The Gorham School Committee met for their monthly meeting on March 8 with all seven members present. The superintendent and School Committee wanted to be sure that the public was aware that the budget is currently being reviewed in a series of meetings. A schedule of all meetings and copies of recorded meetings are available on the school website.
In her superintendent’s report, Heather Perry updated the committee and public on several items of interest including the budget process, news from the Department of Education, the current State of Maine legislative session, and the status of the audit report which is compiled with the town. In addition, she commented on the GHS class of 2027 beginning their transition process to the high school and the professional development process planning for next year begun by Assistant Superintendent Brian Porter and the administrative team.
All of the school committee members commented on their recent observations within the school. They thanked the teaching staff for their positivity and care for students, congratulated the winter sports teams for their seasons including the girls basketball team playing in the state championship game, the GHS drama department for their recent performances of “Mary Poppins” and “The Terezin Promise” and all the hard work being done by staff to benefit students at all the buildings. Several committee members wished the middle school well on their presentation of “Beauty and the Beast JR.” on the weekend of March 10.
The first program review was presented by Mrs. West and four Green Trees GMS students who described the student-initiated composting program. The group has been instrumental in compiling data on the amount of waste in the cafeteria and initiating positive, eco-friendly changes. These changes include the elimination of the use of plastic straws and initiating the current composting process which began last month. Several students spoke to highlight the importance of composting and the ecological benefits of their work. They have also produced a video which may be viewed on the Gorham Middle School website.
The next two presentations involved the review of two staff positions that were added in the past year, a full-time teaching counselor at Great Falls School and a second school counselor at Gorham Middle School. The social-emotional teams of both buildings spoke passionately about the positive impacts of these new positions on meeting the needs of students at the buildings.
From Great Falls, School Counselor Berry, Social Worker Tardif and Teaching Counselor; Breton spoke about the additional position at their school. They each outlined their roles and described their vital work with students. They presented data on the increasing emotional needs of students and their specific strategies for meeting those needs. With the added support, there is greater efficiency in their delivery of services and the school system is closer to the national and state-recommended counselor caseloads. As a social-emotional team, they are better equipped to target and address specific student needs, provide parent resources and consultation, provide staff training, and to support students in crisis.
From GMS, Ms. Richards and Ms. Ambrose described their support services model and their ability to respond more effectively to student needs with an additional counselor position. They both provide 1:1 student support, group counseling sessions, and classroom instruction on stress management (sixth grade), thoughts, emotions, and behaviors (seventh grade), and suicide prevention (eighth grade). In addition to added time for consultation with parents and teachers, they were able to initiate a school-wide program on executive functioning skills.
Lastly, each of the standing committees reported on their most recent meetings and two policies were provided to the full committee for a 1st reading, as part of the ongoing and continuous policy review procedure.