WOW...we are certainly on the "home stretch" when it comes to the 2022-23 School Year!
It is hard to believe that we only have four weeks left of school (for those students who may be counting, that is 19 school days). I happened to be at GHS with students this week and the H.S. seniors made sure to let me know, they are "done" with "formal" classes today as many seniors will be participating in a two week internship experience to round out the school year (more on that below).
Bottom line, we are all working hard across our schools to make sure students end the year on a positive note! Here's some pictures below that I hope show the great learning that is happening in our schools!
With this adjustment, the revised FY 24 proposed school budget now represents an overall increase over FY 23 of $5,067,525.00 or 10.91% (down from 12.64%) and represents an overall increase to the mil rate of approximately $1.31 (down from original $1.58). With this mil impact, the estimated impact to taxpayers who own a home valued at $400,000.00 would see an increase of approximately $525.00.
The School Committee will meet on Wednesday, May 24, 2023 to decide what specific items will be reduced from their original proposals to reach the $800,000.00 reduction required.
The next and FINAL STEP in the budget approval process is the budget validation referendum vote that will take place on Tuesday, June 13, 2023. Voting will take place at the typical polling locations in Gorham from 8:00 a.m. - 8:00 p.m. Voters may also vote via absentee ballots.
On the referendum question, voters will be asked to vote "yes" if they approve of the proposed budget passed by town council on May 16 or voters may vote "no" if they do not approve of the proposed budget passed by town council on May 16.
Overall, although the $800,000.00 reduction will have its impacts to the school, the impacts will not significantly impact current staffing or programming for students in FY 24.
Please see the revised one pager summary sheets below and reach out to heather.perry@gorhamschools.org with any questions you may have for more information and BE SURE TO GET OUT AND VOTE ON JUNE 13!
Over this past year our GHS staff have been working hard to incorporate and weave in meaningful learning opportunities for our students OUTDOORS! Whether it is mathematically plotting changes in land features or going outside to enjoy the new outdoor seating areas to utilization of the incredible bike and walking trails located right in our back yards and much more! Our students are getting outside to learn - and why not? We live in such an incredible state with so many natural learning environments!
It has been wonderful to see the students enjoy these outdoor learning experiences and integrate them into their regular core curriculum of math, science, social studies and english in authentic ways!
The video linked below shows just one "outing" for our students earlier this spring who got to enjoy the bike trails on bikes that were rented for them to utilize for the day. Check out the video below to see how much fun our students had getting outside for some great exercise on our incredible local trails!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
This work has been made possible by an incredible grant through the Maine Department of Education written and conducted by our very own GHS staff! Nice work!
UPDATED ELO DATA AND UPCOMING SENIOR INTERNSHIPS!
Just as a reminder, ELO means "Extended Learning Opportunities". Our ELO program is housed at Gorham High School with the focus of getting our students out and experiencing their learning in our community and in ways that are directly connected to their aspirations. Students can learn through independent projects, internships and job shadowing experiences and much more!
We have been working to implement ELO programming in Gorham for three years now, and this year was the big growth year thanks to an incredible grant by the Maine Department of Education that allowed us to add a specific ELO instructor to our staff to work directly with students. Thanks to this program we have so many more students able to access these incredible learning opportunities! The data speaks for itself ...
One additional aspect of the work has been our new partnership between our ELO program and JMG's (Jobs for Maine's Graduates) Career Exploration Badging program. Through this new partnership, our GHS seniors, who have annually participated in a two week internship program during the month of May can now strengthen this experience by earning a career exploration badge through JMG. This badge is a credential of value that students can use on their resumes and also makes them eligible to be paid a scholarship of $500.00 each upon completion! This year we will have 142 students participating in this experience! That will be over $70,000.00 awarded to our seniors if they complete the program! AWESOME!
In addition to all of this exciting work, our ELO program has also allowed us to greatly expand our local business partnerships. These partners can now work directly with our schools to provide our students with meaningful learning experiences that help our students explore their future stories right here in our incredible community! Check out this list of Partners - AND THANK YOU TO ALL OUR BUSINESS PARTNERS who have helped our students access these authentic learning experiences this past year!
This work really shows what an incredible COMMUNITY Gorham truly is! So very proud to be a Gorham Ram!
ELO Partners:
Over the past year our students at GMS and GHS have worked to create a series of videos showcasing their real experiences in our schools using their own voices to tell their stories and to share their perspectives. In case you missed the previous three videos from our GMS students (one from 6th grade, one from 7th grade and one from 8th grade) you can view them by clicking on the links below:
Episode 1 - 6th grade video
Episode 2 - 7th grade video
Episode 3 - 8th grade video
Just this past week, students from GHS finished up their first student voices video. It was released via social media, but I wanted to make sure to include it in my blog post as well. So, check out the FOURTH video in our series by clicking on the link below!
Episode 4 - Class of 2023 Video
Stay tuned for more to come! GO RAMS!
BAXTER MEMORIAL LIBRARY HOSTING AFTER SCHOOL PROGRAM FOR UPCOMING EARLY RELEASE DAY!
Baxter Memorial Library will be hosting a fun scavenger hunt for interested children to participate in during the upcoming Early Release day scheduled for May 24! Check out the flyer below for more details!
- May 19 - Spring Dance (GMS)
- May 22 - June 1 - Senior Internships (GHS)
- May 23 - GHS Academic Awards Night.
- May 25 - Spring Chorus Concert (GHS)
- May 30 - All Gorham Steel Band Night
- May 31 - K-5 Field Days Begin
- June 1 - JMG awards night
- June 1 - Great Falls Family Picnic Night
- June 2 - Senior Class Trip
- June 7 - Step up day (GHS)
- June 7 - Spring Sports Awards night (GHS)
- June 8 - Senior Celebration (GHS) & Spring Fling Event (Village)
- June 8 - incoming 6th grade parent night at GMS
- June 9 - GHS Senior Walk (will live stream on FB) & BBQ
- June 11 - GHS Graduation
- June 13 - Budget Validation Referendum
- June 14 - 5th grade step up day to GMS
- June 15 - K-4 Step up day & Gr. 5 Celebration Picnic & Field Day & GMS 8th grade celebration
- June 16 - Last Student Day of School
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