At the January 9 regular meeting of the School Committee (SC), two Gorham residents voiced concerns during the time for public comment. Barbara Nichols requested a review of the policy for handling student meal debt. Snow-covered sidewalks that present a danger to students walking to Gorham Middle School was the issue Jennifer Rush brought to the committee. She asked the SC to support a request to the Town Council for plowing these walks as there is no bus service for students living within a mile of the school.
Kyren Bettencourt, SC student representative, gave a brief report of activities at Gorham High School (GHS) highlighting the Adopt-A- Classroom program where 40 GHS students recently visited Great Falls School. Students will visit the other two elementary schools this winter. She encouraged everyone to attend the GHS production of “Cinderella” to be performed on the first two weekends in February.
Superintendent Heather Perry announced that Gorham’s $200,000 funding from the Department of Education for disadvantaged populations may be reduced because the draft language focuses on after-school activities that Gorham does not provide. Perry is questioning the DOE’s rule-making language. She also reported that the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) report card for Maine schools will soon be available on the DOE website.
Dan Cecil and Tony Roy from Harriman Associates gave an update on the GHS building project and preliminary site plans. The architectural firm has been working with a building committee that includes community members as well as personnel from GHS and the SC. The plans under consideration call for a building for 1,100 students that includes a new two-story classroom wing, enlarged cafeteria, and an additional gym. (A further description of the project, as well as a graphic of the proposed site plan, was published in the January 10 issue of the Gorham Times.)
The Athletic Capital Campaign Committee, which includes GHS alumni, is actively working on plans to raise money for athletic facilities that will reduce costs to taxpayers. Cost estimates are projected to be available in February.
According to Perry, there will be many opportunities for community feedback before the SC votes on the final plan in August. She said that following a public forum on the GHS project later this winter, people will be invited to participate in an interactive online survey. The Thought Exchange was used previously to solicit ideas about the high school renovation and will again be available for community input.
Assistant Superintendent Chris Record presented an overview of the tools the district uses to assess student progress and reported on the results of state and federal required tests given to all 5th, 8th, and 11th grade students. Gorham students’ scores were higher than the state average and seventh in the ten-school pool in English and Language Arts, Math, and Science. He said that Gorham also ranks seventh in medium income and expenditures, but has the shortest school day of the ten area schools.
Record stressed that the district uses many criteria in assessing student progress. The goal “is to improve day to day instruction, not to chase scores.” The SC will be be discussing the length of the school day at a January workshop.
The only vote taken was to approve the legal lease language for renting the modular classroom units already approved by the SC (5-0 with McCallister and Currier absent).