Friday, January 21, 2022
Dear RSU 71 Students, Families, Staff, School Board, and Community Partners,
Budget Season is Upon Us Beginning this week, our Director of Finance Chandra Hodgdon, Assistant Superintendent Laura Miller, and I meet with schools and departments to review their budget proposals for FY '23 (fiscal Year 2022 - 2023). Then the administrative team will meet all together to look at the numbers vis-a-vis the percentage increase set by the RSU 71 school board. Budget books will be given to the school board on February 28. Beginning in March, the school board and administrators will be meeting weekly to go over the budget proposal by school, by department, and line-by-line. These meetings are open to the public and are scheduled for March 7, 14, 21, and April 4 and 11. Information about the location of the meetings will be posted on the district website. Chandra and I will be happy to answer questions from the city of Belfast and the towns of Searsmont, Swanville, Morrill, and Belmont, either by ZOOM or in person. A mailing to the public will inform citizens of what the budget proposal contains, and it will be posted in its entirety on the district's website.
Pandemic Update
The CDC again adjusted the SOP (standard operating procedures to address COVID-19). The CDC says that:
People who have tested positive and been in isolation for five days should, upon return to school and during days 6 through 10, wear masks even when outdoors; and
People who have tested positive and been in isolation for five days should, upon return to school and during days 6 through 10, stay socially distant (six feet) from others when eating and drinking.
Elementary students in grades K-8 have been masking outside anyway. We encourage covid-positive students and staff in grades 9 - 12 on days 6 through 12 to mask when outdoors at school and maintain 6 feet of distance from others when eating and drinking.
Helpful Information
PCR vs. Antigen Tests - Here's a helpful article about the differences between PCR and Antigen tests for COVID-19.
Masks - What are the Differences? - Here's some helpful information about masks.
The federal website allows Americans to request free COVID-19 tests to accept orders for four free tests per home at no cost, including no shipping fees: COVIDTests.gov.
Pooled Testing - From staff member Carol Kelly:" I work at CASS as an Ed Tech 3 in Day treatment K-1. I volunteer for pool testing. I am fully vaccinated and received my booster on December 20. To my surprise, I tested positive for Covid on the recent test. I have not been sick or around anyone who is sick. I had no symptoms, nor did anyone in my family. I would encourage all staff to participate. I would not have known about this without testing. Just wanted to share my experience."
This Week's Data
Good News and Information
BCOPE Student Mia Fay is in the news! https://waldo.villagesoup.com/2022/01/18/bcope-student-selected-to-attend-d-c-agriculture-summit/
Library Usage - Data on Elementary Library Usage (Second Highest in Maine in December)
RSU 71 Wellness Committee: The Wellness Committee is comprised of staff, students, a board member, and administrators. They meet monthly to create wellness goals for students and staff. In addition, a survey was sent to the community, staff, and students. We are excited to share the 2021/2022 school year goals. Thank you for your support as we implement these goals.
Staff Goal: To support staff mental wellness and connectedness, schools will provide opportunities (a minimum of 30 minutes per week) to self-select self-care activities that attend to their mental well-being.
Implementation Suggestions:
- Before, during, or after school, part of the Friday afternoon schedule.
- Ideas: RJP self-care circles, walks, yoga, fresh air, individual time or time with others, meditation or breathing exercises, guided imagery, use technology in STEAM Lab (BAHS), read something of interest.
Student Goal: To support student wellness, schools will increase student outdoor physical activity/friendship time by scheduling 10+ additional minutes each day. This is a suggested practice. Schools will also promote good nutrition through complimentary breakfast and lunch meals available to all students every day.
Implementation Suggestions:
Break Times in the AM and PM allow students time outside, go out a bit early before dismissal, start the morning outside.
Encouraging students to participate in the foodservice program
Ideas: teachers and principals role model by participating in the food service program, utilizing trails/hiking/walk, during advisory time (MS), walk and talk lap or some kind of break (HS), yoga, meditation, or breathing groups (perhaps after school), access to similar links/resources as staff
BAHS
Students in Lisa White and Chip Lagerbom's Marine Studies class presented ecological-themed business plans in a "SharkTank" atmosphere to administrator and teacher guests. Topics included a local seafood fish market, a Belfast Marine Museum along the waterfront, and an "Eco Boba Tea" enterprise.
Jen Littlefield's Health classes interviewed staff on personal topics they wanted to change at BAHS or within the district. Some discussions focused on better student availability to news and updates, awareness and protocols to deal with bullying, and adjusting the start time to the school day. A special acknowledgment to Ryan Eldridge, whose request to gain better access to news and information resulted in an instant addition of the BAHS student body to receive the weekly BAHS newsletter. Well done, Ryan!
10th-grade students at BAHS visited Waldo County Technical Center this week to prepare for the 2022-2023 school year. It's awesome to see our BAHS students in action at WCTC!
CASS - Captain Albert Stevens School is officially back to normal (or at least as normal as things get these days). The construction work related to the damage over the summer is finally complete, with the library being the last phase. Over the break, the laying of the new carpet was finished, shelves were put back in place, and in the week following the break, all the books were put back in place by our librarian Kristen Byrer and assistant librarian Kristy Raymond. Although this article is about our need for substitute teachers (which is still a real need), our library has a great picture.
THMS - Students in Mrs. Littlefield's and Mrs. Noyes' 7th-grade science classes recently concluded a research project. Much time was spent in the library with Miss Joy exploring the impact of local invasive species on ecosystems. Students communicated their findings through informational posters, some hand-drawn and others created with Google Slides.
A shout-out to Belfast Area High School technology integrator Liz Small, who created and printed student posters in Google Slides! Mrs. Littlefield and Mrs. Noyes are proud of their students' work ethic and creativity. Kudos to THMS 7th graders!
That's it for this week. As always, please feel free to be in touch with the staff and me with questions, ideas, feedback, and concerns.
Sincerely,
- Mary Alice
