September 20 Blog Post

We have been in school for over two weeks, and folks are already getting in the groove! Bus routes have settled down, classroom schedules have worked out the kinks, support services are in place, fall athletics and before/after school clubs are in full swing, and we are rolling! A massive shout-out to everyone who made this year's positive start to school possible.  I have lots of good information to share with all of you, so here are a few pictures from the last few weeks, and then on to the info!

IMPORTANT THOUGHT EXCHANGE SURVEY LAUNCHED TO HELP DEVELOP FY 26 SCHOOL BUDGET PRIORITIES!

Your participation in the Survey Below is more than just a few minutes of your time. It's a direct contribution to the future of our schools. Your insights will help us develop our FY 26 (School Year 2025-2026) Budget Priorities that will be used to build our proposed budget later this winter/spring.  

The past few years have been difficult when it comes to passing our school's budget.  As costs continue to increase, now more than ever, we need to hear from our community. Your input is vital in determining what we value and prioritize most in our schools.

Please take a moment to use the QR code and/or link below to participate in this BRIEF survey.  It should take just 5-10 minutes to complete.  The information gathered will be an invaluable resource to us moving forward.  The survey will be open through October 6, 2024 for your participation.  THANK YOU!

Survey Link:  https://tejoin.com/scroll/561521647

QR Code:

REMEMBER - ATTENDANCE MATTERS!  

As we continue to roll into the 2024-2025 school year, we must focus on building up regular, solid routines and structures for our students.  One crucial and essential regular routine that we need YOUR HELP with as families is the routine of regular attendance at school.

Chronic absence (missing 10 percent or more of school days due to absence for any reason excused, unexcused absences, and suspensions) can translate into students having difficulty learning to read by the third grade, achieving in middle school, and graduating from high school on time.

There is a lot of research out there supporting the need to ensure students attend school every day. A tremendous one-page research summary from Attendance Works is LINKED HERE to reference any research on this crucial topic if you are interested in digging more deeply. 

Although our numbers in the Gorham Schools for Chronic absenteeism remain below the state's average, they remain higher than we would like to see.  Here is a snapshot of chronic absenteeism data from our 2023-2024 State of the Schools Report that provides a quick review of the data specifically for Gorham.  Remember that Average Daily attendance removes students that are perhaps absent from the calculation for EXCUSED reasons.  Chronic absenteeism, however, does not differentiate; instead just identifies the number of students absent for 10% or more of the school year for any reason (Roughly 17 days).

The same data in the chart is graphically represented below:

When we look at this data for the last school year at GMS, we can see that 18.68% of the students met the designation of "chronically absent," having missed 17+ days of school.  In real terms, that means that 121 students were absent for 17+ days from GMS last year.  At the high school, with a chronic absenteeism rate of 20.65% last year, 175 students were absent 17+ days.  Our ambitious goal as a district and as individual schools is to consistently reduce our Chronic absenteeism rates to 10% or less.

So how can you help as families?  Attendance Works has put together some great fliers to help families navigate that very question.  I have included links below.  Feel free to review and talk about these at home and reach out to your school leaders to share ideas that may be generated.  Hitting that goal of 10% Chronic Absenteeism or under at each school is an ambitious goal.  We will only be able to meet it by working together!  THANK YOU!

*  Pre K and K - Building Positive Attendance Habits

*. Elementary - Building Positive Attendance Habits

*. Middle School & High School - Maintaining Positive Attendance Habits

COMMON SENSE EDUCATION TIPS ON DIGITAL CITIZENSHIP FOR FAMILIES

First, I want families to know that we work with students across our schools to help them understand what being a good digital citizen means.  We start with the Code of Conduct at the earliest levels, work our way up through specific lessons in our technology classes across grades 3-5, and use the Common Sense Education curriculum across grades 6-12.  We spend significant time working proactively with our students to help them understand that the digital world can be both a place of great resources and a place of great misinformation and how to navigate these two realities as they grow.

