Portland Public School Department News

A new state law will make about 300 more Portland children eligible to receive free breakfasts at their local public schools this year. 

Any child who qualifies for free or reduced lunch, based on family income, now will receive a free breakfast as well.  The state will reimburse the Portland Public Schools for the breakfast meal price (30 cents per child).

“This new law means more children will receive the most important meal of the day,” said Ron Adams, the Portland Public Schools’ food services director.  “That will pay dividends in the classroom, as they arrive ready to learn.”

Adams encouraged families to fill out the free and reduced lunch application form that all children will receive on the first day of school.  More families may qualify under U.S. Department of Agriculture guidelines because of the economic downturn, he said.

The district’s funding from federal programs such as Title I are tied to the number of students eligible for free and reduced lunch.  Last year, about 47 percent of the district’s students qualified.

For more information about the free and reduced lunch program, please contact the Portland Public Schools’ Food Services Department at 874-8231 or email foodservices@portlandschools.org.

Back-to-school items for Casco Bay High School (CBHS) freshman and seniors this year will include a sturdy kayak, paddle and waterproof notebook.

The White Pine Foundation has fully funded a collaborative effort between Rippleffect, an outdoor adventure and leadership development organization,  the Telling Room, a group of professional writers that focuses on developing the author within each student, and Casco Bay High School, where expeditionary learning emphasizes high achievement through active learning, character growth, and teamwork.  The funding will allow the entire freshmen and senior classes (more than 100 students) to each experience a four-day, three-night quest at no cost to students or the school. 

The freshmen class Casco Bay Quest on September 16-19 will orient students to one another, their crews (small advisory groups), expeditionary learning and the potential provided by their unique high school experience.  The entire Class of 2012 will begin to address the humanities question of the year: How do you create and sustain community? 

Besides developing skills in sea kayaking, coastal navigation and outdoor living, freshmen will undertake group initiatives and writing exercises that will reinforce the thematic questions of ninth grade crew: Who are you? Where do you want to go in the world? 

The senior class quest on Sept. 9-12 will allow students to leave their legacy, literally, on the island for the freshmen to discover in boxes hidden on the outer islands of the bay.  The Class of 2009, Casco Bay’s first graduating class, will take stock of who they are and where they want to go, with the expedition serving as the launching point for a year-long senior seminar project.

Each of the five senior crews will have its own journey, kayaking in Casco Bay, visiting and camping on various islands.  The entire class will begin and end together on Cow Island. 

During the four-day quest, the Telling Room will lead morning and evening writing workshops focused on the question that will be the centerpiece of both CBHS’s senior seminar and senior English class: What conversation are you having with the world?  The writing will provide fodder for students’ college essays.

Students attending the Portland Public Schools may ride METRO buses for 50 cents (half-fare) during the 2008-2009 school year with a student ID or METRO Student Fare Card.  The cards will be available through schools during the first two weeks of classes.                              

For additional information, visit www.gpmetrobus.com or call 774-0351.

The postcards started arriving in the office of Portland’s Riverton Elementary School in 2000 - and they’ve been coming ever since.  The pictures on the front and postmarks on the back tell the story of a globetrotter who has visited Hong Kong, the Philippines, New York (several times), Wisconsin, Camden and Old Orchard Beach just this year alone.

The writer begins each card, “Dear Raccoons,” showing that he or she knows Riverton’s mascot.  Cards are signed simply “Your friend.”  They all are written in the same, shaky penmanship.  And they all are sent to an incorrect address - 16 Forest Avenue, rather than 1600 Forest.

But everything else about Riverton’s faithful pen pal remains a mystery. 

“We don’t know who it is,” said Ginny Lofman, the school’s lead secretary, who has 77 cards displayed in chronological order on the wall by her desk.  “No clue.”

When the postcards first began arriving, school staff assumed they were sent by someone who had retired recently, perhaps a former principal.  But the writer clearly has a budget beyond most school retirees. 

