Portland Public School Department News

Fourth, fifth and sixth graders in the Portland Public Schools are eligible for United Way Summer Champs camperships in 2009.  Funding is provided by the Libra Foundation.

Students must meet their schools’ requirements for scholastic achievement, behavior and community service in order to qualify for a $500 campership.

This is the ninth summer that Summer Champs has been available to students in the district.  The camperships may be used for many Maine summer camp programs.

A Summer Champs Camp Fair featuring more than 75 summer camps and programs will be held on February 1, 2009 at the Portland Exposition Center.  The snow date is March 1.

The deadline for Summer Champs Application #1 is April 17, 2009.  The Summer Champs Camp Selection Form #2 is due by May 8, 2009.

More information about 2009 Summer Champs will be available in the coming months.  If you have any questions, please email Kimberly Curry at kcurry@unitedwaygp.org or call 874-1000, extension 314.

The Portland Public Schools is considering a plan to start school two hours late on the rare occasions when such a delay could avoid a snow day.  That might occur when a storm is winding down but the city staff needs extra time to clear snow from parking lots and sidewalks.

The district posted an online survey that showed overwhelming support for the proposal.  The online survey closed earlier than expected when the maximum number of allowable responses was reached.

The Portland School Committee chose Ocean Avenue Elementary School as the name for the city’s new school that will be constructed on the site of former Baxter Elementary School.  The School Committee voted on October 22 to choose that name over Joshua Chamberlain Elementary School, the other name proposed for consideration by the School Naming Subcommittee.

Portland residents and former residents submitted 66 names for consideration.  Criteria that were used in reviewing the names included preserving history, having a citywide focus, reflecting a specific place and honoring educators and education.

The School Naming Subcommittee’s first choice, Elizabeth B. Noyce Elementary School, was eliminated because the foundation set up by the late philanthropist said Noyce did not want anything named after her.   Subcommittee members chose Ocean Avenue Elementary School as their second choice.  Their third choice was to name the school after Chamberlain, Maine’s celebrated Civil War general and governor.

Construction of the new school is expected to begin in 2009 and it is slated to open in 2011.  Click here for more information about the project. 

Portland Interim Superintendent Jeanne Whynot-Vickers reports that the Portland Public Schools overspent its fiscal year 2008 budget by $237,000, or 0.27% over total approved expenditures.

Large cost overruns were projected early in the fiscal year, and the school department took several steps to reduce expenses.  Unanticipated invoices received at the end of the fiscal year contributed to the overexpenditure.

“I knew when I accepted this position last September that it would take two years to bring the district back to financial stability, and we are on track to make that happen,” said Whynot-Vickers.  “We have made significant progress to rein in expenses.  I am confident that the budget we submitted for fiscal year 2009 is built upon credible financial data and that we will end this second recovery year in the black.”

Whynot-Vickers noted that the school department has adopted a double entry accounts system, as recommended by auditors.  That system will ensure that reliable account balances are available in the future, allowing the district to take steps to avoid future overexpenditures, she said.

The local accounting firm of Runyon, Kersteen and Ouellette City is expected to issue its complete review of school financial records in December.  The audit will report on the actual fiscal year 2008 results and the impact of the overspending, differences in grant revenues and expenditures, and any other accounting issues on the fund balance deficit.

Click here for more information about the Portland Public Schools budget. 

Twenty-one students and recent graduates of Portland High School have earned AP Scholar Awards in recognition of their exceptional achievement on AP exams.

Four students qualified for the AP Scholar with Distinction Award by earning an average grade of at least 3.5 on all AP exams taken, and grades of 3.0 or higher on five or more exams.  The students are Gavin Bauer, Crystal Cron, Aaron Peisner and Nathaniel Walden.

Eight students qualified for the AP Scholar with Honor Award by earning an average grade of at least 3.25 on all AP exams taken, and grades of 3.0 or higher on four or more exams.  The students are Eric Andreasen, Kayla Artinyan, David Bruenjes, Liza Darvin, Stephanie Dowling, Nathan Katsiaficas, Echo Presgraves and Anthony Toppi.

Eight students qualified for the AP Scholar Award by completing three or more AP exams with grades of 3.0 or higher.  The students are Brian Furey, Christina Lugo, Micah Malenfant, Connor McNeill, Darko Mitrovic, Mitchell Murdock, Kristin Rogers, Jules Szanton and Kadija Tahlil.

Three Portland schools have been awarded grants from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to provide fresh fruits and vegetables for students.  Riverton Elementary School, East End Community School and West School will share a total of $57,000. 

