| Janet Clemons |
Bus driver shortages, other staff vacancies, remaining federal Emergency Relief grants, and a postponed bond led to some long discussions at the School Board’s September 6, 2023 meeting.
Before getting into the evening’s agenda, School Board Chair Sam Pfeifle introduced Adam Copp, a new member appointed to replace Laura Sturgis for the Town of New Gloucester.
Pfeifle also announced that on September 16, 2023 there will be a Facilities Bus Tour, 7:30 a.m. – 1:30 p.m., beginning at the Bus Garage. This is open to the public.
Recognition. There were several items worthy of recognition this month.
— The Maine Department of Education has awarded 11 Gray-New Gloucester High School students the Seal of Biliteracy, recognizing student achievement in language learning. Students proficient in English and another language may earn the Seal of Biliteracy by demonstrating their skills on an approved assessment, and it then becomes part of the student’s permanent academic transcript. GNGHS recipients are Greta Swanson, Jason Hart, Jr., Annabel Phinney, Stella Libby, Amber Fortin, Emily Berry, Alexis Hutchings, Emma Hutchings, Katherine Morris, Blandine Baliesima, and Marielle Baliesima.
— Congratulations to the Gray-New Gloucester/Raymond Little League for their exceptional season and for representing Maine and New England at the 2023 Little League World Series.
— The High School Robotics Team has been awarded a $4,000 grant from the Boeing Corporation to support their interscholastic competitive programming.
— Thank you to the Cumberland County Federal Credit Union for providing all employees breakfast on the first teacher day of school.
Updates by Administration. Dr. Craig King, Superintendent, provided an update on the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Grant (Esser 3). These federal funds were granted to address diverse needs arising from the COVID-19 pandemic. The purpose was to respond to students’ social, emotional, mental health, and academic needs and to continue to provide educational services. This is the third and final year of the grant.
For MSAD 15 the original grant was $2,431,625.65, with $281,606 expended during School Year (SY) 21/22 and $802,292 spent during SY 22/23. King explained that for this year, SY 23/24 (July 1, 2023 – September 1, 2024), there is 1,347,738.75 remaining, expected to be spent as follows:
- $200,000 of this has been spent on K-8 summer programming.
- The Credit Recovery Program (High School summer school) used $17,000.
- The School Acceleration Program to improve reading programs has spent $310,000.
- $332,000 will be used for various improvements for the facilities, including improving the healthcare offices and playground equipment.
- $697,000 will be used for Improving indoor air quality.
- Education technology will spend $95,000.
- Supporting mental health of staff and students (two additional general education social workers) has been allotted $383,000.
- Developing and implementing preparedness procedures for
- school nurses will use $165,000.
- $100,000 will support stipends for special education teachers to offer additional services under IDEA.
It is important to note that over the three years, many of these funds have supported new positions. Moving forward the Board and the community will have to decide what positions to keep.
Accreditation update. High School Principal Sadie Grealish spoke about a recent communication from the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC) and gave an update on alternative options for accreditation that the District is pursuing. GNGHS had asked for a two-year extension from NEASC for the accreditation process. The District has come to understand that the NEASC accreditation process is rigid and consumes a great deal of resources that could be better utilized in the area of school improvement, the District’s highest priority. Ms. Grealish announced that the two-year extension has been granted. The new date for the Self Study process is 2026, with the NEASC visit scheduled for 2028. Also, in a recent communication, NEASC commended the GNGHS community for the work they have done on the recommendations resulting from the last visit.
Ms. Grealish mentioned that GNGHS has been working with The Great Schools Partnership to review the District’s Strategic Plan as well as investigate other options for accreditation. The Great Schools Partnership is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit school-support organization working at all levels of the education system, from classroom to state house, to improve education for all students. The Great Schools Partnership provides school and district coaching, professional development, and technical assistance to educators, schools, districts, organizations, and government agencies. They also create tools and resources for educators and communities, administer public and private grant programs, and coordinate large-scale school-improvement initiatives for foundations and states, Grealish said. There will be more information as the High School administrators move forward with decisions about the accreditation process by the end of the school year.
New hires. Bonnie Smith has been hired as District-wide Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA), for a 1st probationary contract. Adam Kalakowski was introduced as the new High School Gateway Special Education Teacher, for a 1st year probationary contract. Deputy Ally Smith is the new School Resource Officer.
