Update: April 23, 2019
New Campus Street Signs
When you came into campus this week, you may have noticed new maroon and white directional street signs. This is part of the updates recommended by the district's safety committee. For 9-1-1 purposes, there were limited options available for naming campus streets.
Pre-K Information
We had a lot of interest from parents who would like their child to participate in our initial Pre-K Program for 2019-2020. We are working with Child Development Services to screen all students interested in the program and identify those who will be participating in three major areas: special education, free/reduced meals, and regular education through a lottery. The lottery will be held in June after screenings are completed to develop a complete roster of students and ensure balanced classrooms.Harvest of the Month
MSAD #51 Food Service is participating in "Harvest of the Month". April's focus was Dairy. May's focus will be blueberries. They will be featuring Wild Maine Blueberry Parfaits on Thursday, May 16 and Thursday, May 30 at all our schools.Equity & Inclusion Steering Committee Info Meeting
Our community and schools have, not surprisingly, experienced an increase in racial discrimination over the past few years, along with the rest of our country. One step we are taking to disrupt racial discrimination is to form an Equity and Inclusion Steering Committee. MSAD #51 is committed to fostering empathy, cooperation, and critical thinking skills which are multicultural; celebrating each student’s ethnic heritage, religious practice, gender expression, and physical and intellectual differences, among others. No one in our community should experience discrimination or violence, or be made to feel less than, merely because they fall outside of our current culture. Please join us for an informational meeting on May 20th at 4pm (location TBA) so we can work to build a more vibrant, safe learning environment for our community. Please RSVP to Fran Prentice @ fprentice@msad51.org or call 829-4800 if you plan to attend.Budget Update
On Monday evening, I presented a summary of the FY 20 budget prior to the public hearing, with the reduction of $101,000 that I reviewed with the Board of Directors at your workshop on April 1st. The proposed budget is at 2.66%, down from 2.94% at the budget presentation on 3/18.Budget Primer #7 of 7
The District is committed to helping our students, parents, community members and staff better understand our budget. Over the last several weeks, I have shared a series of short videos that I call "Budget Primers". My hope is that these have better explained some of the details of our budget. This seventh, and final, primer better explains tax rate.
Foundation 51's Spelling Bee
GHS Principal Chris Hoffman, MIW Asst. Principal Cory Munsey, Community Resource Mgr. Ashley Caswell, and myself joined parents for a fun at Foundation 51's annual spelling bee fundraiser...well, let's say our group didn't get the trophy, but it was all for a good cause!
Congratulations Go To...
Congratulations to: Corrine Farnham, Christina Gove, Camden Bubblo, Pablo Burnsteel, Kyle Sidders, and Lars Boddie who represented GHS and Maine at the All Eastern Honors Music Festival. Maine was allowed to send 22 students. GHS represented more than 25% of that ME delegation.
Congratulations to Tim Ostergaard and Alex Collins, for competitively auditioning & winning seats in both The Portland Youth Wind Ensemble & The Portland Youth Symphony Orchestra. Their final concert was a couple of weeks ago, with students from other high schools at Merrill Auditorium.
Congratulations to Kira Shepard and Ana Lipp who were chosen to participate in the Casco Bay Artisans 4th Annual Regional High School Art Show.
Great job to all of the "Poetry Jammers" who took to the stage at the Arts Center Thursday to read and recite poetry; thanks PTO for hosting this annual tradition for our elementary schoolers
Congratulations to Chris Martucci! Chris was awarded one of the National Spanish Exam Global Citizen Scholarships for a two-week Spanish immersion program through the Concordia Language Villages in Minnesota. This is quite an honor, as there were many qualified applicants.
Congrats Caleb Duff, Andy Moore, and Jake MacDonald for being named to Press Herald’s 2019 Varsity “All Star” hockey team
Bravo to Greely cast and crew of “West Side Story”-incredible production with Broadway-like talent performed in the new Arts Center. All 4 shows sold out this weekend with over 2,000 seats filled. Well done! Handled with care, compassion & amazing acting & choreography skills.
In Remembrance
It is with sadness that we have learned about the passing of former state Rep. Dale Denno. Dale has been a long time friend of MSAD #51 and he will be missed as an advocate for our schools. My thoughts are with Dale’s wife and family.