The Gorham School Department has been selected as one of the Best Places to Work in Maine for 2023. The 28 winners in the large employer category were selected based on employees’ surveys and data that analyses workplace policies and practices. Gorham Schools will find out their ranking at an awards ceremony in October.

Best Places to Work in Maine is a research-driven program from Best Companies Group, an organization that recognizes great workplaces. As described on their website, “We are an independent research firm that ranks companies based on our established research methodology. Our surveys provide actionable, hard-to-obtain data that companies use to improve employee recruitment and retention.”

According to Superintendent Heather Perry, participation in the program was a budgeted item as part of the School Department’s Strategic Plan. The cost of the application process was $1400, mostly the fee for the surveys, but Perry said that the cost of replacing just one teacher is over $6,000.

“The data we get from employees around the strengths they see and what challenges is priceless to help us improve as a school system,” she said. “This data also helps us to specifically target practices that we can implement to improve retention for existing staff and to recruit new staff that come and stay with our district.