Portland Public School Department News

The Portland Public Schools is implementing new guidelines for sports booster clubs to ensure equity between boys’ and girls’ sports.

The guidelines require that booster clubs be organized by sport rather than gender-specific team.  For example, high schools will have one soccer booster club supporting both the boys’ and the girls’ team.

Field hockey, an all-female sport, will be paired with football in a single booster club.  There will be one booster club for the baseball and softball teams.

The guidelines require that booster clubs make expenditures so that all participants receive an equivalent share, regardless of gender.  Booster clubs must provide complete financial information to the school district at the end of each season.

Portland High School and Moore Middle School are participating in the Fulbright Teacher Exchange Program during the 2007-2008 school year.

Sarah Shmitt, an English teacher at Portland High School, and Shannon Moran, Moore’s French teacher, were among 120 U.S. educators chosen to participate in this year’s program,  sponsored by the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.  Shmitt is teaching in India and Moran is assigned to a school in France.

Sheela Gabriel, from Chennai in southern India, is teaching English at Portland High.  Christine Daventry, a teacher from St. Malo on the Brittany coast, will teach French at Moore.

“We are delighted to welcome Sheela Gabriel to our faculty,” said Portland High Principal Michael Johnson.  “Our students will benefit greatly from her knowledge and perspective.  Sheela reports that she fell in love with Portland High from the moment she walked in.”

“Our school is honored to participate in the Fulbright program,” said Moore Principal Lee Crocker.  “The teacher exchange will enrich our French program and allow students to learn more about French culture.”

Gabriel has taught English for nearly 23 years at the high school level.  She holds a bachelor’s in English literature from Calcutta University and two master’s degrees, one in education and the other in English literature.

Daventry has taught English as a Foreign Language to middle school students for the past 16 years. She also has nine years of experience teaching French to non-native speakers of all ages.  This is her first trip to the United States.

Portland METRO and the Portland Public Schools will provide discounted bus passes to Portland middle school and high school students from September, 2007 through the end of the school year in June, 2008.

All of the district’s secondary students are eligible for a 50% discounted fare on METRO, or a fare of 50 cents.  Students must present a METRO Student Fare card or a 2007/2008 school-issued student identification card to take advantage of the discount. 

METRO Student Fare cards will be available at middle and high schools beginning the first day of school.  They are not transferable from one student to another.  Student ID cards will be available later this fall, after school pictures are taken. 

Elementary school students or parents may request a Student Fare card by calling Denise Beck at the METRO at dbeck@gpmetrobus.com.

Slightly more than three-quarters of the 2007 graduates from Portland’s public high schools will attend college this fall.

Of the 516 students who graduated last spring from Deering and Portland High School, 77 percent (400 students) have enrolled in college.  Sixty percent of the graduates (311 students) will attend four-year colleges, with about half of those staying in Maine.  Another 17 percent (89 students) will go to two-year schools.

An additional 16 students have signed up for various types of educational or training programs and 12 will serve in the military.  The rest will work or have unknown plans.

Portland’s graduates will attend a number of highly selective colleges, including Bowdoin, Harvard, Princeton, Smith,  New York University, Tulane and Tufts.  Some will travel out of the country to attend such schools as the University of Kenya and American University of Bulgaria. 

Gwen E. Smith, a teacher with experience working at the Chebeague Island School, has been selected as the new principal for Peaks Island and Cliff Island elementary schools in Portland.

Smith joins the Portland Public Schools from MSAD 51 in Cumberland and North Yarmouth.  She served as administrative island coordinator and  teacher of a multi-age class (grades three through five) at the Chebeague Island School from 2001 to 2004.  Since 2004, she has been a grade five teacher at North Yarmouth Memorial School.

“I’m very excited about the opportunity to work with the staff, students and community members of both island communities,” said Smith.  “Peaks Island and Cliff Island have so much to offer to truly enhance the learning opportunities of their children, and it’s a pleasure to join this pursuit.”

Smith holds a bachelor’s degree in elementary education from the University of Maine and a master’s in education from the University of New England.  She has extensive training in literacy and math instruction and has served on several district and regional educational committees.

Andrea Napolitano-Romer, a second grade teacher at Riverton Elementary School in Portland, has been named one of five finalists for Maine’s 2008 Teacher of the Year award.  The Maine Department of Education will announce the winner in September.

Napolitano-Romer was nominated for the honor last January by colleagues, a parent and a Riverton student.  She was named a regional finalist last spring.

In May, a team of three judges visited Riverton to observe Napolitano-Romer teach a lesson on conflict resolution that integrated reading, writing and effective communicating. 

The judges also went on a tour of the school led by Napolitano-Romer’s students, and they met with Riverton Principal Jill Blackwood, Portland Superintendent Mary Jo O’Connor and other Riverton teachers.

In July, Napolitano-Romer and the other regional finalists gave an oral presentation to the review panel and displayed their professional portfolios.  Five state finalists were selected. The review process will continue in August with interviews of the finalists. 

