Weekly Update - Friday, February 26, 2021

Friday, February 26, 2021

Dear RSU 71 Students, Families, Staff, School Board, and Community Members, 

I hope you enjoyed a happy and healthy February break. (It already feels like that was so long ago!) We've had snippets of almost-spring weather and light, which is heartening after a long winter. Next week we'll be in March, with spring officially beginning on Saturday, March 20.

COVID - 19 Update 

Waldo County is still designated as GREEN in today's color-coded Health Advisory System. So we will remain in the green mode K-8, while our high school will stay in the yellow/hybrid mode. You may find Information about  How County Risk Levels for Maine Schools are Determined by clicking on the blue link. There have been no additional cases of the disease in individuals associated with our schools and departments. Two other points:

1. The Maine Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) and the Center for Disease Control (CDC) continue to review evidence that shows the lower transmission of COVID-19 in schools than in the general population. Over the last thirty days, the rate of new cases for school students and staff is 25 per 10,000 people, nearly 70% lower than a new case rate of 81 people per 10,000 in the general population, demonstrating that in-person instruction can be conducted safely, without increased transmission of COVID-19.

2. School districts across Maine must continue to adhere to the six requirements for returning to in-person instruction, regardless of county color designation.

Vaccines

Here is information comparing the various vaccinations -- many thanks to Nurse Kim Pomroy for sharing:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/16wAHZpUix7Xno4liiiAd-jGfALytJB0a/edit 

I anxiously await news of when the vaccine will be available for educators and need to remind myself that we teach our students to wait patiently for their turn; I need to remember to walk the talk, too. The supply of vaccines is the critical chokehold, and Maine is getting less than it needs. Still, we remain optimistic that increasing the vaccines' production and an accelerated approval process of additional vaccines will soon make them available for those who want them. No vaccine has yet been approved for children, so we'll likely continue for the foreseeable future with the mitigation strategies -- such as wearing masks, keeping social distance, hand hygiene -- that prevent the coronavirus spread. 

Breaking (good) news is that today, Governor Mills announced that beginning next week, vaccinations for individuals who are 60 or older will be available. (You may read the article linked below.)

https://www.penbaypilot.com/article/maine-adopts-age-based-approach-expand-covid-19-vaccine-eligibility/144037

RSU 71 Food Pantry 

We have an abundance of groceries, thanks to the generosity of our community. Families may come to Captain Albert Stevens School to fill a bag of groceries during the school day. (If possible, please bring a shopping bag.) Thanks, too, to our team of school nurses, who have been extremely proactive and resourceful in coordinating our Food Pantry.

Ice, Ice, Baby!!! Live Ice Sculpture Carving and Fundraiser - Tomorrow (Saturday, February 27) from 11:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m., there will be a fun event at Bell the Cat, with free hot cocoa. Twenty percent of the food and drink sales will go to the RSU 71 Food Pantry. Join in the fun and support the work to keep our families fed. You can find more information on the attached flyer:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1PCbah5O6XACCA9muceQ_HY99L444I-Oe/view?ts=60391eed

Kudos to the Following Students!

1. Sports - BAHS senior Jason Bartlett was selected to play in the Maine McDonald's Senior All-Star Game! It is a tremendous honor, and we are incredibly proud of and excited by his selection. Spectators can't participate in person this year due to the pandemic. Only a handful of students are selected from all the Class AA, A, and B schools. We'll all be rooting for him! Unified Basketball will begin at BAHS on March 8, and all spring sports begin on March 22. Besides our weekly ski trips to the Camden Snow Bowl, sign-ups for these activities can be made in the main office or with Mr. Battani.

2. Technical Education: We are so very proud of our WCTC students selected for Students-of-the-Month! Technical education is essential to RSU 71 and our community. Congratulations to all our students!