The money will be used to provide students with a fresh fruit or vegetable snack three days per week over the school year.  Whenever possible, produce will be purchased locally.  The grants also will buy fresh fruits and vegetables for use in nutrition education.

“We’re excited to be able to offer students delicious and wholesome snacks such as Maine blueberries,” said Chanda Turner, the Portland Public Schools’ health coordinator.  “This program is a great opportunity to get our kids excited about eating fruits and vegetables!”

This is the first year that the Portland Public Schools received USDA’s Fresh Fruits and Vegetables grants.  “We anticipate continued and expanded participation in coming school years,” Turner said.

The schedule for construction of Portland’s new Ocean Avenue elementary school is on track despite a delay in state bonding for the project.

The Maine Department of Education has delayed bonding for 12 school construction projects, including the one in Portland, in order to shift more money to state aid for general educational programming.  As a result, the Portland bonds will be issued in October 2009, about six months later than originally scheduled.  The school still is expected to open in time for the 2011 school year.

Baxter School, which is on the site of the new building, will stay open for the full 2008-2009 year.  The school houses part of the Portland Adult Education program and the Office of Multilingual and Multicultural Programs.  Plans are underway to relocate those programs next summer.

Ellen Norton, a teacher at King Middle School, received more than $1,000 in classroom equipment and supplies from OfficeMax on October 1 as part of the company’s “A Day Made Better” initiative.  Norton, who has taught art for 39 years, was nominated by the school for her innovative approach to teaching and dedication to student success.

Students and teachers assembled in the art room and watched as OfficeMax employees presented Norton with a new desk, a digital camera, art and classroom supplies.  Norton was totally surprised and delighted.

“Nothing like this ever happened to me!” she said, as she sat in her new chair looking over the gifts in the enormous OfficeMax gift box. 

“A Day Made Better” draws attention to the fact that teachers spend more than $4 billion of their own money on classroom supplies each year.  OfficeMax collaborates with the nonprofit group, Adopt-A-Classroom, on the initiative.  Norton was one of more than 1,200 teachers honored nationwide.

Students in the early childhood occupations program at Portland Arts and Technology High School High (PATHS) can take a college-level course this fall without ever leaving the school’s campus.  Students can earn both high school and college credit for the course, which is offered through a partnership between Southern Maine Community College (SMCC) and the school district.

SMCC offers “Introduction to Early Childhood Education” through its School-College Partnerships pilot program.  The program gives students early college opportunities with the goal of increasing the number who pursue higher education, said Susan Williams, the program’s director.

Irving Williams, who heads the PATHS early childhood occupations program, said he was unsure how his second-year students would do tackling a demanding college curriculum when the course was offered for the first time last year.  He discovered that students rose to the occasion.

“It makes them feel grown up. ‘Here I am, a high school senior, and I’m doing college-level work,’” Williams said.  He also noted that it is much easier for students to attend college courses at their high schools during the regular school day than to get to a college campus for a class.

In addition to the PATHS course, SMCC is offering an anatomy course at Portland High School this fall, and an introduction to psychology course at Deering.  Both of those courses meet after regular school hours and they are open to both qualified high school students and members of the community.

Portland high school students also can earn free college credit by taking courses at SMCC, the University of Southern Maine and other institutions, or by enrolling in some online courses.  Students can graduate from high school with up to six college credits that are accepted anywhere in the University of Maine system and by many other colleges, too.  That saves students money when they get to college.

At PATHS, students in the automotive and graphic arts and printing courses can earn college credit through a written agreement between the school and Central Maine Community College (CMCC).  Portions of those courses use CMCC’s curriculum and assessments.  Students who successfully complete the courses are awarded college credit towards their associate degree when they register at CMCC.

Five students in the Portland Public Schools have been named National Merit Semi-Finalists.  They are: Nathaniel Jewett, Brian Furey and Mark Kinner of Portland High School and John Clarke and Eric David Mason of Deering High School.

The students were chosen based on their scores on the Preliminary SAT exam.  Of the 1.5 million students who took the test, they scored among the top 16,000.  Finalists will be named in February 2009.  

National Merit also named the following Commended Students: Sidney Dritz, Nathan Buck, Eoin McCarron and Cathryn Cunningham of Portland High and Illaria Dana and Kevin MacDowell of Deering.

About 34,000 Commended Students throughout the nation are being recognized for exceptional academic promise.  Although they will not continue in the 2009 competition for National Merit Scholarships, Commended Students placed among the top five percent of more than 1.5 million students who entered the 2009 competition.

Another Deering student, Adaline Lining, has been chosen as a qualifying student in the National Achievement Scholarship Program.  That program names the top four percent of the more than 150,000 African-Americans who requested consideration when taking the same qualifying examination.