During the past eight years, he or she has made several trips to Hawaii, New York, Baltimore, North Carolina’s Emerald Isle, Florida (Key West, Orlando and West Palm Beach), Biloxi, Miss. and Old Orchard Beach.  Other destinations include Cleveland, Anchorage, Houston, New Orleans, Riyadh, Tel Aviv, Sweden, St. Paul, Holland, the Hoover Dam, Ireland, Washington, Puerto Rico and Trinidad-Tobago.

“I’m in the Big Easy,” says one card.  “Ate dinner in the Four Seasons,” says another.

The staff was so curious to learn the identity of the anonymous sender that they once sought help from the husband of a teacher who is a psychic.  He pictured a woman’s hands putting the cards into a mailbox, a connection to the Flintstones and something coming out of an airplane.

The next postcard said, “Don’t believe the psychic.”

That’s one of several clues that the secret writer has some inside connection to Riverton School.  Another postcard, sent in 2007, alluded to the school renovation then underway.

The most recent postcard, with a picture of the Old Orchard Beach pier, arrived at the school on July 10, while Lofman was on vacation.  It reads:

“Hello, Raccoons, Came to see you but school’s out.  Maine summer weather just great.  Cruisin’ the beach, still great.  Have a great summer.  Your friend.”

Lofman has lined up the cards neatly in rows marked by year - and she’s already made a place for 2009 cards.

Would she like to know the sender’s identity?

“It’s been so much fun having the mystery and trying to figure it out,” Lofman said.  But she added, “I’d like to know before I retire.”

The Portland School Committee has approved the appointment of several principals, assistant principals and other administrators.

Steve Nolan, formerly the assistant principal of Lincoln Middle School, has been named principal.  He replaces Kathleen Rossi, who retired in June.  Before joining Lincoln in 2004, Nolan taught math at the secondary level in Topsham, Lewiston, Farmingdale and California.  While at Lewiston High School, he received the Golden Apple for Excellence in Teaching and he was nominated for a Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics.

Cynthia Loring is the new principal at Presumpscot Elementary School.  Loring replaces Carole Clark, who retired recently.  Loring has served since 2000 as the assistant principal of Lyman Moore School.  She previously taught for 15 years at Reiche and Lyseth elementary schools in Portland. 

Joseph Makley has been hired the district’s computer technology coordinator.  He previously worked as the curriculum and information technology director for the Jay school department.  Makley also has worked as an English teacher, technology leader and curriculum director for School Administrative Districts 36, 39 and 75 in central and western Maine.

Ron Adams is the district’s new food service director.  He replaces William Verrill, who retired earlier in the summer.  Adams held similar positions for the school districts in Gorham and Yarmouth for the past 12 years.  He previously directed East End Kids Katering.  He was president of the Maine School Food Service Association in 2007-2008.

Suellyn Rumery Santiago, a math teacher at Lincoln for the past 10 years, has been appointed as the school’s vice principal.  Last year, she interned with then-Principal Rossi.  Santiago taught briefly at Presumpscot Elementary School and she worked as an educational technician at Lyman Moore Middle School before joining Lincoln’s staff in 1998.

Sandra Gorsuch-Plummer was hired as assistant principal at Lyseth Elementary School.  She replaces Phoebe Russell, who retired in June.  Gorsuch-Plummer worked in the Scarborough schools for the past 14 years, starting as a substitute teacher and most recently serving as interim principal at Eight Corners School.

Philip Darasz will serve during the coming year as Moore’s assistant principal.  A physical education teacher at Moore for the past seven years, he previously taught physical education in the New Haven, Ct. public schools.  Last year, Darasz completed the Leadership for Tomorrow’s Schools program.

 Thompson encourages Portland students, parents, staff and residents to submit their suggestions, “The School Naming Subcommittee has set the criteria for selecting a name.  Those criteria include a name that meets one or more of the following criteria:

• Citywide focused name,
• Preserve history,
• Consideration of names that are place specific,
• Honors educators/education.”