1. Holden Nichols - Culinary Arts

2. Helena Staples - CNA

3. Ryan Peavey - Welding Tech

4. Zachary Bryant - Electrical Trades

5. Ethan Dyer - Graphic Design

6. Ruth-Ann Pease - Academic Math

7. Alyssah Hastings- Math

3. High-Quality Student Work 

A new issue of  "The CASS Times: Made By The Students. For The Students" has been published. Congratulations to Eliot Fowler (Editor in Chief and Writer), Lizzy Bahner (Writer), Avery Adams (Post and Writer), Kamynn Wadsworth (Poet and Writer), Pierson Dietz and Robert Frank (Writers), Brody Ingraham (Cartoonist), Phoenix Dodge (Cartoonist), Gabe Sagaas (Writer), June Noyes/Biscotti (Writer), Kaloyan Lozanov (Writer), Zephyr Stoddard Cartoonist and Puzzle-Maker), Luke Canning (Puzzle Maker), and Mrs. Nickerson (Teacher, Coordinator, and Editor).

That's it for this week. This update will be Robo-mailed to all families and posted on our website. I will send the next update on Friday, March 5.  

As always, please feel free to be in touch with our school nurses, administrators, and me with questions, suggestions, and feedback.

Be well and stay safe, 

Mary Alice

--

Mary Alice McLean

Superintendent of Schools, RSU 71

(207) 338 - 1960

Weekly Update - Friday 2/12/21

Friday, February 12, 2021

Dear RSU 71 Students, Families, Staff, School Board, and Community Partners, 

This Friday's message includes an update on the COVID-19 pandemic and news about some goings-on in our school system.

Pandemic Update - Waldo County is still designated as green in today's color-coded Health Advisory System. So we will remain in the green mode K-8, while our high school will stay in the yellow/hybrid mode. Since the start of the pandemic, there have been a total of twelve confirmed cases in individuals associated with RSU 71 schools, ten students and two staff members.

• Symptomatic Students - A reminder to families that if children go home symptomatic, they need to quarantine and be tested.  Our school nurses are a talented team of professionals, highly knowledgeable sources of information and support. They keep up with all the latest developments and update me in our weekly Friday meetings. All nurses carefully keep information about symptomatic and confirmed positive cases entirely confidential. For the sake of community safety, please do carefully listen to instructions from our school nurses, and please do share test results with them. 
• Travel During the February Break - If you plan to travel out of Maine during February vacation, please be safe, and follow the CDC guidelines for mask-wearing, social distancing, and hand washing.   Everyone in the family will need to have a COVID test upon returning to Maine and quarantine until negative test results are obtained. Staff and students who travel internationally will not be able to come back to school for seven days, even after a negative test. Again, we thank you in advance for keeping yourself and your community safe. 
• Transportation on Buses - Families were very supportive last summer when I asked parents who were able and willing to consider transporting their children to and from school or walking or bicycling to school with them, as a way to keep our numbers of students on buses down and allow for social distancing. Many families were able to help us and continue to do so, and we continue to be grateful. As we successfully weather this storm of COVID-19, more and more students have been returning to school in person and using bus transportation. So I ask again. If families whose students are currently on the buses could find a way to get children to school another way safely, please let your school principal know.
• Next Year - We hope to begin the new 2021 - 2022 school year at the end of August and in GREEN, with in-person instruction at all levels K-12. This will, of course, depend on the vaccination rate and transmission of the coronavirus. Stay tuned!

One-Year Strategic Plan - At our last meeting of the RSU 71 Board of Directors,  a One-Year Strategic Plan was approved. Schools are working with their Leadership Teams to develop action plans for each of the two or three initiatives in the four goals areas.

1. Improve Measurable Student Achievement. By December 2021, RSU 71 will create a "culture of data literacy," and teams will engage in cyclical data collection and analysis. Each CPT (Collaborative Planning Team) will articulate student performance outcomes and data used to track student growth and achievement over time. We will consider at least three dimensions of student achievement, including student work (products and performances), academic achievement, and character (habits for success and 21st-century learning expectations). Teams not involved with classroom instruction will look at different data sets, such as student health measures, bus safety and behavior, social and emotional markers, the cleanliness of buildings and grounds, and so forth. See Guiding Principles. 

2. Deepen Community  Partnerships. By December of 2021,  RSU 71 will build stronger community alliances and seek new community partnerships to strengthen student and staff opportunities. 

3. Focus on the Health and Well-Being of Staff and Students. By December of 2021, RSU 71 will create a district-wide and school-by-school plan to promote student and staff well-being: physical, social, and emotional, as measured by staff and student feedback. 

