Brian Jandreau and the directors of the high school theater program, Josie Tierney-Fife, Josh Hurd and Matthew Murray, along with students Annikka Mocciolo, Asa Wareham and Alex Robbins reviewed the success of the GHS Theater this year. GHS Theater has survived COVID and is looking forward to future productions; “The White Room of my Remembering”, the entry into the state-wide one act festival this spring and the presentation of “Disney’s Mary Poppins” next February.
Mocciolo, a senior and president of the GHS Thespian Society, reflected on her experiences in the past four years on the Gorham stage and her future plans for continued education and an ultimate career in theater.
Wareham, after singing a duet from “Into the Woods”, with Alex Robbins, reviewed his first theater experience, this past February. “It has helped me in so many ways. It has helped my memory and built my confidence in myself and my abilities.”
After each of the sub-committee reports, the committee continued the important discussion about next year’s school calendar.
Superintendent Heather Perry reflected on the numerous discussions she has had with parents. “It is important to find a balance between the need for students to be in front of their teachers and the need for teacher professional development. The pandemic has presented challenges to our schools that we have never had before. We have to find ways to support our teachers.”
Committee member Darryl Wright, discussed the importance of the school calendar decision. “The past two years, every decision that we have made has been to encourage and support time for students with their teachers. We have to be creative to support the professional development of our teachers without impacting their time with their students.”
Anne Schools, School Committee Chair, encouraged parents to continue to contact school committee members to offer input and suggestions for next year’s calendar.
The discussion will continue at the Workshop meeting in the Superintendent’s Office on March 23 and the regular monthly meeting on April 13. It is hoped that a decision would be made at the April meeting.
The committee continued their annual review of School Board policies by accepting wording changes to seven policies and having a first reading of three additional ones.
In other action, by a vote of 7-0, they approved the Finance subcommittee’s recommendation to accept the proposal for contracted custodial services from Benchmark Cleaning. Also, by 7-0 votes, they approved the Superintendent’s recommendations for Spring Schedule B positions and Lindsey Goodrich, .50 Speech Pathologist, as a new hire.