Names may be submitted by completing the New School Name Input Form located on the Portland Public Schools website – www.portlandschools.org.- select Ocean Avenue School and then New School Name Input Form.  Forms will also be available in all public schools after September 4.  Completed forms must be submitted by September 18 by mail to: Rebecca Dore, Portland Public Schools, 196 Allen Avenue, Portland 04103 or by email to: thompsa@portlandschools.org.

Names submitted are subject to “school naming subcommittee” approval and final approval by the Portland School Committee.  The School Naming Subcommittee will review all submissions and forward their recommendation to the School Committee for a first read on October 8 and a final School Committee vote on October 22.

The Portland School Committee on June 25 approved an amended teachers’ contract that extends through August, 2011 and includes a number of changes intended to ensure both financial predictability and sustainability for the new professional development-based salary schedules.

District administrators on behalf of the School Committee and the Portland Education Association (PEA) all agree that they continue to support the intent of the contract.  “We continue to believe, as the contract states, that the best predictor of student learning is teacher learning,” said School Committee Chair John Coyne.  “We just need to be able to manage the costs more effectively.”

The Living Contract Committee, which includes PEA, School Committee and district administrator members, met over the last weeks to consider changes to contract provisions including base salary increases, course reimbursement, frequency and eligibility for salary increases (termed “salary lane changes” in the contract), the length of the contract and how to transition from the current contract to the extended contract. 

New or amended contract provisions (effective September 1, 2008) include:
· Extending the contract through August, 2011.
· Requiring new employees to accumulate three years of active service before qualifying for a salary lane change.
· Requiring three years between salary lane changes.
· Requiring teachers to submit documentation to qualify for a September lane change by early January to enable more predictable budgeting.
· Decreasing eligibility for course reimbursement for most members to one course per year.
· Agreeing to 0% increase on base salary for the school years 2009/2010 and 2010/2011.
· Agreeing to a $1,295,000 transition cap on salary lane changes effective September 1, 2009.

In addition, all parties agreed to maintain the current level of health benefits coverage for the term of the contract.  The agreement also contains a plan to support teachers as they transition to the new contract requirements.

Interim Superintendent Jeanne Whynot-Vickers is pleased with the result.  “We met our goal to protect the intent of the contract while making changes to ensure we could continue to support the contract financially,” she said.  “The PEA members demonstrated commitment and vision by putting aside personal gain for the greater good of our educational system and our students.  This is something we can all be proud about!”

“This contract is good for our teachers, our district and, most importantly, it is good for our students,” said Kathleen Casasa, president of the Portland Education Association.  “This contract offers a new way of paying teachers. Our Professional Learning Based Salary Schedule is a pay plan for the future and will shape the next generation of educators’ understanding about pay.” 

Portland Public Schools/Portland Education Association contract facts:
· Extends the contract through August 2011 (two additional years).
· Requires new employees to accumulate three years of active service before qualifying for a salary lane change (currently no requirement).
· No retroactive submission for course work for new hires is allowed.
· Requires three years between salary lane changes (currently teachers can submit for lane changes up to twice a year).
· Requires teachers to submit documentation to qualify for a September lane change by early January to enable more predictable budgeting (currently teachers can submit documentation twice a year).
· Decreases eligibility for course reimbursement for members on salary lanes one to four to one course per year (currently three per year).
· Requires a B or better to qualify for course reimbursement (currently requires a passing grade).
· Course reimbursement limited to the USM graduate school course rates.
· Course reimbursement extended to two courses per year at the USM graduate school course rate for teachers in lane five (highest lane).
· Agrees to 0% increase on base salary for the school years 2009/2010 and 2010/2011.
· Agrees to a $1,295,000 transition cap (currently no cap) on salary lane changes effective September 1, 2009.
· Agrees to a 2% increase on differential pay and an additional $25,000 for increasing differentials for the 2009/2010 and 2010/2011 contract years.
· Agrees to hire one PEA teacher leader to work with administrators to collect data and to track the impact of this salary system on student learning,  teacher practice changes and overall contributions to the Portland Public School community.  This teacher also will assist with proposal oversight and assist in designing in-house training to support professional development needs.
· Maintains health benefits at current coverages, levels and employer contribution for the term of the contract.

