & 504:  These programs offer support for students who 

have been identified with specific learning disabilities or health related conditions that 

require them to access our educational programming via specific Individual Education 

Plans (IEP’s).  These programs include:  Resource Room, Functional Life Skills 

Program, Behavioral Skills Program, Autism Program, Occupational Therapy, Physical 

Therapy, Speech and Language Therapy, and Social Work.

Other Instructional Support Programs:  These programs offer additional academic 

and social/emotional supports to our students in grades K-12.  These programs include 

a comprehensive K-12 Guidance Program, Drug and Alcohol Prevention Programs 

through our School Resource Officers, and our Response to Intervention (RTI) Program.

I would also like to share some of the comments at found at the end of the survey:

Comments:

No concerns with the curriculum - thank you to all teachers, admins and staff!!

None, I think communication is great in the district. I’m committed to the district values around inclusion if that’s what’s implied by this survey.

I think the curriculum is great the way it is!!

None at this time

I just want to write in to support any and all education that you are doing regarding LGBTQ+ and sex education. I know most parents support this, but only unhappy people usually write to you so I wanted to counterbalance that.

ANTI-RACISM & EQUITY COMMITTEE WORK UPDATE

The great work of our district wide and community based Anti-Racism and Equity committee continues to move forward. The committee itself is made up of 30 community members and is lead by a planning group that consists of myself, Assistant Superintendent Brian Porter, School Committee member and chair of the committee Nicole Hudson, and our two facilitators. Our facilitators for this work are Mr. Dustin Ward from "It is Time LLC" and Mr. James Ford, a well known community support person who works in the Lewiston Public Schools, and is also a member of the State Board of Education.

You can view full membership of the Committee by CLICKING HERE.

The large committee meets at least quarterly and you can follow those meetings by CLICKING HERE. In addition to the large group committee meetings, the group is divided into four regular meeting "equity groups" who have more specific focus area for their work and who meet monthly. Those four groups are:

- Professional Development Equity Group

- Public Policy Equity Group

- Community Engagement Equity Group

- Student Experience Equity Group

You can follow the notes from these group meetings by CLICKING HERE.

There is lots of great work going on in these meetings. A quick run down of areas of focus for each is below. Please know this doesn't represent everything each group is working on, but is intended to let folks know the key items these groups are focused on at this time.

Professional Development Equity Group - This group has been meeting and working to identify ways in which we can better support Gorham Schools staff and students in areas of training and professional development that are in alignment with the goals outlined in our Anti-Racism Policy. Recent discussions have focused on trying to work with USM to perhaps create a D.E.I. certificate program or at least a series of professional development opportunities that teachers in Gorham could participate in to earn continuing learning credits that can be used to assist them in requirements for teacher certification. We have brainstormed some ideas and are working to set up meetings with our partners at USM to figure out what is possible.

Public Policy Equity Group - this group has been working from the policy perspective and is currently working to create a draft "policy toolkit" that could be used by the Gorham Schools Policy Committee to review its policies through the lens of equity. The group is also working on making recommendations to the Gorham Policy Committee on how we might be able to strengthen our existing Anti-Racism policy and work to create a larger equity policy that perhaps can then have different components of focus within it such as Anti-Racism, LGBTQ+, Gender and gender identity, religion, socio economic status, disability, etc.

Community Engagement Equity Group - This group has been working diligently to help organize our upcoming "Eat and Learn" event planned for March 14, 2023 at Gorham High School from 5:00 - 6:30 p.m. MORE ON THAT BELOW. They are also focused on trying to map out additional ways to engage our community in this important conversation and developing timelines for when these activities can take place, defining their purpose, and identifying target audiences, etc. All to ensure we work to improve community engagement in these important conversations moving forward.

Student Experience Equity Group - This group has been working to develop methods to increase our abilities to hear directly from students when it comes to issues of climate and culture across our K-12 schools. We've always listened to our students, but this group is working to strengthen these opportunities and amplify their voices. Right now members of the group have toured our schools to learn more about our K-12 experience and the group is working to develop a mechanism to conduct focus group meetings with students across all five schools to gather their input on how to structure these ideas in a way that is most meaningful for our students.

All of this work is really beginning to pick up momentum and we are excited by the future potential for our community to continue to learn and grow together in ways that make sure our schools can truly deliver on our promise to "Prepare and Inspire" ALL Gorham students for their future success!

