Today is the last day of October—can you believe it? This school year is flying by! Before diving into the important updates, I want to pause to say a heartfelt THANK YOU to everyone who reached out with kind words following my selection as Maine’s Superintendent of the Year for 2026. This recognition means so much to me for two reasons. First, it comes from my peers—fellow superintendents who understand the challenges, the late nights, and the deep sense of purpose that define this work. And second, it’s not really my award at all. It represents the dedication, collaboration, and heart of an entire Gorham team—our staff, students, families, and community members. A superintendent’s success is never a solo achievement, so I share this honor proudly with all of you. Congratulations, Gorham—you’ve earned it too!☺
Now on to some pictures from the past few weeks showing the incredible work happening in our schools, followed by important information!
FINAL REMINDER - PLEASE VOTE NOVEMBER 4!
I don't know about you, but this time of the year, I start to get a little "voter fatigue". Between signs, commercials, text reminders, news coverage, and social media posts, it is hard not to feel a little "weight" in making decisions at the polls that impact our communities. I do not wish to add to the noise and pressure, so I will keep this BRIEF!☺
CLICK HERE to view an informational flyer on the single question on the local ballot (Question #2) impacting our schools. CLICK HERE to watch a quick informational video on question 2 (local ballot). Please reach out with any questions! No question is too big or too small (heather.perry@gorhamschools.org).
Then, just be sure to get out and vote on November 4! Your vote matters to our community! THANK YOU!
QUESTIONS FROM COMMUNITY REGARDING SNAP BENEFITS
With the threat that SNAP benefits will not be issued to thousands of families in Maine beginning in November, I have had LOTS of questions about what that might mean for our schools and the families we serve.
First, it is important to note that even though the USDA oversees both SNAP benefits and the School Nutrition Program at the federal level, the funds supporting each are very different. Please know that our School Nutrition Program funding from the federal government will remain in place even if the government remains shut down.
The SNAP program, whose funding will end next month if the government remains shut down, provides direct nutrition assistance to families who are in need. For many families who rely on SNAP benefits, the loss of funds will likely have significant impacts.
As a school system, we are here to support all of our families, especially during these difficult times. School meals will remain free. We also operate our school backpack program, which can help families with snacks and/or meals over the weekend. Please see the flyer below for more information, and please do not be bashful about reaching out to our schools for support if you need it. These conversations can be kept confidential.
I will also share the flyer below, created by our friends at Full Plates Full Potential, to help families who may be worried about putting food on the table during the government shutdown. When it talks about reaching out to your local food pantries, don't forget about the
Gorham Food Pantry. They are such an incredible resource to our community and are also here to help!
Families may also consider using the Emergency Food Assistance Program interactive map to find food pantries and banks throughout Cumberland County.
At the end of the day, if you are experiencing food insecurity, please reach out. We will do our best to connect you with resources in our community.
COMMUNITY BLOG SURVEY RESULTS SHARED!
Thank you to the 144 folks who responded to my last blog post survey. In that blog, I offered people the opportunity to share any questions or curiosities they have about the school system, as well as any topics they might want me to write about in future blogs! We had parents, staff, and community members respond with their thoughts!
When participants responded to the prompt, "What Questions or Curiosities do you have about our school system right now?" we had lots of great topics pop up. A summary generated by A.I. is below.
Responses address a range of pressing issues, including the status and planning of new high school construction, the need for more inclusive environments, and improvements in traffic safety near schools. Queries about staff well-being amid federal government changes, special education impacts, and test score improvements reflect ongoing educational challenges. Questions also address AI integration, critical and creative thinking education, and growth management, with concerns about classroom overcrowding, overpopulation effects, and administrative staffing. Additionally, communication consistency, grading practices, parking expansion, and safety measures are highlighted, along with broader town-planning impacts. Some express satisfaction with Gorham schools despite these challenges.
