Portland Public School Department

Christel Driscoll, an eighth grade physical science teacher at Lincoln Middle School in Portland, has won a National Semiconductor Science in Action Award.  The award recognizes teachers who find creative ways to integrate inquiry-based science into the classroom and provides funding for such projects.

Driscoll will receive a $1,000 personal award and $2,000 for her project, which will involve students in creating and monitoring the water quality of a pond ecosystem inside Lincoln’s new geodesic dome.

Seventh and eighth grade science classes will work together to establish the pond ecosystem.  They will grow water hyacinths, other aquatic plants and possibly fish.  Eighth grade students will study the relationship between aquatic organisms and water quality.  The students also will document and analyze seasonal changes in the pond’s ecosystem.

Driscoll was one of seven Maine teachers to receive National Semiconductor Science in Action Awards.  Last year, she was awarded a Toytota Tapestry Grant, which helped fund the development and construction of the dome.

Driscoll has been teaching at Lincoln for six years.  She graduated from the University of Southern Maine with a degree in environmental science and policy and then went through USM’s Extended Teacher Education Program.  She worked as an intern at Lincoln while in the program. 

Driscoll and another Lincoln teacher, Thom Fournier, worked with eighth grade students last year to raise funds and build the dome as a learning classroom and sustainability lab.  The 850-square-foot dome was formally unveiled at a ribbon-cutting ceremony last October.

The Portland Education Partnership recently awarded five Reachout grants to Portland public school teachers for innovative projects that encourage meaningful family and community involvement in the classroom and student and teacher involvement in the community.

Two Hall Elementary School teachers, Cynthia Taylor and Deb Small, will work with their class of kindergarten English language learners to make polar fleece hats and mittens to share with children in the Head Start program at Sagamore Village.  The students also will share stories in a visit to Head Start. 

Lincoln Middle School teacher Christel Driscoll and her eighth grade students will partner with Hilton Garden Inn employees, parents and community volunteers to construct planting beds, plant seeds and seedlings, create signs and develop the landscaping at the school’s outdoor education park adjacent to the recently completed geodesic dome.

Deering High School teacher Polly Wilson’s biology students will build and share three-dimensional poly bag models of cells and then fasten those cells together to create models of human organs.  Younger Portland students will visit the sculpture gallery with the high school biology students as guides, explaining their work.

Portland Orchestra teacher Juliane Eberl will bring together Portland and Deering High School orchestra, chorus, Latin, French and art students to produce and perform highlights from the opera “Orpheus and Eurydice” by Gluck.  The students will perform at various venues this spring.

Casco Bay High School teacher Frank Troyan and his foreign language students will partner with the Franco-American Heritage Center in Lewiston to interview Franco-Americans and share Franco-American history through the experience of those individuals.

Grants are funded by the Portland Education Partnership, a nonprofit organization focused on enriching student learning and building community support for Portland public schools, with generous support from the Margaret E. Burnham Charitable Foundation.

The Portland School Committee has hired Herbert Hopkins as the district’s new business manager.  Hopkins brings many years of experience managing school finances in Brunswick and Scarborough. 

“We are fortunate to find someone with Herbert Hopkins’ breadth of experience to take on this critical job,” said Interim Superintendent Jeanne Whynot-Vickers.  “He will play a key role in the planning and monitoring of the Portland Public Schools budget.”

Hopkins has served as the Scarborough school department’s director of business operations since 2000.  He previously managed business operations at the Brunswick schools for six years.  A U.S. Navy veteran, he also worked for 11 years at Central Maine Power, rising from an equipment attendant to a budget analyst-planner.

Hopkins holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in business administration from Husson College.  He is the secretary-treasurer of the Maine Association of School Business Officials.

Hopkins will work part-time in the Portland Public Schools until mid-February, when he assumes the job full-time.

The following new prices for school meals will take effect on February 1:

• Grades kindergarten through five - $2.
• Grades six through 12 - $2.25
• Adult meals - $4.
• All reduced price meals will remain at 40 cents.

For more information, please contact the food service office at 874-8231 or e-mail verriw@portlandschools.org.

The Portland Education Partnership (PEP) recently was awarded a $10,000 grant from the Sam L. Cohen Foundation to support Expeditionary Learning at three Portland public schools.  The funds will sponsor community-based learning projects at East End Community School, King Middle School and Casco Bay High School.

Portland is one of the few districts in the country that offers Expeditionary Learning at all grade levels.  Expeditionary Learning is an innovative teaching strategy in which students work on curriculum-based projects (called expeditions) and engage in experiential, relevant, community-based learning. 

The Expeditionary Learning schools offer exciting and effective options to those students who thrive in smaller learning communities and who learn through experience. 

PEP works to acquire and distribute funding to support relevant, community-based learning in Portland.   In addition to supporting Expeditionary Learning, PEP makes available Reachout, Arts in Education, and Service Learning classroom grants to fund innovative projects proposed by teachers and students throughout the Portland school district.  PEP also manages business and community partnerships, volunteer screening and placement and supports the youth civic action group, YOUTHINK. 

The Portland Education Partnership, established in 1989, is a nonprofit organization that enriches student learning and builds support for the Portland public schools by promoting opportunities for parent, business and community involvement.  For more information, contact Susan L. Steele, the director, at steels@portlandschools.org.

Students currently in grades three through six of the Portland Public Schools are eligible for summer camp scholarships of $400 to $1,000 through the Summer Champs program managed by United Way of Greater Portland.

In order to qualify, students must meet standards for school attendance, academic effort, good behavior and citizenship as delineated by their school.  Students and their parents also must fill out an application by April 11.

Students currently in the third grade are eligible for up to $400 in camp scholarships.  Fourth grades are eligible for up to $800, and those in fifth and sixth grades may receive up to $1,000.  There are no income requirements. 

Each scholarship may be used to pay tuition at up to three different camps or summer programs that are listed with United Way Summer Champs. 

The United Way Summer Champs program is funded by the Libra Foundation with money from the estate of Elizabeth Noyce.  Portland is one of three Maine cities covered by the program.