November 6, 2025

This fall, the Board held a series of public engagement sessions to gather input on possible new boundary proposals. Now, in an effort to get additional feedback, we are inviting the PPS community to complete this survey by end of day on Monday, November 17, to share your perspectives on this important issue.

Eighth-Grade Students: The time has come to rank your high school preferences for September 2026! Please take a few minutes to complete and submit your High School Preference Form by November 17 using this link: https://winnme.com/hsPref. To learn more, visit our Transitioning to High School page.

Mark your calendars for an informative and family-friendly workshop on December 4, from 6:00-7:30 PM at East End Community School, designed to help you understand how special education services work and what to expect throughout the IEP process.

Portland Board of Public Education Chair Sarah Lentz and Vice Chair Micky Bondo recently shared with the Portland Public Schools community an important statement reaffirming the district’s support for, and commitment to, our immigrant, refugee, asylee, and LGBTQ+ students, families, and staff.

In mid-October, the Center for Applied Linguistics (CAL) conducted classroom walkthroughs at six schools (Reiche, Talbot, Lyseth, Moore MS, King MS and Portland HS) as part of its 2025-26 PPS ESOL and Spanish Immersion Program Review.

The “Island as a Classroom” grant, is fully underway with artist-in-residence Daisy Braun. Students at Peaks Island School explored local beaches and docks, collected water samples and examined them under microscopes with Professor Mark Green, Nurse Jeanne Gulnick and Braun—discovering more about what “lies beneath.”

Every day, students across PPS are being supported, challenged, and encouraged to grow! As part of our Strategic Plan focus on Achievement and the Whole Student, we have launched a new series called "What I Learned" to spotlight student voices and everyday moments of learning.

PPS Transportation Director Ben Lesavoy is among those featured in this Oct. 29, 2025, Portland Press Herald column about people who start their day prior to the crack of dawn. Ben begins his workday at 5 a.m. to make sure our school buses are on schedule to get students to school on time. 

This lovely Oct. 27, 2025, WMTW-TV Channel 8 story is about Girl Scouts in Troop 1240 earning their bronze awards for building buddy benches for three of Portland's elementary schools: Presumpscot, Reiche and Lyseth. Troop 1240 scouts are from Lyman Moore and King middle schools and Waynflete school.

This Oct. 23, 2025, Portland Press Herald story includes information about King Middle School students learning how to make WindowDressers, a low- and no-cost window insert that traps heat indoors and can lower bills during the winter. 

An October 2025 story in the Island Institute’s Island Journal includes a great shout-out to the Portland Public Schools for our new comprehensive Pre-K through 12 Wabanaki Studies curriculum. Check it out: "Nurturing Native Knowledge”