Intent of the Contract
We believe that the best predictor of student learning is teacher learning.  Therefore, the salary schedule is designed to recognize and promote significant contributions to student learning or teacher practice or the school district community based upon an equitable standard equally accessible to all members of the unit.

The system’s goal is to encourage teachers to remain career-long learners, to increase and update their skills, and to be visible models as learners to their students.

Since attracting and retaining highly skilled teachers is critical to improving student performance, it is clear that the new salary scheme’s success is dependent upon concerted efforts to craft budget approaches that do not have negative impacts on staffing levels, working conditions, or resources for teaching and learning.

The U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Safe and Drug Free Schools recently awarded a Readiness and Emergency Management for Schools (REMS) grant to the Portland public schools.  One of five awarded in New England, the $266,000 grant will provide the funding to improve and strengthen existing emergency management plans. 

The grant focuses on improving and strengthening emergency management plans, namely in the areas of prevention and mitigation, preparedness, and response and recovery.  These goals will be met through staff and student training around emergency management planning, an enhanced system of emergency reunification procedures for parents and guardians, and increased collaboration between the school district and local law enforcement, government and health agencies. 

Scott Wyman, Benefits and Safety Manager, who co-authored the grant with Michael Clifford, Safe and Drug Free School Coordinator, explains, “Taking action now will help save lives, prevent injury and minimize property damage in the event of a crisis.”

The grant project establishes a collaboration among the Portland public schools, the Portland Fire, Police and Public Health Departments, and Community Counseling with an ultimate vision of building and sustaining a strong, mission-driven relationship across the partnering systems. 

On June 10, Portland voters approved a $19.7 million bond referendum to fund construction of the Ocean Avenue elementary school. The state will reimburse Portland for all but $60,000 of the construction costs. The referendum was approved on a vote of 7,080, or 69.1 percent to 3,166, or 30.9 percent.

Five administrators with a combined 166 years of experience working for the Portland Public Schools retired in the summer of 2008.  

Presumpscot Elementary School Principal Carole Clark began her teaching career at the Peaks Island School in 1972.  She also taught at Riverton Elementary.  She was an assistant principal at Peaks, Riverton and Lyseth schools.  When Presumpscot Elementary School reopened in 1988, she was chosen as its principal, a job that she held for 20 years.

Lincoln Middle School Principal Kathleen Rossi was hired as a teaching intern at Lyman Moore Junior High School in 1968.  She has worked in all three of Portland’s middle schools and spent a year at Deering High School.  Rossi taught language arts at Moore and worked as a guidance counselor at both Moore and King Junior High School.  In 1984, she was appointed an assistant principal at Lincoln.  She has been the principal of Lincoln since 1990.

Lyseth Assistant Principal Phoebe Russell began her career as a speech and language therapist.  She joined the Portland Public Schools in 1973 and worked at West Elementary, Baxter, Morrill and Nathan Clifford schools.  In 1981, she was hired as a speech and language therapist and learning strategist at Lyseth.  She became the school’s half-time assistant principal in 1990 and the position became full-time four years later.
 
William Verrill, the district’s director of food services for 31 years, helped plan and open the Reed School Central Kitchen.  He was a leader in the effort to remove desserts from the school lunch menu, reduce sugar usage and fat content and increase servings of fruits and vegetables.  Past president of the Maine School Food Service Association, Verill testified before the U.S. Senate Committee about the School Food Service and Commodity Program.  He served as national vice-chair of the National Commodity Letter of Credit Program, which worked in conjunction with the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Donna Green, director of Computer Technology Services, taught mathematics, physics and computer science at Deering High School for nine years.  She created and developed the Advanced Placement computer science curriculum.  While continuing to teach half-time at Deering, Green was appointed as the district’s half-time technology coordinator in 1993, and she became the full-time director of the technology department in 2003.  She has been involved in everything from design of the district’s Web site to oversight of the laptop initiative in the Portland Public Schools, completion of the city’s INET wide-area fiber network and the district’s recent conversion to the Powerschool student information system.