Napolitano-Romer, a teacher for 13 years, joined Riverton’s faculty in 1997.  She is a “looping” teacher who stays with the same class for first and second grade.

“Andrea is an exceptional educator and teacher leader,” Blackwood wrote in her recommendation letter.  “…Her students develop habits of independence, self-direction and perseverance while learning to believe that they can be successful and have an impact on their community.”

Napolitano-Romer has developed multidisciplinary projects such as creating a wetlands outdoor learning area at Riverton and having students research and report on an artist from their family’s cultural ancestry.  The latter project was designed to help students appreciate each other’s diverse backgrounds.

Napolitano-Romer has written several grants to expand learning beyond the classroom.  One such project involved starting a Garden Club where able-bodied and physically challenged students work together to tend raised beds.

“Andrea has a calming manner and a delightful sense of humor that promote risk-taking among her students,” her colleagues wrote, in their nominating application.  They also noted her skill in including special education students and newly mainstreamed English as a Second Language students in classroom activities.

Napolitano-Romer holds a bachelor’s degree in elementary education from St. Michael’s College, a master of education from Lesley University (with a major in special education) and a certificate of advanced study in educational leadership from the University of Southern Maine.  She is a mentor to new teachers and an adjunct faculty member for USM’s Extended Teacher Education Program.

Two third grade teachers at Lyseth Elementary School have been named Maine winners of Preserve America’s American History Teacher of the Year award. The Maine Historical Society chose Barbara Judge and Marilyn Philbrook for the honor because of their dedication to teaching local history.

The award will be presented at a school assembly in September.  Judge and Philbrook will split a $1,000 prize.  In addition, Lyseth’s library will receive a collection of books and primary historical materials in their names.

Judge and Philbrook will be Maine’s nominees for the national American History Teacher of the Year award, funded through the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History and Preserve America.

Judge began teaching at Lyseth in 1973.  Philbrook has taught at the school since 1989.  The two work closely together.

“Judge and Philbrook make history engaging, participatory, and meaningful for their students,” said Steve Bromage, assistant director of the Maine Historical Society and coordinator of the program in Maine.  “They make creative and extensive use of the community—including people, stories, landmarks, documents, and organizations.  Their approach inspires an appreciation of history, and fosters students’ connection to the community.”

The Preserve America American History Teacher of the Year Award was created in 2004 to recognize outstanding K-12 American history teachers across the country. 

Preserve America is a White House initiative established with the cooperation of the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, the U.S. Department of the Interior, and the U.S. Department of Commerce to help support the preservation of America’s heritage.  The Gilder Lehrman Institute, based in New York City, maintains an important historical archive on deposit at the New-York Historical Society and offers extensive professional development opportunities for teachers.

Lee Crocker, the acting principal of Lyman Moore Middle School this year, has been chosen by the Portland School Committee to serve in that position on a permanent basis.

Crocker was an assistant principal at Portland High School from 2001 to 2006.  He previously taught social studies and special education at Portland High, Lincoln Middle School and in the Portland Rehabilitative Education Program.  He holds a bachelor of science degree from the University of Maine and a master’s in education from Plymouth State College.

“I am very excited, pleased and thankful for the opportunity to continue as principal of Lyman Moore,” said Crocker.  “I feel blessed working with such an outstanding staff of professionals, supportive parents, wonderful and special students and involvement by the whole community.”

The Portland School Committee has named Stephen Rogers and Kimberly Wike to permanent positions as assistant principals at Portland High School.  Both had been serving in those positions during the past year.
     

Rotary International and Portland’s Sunrise Chapter have awarded  $12,000 to East End Community School in Portland to buy books for the new school’s literacy program. 

A presentation ceremony will take place on Friday, June 8 at 2:30 p.m. in front of the school, located at 195 North Street. 

The money will be used to buy books at different reading levels that relate to the content areas of the school’s expeditionary learning projects. 

Kelly Hasson, the principal of Peaks Island and Cliff Island elementary schools for the past two years, has been selected as the new principal of Hall Elementary School in Portland.

The Portland School Committee unanimously approved Hasson’s selection on May 30.  Deirdre Steiner, Hall’s principal for the past eight years, is retiring.  Steiner previously served as principal of Adams Elementary School in Portland.

Hasson worked as a teacher and teacher-leader at elementary schools in Camden-Rockport and Cape Elizabeth before joining the Portland Public Schools in 2005.  She holds a bachelor of science from the University of Maine, a master’s in education from Harvard and a certificate of advanced study in educational leadership from the University of Maine.

“I’ve loved my time at both island schools with our extremely committed staffs, and the most wonderful children who make going to work everyday feel like I’m with family,” said Hasson, who attended Peaks Island Elementary School as a child.  “Leaving the island schools is very bittersweet for me.

“Leading Hall Elementary School is an extraordinary opportunity,” she said.  “I look forward to working with its well-respected staff, dedicated parent community, and diverse student population.”