Portland Public School Department

The Portland Education Partnership recently awarded five Reachout grants to Portland public school teachers and students who designed projects that enhance student achievement through community-based learning. Grants will go to West School (two projects), Lincoln, Clifford and Adams.

One of the West projects supports a community service partnership between high school students and the Animal Refuge League. The second grant will fund a weekly yoga class led by a community instructor for first, second and third-graders.

At Lincoln Middle School, gifted visual art students will experience the entire artistic process from creating and framing their artwork to presenting their work in the community.

Nathan Clifford Elementary students will plan a “Health is for Life Fair” that includes many community partners sharing healthy lifestyle information with interactive, age-appropriate activities.

A new photography club at Adams Elementary School will enable students to create an enrichment activities brochure for their peers, complete with photos. The students also intend to take pictures for the school newspaper, student awards and document their move to the new elementary school next year.

Reachout grants are funded through the Portland Education Partnership with the generous support of the Margaret E. Burnham Charitable Foundation and the Edward H. Daveis Benevolent Fund. The Portland Education Partnership enriches student learning and builds support for the Portland Public Schools by promoting opportunities for parent, business and community involvement.

The Portland school district has won the Governor’s Award for Environmental Excellence. The award recognizes efforts by the district’s transportation department to reduce diesel fuel emissions from buses and other vehicles, thus protecting children with asthma.

The Maine Department of Environmental Protection’s Air Bureau nominated the Portland Public Schools for the award, which was given in the category of public health and the environment. That category recognizes projects that have significantly reduced or eliminated environmental hazards affecting children

The Portland Public Schools instituted a “no idling” policy for school buses three years ago. Signs posted at the schools this year ask all drivers to turn off their vehicles while waiting.

Kevin Mallory, the district’s transportation director, said that the no idling policy significantly reduces particulate matter (PM), nitrogen oxide (NOx), hydro-carbons (HC) and carbon monoxide (CO). Particulate matter (soot) impacts students with asthma, and NOx contributes to ozone issues by creating smog.

To qualify for the award, the district also had to pass an audit of compliance with all environmental issues. Governor John Baldacci and Maine DEP Commissioner Dawn Gallagher presented the award to Mallory in a Statehouse ceremony on November 4.

Marjorie Queen, a physical education teacher for the Portland Public Schools, recently became president-elect of the Maine Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance. Queen works at Longfellow, Adams and West schools. A teacher for 21 years, she was named by the association as the top elementary physical education teacher in the state in 2004. She currently serves on the state revision committee for the Learning Results in health and physical education.

James Banks, Sr., a former chair and longtime member of the Portland School Committee, has received the 2005 Robert B. Ganley Award for his longstanding commitment to children. The award is given in the memory of Portland’s former city manager, Robert Ganley, for his love and dedication to the game of football and his leadership within the communities of Portland and South Portland.

The award is given in the memory of Portland’s former city manager, Robert Ganley, for his love and dedication to the game of football and his leadership within the communities of Portland and South Portland. It is awarded to a Portland resident one year and a South Portland resident the following year. The presentation takes place at the Battle of the Bridge football game between Portland and South Portland high schools.

Banks served on the School Committee for 17 years. He was elected chair of the committee three times. He helped to spearhead Portland High renovations in the 1980s, helped establish the Holiday Classic Basketball Tournament to benefit Portland High’s basketball program and played a key role in restoring lights at Fitzpatrick Stadium. Since 2003, he has served on the East End Elementary School building committee.

Banks worked for 31 years at the Maine Bureau of Liquor Enforcement. He and his wife, Cora, have four children and six grandchildren.

The Maine Association of School Libraries has named Kelley McDaniel, library media specialist at King Middle School, as the Walter J. Taranko Library Media Specialist of the Year. The award was presented recently at the annual Maine Libraries Conference.

McDaniel has worked at King since 1999. During that time, she has brought in $15,000 of grant money for innovative projects, created a program where more than 50 students serve as library aides and instituted an after-school library program that includes everything from cookie decorating to a Harry Potter school-wide scavenger hunt in the middle of the night.

Gretchen Asam, the association’s president, cited McDaniel’s work as chair of the organization’s Evidence-Based Grant Committee, co-chair of the Intellectual Freedom Committee and a member of the Lupine Award Committee.

In her letter of nomination, Karen MacDonald, King teaching strategist, lauded McDaniel’s collaboration with teachers and her efforts to integrate information literacy into the curriculum. She noted that MacDaniel had worked to expand and improve the library’s collection and had organized special library activities to promote the use of that collection.

“I know that I am lucky - incredibly lucky - to work in a place where I am encouraged and inspired and appreciated,” McDaniel said in her acceptance speech. “Last fall, my principal came into the library to share this story: ‘One of our students was taking a group of visitors on a tour of the school and when they came to the library the student announced, ‘This is my favorite place.’ One of the visitors asked, ‘Your favorite place in the school?’ ‘No,’ the student replied, ‘my favorite place in the world.’”

The Taranko Award, presented annually by the Maine Association of School Libraries, honors school library media specialists who have made significant contributions to the library media profession at the local and/or state levels. The recipient receives a plaque and the school library media program receives a $500 donation in the name of the honoree.