The Gorham School Committee met for their regularly scheduled February meeting. There were about twenty parents in the audience for public comment.

The Gorham High School Robotics Team, Northern Force First Team 172, made an impressive presentation to the committee. This team is shared with Falmouth High School and is led by Clare and Meredith Greenlaw. Meredith Greenlaw and five students described their process of building a robot to meet an assigned challenge, their building season and the skills involved in the project. The students introduced the audience to Pinky, their robot from last year and some of the skills that the robot could perform. Typically, each student invests 250 to 1000 hours per year.

During the public comment portion of the meeting seven parents and students spoke out about the proposed redistricting of 69 students from Great Falls and Village Schools to Narragansett School. Several of the speakers were very emotional about the subject and spoke passionately about what they worry could be the possible devastating effects of a change in school for students who were enmeshed in their school communities. This vote was scheduled for later in the meeting.

Superintendent Perry reported on several topics that have arisen in the past month. The State of Maine is talking about possibly changing the procedure for three and four year olds who require special services, shifting the responsibility from CDS to the public school system. This change will not need added space but will require added professionals to provide these necessary services.

She also spoke about the Department of Education school building funding process that will be opened later this spring. This process opens every six or seven years and funds only ten projects throughout the state. The Gorham School Department intends to submit applications for two building projects; an Elementary School that will combine Village and Narragansett Schools and plans for a new or renovated high school. All applications are put through a rigorous review and needs based scoring process, from which a rank order list is created, with only the top 7 to 10 projects receiving state funds.

The school administration is in the process of developing the budget for the 2025 school year. The proposed budget will be released to the public later in February and begin the public school committee review process that will result in town approval in May and a public referendum in June.

In addition, Gorham High school has begun the required process of accreditation and is preparing for their first site visit scheduled in March.

Each school committee member reported on events from the last month including grade level community breakfasts at Narragansett School, “Mamma Mia” at GHS, the elementary choruses singing at a Maine Mariners game, Unified Basketball at GHS, community support for student athlete Ashton LeClerc scoring his one thousandth point in a home basketball game and the celebration of School Counselor Appreciation Week.

Perry presented the process and rationale for shifting the K-5 attendance zones. Many steps have been taken with the goal of efficiently and effectively utilizing school resources and buildings. The shift will lessen the overcrowding at Village and Great Falls and take advantage of newly available space at Narragansett. This change will result in the shift of approximately seventy to one hundred students and five staff members. There will be a thoughtful and purposeful series of activities to support students and families through this change.

The committee deliberated and explained their votes to the public. Several committee members spoke emotionally and from the heart about experiencing previous school shifts with their own families. They acknowledged the emotions that the affected audience members were feeling, as well as their commitment to a financially responsible and effective school system. They voted 6-1 (DeSantis) to approve the shift in attendance zones.