MSAD #51 Superintendent's Blog

Our youngest learners are enjoying the nice weather and snow out on the playground! Board Votes Board of Directors voted 8-0 Monday to move ahead with the elementary steering committee's recommendation of a new primary school in North Yarmouth. Holiday Concerts Tis' the season for holiday concerts. Congratulations to all of our students who participated in band or chorus concerts so far this season. They have all been so wonderful to watch and listen to. The GCA has certainly been busy over the last several weeks! ADL Training Several of our 7th & 8th graders participated in peer leadership training through our partnership with the Anti-Defamation League (ADL). This is a long-standing relationship in which the ADL provides intensive training to prepare students to provide peer-to-peer anti-bias instruction in 6th grade health classes. The approach capitalizes on the importance of peer relationships to middle level learners and has become an essential part of t...

NEW!  Podcasts Check out my new podcasts on Equity and School Safety.  I will be posting podcasts from time to time on topics of current interest and relevance.  You can access these podcasts on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and the district website.  To access my podcasts on a mobile device, simply download Podbean in the app store (it's free) and click this link to go right to my podcasts. Outdoor Classroom Week 8th grade math classes participated in outdoor classroom week by going outside and getting active while also collecting data for analysis.  Each student in our classes took 2 goal shots. When we returned to class, we analyzed the results in two-way tables, making conclusions about the relative soccer skills of our classes using relative frequency and percentage data.  Challenge Day Our 4th annual Challenge Day(s) took place at GHS on November 4&5 in which the entire sophomore class participated! Challenge Days are powe...

Flash Mob at GMS 6-8 GMS 6-8 Students gathered together in the gym for their annual club & activities assembly. The highlight of the assembly came at the very end, when most of the GMS 6-8 teachers and staff sang and danced to “This Is Me,” from The Greatest Showman, flashmob style. This had been a big secret since before school started, with clandestine after hours rehearsals, prop preparation, and creative costuming. I think it is fair to say that the students were taken by surprise, and hopefully they got to see the fun and playful side of their teachers. Here is a picture of all of the people who made it happen. Welcoming Library Had a great time reading "Dreamers" by Yuyi Morales to students in Mr. Goldsmith & Mrs. Thomas' classes this week as part of the GMS 4-5 Welcoming Library & had a chance to discuss what it would be like to be an immigrant in a foreign country. Also had a great visit with Mr. Lloyd & Mrs. MacInnes' classe...

Equity Workshop Earlier this school year we sent out a quick form to gain interest from our staff, parents, students and community members who were interested in attending a day-long workshop on Equity and Racism. We had over 100 interested stakeholders. We worked diligently to ensure, to the best of our abilities, that we had broad reach into each of these groups, spanning all grade levels within the district. 40 stakeholders were chosen to participate in this day-long workshop facilitated by Community Change, Inc. (CCI). We are now in the process of forming a steering committee who is dedicated to pushing the work forward in the district. This committee of 15 people will represent all stakeholders within the district. It will then be the committees charge to help plan trainings and outreach to others both within the district and the greater Cumberland/North Yarmouth communities. We will keep you abreast of what plans are happening. Volcano Building Mrs. Grund's 4th grad...

MSAD #51 in Top 5% of All U.S. School Districts First Week of New Pre-K Program - Success! Last week was the official start to MSAD #51's official Pre-K Program. The students were excited and ready to learn and play in their new classroom. Classroom rules were being made and new activities were being explored. Thank you to Mrs. Tasha Jordan for leading our youngest students in the school. 7th Graders Have Fun on Cow Island Each year our seventh grade students participate in the Rippleffect Program on Cow Island. This three day overnight program will focus on building leadership and coping skills for the entire seventh grade class at Greely Middle School. Students will participate in a variety of team building exercises, outdoor adventure activities and environmental educational activities on Cow Island in Casco Bay.  This year we were fortunate to have the support of Portside Real Estate Group to help financially support the program as well as some families in the di...

Welcome to the 2019-2020 School Year! Campus Renovation It's been a long summer with a lot of renovations happening to our campus. We will share some of those updates with you over the course of the next couple of months. First to share is the newest update, just completed over the weekend. With the addition of another portable to MIW, the playground had to be reconfigured. Fortunately we were able to add two new structures to the playground. They should be a great addition for our youngest students to climb and play on. Check out the new rocket ship and worm! Community Day at GHS Last Thursday, the whole GHS community participated in a Community Day to start off the school year. Students could participate in a variety of activities that ranged from frisbee on the field to bounce house obstacle course to reading in the library. They were able to relax, have some fun, catch up with their peers and get to know others. There was even an opportunity to dunk several of their teac...

Election Results MSAD #51's budget passed by 73%  (1534 YES - 582 NO) . Thank you to those residents who took time to exercise their right to vote.  Project-based Learning at Abbott Farm Once a week for the past 2 months, Isaac & William have been working on their math skills through a partnership with Abbott Farm. They are building a farm stand for the owners to sell their products. This project-based, hands-on learning project has been a great experience for everyone. Thank you to Mr. Wood and Mr. Westhoven for organizing this wonderful learning opportunity! Functional Life Skills Students Visit Gray Wildlife Park Over the course of the last month, students in the GMS 4-8 life skills program have been researching Maine and the animals that live here. The completed their unit by visiting the Gray Animal Park where they held a visual scavenger hunt and were finally able to see the animals they had been studying! Scatter-Good Farm Volunteer Tri...

Congratulations to the Class of 2019! Habitat for Humanity Walk On May 17th, students at GMS 4-5 walked to show their support for Habitat for Humanity. This walk tied into their guidance curriculum and the students also fundraised for the organization, raising $ 7,475.37 . Outdoor Classroom Week May 20-24, MSAD #51 held a district-wide Outdoor Classroom Week. It was fun to see how teachers incorporated being outdoors into their lessons for the week. From kindergarten's "find 10 sticks and put them in order from shortest to tallest" to the high school's foundations of science class "tension lesson" Visit to the State House Mrs. Kearins' 3rd class got a fun surprise yesterday while visiting the ME state museum. They had the opportunity to meet Gov. Mills and sit in her cabinet room and ask some questions: it was a memorable day for all! Tree Planting Thank you to Anderson Landscaping for donating 3 Dogwood Trees, wh...

Budget Update On Monday evening, the Board of Directors adopted the 2019-2020 budget. Since the Public Hearing on April 22, there is a need for an additional Kindergarten teacher at MIW due to increased enrollment. With this addition, the budget increased slightly to 2.84%, but remains a 0% increase on taxes.  The next step in the budget process is the District budget meeting which will take place on Thursday, May 23 at 7pm  (registration starts at 6:30pm) at the Greely Center for the Arts. This is a town hall style meeting in which you must be present to vote.  The District Budget Validation vote is slated for Tuesday, June 11 at your polling location.  GMS 4-5 celebrates Super Hero Day after attaining enough "Bucket Slips" Greely Global Goals Project Presentations I enjoyed visiting the 7th Grade’s “Greely Global Goals Project Presentations.” The GMS gym was filled with students who became more educated about the 17 Sustainable Development, ...