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Superintendent Year in Review Letter

Dear Portland Public Schools families, staff and community members,

The 2023-2024 school year is a wrap! Students’ last day was Friday and today was the final day for most school-year staff.

This year was my first as superintendent of the Portland Public Schools. Looking back over the year, I’m proud of what we have achieved since last September. Not only was everyone focused on continuing to make sure we provided all our students with engaging and rigorous learning experiences, but students, staff and the district received many awards and recognitions.

There are too many to list here, so please check out the 2023-2024 Year in Review link on our website to get a sampling of our district’s many successes over the past year. However, I’ll mention a few here to give you a sense of our achievements.

Our students emerged as leaders in academics and also in the community. Students’ academic achievements included students winning a Mainely Character Scholarship, being named as National Merit Semifinalists, winning the Maine State Debate Championship, and sweeping awards at the Maine State Science Fair and at the SkillsUSA Conference, where students showcase their learning in career and technical education fields. Also, two recent PPS graduates, Usira Ali and Fatuma Noor, were elected to the Portland Board of Public Education last November. Kudos to these two alums for their civic engagement!

Our student-athletes also had many successes on the field this past year. Their wins included the Portland High boys’ cross country team winning the Class A state championship for the first time in 45 years. Portland High’s Samantha Moore was the Class A Cross Country State Champion and the Deering High boys’ soccer team won the Class A South boys' soccer championship game. The Portland High football team won the Class A North football championship, and the RamDogs, the cooperative swim team of Deering/Portland high schools (including students from Casco Bay High School) won the Class A girls’ swimming and diving state championship.

Our staff won many recognitions. To cite just a few, Joshua Chard, a teacher at East End Community School and the Deering High School drama director, was chosen as the 2024 Maine Teacher of the Year for his  passion for teaching and dedication to public education. This was the third time in the past four years that a PPS teacher achieved this honor! PPS educational technician Jennifer Cooper won the Maine Education Association's 2024 Joan McGovern Education Support Professional Award, and Deering High School administrative secretary Liana Littig won a Recognizing Inspiring School Employees (RISE) Award for the extraordinary contributions she has made to students, her school, and community.

Our district as whole also had honors and achievements. For example, after more than five years of a highly collaborative process with Indigenous advisors from across the state, we officially launched our Wabanaki Studies curriculum this year. Also, a highly collaborative process with Black education advisors is being used to develop our Local Black History curriculum. Our district is a leader in the state in developing these curriculums.

Also, the Maine Environmental Education Association recognized the Portland Public Schools as “School of the Year” in May for helping students develop a deeper understanding of environmental issues. This work is district-wide, led by our Environmental Literacy Coordinator Katie West.

We’re also at the end of a yearlong effort to develop a new five-year strategic plan for the Portland Public Schools, which the Board of Public Education will take a final vote on at its June 18th meeting. The plan is a transformative document that provides a clear roadmap to making our school district the best it can be. It began with a Listen and Learn phase that involved the entire community and the Development phase was guided by the Strategic Plan Steering Committee – a diverse, city-wide group of stakeholders.

I’ll conclude by expressing my deep gratitude to Portland voters for approving our school budget for the 2024-2025 school year. The vote was more than 70 percent in favor.  We faced daunting fiscal challenges but with full community engagement, we crafted a budget that is grounded in equity, centers students, supports staff, provides additional resources to schools and is aligned to our new strategic plan, while also being cognizant of taxpayers. I’m proud to be part of a community that shows it values quality public education.

I wish everyone an enjoyable and restorative summer – and look forward to more PPS successes in 2024-2025!

Ryan Scallon
Superintendent