Several themes emerged from the responses regarding the types of questions folks have about our schools. Those themes are summarized as follows:
1. Infrastructure and Growth
2. Safety and Security
3. Academic Standards & Testing
4. Staff and Support
When participants responded to the prompt of: What topics would you like me to address in upcoming blogs we also had a lot of great topics come up. An A.I. generated summary of those topics is below:
The responses suggest a wide range of interests for the Superintendent’s Blogs, including technology use in schools, safety protocols, special education, and multicultural inclusivity. Contributors are eager for updates on budget plans, building projects, and staff collaboration. The community seeks greater support for parents regarding technology at home, volunteering opportunities, and mental health resources. Other suggestions include highlighting student achievements, art programs, and outdoor learning, while some express concerns over academic performance, cost management, and administrative decisions. The calls for transparency and community involvement reflect a desire for engagement with future changes and developments within the school district.
Again, several themes emerged from the responses regarding the topics folks want added to my blog posts. Those blog topic themes are summarized as follows:
1. Technology Use
2. Safety and Security
3. School Funding and Budgets
4. Community Involvement
5. Events and Achievements
Of course, there were lots of specific questions and thoughts that created these themes, which will be great for helping me craft some interesting blog topics moving forward!
My plan at this point is to include one or two pieces in each of my upcoming blog posts related to this survey. One will focus on a topic that folks indicated interest in, and the other will focus on answering specific questions/curiosities or sets of questions/curiosities. Then, each month or so, I plan to reopen the survey to gather more questions/curiosities, and topics folks want to hear about, and keep going from there! This will help make these blog posts more informative and interactive for parents/families and community members of Gorham!
No time like the present to start! Here we go!
QUESTIONS AND CURIOSITIES: SCHOOL INFRASTRUCTURE & GROWTH
Five major questions from survey participants led to this theme. Those questions can be seen below:
1. What is the status of a new high school? When do we anticipate there will be a plan?
2. How will the schools handle the unchecked growth of the town?
3. How will the schools handle continued growth in student population?
4. I'm curious with the growing number of students what does the future look like for better parking at the high school?
5. While the schools address issues around a growing community, what are the plans to keep class sizes manageable?
WOW - some really great questions! I'm going to take a wack at BRIEFLY answering each below, but know that each one of these questions is complex and there is a lot more behind my answers than I can explain in a brief blog post. So please follow up with any questions you have! Here goes!☺
What is the status of the new high school? When do we anticipate there will be a plan?
We applied to the state in the last round of capital applications, and the highest rankings we got were #19 in the state for "need", and this was for our elementary applications. Our high school ranked only #42 on the priority list. You can view the full list HERE, but the bottom line is that it is clear we will NOT be receiving capital funding from the state for a new high school or elementary school anytime within the next 10 years.
So now what? First, we have already received voter approval and have started a capital project at GHS to add space. This was approved by voters in November 2024 and will expand the high school cafeteria and add a total of 7 classroom spaces in what we are calling our "modular expansion phase I". You can CLICK HERE to view the plans. This will help us as we anticipate continued enrollment growth at the high school over the next few years.
The high school currently has 847 students. It is projected to grow to 869 students in 2026-2027, then jump to 902 students in 2027-2028, and reach its anticipated peak in 2028-2029 at 917 students. This is far above the 750 students the current facility was built to hold.
The first phase of modular expansion will be online in the Fall of 2026. The likelihood is high that the School Committee will then request an additional bond in November of 2026 to construct a "second phase" of modular expansions to address the larger anticipated increase in 2027-2028. This is all part of our Ten-Year Capital Plan.
There will be planning with the school committee this winter/spring to prepare for this request, so more details will be released at that time. The "good news" is that once GHS enrollment reaches its projected peak in 2027-2028, it is expected to decline after that. This, however, does not account for what might result from additional enrollments driven by residential growth in Gorham. That's literally the next question! ☺
How Will The Schools Handle the Continued Growth of the Town & The Potential Resulting Increased Student Population?
Well, here is at least some good news. The good news is that, based on current birth rates and move-in, move-out patterns in our schools (NOT taking into account the impact of increased residential development), our school populations at both the K-5 and 6-8 levels are projected to either remain the same or decrease. You can CLICK HERE to view the most recent enrollment projections for the Gorham Schools. Again, keep in mind these projections DO NOT take into consideration additional residential growth.
