Closure May Extend Beyond March 30
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we will be closing all of our schools for two weeks beginning on Monday, March 16, and lasting until Monday, March 30. This applies to all Gorham Schools facilities, including Gorham/Westbrook Adult Education and the Portland Arts and Westbrook Regional Vocational Center (WRVC).
Additionally, all outside facility uses will be suspended during this time. The district’s Central Office along with each school’s Principal’s offices will operate with essential staff but will be closed to the public unless otherwise notified. Details regarding remote learning and meal programs will be shared with families via my blog with specific instruction and programming to be made available to families beginning on Thursday, March 19, 2020.
The plan is to utilize 1:1 devices and the platform of Google Classroom for continued instructional services for students in grades 4-12. On March 16, information was sent out to families of students in grades 4-5 regarding how they may pick up these devices safely from our schools. Additionally, GHS and GMS will provide details on how students who may have left their devices there can pick them up over the course of the next few days. Continued instructional services for students in grades K-3 will be conducted through “packets.” More detailed information on how packets will be communicated to families and how online learning will be delivered will come out via my blog.
As you know this has been a rapidly evolving situation. While we have no cases reported in the Gorham Schools yet, there is one presumptively positive case of the virus in our region. After consulting with area medical professionals, my administrative team, the state and other school district officials, I have determined that this closure is the only responsible action to take.
This decision has been made with careful consideration of the options. We are aware of the fact that closing schools will be a hardship for all families. For our most disadvantaged community members, it will represent an even greater hardship. While our team has been working diligently to prepare for school closings, we will not yet be prepared to provide alternate forms of education and nutrition on March 16, 17, or 18. We intend to be ready to do that by Thursday, March 19. We will be sharing information on the educational and nutritional options that will be available for our students.
It is possible that this closure will extend beyond the current projected timeline. It is important that all families practice and enforce strict social distancing during this time. If we want to prevent the need to keep our schools closed for an extended period of time, it will be incumbent upon us all to make the sacrifices required to contain the spread of the coronavirus.
My blog posts to families will continue to share updated information regularly so please keep up to date with these. Additionally, both the national CDC site and the state of Maine CDC have a wealth of information to assist families in staying up to date and continuing to learn more about the virus.
It is important to know that during a pandemic, the primary mode of communication with internal audiences (staff and students) will be via email while the primary mode of communication with external audiences (parents/guardians/community) will be via the School Messenger System and Gorham’s school website (to include continued blog posts). The school system may supplement communications using social media platforms, but the primary methods will be through School Messenger and the website.
If you ever have any questions, please reach out directly to me at heather.perry@gorhamschools.org. Please be safe. I will continue to communicate regularly with our families during this closure.