4. Continue to Implement Highly Effective Classroom Instruction in Classrooms. By December of 2021, all school leadership teams will implement the widespread use of four research-based instructional practices and measure their use through learning walks and classroom observations of all classrooms:

1. High-Quality Learning Targets

2. Checking for Understanding During Daily Lessons

3. Using Data with Students

4. Models, Critiques, and Descriptive Feedback 

Here is a link that visually shows the effect sizes of teaching strategies that raise student achievement, aiming for an effect size of .5 or higher to be in the zone of desired effects. The higher the effect size, the higher the likelihood of significant student growth and achievement:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1dfVPCalcglSI67toxP6ynG7ZLifLzo3zWEaGkpQb8sU/edit

Long-Range Planning -  Fall of 2021 -  This fall, we hope to launch a longer-term planning process. We hope to do so in person with all interested staff, students, families, selectpersons, councils, and community partners. If we are able, we'll kick-off this work in early fall in a sizeable in-person gathering of representative stakeholders and good food. We will then prepare sessions in smaller groups of staff members, parent groups, and community forums.

Professional Development - All RSU 71 staff family members are engaged in training and professional development as members of collaborative teams. This work has included, among other things, attention to:

• Math Instruction and Student Achievement

• NWEA Data Analysis (to inform instruction and promote accelerated student growth)

• Instructional Technology

• High-Leverage Instructional Strategies (effect sizes of .5 and greater)

• Response to Intervention, Remediation, and Catch-Up Growth

• Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

• Review and Revision of ELA, Visual and Theater Arts, and Unified Arts Curriculum

Belfast Area High School Library - The Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA), a division of the American Library Association, has named Belfast Area High School as a recipient of its 2021 Great Books Giveaway. Each of the three selected schools will receive a share of more than $20,000 worth of books, audiobooks, and other materials donated to YALSA from publishers and producers in 2020.  The materials will be delivered to BAHS in March and shared with the other libraries in the district. Thanks to BAHS Library-Media Specialist Lindsay Bailey for going above and beyond in her grant-writing!

BAHS Goes to the Snow Bowl and Opens Spirit Shop - Skiing and snow-boarding have been hugely popular. We have had 45 students and staff participating for free on Thursdays, and the Snow Bowl can hardly handle the crowd. It is very joyous, with brave students trying something new and expert skiers supporting their friends. 

Check out the new BAHS Spirit Shop, which is up and running 24/7 and helps support our student-athletes: https://sideline.bsnsports.com/schools/maine/belfast/belfast-area-high-school.

We are Playing Chess! - We are playing chess through chess.com. The middle school team participates in the Maine Middle-Level online Chess Tournament with ELP teachers Jacquie Gage and Jean Lawliss. Best wishes to Players and Teams!! These are the results after 3 weeks of matches:

 

Belfast Green: 1 win (Bonny Eagle)  1 draw/tie (Boothbay) 1 loss (Camden/Rockport) 

THMS Lions: 1 loss (Brunswick)    2 wins (Glenburn Blue and Boothbay)

 

The tournament will run for 3 more weeks.

 

 

THMS Lions

Rohan Joseph THMS

Piper Sanders THMS

Avery Adams CASS

Luke Canning CASS

Pierson Dietz CASS

Breanna Shorey THMS

Eva Ociepka THMS

Esme Deschamps THMS

 

Belfast Team Green

Silas Ociepka CASS

Alex Miller CASS

Justin Massey THMS

Avery Gobin Ames

Connor Faulkingham THMS

Miles Fleming CASS

Ibis Bird THMS

 

Teams Involved:

William S. Cohen School

Camden-Rockport Middle School

Belfast Team Green

Troy Howard Middle School Lions

Bonny Eagle Middle School

Center Drive School

Glenburn School Team Gold

Orono Middle School

Deer Isle-Stonington

Boothbay Regional Elementary School

Glenburn School Team Blue

Islesboro Central Chess Club

Central Middle School

Brunswick Junior High School

That's it for this week. This message will be Robo-emailed to all families and posted on the district website and my blog. As always, please feel free to be in touch with administrators, nurses, and me with questions, feedback, and ideas.

With warm wishes to everyone for a wonderful and well-deserved February vacation and continued observation of all safety protocols during this period of the pandemic,

- Mary Alice

Mary Alice McLean

Superintendent of Schools, RSU 71

(207) 338 - 1960

Weekly Update - Friday 2/5/21

Friday, February 5, 2020

Dear RSU 71 Students, Families, Staff, School Board, and Community Members, 

This week's update includes information about the pandemic and snippets of good news from every department and school.