Also, we did a demographic study with NESDEC back when the Robie development was first coming online to see what impact it might have on enrollment, and it wasn't huge. The maximum this study estimated from the Robie development was around 100 students across grades K-12. So not as big as people thought. Since then, we have had additional developments, and we don't know the direct impact these developments will have. So much depends on the type of developments that they will be. Single-family vs. apartments or condos, for example, have very different calculations for the number of children that might be added as a result.
The good news is that we have some room to grow at the elementary levels, mainly because we thought ahead and added modular spaces to Narragansett and shifted attendance zones to point future growth toward Narragansett School. Right now, we are doing well in this area, but time will most certainly tell the full tale here.
The bigger issues with space in our schools may NOT be increasing enrollments, but increasing programming space needs. We have seen stark increases in our special education populations over the last few years, and these students require additional spaces beyond regular class sizes. With more special education students also comes the need for more service providers such as OT's, PTs, and Speech pathologists, which also requires additional space. Finally, when our schools take on full special education programming for 3- and 4-year-olds (coming up very soon), this will also require additional space in our buildings. (Note: More on that later in this blog)
As you can see, the issue of space is complex and requires constant monitoring. It is certainly about more than just the number of students. The School Committee has developed its Ten-Year Capital Plan to address current enrollment trends, but these trends may change. We will continue to monitor this closely and adjust plans accordingly.
With the growing number of students, what does the future look like for better parking at the high school?
You’ve seen the data above — our high school enrollment is projected to grow from 847 students today to around 917 within the next few years. Parking is already tight, and unfortunately, it’s likely to get worse before it gets better.
Before construction began this year, we had roughly 250 parking spaces on site, not counting the “dirt lot” that students informally used for about 40 additional cars. When that lot closed for construction, the town helped us add some marked spaces — around 10 near Pre-K, 6 in the main lot, and about 20 along the access road. That brings the total to 285 marked spaces today.
Of those, about 115 are needed for staff, leaving around 170 for students and visitors. With each graduating class averaging 200 students, there simply aren’t enough spaces even for all seniors, let alone juniors or sophomores getting their licenses.
Last year, we made a significant change that helped improve efficiency: we stopped assigning parking spots exclusively to seniors. While that decision was unpopular with some, it allowed every available space to be used daily rather than sit empty when students left campus for internships, early college, or work experiences.
Still, the bigger issue remains. We have minimal space to expand, and many of our students legitimately need to drive — whether to jobs, USM classes, or to transport younger siblings home after school. We’ve tried solutions like GMS shuttles (which weren’t used), and we continue to encourage carpooling, though state restrictions on young drivers make that challenging.
There are no easy fixes here. We’re currently collecting additional data on student drivers through vehicle registrations to better understand usage patterns and options. Down the road, we may need to restrict parking further as a temporary measure. In the meantime, we’re open to creative community ideas — but the reality is, with limited space and a growing student body, this challenge isn’t going away anytime soon.
While the schools address issues around a growing community, what are the plans to keep class sizes manageable?
We have specific guidelines for class sizes. You can
CLICK HERE to view our elementary guidelines. We use the same numbers as the 5th grade for GMS. At the high school, things get more nuanced as we look at classes —for example, AP classes that might have 10 students vs. a PE classroom with 30 students. Not as easy to calculate class sizes like that at the high school. Instead, at the high school, we typically try to count "case loads". The goal that we try to use is that a high school teacher should have 100 or 120 students on their daily "case load". This may not work for PE classes, which tend to be large, or for special education teachers, whose caseloads tend to be much smaller, but, for the most part, these are the targets we aim for when we develop our budget each year.
I see this continuing. As the HS population increases, we will likely see the need to hire additional staff to maintain these case load calculations. If we have more teachers, we also need more classrooms, which is then linked to the first question above.
Well, that is it for addressing this question from my blog survey. I'll put a few more on the next one and keep working on these over time. Again, I appreciate those who shared their topics and questions with me - I hope this helps to make these blogs more interactive and focused on the information YOU want to know!
