October 20 Post

As I am writing this blog post, parent/teacher conferences are ongoing across all of our schools.  I hope you have each had a chance to meaningfully connect with one another with our incredible students at the center of these discussions.  Whether it be from the perspective of our teachers, or from the perspective of our families - conferences are an important part of building relationships and partnerships that strengthen student's abilities to succeed in their learning.  Although we want to be clear that this is definitely NOT the only time we expect these important conversations to take place between school and home, it certainly is an important component that I hope everyone has found value in!

It has been a busy two weeks since my last post.  Check out the photos below to get a sense of the cool stuff happening across our schools!

Now on to the updates!

THANK YOU TO ALL WHO CELEBRATED GMS's 

20th BIRTHDAY!

Just wanted to send a quick "shout out" to everyone who came out to celebrate GMS's 20th birthday!  It was a great celebration!  Happy Birthday GMS!

CODE OF CONDUCT STEERING COMMITTEE 

WORK UPDATE

If you recall this committee was set up to revitalize and refresh the Gorham Schools Code of Conduct (Gorham School Committee Policy JICDA) originally developed 20+ years ago.  The existing document continues to provide a strong foundation for School Community Expectations and Core Values that is utilized daily in the Gorham Schools. The Steering Committee will facilitate a community-wide review of the Code of Conduct to ensure the document reflects today’s contexts while reinforcing our Core Values for another 20+ years.

The Committee met for the first time earlier this week to begin this important work. One of the things they did was to review the initial data collected from a survey seeking to understand various stakeholders awareness levels were of the school's Code of Conduct. Over 1,700 individuals participated in the survey including students, staff, families and community members. Here's what they said:

The group then reviewed some of the narrative responses and did a brief activity that asked them to respond to the following prompts:

I See... (what did they see in the data)

I Think... (what do you think that means)

I Wonder...(what do you think are the larger implications for our work).

As you can imagine some great discussions emerged that will help drive the work moving forward. The group then spent some time helping to finalize the Thought Exchange Survey that will be used to get the "next level deeper" in our understandings of the work needed. That Thought Exchange is below!

***NEW*** CODE OF CONDUCT THOUGHT EXCHANGE SURVEY - PLEASE PARTICIPATE!

If you read the piece above, you know that the first survey that was put out regarding the Code of Conduct was really intended to be just an initial "snapshot" survey. This was a typical google forms survey that really didn't offer up much of an opportunity for folks to deeply engage in helping the Code of Conduct Committee figure out what adjustments may need to be made to "refresh" our Code of Conduct and make sure it is reflective of the needs of our present and future community.

One tool we use in Gorham to get at these deeper conversations is our Thought Exchange Survey Tool. Many of you have participated in these before for lots of other topics, but for those of you who are new to our school community - the Thought Exchange Survey is like your average survey on steroids! The survey is a digital open discussion driven by a leading question. Participants are asked to share responses to the leading question and then (here's the fun part) go back and rate the thoughts of others. Participants are encouraged to go back into the survey periodically as more responses are shared and rate those responses too. This iterative process allows LOTS of different people to share their ideas and to weigh in on the ideas of others. It creates a virtual conversation. The software is then able to use this data to identify key themes, priority areas, and "sticky" topics that the steering committee can use to then better focus its work.

We are now ready to launch our Code of Conduct Thought Exchange! The exchange is open NOW through November 17, 2023. Data collected will be reviewed by the COC steering committee to determine what the priority areas may be to strengthen our existing Code of Conduct and ensure it remains rock solid for another 20 years in our community!

The leading question is this:

Schools should be safe, caring, respectful, and welcoming. As we refresh our current Code of Conduct to address the unique conditions within our schools and community today, what are some important areas that we need to consider and why?

You can view our CURRENT Code of Conduct by CLICKING HERE.

You can enter the Thought Exchange Survey using the link below. Staff, families, students and community members are encouraged to participate!

Remember, first share your answers to the leading question and then go in and rate the thoughts of others. Then don't forget to wait a little bit and log back in to rate more thoughts as we go! The Exchange will remain open until Nov. 17, 2023.

Survey Link: https://tejoin.com/scroll/577970716

or you can use the QR code below to access the survey...

THANK YOU IN ADVANCE FOR YOUR PARTICIPATION IN THIS IMPORTANT CONVERSATION!

P.S. - Feel free to share with others in Gorham and encourage them to participate too!

REMINDER ABOUT COVID 19 RETURN TO SCHOOL PROTOCOLS...

I've had a few questions recently about what protocols we are following as a school when a student or staff member has COVID 19 and how they can return to school afterwards. Our nurses and I thought it would be good to simply remind everyone that we follow all CDC guidelines regarding isolation, masking, and return to school/work.  The CDC's "isolation calculator" is a great tool to help understand what to do and for how long if you test positive for COVID 19.  You can find the full protocol by CLICKING HERE, but basically the "cliff notes" version is this:

*. If you test positive, you should stay home for at least 5 days.

