Staff & Community Newsletter - Oct 14, 2022

At its Oct. 11 meeting, the Portland Board of Public Education voted unanimously to pass a high school alignment resolution, which commits the district to taking a closer look at ensuring consistent programming and opportunities for students across all three high schools. The Board also voted to appoint seven community members to the Superintendent Search Committee and agreed to consider at its Oct. 18 meeting the appointment of an eighth member representing Portland Adult Education.

Matt Bernstein, a social studies teacher at Casco Bay High School and the 2022 Cumberland County Teacher of the Year, has been chosen as the 2023 Maine Teacher of the Year. The announcement was made at a ceremony at the school on Oct. 11, where Bernstein was honored by state education officials, educator colleagues and students.

The Pihcintu Chorus is performing at the Rines Auditorium at the Portland Public Library on Saturday, Oct. 15, at 2 p.m. This free event is a great opportunity for the Portland Public Schools community to show up and support the girls chorus, which welcomes immigrant children from around the globe and helps restart young lives through music.

Talbot is among four Maine schools to each receive a $50,000 grant to support their work as community schools. The funding will enable Talbot to better support its after-school enrichment opportunities for students, including a homework diner program, and its Walking School Bus program.

On Oct. 6, four seniors from Deering High School went on a field trip to West Bath for the first Maine Construction Career Day, hosted by Mid-Coast Excavation, Inc. “All four students operated those big machines and we also got to spend lots of time talking to local construction, paving, electrical, ceiling and tile companies,” said Sydney Williams, Deering’s extended learning opportunities coordinator. She added, “We got to keep the hard hats."

A new report finds most Maine schools are not teaching Wabanaki studies 21 years after the passage of a landmark 2001 state law requiring schools to teach Maine K–12 students about Wabanaki territories, economic systems, cultural systems, governments, and political systems, as well as the Wabanaki tribes’ relationships with local, state, national, and international governments. However, the new report, published Oct. 10 to mark Indigenous Peoples Day, noted that “there are some successes, including Portland Public Schools, which have collaborated with Wabanaki tribes and experts to reconfigure their curriculum with Wabanaki Studies at the core.”

Unity Day, which is Wednesday, Oct. 19, is an important part of this month. Everyone is encouraged to wear orange to unite for kindness, acceptance, and inclusion to prevent bullying in school.