Portland Public School Department News

Eleven high school juniors from the Portland Public Schools have been selected to enter the 2009 National Merit Scholarship Program.  They are among the 50,000 highest scoring participants out of 1.5 million students who took the PSAT/NMSQT last fall.  They will compete for scholarships and recognition.

Qualifying students at Deering High School are John B. Clarke, Illaria R. Dana, Kevin T. MacDowell and Eric D. Mason.  Portland High students who qualified are Nathan Buck, Sidney Dritz, Brian Furey, Nathaniel Jewett, Make Kinner, Eoin McCarron and Victoria McIntyre.

The Portland High School math team won second place in Division A at the State Math Meet on April 15 at the Cumberland County Civic Center.  Of the 94 schools competing in the meet, Portland High placed fourth. 

Several Portland High students earned individual awards at the meet.  Gavin Bauer won a bronze medal, and Kayla Artinyan and Nathaniel Walden tied for the fourth place medal.  Nathaniel Jewett took an 11th place medal.  In addition, Walden received a plaque for placing eighth in the state  for  the 2007-2008 regular season.

Other team members are Nathan Buck, Brian Furey, Hongchuan Wang, Mark Kinner, Yanfen Wu and Tim Weber.  Portland High math teacher Barbara Solomon coaches the team.

Earlier this year, Portland High’s math team won the first place title for large schools in the Pi-Cone South Math League.  It was Portland High’s eighth consecutive year of winning the title.  Regular season medals went to the following Portland High students: Walden - first place senior, third overall; Bauer - fourth place senior; Artinyan - eighth place senior; Furey - fourth place junior; Wang - fifth place junior; Wu - eighth place junior, and Weber - sixth place sophomore.

The Portland High team will compete at the New England math meet on May 2.  Walden, Bauer, Artinyan and Furey have qualified to compete on the Maine All-Star math team at the American Regional Math League meet at Pennsylvania State University on May 31.  Wang, also in the top 42 in the state, is an alternate.

The Portland School Committee is sending to the City Council a proposed $89.5 million school budget for fiscal year 2009 that trims staff, replenishes funds from last year’s deficit and ensures the district’s financial stability in the year ahead.

“This budget helps put the district on more sustainable financial footing,” said Portland School Committee member Peter Eglinton, who chairs the Finance Committee.  “We have worked hard throughout this year to restore the public’s trust by ensuring that the budget accurately reflects the real costs of running our district.  We have made painful cuts to respond to the concerns of Portland taxpayers while being mindful of the needs of Portland’s children.”

“The Portland Public Schools has an incredibly dedicated and talented staff,” said Portland Interim Superintendent Jeanne Whynot-Vickers.  “In challenging economic times, they remain focused on creating a positive learning environment for our students.”

Since a budget shortfall in fiscal year 2007 came to light last spring, the Portland school department has taken several steps to ensure fiscal solvency.  New accounting procedures were adopted.  The School Committee has reviewed all job vacancies since September and left 25 positions unfilled, with assignments shifted to other staff members.      

The School Committee’s fiscal year 2009 (FY09) budget would set aside $600,000 to repay half of the money borrowed from the city last year due to the budget shortfall.  The School Committee also cut $1.4 million from the budget that had been proposed by its Finance Committee.  The additional reductions include 21.5 staff positions, for a total decline of 46.86 positions from local funding compared to the FY08 budget. 

The proposed budget, totaling $89,513,123, is 4.5 percent above the current year’s budget.  Since Portland will receive more state aid in FY09, the school budget is projected to increase the city’s tax levy by just 2.11 percent.

“We are taking many steps to ensure that we operate as efficiently as possible,” said Eglinton.  “In the coming year, we will work with the city to streamline operations.  We also have begun working with the teachers’ union to better predict and control costs related to the new teacher contract.”

The school budget now goes to the Portland City Council.  A public hearing is scheduled for April 28 at 7 p.m. at Portland City Hall.  The council is expected to take a final vote on the school budget on May 5. 

For the first time, Portland residents will vote on the school budget, as required by Maine’s School Administrative Reorganization Law.  A referendum will take place on May 13.

Students from Portland High School won two awards at the New England Regional Science Bowl held in March at the University of Southern Maine (USM). 

PHS students Luke Parker, Nathaniel Walden, Kayla Artinyan and Sean Dowling earned third place in the academic competition.

Another PHS team won first place for creative design in the Mouse Trap Car Competition.  Mario Martinez, Eric Medina, Eoin McCarron and Sam DiPeitrio thought outside the box to design a car named the Death Star, accompanied by the theme from “Star Wars.”

The competition has a fast-paced, quiz show format.  Students must solve technical problems and answer questions from all branches of science and mathematics.  Teams compete in a round robin, facing new opponents every half-hour.  Each team receives a “mouse trap car kit” at the beginning of the day, and uses the supplies to build a car propelled by the mousetrap.  

The science bowl was sponsored by USM, IDEXX Corporation and National Semiconductor Corporation. 

The JTG Foundation of Lewiston has awarded a $4,505 grant to three staff members at Lincoln Middle School in Portland to create an interactive display about alternative energy and the school’s sustainability projects.

The display will be located in the ground floor atrium closest to the school’s new geodesic dome.  A monitor will display graphs of the energy production and pollution offsets from solar photovoltaic panels now being installed on the school’s roof and the side of the building.  The display also will highlight other sustainability projects underway at Lincoln.  

Grant funds will be used to purchase a flat screen television, computer, web cams and an interactive touch monitor.  Lincoln teachers Thom Fournier and Christel Driscoll worked with the school’s Partnership developer, Phyllis Hey, to write the grant. 

Pam Meader, chair of the math department at Portland Adult Education, has been appointed to an expert panel advising the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Vocational and Adult Education.

Meader is the only teacher on the Adult Numeracy Partnership Expert Panel.  She will join researchers, mathematics education experts, adult numeracy experts and policy makers from the field of mathematics in evaluating the findings of President Bush’s National Math Panel and making recommendations about their relevance to adult numeracy instruction.

Meader was scheduled to give a presentation to the panel this week about the strategies that she uses as a math teacher of adult learners. 

A former high school math teacher, Meader has taught math in adult basic education settings for more than 20 years.  She is past president of the Adult Numeracy Network, a national organization of adult education practitioners.  She has conducted research on the motivation and retention of adult learners.

Meader is co-author of the Walch Publishers series, “Math for All Learners.”  She is writing standards-based math curricula for adult high school diploma credit and college transitions for the Maine Department of Adult Education.