January Monthly Update
Dear RSU 71 Students, Families, Staff, School Board, and Community Partners, We’ve hit the midway point in the 2022 - 2023 school year, with high school mid-term exams just finishing. The days are getting longer again: it was still light when I left work today! Here are just a few of the things going on in RSU 71: Winter sports are winding down – it has been a great season, and our student-athletes have made us proud. We’re in the thick of the FY ‘24 budget process (developing the budget for the 2023 - 2024 school year). This year we have less state funding coming our way; the ED 279 is down by more than $ 711, 000.00, which will make for challenging work on the part of the school board and administrative team. K-8 teachers and administrators are learning new ways of implementing our district’s English Language Arts curriculum; the curriculum standards remain the same, but we are doing a soft launch in March of new methods and materials that we know will elicit even greater student engagement and raise achievement through a compelling combination of content, high-leverage instructional strategies, and student performance tasks shared with audiences beyond the classroom. We know that much more than test scores, student products and performances are the kinds of assessments that most keenly motivate students and interest parents and the community. The RSU 71 Safety Task Force and the DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) Task Force are moving forward with important work that will strengthen student safety and belonging in RSU 71. The Board of Directors and Administrative Team are learning about the change process in public education. As we seek to make our newly adopted RSU 71 Education Plan a reality (see the graphic below), we must think carefully about our leadership. What are the right drivers to slowly and respectfully make changes to our usual way of doing business in schools? What are the wrong drivers? What are our plans to progress in coherent and respectful ways and elicit the full support and eager participation of teachers and support staff? We have a mid-year workshop/retreat scheduled for the Hutchinson Center to reflect upon and discuss our leadership of RSU 71 and also enjoy fellowship and dinner (lasagna and salad – I can’t wait).
As always, I encourage students, families, and staff to be in touch with our teachers, administrators, and me with questions, ideas, and concerns. Today I met with a sophomore doing a project on the state of the restrooms at the high school. (All the ones that have been renovated or newly built are gorgeous, but we agree that the old ones that haven’t yet been addressed are rather atrocious!) With warm wishes for perseverance and stamina as we make it through the rest of winter in our beloved mid-coast Maine, Mary Alice McLean, Superintendent mamclean@rsu71.org 1-207-338-1960 
Printable version of RSU 71 Education Plan
Good News, Reminders, Information
BELFAST AREA HIGH SCHOOL
HOLIDAY ASSEMBLY 2022 | Enjoy a few photos from this year's Holiday Assembly 2022...And there was much rejoicing! ~ photos by Tim Doran
| GAME LOFT & I KNOW ME IN ACTION (BAHS & THMS) | 
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Congratulations to the Game Loft & I Know ME in Action 2022 Youth Volunteer Awards winners! Click here for downloadable version.
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| THE BLUE & GOLD REVIEW |
“I was at THMS with a few journalism students, and we had a really productive chat. We just put out our fifth edition before I start with a new crew this week. Our Tajik exchange student, Fird, will be featured weekly in The Republican Journal. Andrew Fairbrother is featured in the current issue.” - Doug McIntyre Click here to download Edition 5
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| BELFAST AP IS A-OK |
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BAHS JOURNALISM STUDENTS SHARE THEIR KNOWLEDGE WITH THMS JOURNALISTS
Last week, journalism students from BAHS and Journalism teacher, Doug McIntyre took some time to visit with journalism students from the middle school. They gave some advice to the younger journalists, and showed them some of their latest projects. THG Reporter and photographer Rose White reflected, "It was cool to hear the high schoolers’ advice on writing interesting articles. I think it was helpful." | 
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BAHS SWIM TEAM 2023
A few photos from boys and girls swim.
| BAHS Newsletter – January 6, 2023 BAHS Newsletter – January 13, 2023 BAHS Newsletter – January 20, 2023 BAHS News Correction – January 27, 2023
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TROY HOWARD MIDDLE SCHOOL
TROY HOWARD GAZETTE The student-run Troy Howard Gazette was launched fall 2022, led by Chief Editor and 6th grader Eliot Fowler. Eliot and a team of students in grades 6-8 meet weekly to investigate and write and edit articles on a range of topics. Please enjoy issues 4 and 5 below (click on the image or the Issue #). | 
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| Issue 4 | Issue 5 | THE 5TH ANNUAL DOWNTOWN HOLIDAY WINDOW DECORATING CONTEST WINNER IS… THE GREEN STORE! |
| Congratulations on winning the coveted leg lamp from A Christmas Story! The window display was proudly created by Troy Howard Middle School art students. The tradition of making handmade holiday window displays for our community continues this year at The Green Store in downtown Belfast. Three classes of 8th graders, one class of 7th graders, and one class of 6th graders made the most of their time in art class last week to create a fun winter scene to kick off the holiday season.
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THMS Newsletter – 17th Edition – January 6, 2023 THMS Newsletter - 18th Edition - January 13, 2023 THMS Newsletter - 19th Edition - January 24, 2023
CASS
CELEBRATION OF LEARNING
Mrs. Nickerson's class held a celebration of learning as the culminating project of a Westward Expansion unit, which included a dance partnership with Chrissy Fowler. Chrissy and other performing artists will have more of a presence this spring as we bring even more movement into our studies.
MOVIE NIGHT SUCCESS!
CASS had a very successful movie night, also on Friday. We raised $500 for our Civil Rights Team! | 
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MOVIE NIGHT SUCCESS!
