At a special meeting on May 22, the School Committee (SC) voted unanimously to hire Quinton Donahue as the principal of Gorham Middle School. Donahue will replace Bob Riley, who retires this year. Selected from more than 20 applicants, Donahue was one of two recommended for the position by the hiring committee. Superintendent Heather Perry and Assistant Superintendent Chris Record chose to nominate Donahue who Perry described as “passionate about his work and focused on middle school learners.”

Donahue has a B.S. in Math Education and a M.S. and Ph.D in Educational Leadership from the University of Maine. He taught high school math from 2004 to 2014. For the past five years he was principal of Mt. View Middle School (RSU 3).

In other business, Superintendent Perry reported on the work of the Grading and Reporting Committee. Beginning in the 2019-20 school year, grades for K-8 students will continue to be on the 1-4 scale. Students in 9-12 will receive all grades on a numeric 50-100 scale that is aligned to the collegiate scale and to the district’s standards and performance indicators.

“Now that the School Committee has discussed and is in full support of this grading adjustment, next steps are first to communicate the proposed changes more clearly to the staff and then to students and parents in preparation for the start of the next school year,” said Perry. Details will be made public with full explanation beginning in mid-June. A Grading Guild is also being developed for distribution.

SC members Jennifer Whitehouse and Kyle Currier reported on the work of the World Languages Committee. The committee is recommending starting languages in the eighth grade for the first year of implementation and in grades 3-5 for the second year.

Teachers from each of the district schools gave short presentations showcasing how they use technology in their daily instruction. This was the first of three presentations on technology to the SC that will culminate next school year in a technology plan which focuses on specific goals for its use and how the goals will be measured and accomplished.

The SC also voted (7-0) to hire Jessica Shaw as a special education teacher at GMS.