UPDATE ON GORHAM SCHOOLS PLANNING TO TAKE ON CDS SERVICES FOR 3 & 4 YEAR OLDS BY 2027-2028 SCHOOL YEAR
About two years ago, legislation was approved to transfer responsibility for special education programming for 3- and 4-year-olds from Child Development Services to Maine's public schools. The statute that governs this move is Title 20-A subsection 7209-A.
What does this mean? It means that by the 2027-2028 School Year, the Gorham School Department must assume responsibility for providing the required special education services to children ages 3-4, in addition to the services we already provide for children ages 5-22 in our schools.
This is no small undertaking and will add as many as 150 additional students to our special education programs. Our plan is to begin taking on these responsibilities for 4-year-olds only during the 2026-2027 school year, and then be prepared to add 3-year-olds during the 2027-2028 school year as required by law.
For the past two years, the Maine Department of Education has been working with schools to bring them on board with this new legislation. The Gorham Schools have decided to join "cohort 3" (third year) this coming school year (2026-2027), and there is much work to do.
I will be writing several blog posts on this topic over the next several months. Still, as an introduction to the discussion, I wanted to share with you a recent presentation provided to the Gorham School Committee by our Special Education Department that provides a nice overview and introduction to the work and some of the key pieces we need to be thinking about to make sure we do this work right.
One piece that is IMPORTANT TO UNDERSTAND ABOUT THIS NEW RESPONSIBILITY for our schools is that the program will be funded entirely by the state of Maine. In other words, the costs associated with providing these special education services to 3- and 4-year-olds will be 100% covered by the State of Maine.
Please click
THIS LINK to view the slide presentation shared with the School Committee.
Please click on
THIS LINK to view the recording of our most recent SC workshop meeting. This topic will be at the 1-hour and 25-minute mark of the video link.
Again, more information to come on this — please stay tuned!
GHS FALL PLAY COMING SOON!
GHS Theater will be presenting the play "Our Town" on November 7, 8, and 9! Check out the flyer below for details and make sure to mark your calendars to attend! As always, it looks to be a great show! GO RAMS!
MAINE LOVES PUBLIC SCHOOLS - LEARNING FROM MAINE VIDEO SERIES HAS LAUNCHED!
Recently, Maine Loves Public Schools, a statewide nonprofit supporting Maine's public schools, launched a 4-part video series to give folks a glimpse of the incredible things happening in our state's public schools. Gorham isn't in any of these videos (at least not yet), but they do a nice job of showcasing the type of learning available in all public schools in Maine.
You can view all four videos by
CLICKING HERE. Maybe you will see a cousin, niece, or nephew! Check it out!
TWO RECENT GHS GRADUATES HONORED
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
GHS Students & Teacher Honored with #CreateConnectCare Awards
[Gorham, Maine] — Recent graduates from Gorham High School have been recognized by Creative Visions for their work in Creative Visions’ mental health campaign, #CreateConnectCare. Meghan Gendron has earned a Visionary Spark Award for her video, Walking into the Light and Madison Tibbals earned the Imagination Catalyst Award for her poem, One Day at a Time. In addition, Lucinda Stein, a teacher, has been recognized as an Educator Champion. The global #CreateConnectCareinitiative celebrates youth creativity as a tool for promoting mental health awareness, fostering emotional connection, and supporting community care.
The Educator Champion Award honors teachers who go above and beyond to create safe, responsive spaces for student expression—empowering young people to share their stories, explore their emotions, and use creativity to foster connection and healing. Stein was one of three educators selected from across the country for this honor. Meghan and Madison were alongside 55 youth awardees whose work spans Literary Arts, Media Arts, Performing Arts, STEM, and Visual Arts. Their bravery and creativity help spread the messages promoting mental health awareness.
The announcement was shared in observance of World Mental Health Day on October 10, a global moment to reflect on the urgent need for youth support and emotional well-being. With 1 in 7 adolescents worldwide experiencing mental health challenges, the program highlights the importance of creative outlets and caring adult allies.
Visit the 2025 #CreateConnectCare Awards Gallery to view the creative works and learn more about the program.
That's it for this blog post! The next one will come out on November 14. Don't forget to turn your clocks back this weekend as we hit daylight saving time! Have a great weekend!
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