COVID-19 - Waldo county is still GREEN, according to the state's color-coded risk assessment system. We have been open for in-person instruction since September 1st, with sixth and ninth-grade Transition Events and Open Houses beginning in the last week of August. Since the onset of the pandemic, we have had twelve cases of COVID-19 in individuals associated with RSU 71 schools: ten students and two staff members.  School-by-school, we've had:

1 case at East & Nick.

1 case at CASS.

1 case at Ames & Weymouth.

3 cases at THMS.

5 cases at BAHS.

In our remote learning classes, there are currently: 77 students K-5; 51 students 6-8; and 51 students 9-12.

Keep vigilant and stay careful, everyone! As a district, we are doing a fantastic job preventing COVID-19 from totally disrupting our students' growth and education!

Many thanks to the Waldo County Y for their Food Drive, which collected nearly 2,000 lbs. and $1,725 to benefit Waldo County Technical Center, RSU 71, RSU 20, and RSU 3 School Food Pantries!  Thanks, too, to the Good Shepard Food Bank, which donated $2,600 to RSU 71's Food Pantry funds to benefit all our RSU 71 schools!! We are lucky to have such strong community partners who recognize that our families' food insecurity has been exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic and its economic impact.

Good News in RSU 71 - Principals, Directors, and I have included information to share with you all (below).

• Technology: The mid-year administration of the NWEA (Northwestern Evaluation Assessment) is in full swing. Kudos to the whole tech department, who provide support, guidance, and training as we continue working in pandemic mode. 

• School Finance: Each school and department worked hard to have their proposed budgets into the central office this fall, and we are in the process of meeting with all principals and directors to go over their submissions. On Friday, February 12th, the administrative team will have a four-hour meeting to look at what we have and make further adjustments. We will be working hard over February break to finalize a fiscally responsible draft budget to give to the school board by February 22. Every Monday in March, we'll have a budget workshop to go over each school and department budget, with a final review on April 5. All school board meetings and workshops are being conducted via ZOOM and are open to the public.

• Curriculum: Teachers are working in grade level or content area teams to review and revise current curriculum standards in ELA, Visual and Theater Arts, and 6-12 Unified Arts, facilitated by our Assistant Superintendent and Curriculum Coordinator Laura Miller. The curriculum will be more closely aligned with the Maine Learning Standards and Common Core and will go to the board in June for approval.

• Transportation Team: The RSU 71 Transportation Team continues its proud tradition of safe and reliable transportation for our students.  Our transportation staff has also been instrumental in clearing driveways and sidewalks and assisting with custodial duties and bus mechanic work.  We are very proud to shine both within our department and beyond. We count ourselves blessed to have a seasoned transportation educator, Gerry French, as our new Director. Gerry is well-known as a fabulous bus-driver and also for his leadership skills. Among other accomplishments, he was elected as an MEA and NEA officer at the local, state, and national levels. 

• Food Service: This school year, we have served over 73,000 free meals to students attending in-person and remotely. We will be providing 1500 meals during February vacation. The staff continues to be flexible and creative in response to requests from those whose dietary needs necessitate menu modification.    

• Facilities and Maintenance: We have a new Director of Facilities and Maintenance, John O'Neill, who has had a very successful career in the Navy, serving as a Senior Manager, overseeing operations in 200 ports, managing a fifteen-building complex, and supervising up to 218 people at a time. He is known for excellence in organization, team-building, leadership, out-of-the-box thinking, and fiscal management. He has also taught navigation at Fordham University and SUNY Maritime.

• Special Education: Unified Basketball at BAHS will begin by the end of February. At THMS, Unified Fitness Kits were given as gifts from Special Olympics of Maine so that students in quarantine or remote learning can stay active. THMS also received some kits for our in-person students.  In the larger district, we have a new testing system that will permit us to complete some assessments virtually if we need to move into Red/Remote mode. 