Job description adjustments. When there is an opening in a district position, it is important that the Board review and, if necessary, adjust the job description. This was done for the Technology Director and the Data Specialist job descriptions to add cross-training between the two positions.
The Board also adjusted the Data Specialist job description to ensure that a candidate has proper training and to allow for 20% of their time being used for data analysis and sharing this data with other professionals.
School Board schedule. The Board spent some time fine-tuning the MSAD 15 School Board schedule for committees.
Many open positions remain unfilled. Superintendent King reported on the many employment vacancies, including coaches in the school district. A list of currently available positions can be found here.
This led to a discussion about the lack of bus drivers. Dr. King noted that current federal regulations and laws (updated in 2020) significantly delay start dates for new hires due to mandated training times. This has caused staffing shortages in transportation departments across the state and country.
Potential facilities bond development work. Superintendent King outlined the next steps in MSAD 15 School Bond development work. He reminded the Board that research and development of a potential bond project led to a concept and design that would improve security in all the district’s buildings, improve the cafeteria and performing arts space at the High School, and improve and perhaps add to the athletic fields. The project was within about six months from being taken to the voters when the pandemic hit in 2020, he said.
Since that two-and-a-half-year hiatus, the Board has done considerable work, Dr. King noted. In April of 2023 there was a “listening session” where the ideas were presented to the public. There were many questions presented to the Board and it became apparent that more momentum than anticipated had been lost over that 2.5-year period. In response, Dr. King has developed a functional and usable framework that will be used as the foundation for moving this work forward. Using available staff as much as possible, an audit of all the district’s buildings will be completed to determine what is needed not only to move forward with the bond project but to also provide a plan for the District long-term. The Board will be putting together a Bond Committee very soon.
Committee reports. The Facilities Committee has a new Chair, Misty Coolidge, a New Gloucester member. Coolidge went through an extensive list of work that was completed over the summer. The boilers at Memorial School and the Middle School were tuned up; that will happen at Dunn School soon. A new hot water tank and new fencing were installed at Memorial School.
New playground equipment was installed at the Middle School with the three elementary schools set to get new playground equipment to be installed in October. Russell School still has six classrooms with higher than normal levels of lead in their drinking water (the toilets and handwashing stations are fine). There will be drinking water filler stations outside the classrooms until this can be remedied. This will most likely require some more funding as there are walls and ceilings to get through in order to access the pipes.
The athletic fields were well maintained over the summer. Potholes are being fixed where needed, but it is obvious that paving is needed in places, Coolidge said. The Board hopes to work with the two towns to see where money can be saved. There are new flashing school warning signs at Memorial and Russell, with Dunn School’s sign coming soon. There are also two new speed bumps at Russell School. The committee is working with Skillings Excavation to discuss the possibility of putting in an amphitheater at Dunn in the back field in conjunction with the $125,000 music grant that the district received from Planson International. Two new grounds crew have been hired, with two new custodial positions still open.
School Board Chair report. Students are back at school. Chair Sam Pfeifle commended the Facilities and Grounds crews for the condition of the buildings and athletic fields. The new GNG logo in the center of the football field has received a great deal of positive attention, he said.
Superintendent report. Dr. King presented a list of recent hires. Christopher Galasso has been hired as the Data and Information Technology Manager for the District. Mitchell Stephens has been hired as a Bus/Van Aide for the Transportation Department. Fredrick Johnson is the new JV Golf Coach.
Ryan Porter has been hired as a Functional Life Skills (FLS) Ed Tech II at the Middle School. Samantha Thompson is another new Ed Tech II at the Middle School. Barbara Nichols is the new School Year Substitute at the Middle School. Mariam Ahammed is an Ed Tech III at the High School.
Dr. King also shared a list of resignations. Ashley Rand is leaving as the Permanent School Year Substitute at the Middle School and Jennifer Castonguay as the Permanent School Year Substitute at Dunn School. Michael Emery has resigned the Gateway Ed Tech II position at Memorial School. Rae-Ann Griffin has resigned a Custodian position at the High School. Katie Sinclair will no longer be the Pre- K Special Education Ed Tech II at Dunn School. Elizabeth Lyons has left the Food Service Worker position at the High School.
Dr. King also shared that the intent to negotiate a new contract will be coming from the support staff in the near future. They hope to negotiate this contract in the fall. This timing would be helpful, King said, as it avoids going through the budget process and negotiating a contract at the same time.