As families, I'm sure you, too, wonder what you can do to help prepare your child to become a positive digital citizen. Common Sense Education has resources for you, too, that I thought folks might find helpful.

Would you like access to high-quality, free videos to help you navigate this complex world?  Common Sense has a resource for that!  Did you want some conversation starters to help start difficult conversations about using social media with your children?  Common Sense has a resource for that!  Would you like a template to help you plan your child's appropriate computer and screen time use?  You guessed it, Common Sense has a resource for that!  

Check out this resource page LINKED HERE for families from Common Sense Education and start having meaningful conversations with your children today, knowing that this information aligns with what they hear in school. Then, click around the site and see what other great trustworthy and high-quality resources there are for families!

FREE MENTAL HEALTH RESOURCES FOR FAMILIES!

The Gorham School District is pleased to announce new resources to support mental health and wellness. ParentGuidance.org is free to all district staff, parents, and families. 

ParentGuidance.org is a service developed by licensed therapists that provides trusted and specialized courses, professional support, and a safe community to learn how to support our children and get answers to mental health questions. 

 

Our hope is that ParentGuidance.org will give concerned parents a place to go for answers to support and help their children struggling with depression, anxiety, self-harm, bullying, grief and family strife, just to name a few, as well as provide tools to form stronger bonds between parents and their children. There are over 50 e-courses, FREE to families, which are led by licensed therapists as well as an ask-a-therapist section on the website. ParentGuidance.org is free and confidential. 

 

Additionally, our district will be able to join regularly scheduled webinars referred to as our Mental Health Series. This series will be available from October 1st to December 31st to educate parents and staff on topics our district has selected, such as: Your Child’s Anxiety, Helping Your Child Succeed – Three Parenting Styles, and Social Media: Protecting Your Child. Below are several flyers on each event topic for the month of October for parents to pre-register. Updated flyers will be shared for the months of November and December.

 

During this time, parents can anonymously join an Ask a Therapist LIVE, one-hour workshop with a licensed therapist who has expertise in youth mental health. The therapist will directly answer parents’ questions during the session, starting at 6 pm MT/ 7 CT/ 8 ET.

Below is the first flyer for our first online event via zoom scheduled for October 15, 2024. The topic: "Social Media: Protecting Your Child By Staying Aware and Involved." Use the QR code or the URL listed on the flyer and SIGN UP TODAY!

A QUICK REMINDER ON THE IMPORTANCE OF SAFE GUN STORAGE

All students and members of our school communities deserve to feel safe, welcomed, and included.  Safe firearm storage is one of many preventative actions that you can take in keeping our school community and school buildings and grounds safe.  When firearms are stored safely, it can help prevent them from getting into the hands of children and teens who may not be adequately equipped to use them safely.  Safe storage can go a long way in preventing lives from being lost or permanently altered.  If you have firearms in your home or if your child spends time in a space where firearms are present, there are important steps that can be taken to keep firearms secured and out of the reach of unintended users.  

Below are simple, highly effective practices that can help to reduce firearm-related incidents in our community and help protect our kids.  In addition to these practices it is important to also engage children and adolescents in conversations about the dangers associated with using firearms inappropriately and what to do and not do in the event they access a firearm.

*  Safely store firearms:  Store firearms - always unloaded - in a tamper proof locked cabinet, box, safe, firearm vault, or storage case that children or other unauthorized adults cannot access.

*  Safely store ammunition:  Store ammunition in a SEPERATE, tamper-proof locked cabinet, safe, firearm vault, or storage case that children or other unauthorized adults cannot access.

*  Secure Firearms:  Use trigger locks or cable locks to prevent a firearm from firing.  More information can be found on the Safe Firearm Storage Fact Sheet developed by the U.S. Department of Justice.  

The Gorham Schools remains committed to helping ensure the safety of our children and school community.  We can all work together to promote awareness about how we can protect our children.  One action we can all take together is to safely store firearms to help prevent tragedies from ever occuring.  Thank you for being a partner in these efforts and for helping reduce fire-arm related accidents in our community!