• Belfast Adult Education (BAE)  -  The levels of cooperation, caring, and achievement typical of BAE and the RSU 71 system have never been more evident. The success during this challenging time is largely due to the recruitment efforts of the program advisor, Marie Roberts, the expansion of remote learning options provided by Marie Roberts and Kim Widmer, and the efficiency of program assistant Patty Edgecomb, who keeps everyone on track. BAE has provided instruction to 43 BAHS students primarily in credit recovery, with a few taking full courses. Many of these 43 students have registered for multiple courses presented in both classroom and remote learning formats. BAHS Guidance staff have worked diligently to coordinate the placement of BAHS students in Learning Center programs. We've seen the adult education enrollments increase as well, enrolling 55 new adult learners since the start of the fall semester, with many registered for multiple courses. Of these 55 adults, 40 new adult learners are enrolled in the diploma program, with 15 enrolled in the high school equivalency testing program, a 500% increase over the previous school year. The addition of the software program, HiSET Academy, has provided increased support to those enrolled in the testing program, especially math. BAE has six adult learners who have at this time completed all requirements for a high school diploma, with more projected to do so by the end of the spring semester. BAHS staff, BAE staff, students, and learners have worked very well together to overcome the conditions imposed on all of us by the pandemic.

• Captain Albert Stevens School: We all had a very successful remote school day on Tuesday! Most students were able to join, and learning continued to happen despite the snow. Students and staff all seemed to enjoy the opportunity to connect differently than usual and keep learning even though the Internet was getting them to school instead of school buses. CASS would like to invite everyone to celebrate NATIONAL DENTAL HEALTH MONTH  this FEBRUARY.  Each Friday is "SUGAR OUT"  day.  Brush your teeth and smile! Mrs. Nickerson's fourth-grade class has begun a student newspaper, The CASS Times: Made by the Students. Made for the Students.

• Belfast Area High School: Administrators Matt Battani and Colden Golann took thirty students and five staff members free of cost (we used CRF money) to the Camden Snow Bowl last Thursday and took another group this week. Some skied, some snowboarded, some were beginners, and some were experts. It was a lot of fun and felt "normal." Masks, for once, added more comfort than they took away. Students were great sports from start to finish. Mr. Golann dusted off his ski instructor skills and guided numerous kids down their first-ever ski runs! Principal Lovejoy reports that 41 seniors have been accepted into a  college or university for next year, and three seniors have been accepted into a branch of the US Military.

• East Belfast and Kermit Nickerson Schools: Our attendance for our first remote snow day is at 99% for both schools!  Four classrooms between the two schools had 100% of the students participating.  Many students and staff commented on how nice it was to see classmates without their masks on.  A parent wrote, "I need to tell you, I was skeptical (shocker there) of how this remote school day was going to go, but all of your teachers that we've got are doing a stellar job engaging the kids! I am so happy my skepticism was entirely misplaced and that the experience is going great. Watching my child work through math with his teacher is super, and watching my other child curl up and watch her teacher read to them all is really beautiful. My kid never sits still for that long for me! And Mr. Campbell is doing a fantastic job - watching a bunch of little kids jogging on Zoom is super cute. Great job, East Belfast and Nickerson!"

• Ames and Weymouth Schools: The first remote snow day was a huge success with online attendance. Those who did not participate online due to power outages or connectivity issues completed their storm packs. Students and staff were very engaged. In other news,  several classes at both schools will be finishing up with WinterKids activities this week, embracing circles, winter, and outdoor learning. 

• Troy Howard Middle School: THMS is continuing to rock with both in-person instruction and remote instruction. We were well prepared for our first remote snow day as our staff and students have all had a bit of practice at this point with remote learning. A math teacher shared a great example of the timely, relevant, and engaging activities. As a group, the students were asked to model the situation with the COVID virus and vaccine, research statistics, and plan and carry out calculations to make predictions about when things might be "back to normal." They then talked about the assumptions made and whether they were optimistic or pessimistic about creating some bounds for their projections. Finally, they brainstormed a list of what they were looking forward to when things were more normal. The teacher shared, "We ended with a better understanding of the stories we hear in the news about the virus, and a strong sense that there will be a return to normal. We also saw how mathematical models, assumptions, and predictions all tie together." 

That's it for this week! This message will be Robo-sent to all families and posted on our district website and my blog. All are encouraged to share feedback, questions, and ideas with nurses, administrators, and me.

Kind regards,     

-  Mary Alice

Mary Alice McLean

Superintendent of Schools, RSU 71

(207) 338 - 1960