UPCOMING "EAT AND LEARN EVENT

Please see the fliers below for details and make sure you RSVP to attend by using the link below!

Eventbrite Eat and Learn:  https://www.eventbrite.com/e/533981281387

Child Care will be provided! Hope to see you all there!

If you have any questions, please reach out via email (heather.perry@gorhamschools.org)!

ONE ACT PLAY TEREZINE PROMISE THIS WEEKEND!

Our GHS thespians are at it again with our one act play entitled "The Terezine Promise".

Shows are TONIGHT at 7:30 p.m., Saturday night at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday at 2:00 p.m. Of course, keep your eyes on the weather for tomorrow...not looking good there - but tonight's show and Sunday's show are absolutely open to the public.

Run time is 40 minutes plus a 10 minute tech. demonstration.

Tickets are $5.00 for students and $10.00 for adults.

Seats may sell out, so first come, first serve! Hope to see you there...and just to entice you a little more, click on the link below to watch their trailer! We have such talented students - Break a leg Rams!

Trailer Link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1pZq4scnpHu0mTdO5ASXiBPjeh6iPLfYu/view?usp=share_link

GORHAM MIDDLE SCHOOL MUSICAL COMING SOON!

Not to be outdone by their high school counterparts with their recent showing of "Mary Poppins"...our Gorham Middle School students are getting ready to perform their own musical classic in their rendition of "Beauty and the Beast".  Shows are planned for March 10 and 11th at 7:00 p.m. at GMS and at 2:00 p.m. on Sunday at GMS.  I'm sure our middle school thespians would love to see you at the show!  Break a leg to these awesome Rams as well!  

For more information, feel free to call the school at 222-1220.

GHS UNIFIED B-BALL TEAM VIDEO

I had the distinct pleasure of attending three of their games this year.  What an incredible experience for everyone who is able to make it.  The students have so much fun cheering for and supporting one another.  The athletes enjoy the game and have an opportunity to learn all the important lessons about TEAM that only a participation in said teams can teach you and the adults just get to watch it all unfold and think to themselves - we have AWESOME STUDENTS and be proud for that fact.

At the end of the season Mr. Parvanta and his team always puts together a little video.  If you haven't already seen it - WORTH THE WATCH!  Take two minutes, grab the tissues, and check out the video below.  After watching it, I just have to say how PROUD I AM TO BE A GORHAM RAM and I know I'm not the only one who feels that way! 

Video Link:  https://drive.google.com/file/d/1CUbZKoRL0YKQC-3y8dkTZYI2Qznco-Nm/view?usp=share_link

CLOSING OUT NATIONAL PUBLIC SCHOOLS WEEK

February 27 - March 3, 2023 has been National Public Schools Week across our great country. This was a week to celebrate all the incredible things that occur in our nation's public schools each and every day...and there is A LOT to celebrate.

Public schools take every child, regardless of background and we work to make them feel welcomed in our schools. We work to make sure they can read and write and do arithmetic but we also work to make sure they have full bellies, we make sure they can play, we make sure to support them in learning how to positively interact with others and follow our code of conduct. We work to provide mental health support, nursing support, support for learning how to live healthy lives, and support in learning how to be productive citizens in our democracy. We teach students how to critically think and problem solve in a collaborative world. We provide opportunities for clubs and activities, sports and music, theater and the arts. We expose students to potential careers and help them to develop their future aspirations and connect those aspirations to their learning. We provide co-op programs, CTE programs, internships, apprentice programs, and financial literacy programs. We help students learn how to create resumes and interview for jobs and YES we teach students how to shake hands! We do all of this with the passion, love and care that is second only to you as their parents and family.

As we close this week of celebration. I think about what our world would be like without public schools and I'm not sure I like that picture. Public schools may not always be perfect, but they are one of the bedrocks of our democratic society. They are most definitely worth celebrating. THANK YOU as parents and family who choose to send your children to our public schools. The Gorham School Department remains committed to delivering on the promise of our Mission and Vision and we look forward to continuing to serve this incredible community! GO RAMS!

As I close...

Just wanted to give a quick shout out to all our winter athletes...INCREDIBLE JOB this season! Our girls bball team is still playing, but most have wrapped up. Here's a few pictures to showcase our incredible student athletes and their accomplishments this past winter! See you again on March 17 for my next blog post!