*. If after five days your symptoms are improving and you are fever free, you can end isolation but should wear a mask through day 10.

*. If after five days your symptoms are not improving, and/or you are not fever free, you should continue your isolation until that is the case.

*. Wear your mask through day10 regardless.

Again, that is a little simplistic but it covers the key points.  If you want more detail for the nuances that can always occur, click on the link to the CDC site above and it gives you all the scenarios to work from!

As always,  if you have questions, please don't hesitate to reach out to your school's nurse and they can help!  Thank you!

IMPORTANCE OF SCHOOL ATTENDANCE

A necessary step to make sure that all students benefit from all that our schools have to offer is to support student's consistent presence in the classroom.

It really does come down to the old adage:  The first step to success is being there!  More studies than I can name find very clear evidence that school attendance is closely linked to student success.  School absences take a toll on student grades.  It is a key predictor for student drop outs, diminished health, and exposure to the criminal justice system.  Poor school attendance has even been linked via research to poor labor market prospects for adults.

Did you know that since the Pandemic, chronic absenteeism in our nation's public schools has nearly doubled? Chronic absenteeism is the % of students in a school that have missed 10% or more of the total school year for any reason.  For Maine students that is a student who has missed 18 or more days of school during the course of the school year. 

Sometimes it is easy to dismiss national data - but let's put this in very local terms... 

*. In the 2018-2019 school year we had 7.79% of our students that were chronically absent.  This means that approximately 217 Gorham students were absent for 18 or more days of school.

*. In the 2022-2023 school year we had 15.8% of our students that were chronically absent.  This means that approximately 430 Gorham students were absent for 18 or more days of school. 

This is right in line with the larger national concerns regarding school attendance.  

There is no question that school success and attendance go hand in hand.  As a school system we will continue to remain focused on helping students know we want them to come to school regularly.  We will continue to message the importance of attending school and we will continue to work hard to make sure our schools are places where students WANT to be.  We will continue to focus on building positive relationships and working together with families to remove barriers to student attendance. 

We need your help in this important message to our students as well.  What can you do?  Resources from CountME In say these are some of the best things families can do to help:

-  Set regular bedtime and morning routines

-  Lay out clothes and backpack the night before

-  Introduce yourself to your child's teacher and be as involved as you can be in supporting and attending school functions

-  Avoid family trips when school is in session

-  Schedule medical appointments outside the school day if possible

-  Come up with backup plans with family, neighbors or other parents to get children to school

-  If you see a pattern of your child avoiding school, contact their teacher, principal or school counselor so we can all work together to make learning a positive experience.

-  Make conversations about attendance strength based.  Celebrate what is going well.

Interested in resources for families about Attendance?  CountME In has some good resources.  CLICK HERE to view.

Thank you all in advance for helping us to send consistent messages to students about the importance of attending school! 

FREEDOM OF ACCESS ACT (FOAA) - HOW DOES IT WORK AND WHAT IS PUBLIC VS. CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION WHEN IT COMES TO STUDENTS?

With a recent uptick in FOAA requests once again this year, I've had several families ask me to explain FOAA, what it is, how it works, and what happens when FOAA interacts with the confidentiality rights associated with the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act commonly referred to as FERPA?

Maine's Freedom of Access Act (FOAA) grants the people of this state a broad right of access to public records.  The act is intended to ensure the accountability of the government to the citizens of the state by requiring public access to the meetings of public bodies, and by granting access to existing public documents that may be held by the public body.  Public schools are public bodies and therefore, meetings of our school committee must be open to the public for example.  Digital and written documents that are held by public schools are also subject to FOAA requests to include materials in email and on google classroom for example.

It is important to note, however, that FERPA laws regarding the confidentiality of student records is also a law that schools must adhere to.  In cases where FOAA and FERPA may conflict, it is the responsibility of the school department to protect legitimate governmental interests and the privacy rights of our students and families.  

The best way to explain how this works is to first explain how FOAA requests are made and what we do as a school system to process these requests and then point out how we handle circumstances where the two laws may be in conflict with one another...

Typical Process for FOAA Requests:

We use a pretty formulaic set of procedures to process any FOAA request because state statute is pretty clear what must be done.  Below is an overview:

Step 1: A FOAA request is made. This can be done in writing or via phone and then transcribed into a written document by our designated public access officer. 

Step 2: The School Department acknowledges receipt of the request within 5 days.

Step 3: The School Department may reach out with clarifying questions to better understand the request before fully processing and moving forward with the request.

Step 4: The School Department will communicate a sense of how long it will take to complete the request and let the individual making the request know if there may be any fees associated with the request. By law, the school may charge reasonable fees to cover the costs of copying and/or may charge $25.00/hour after the first two hours for time spent searching for, retrieving, compiling, or redacting confidential information from the requested records. If the cost is more than $30.00 the School Department will notify the individual making the request. If the cost is more than $100.00 the School Department may require payment in full for services prior to completing the request.