For other helpful resources for families on how to secure your firearm and how to explain gun safety to kids, feel free to use the resources linked below from "Project Childsafe":

-  Securing Your Firearm

-  Explaining Gun Safety to Kids

MOSQUITO-BORN ILLNESSES - INFORMATION FROM MAINE CDC &  PREVENTION RESOURCES

Below, please find information shared with schools across the state today from the Maine Department of Education, written in conjunction with the Maine CDC...

Dear Champions of Education, 

We are writing today in partnership with the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention (Maine CDC), and the Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry (DACF), to bring to your attention that Maine is currently experiencing significantly elevated risks of mosquito-borne illness.  We are strongly advising that precautions be taken to mitigate that risk. 

Current Situation 
In recent weeks, the Maine CDC has reported:  

• West Nile virus (WNV) in 15 wild birds and in one human  

• Eastern Equine Encephalitis (EEE) virus in 4 horses, 2 emus, 1 llama, and 1 wild turkey 

• Jamestown Canyon Virus (JCV) in 4 mosquito pools (groups of up to 50 mosquitoes regularly tested as part of routine surveillance)  

Presence of these viruses in animals indicates that mosquitos in certain regions of our state do carry the viruses and therefore pose a risk to humans. 

Maine CDC has identified the following counties as being high risk: Cumberland, Kennebec, Penobscot, Somerset, and Waldo counties. All other counties are at an elevated risk at this time. All three of these viruses are spread through the bite of an infected mosquito and usually start with flu-like symptoms in humans.

Action that can be taken to reduce risk:

• Use repellent. Use an EPA-approved repellent containing DEET, picaridin, IR3535 (ethyl butylacetylaminopropionate), or oil of lemon eucalyptus on skin and clothing. Permethrin can also be used on clothing only and is effective through several washes.  

  • School employees and volunteers must have authorization from parents/guardians to apply repellents to minor children (CMR 01-026, Chapter 10, Section 2.I.4.iii - PDF). 

  • Schools that schedule practices or other after-school activities at dusk/evening should encourage the use of EPA-approved repellents for all participants. This includes students, coaches, and observers. 

• Wear protective clothing. Children and others at outdoor after-school activities, practices, or outdoor field trips should be encouraged to wear protective clothing that covers skin. This includes long sleeve shirts, pants, and socks.  

• Identify any stagnant water sources and drain them. Items such as tires, buckets, rain gutters, pools, tarps, play equipment, overturned traffic cones present opportunities for mosquito breeding habitat. Seek out those sources around the school and any other outdoor venues used by students or staff, and dry out those potential mosquito habitats. Prevent these sources from refilling by removing items, drilling holes, etc. 

• Check all windows for intact and tight-fitting screens. Patch any holes in screens, as necessary.  

Resources to learn more:

Mosquito-borne disease fact sheets available under each disease from CDC.

MEET THE CANDIDATES EVENT - SEPTEMBER 25!

The following information is taken from the Town of Gorham & Baxter Memorial Library website, which announces an upcoming "Meet the Candidates Night" that will also include information sharing about the School Bond Referendum Questions on the November 5 ballot. Check out more detailed information below, and we hope to see you there, either in person or following online!   

All are invited to meet the candidates running for the Maine House of Representatives District 108 and 109, Maine Senate District 30, School Committee and Town Council Candidates at the Meet the Candidates event, hosted by the Baxter Memorial Library, located at 71 South Street in Gorham on Wednesday, September 25th starting at 6pm.

Each candidate will introduce themselves and their platforms to the audience, followed by an opportunity for conversation and questions. Citizens can watch live-stream footage courtesy of Gorham Community Access Media (GoCAM) at the scheduled time at https://www.youtube.com/live/Qchg3rYfZFk.

That's all the information I have to share at this time.  My next blog post will be on October 4!  Have a great weekend everyone!