On Monday January 16th, Lincolnville Central School hosted a community chess tournament. We had 5 students from CASS that attended the tournament.
There were students from Lincolnville and Camden and Belfast. Pictured are Olivia Larrivee-4th grade, Emery Lister-4th Grade, Wes Engstrom -5th grade and Griffin Stover - 5th grade - 3rd grade (pictured below with chess board). Wes played in the 6-8th grade division and came in second place. And Emery came in 2nd place in the grade 4-5 division with Griffin and Olivia taking 4th and 6th place. Very proud of these students and how they represented our school and our district. They persevered the weather and showed true sportsmanship as they showed off their chess skills.
As an added bonus, reporter Hannah Yechivi from Newscenter Maine was at the tournament to interview the students. Watch for the segment in the next week or so. Most of all Fun was had by all. A big Thanks to those parents who ventured out on such a stormy day.
Congratulations to CASS students who participated in the chess tournament on Jan. 16th. Our chess team is lead by ELP teacher, Ms. Holly Merrow. We've very thankful for the support of community chess mentors Jacquie Gage and Coach Bruce. We're practicing and preparing for States!
EAST BELFAST
HELPING HANDS
Mrs McNiff and her student Brysen Blair - helping hands with homemade meats for school lunch at East Belfast. | 
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AMES
DODGE BALL
"Best day of my life!"... "I never knew I could do that!"... "SO much FUN!"... just a few comments heard as students left the Ames School gymnasium Friday afternoon. Thanks to an incredible opportunity presented by our physical education teacher, Dan Campbell, students were actively engaged in a bracket championship of dodgeball. Over twenty students stayed after school to participate in a 4th and 5th-grade intermural event, where students collaborated, cheered for each other and learned the love of the forever classic game... dodgeball. A HUGE thank you goes to Mr. Campbell for introducing so many students to this powerfully exciting game!!! Thanks for helping students build a strong, connected community!
TRI-TOWN
STUDENTS AN FAMILIES COOK TOGETHER!
Just before Christmas, Ames and Weymouth children and families gathered together to mix up some recipes. With support from our food corp volunteers, we made Gingerbread Granola, Lentil Soup Mix, and fruit kabobs! What a fun and tasty way to apply math and reading skills! – Kris Federle
TRI-TOWN
MOVIE NIGHT, DODGE BALL, INDOOR FIELD HOCKEY, EL EDUCATION & MORE Some highlights below of January’s letters from Mr. Widmer. Click this link for all the details and news >> Tri-Town January 2023 Letters to Families DISTRICT
COMMITMENT TO SAFE LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS |
The following is January 3 letter emailed to RSU 71 Families, and Staff: The first of three district goals articulated in the RSU 71 Education Plan (approved June 22 -- see graphic attached) is to create Safe Learning Environments. Toward this end, our RSU 71 School Safety Task Force meets monthly and is facilitated by our Director of Technology, Dr. Dave Fournier. Over December vacation, the Penobscot Bay Pilot news site published an article concerning the creation of a "kill list' by a Medomak middle school student. The article can be seen in its entirety here: https://www.penbaypilot.com/article/medomak-middle-school-parents-alarmed-reported-kill-list-question-safety-plans/169109 Threats such as this, especially so close to home, are disturbing, and I want to assure everyone that the RSU 71 leaders are doing our utmost to monitor and help students so that we can prevent such occurrences from happening. The leadership of the RSU71 Safety Task Force has focused on several initiatives that have been put into place over the past few years to maintain a safe and healthy school environment: · School Resource Officer (SRO) - A Belfast police officer is on staff as an SRO and is available for a variety of school activities related to safety. · Internet filtering- we use several layers of filtering in order to screen out and stop students from accessing inappropriate websites. · Gaggle.net - we use a program called Gaggle to monitor student email, google drive contents, and searching in order to check for self-harm or safety situations that need administrator intervention. · School messaging - RSU #71 uses the messaging system built into Infinite Campus to email, call, or text parents and staff for snow days and emergency situations. · Security cameras are used in all schools to watch for dangerous activities. · Keyless door entry systems - several buildings have keyless locks that allow a keyless card to be deactivated if lost. Over time more doors will be added to this system throughout the district. · Walkie-Talkies - all administrators and teachers now have walkie-talkies that aid communication during an event. · Badges and automated checkout procedures - this year, the CASS school is piloting a new checkout system for students going home that uses badges and scanners to ensure students are on the proper bus or with an authorized parent/guardian. This system may be expanded to other schools. · Relationship with Waldo County EMA - several years ago, RSU #71 began working closely with the Emergency Management Agency in Waldo County to coordinate safety efforts among the school districts (RSU #20, RSU #3, and Drinkwater School), fire departments, and law enforcement (local departments, Sheriff, and State Police). An example of this coordination is the ability to use walkie-talkies among the different agencies and schools. · ALICE Training - all staff members are ALICE trained. ALICE stands for Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter, Evacuate and is a methodology that empowers people to make good decisions should an attack on a school occur. More information about ALICE may be found on the RSU 71 district website under "Parents." These initiatives, and others in the works, will continue as we go into 2023. My goal -- our goal -- is to prioritize the safety and wellness of our students in RSU71 in the coming year and in years to come.
Sincerely,
Mary Alice McLean, Superintendent of Schools
RSU 71 DISCUSSES REMOTE SNOW DAYS
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PDF Version of this update is available here for download
RSU 71 Monthly Update - January 2023
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