Step 5:  The FOAA officer works with appropriate admin. To fulfill the request.  This often involves working with our technology team to search emails.  It may also require our FOAA officer to work with Principals and individual teachers or other staff to gather curriculum information, lesson plans, assessments, etc.  

Step 6:  Once the information is collected by our FOAA officer, they then review each and every piece of information to determine what information may need to be redacted due to FERPA or other confidentiality laws.

Step 7: Once the request is completed, the School Department will notify the individual that the information is ready to be reviewed.  This may involve simply sending the individual the information digitally, or it may require that the individual come into the office to literally view the materials being requested.

Step 8: Once the information is shared, it becomes public information and will be posted on our website so that others may also view the information requested.

If you would like to learn more about Maine’s FOAA laws, you can CLICK HERE. 

What is CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION When It Comes to FOAA?

As mentioned above, as a school we are required to follow all laws related to FERPA when it comes to sharing student information.  Therefore, any student records, or identifiable information regarding students is always redacted or removed before sharing information via FOAA.  This would include parent emails to staff asking questions about grades, or emails between staff and parents that might discuss student placements, or student disciplinary matters, etc. This would also include emails that are sent between staff dealing with student information.  For example:  information contained within an email where one teacher is corresponding with another teacher about strategies to improve an individual student’s performance.

What is likely NOT confidential information would be an email between staff members talking about schedules, or making sharing information regarding working conditions, or an email from a parent to a staff member asking how their weekend was or trying to set up a meeting when/if a student is not being discussed.  A general rule of thumb is that if the email is not about a student, or about a confidential employee related issue, or to school legal counsel, it is likely subject to FOAA.

Bottom line - when it comes to potential conflicts between FOAA and FERPA.  FERPA "wins"!

I hope this helps better understand how these two important laws may intersect.  Please reach out if you have further questions.

INTERNATIONAL PERFORMER ALEX BOYE TO PROVIDE A FREE COMMUNITY CONCERT IN GORHAM ON TUESDAY NIGHT! 

The Gorham Schools have partnered with the Biddeford School Department to bring world renowned performer Alex Boye to Maine on October 24 & 25 to visit our two communities to deliver his inspirational message of hope and confidence.  

Alex will be working with GHS students in the afternoon of Tuesday, Oct. 24 and then he will provide our GMS and GHS staff with a training before coming to hang out with our community for a FREE evening workshop!  

Alex's community performance will be at GHS in the MPAC at 6:30 p.m. on the night of Oct. 24.  Please come to hear Alex's inspiring performance focused on reducing stigma around mental health, hope and helping our young people understand that "You are a 10!"

Families and community members are welcome to attend! 

FALL ATHLETIC PLAYOFFS BEGIN NEXT WEEK!

Well thanks to the hard work and dedication of our GHS fall student athletes, we are going to have a VERY BUSY week next week!  All of our teams have have made the playoffs and most of our teams will be hosting home games as a result!  Volleyball, Field Hockey, Boys & Girls Soccer, Football...oh my!  

Our campus will be very busy for sure!  Check out the athletics website to get updated game schedule information.  Be sure to wish all of our fall athletes the best of luck going into the playoffs!  GO RAMS!

NOVEMBER 7 VOTING DAY IS COMING RIGHT UP!  REMEMBER - NO SCHOOL ON NOV. 7

Just a quick reminder that November 7 election day is coming right up.  Because two of our schools are used as polling locations, we have adjusted our school calendar this year to utilize Nov. 7 as a teacher workshop day instead of a student day.  Therefore, there will be no school for students on Nov.7.

Want to learn more about what is on the November 7 ballot?  Check out this great resource from the Gorham Times explaining the referendum questions.   You can also learn about the candidates for the Gorham School Committee by CLICKING HERE and you can learn about the candidates for the Gorham Town Council by CLICKING HERE.  

Absentee voting is available now.  Want to learn more about absentee voting in Gorham?  CLICK HERE.  

GHS THEATER PRESENTS A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM...

GHS Theater students are working hard right now practicing scenes and creating sets in order to prepare for their upcoming performance of a classic Shakespeare play!  Performances will be held on November 10, 11, and 12.  Check out the flyer below for more details!

INTERESTED IN LEARNING MORE ABOUT SPACE?  CHECK OUT THIS UPCOMING EVENT...

This interesting event is being sponsored by SEED (Students Empowered to End Dependency)...

UPCOMING COMMUNITY DINNER...

Just sharing this community dinner opportunity for those that might be interested.  

That's it for this week!  As I close I did want to give one more "shout out" to our INCREDIBLE BUS DRIVERS from across the district.  I thought perhaps sharing this cute poem might remind us how important it is to appreciate our drivers every day...not just during bus driver appreciation week!  Enjoy!