Principal Report to School Board
April 14, 2010
Sherry L. Levesque
Recognition:
G-NG Middle School students have talent! Members of the G-NG Middle School Student Council organized and presented a showcase of talent during an evening show on Tuesday, April 13th. Acts were screened and selected by student council members early in March. Performances included singing, dancing, and instrumental talents from our 5th -8th graders. Approximately 130 audience members were present to be entertained and to appreciate the skills of our students. Thank you to the Student Council for organizing this event.
Oops! The scorers at the Southern Maine Math League Spring meet thought that our 8th grade team scores landed them in second place, but they were incorrect. Coach Jackie Douglas was contacted the day after the meet and told that the scorers had been given incorrect information, and that team scores would be adjusted. As a result, G-NG ended up tying for first place with Brunswick’s 8th grade team. Team members at this meet included: Alexandra Stash, Mitchell Giles, Carolyn Liziewski, Jesse Lowell, and Brianna Heisler. The final meet of the year for this outstanding team will be on May 4th at the Portland Expo.
The G-NG Middle School Destination Imagination team placed 2nd in the state competition held on Saturday, April 10th in Orono. The team did a fine job of representing their communities and worked hard as they ended this year’s competition on a high note. Congratulations to all of them for their hard work and creative approach to problem solving.
Topics of Interest/Successes
Students and staff members have shifted their work from developing a shared vision to formulating a Code of Conduct. Our hope is to do the work now and adopt a school-wide code that is ready for use in the fall. If we are able to finish gathering input, we can write the Code of Conduct and have it placed in our handbook for next fall. Teachers and students will still need to work on individual classroom code of conducts as school begins in September.
The Middle School Curriculum/Science Fair is scheduled for Tuesday, May 25th. Students have been encouraged to save class and project work for display on this evening. A portion of this event is dedicated to a traditional science fair. Individuals, classes, and/or teams will be displaying and competing with judges to earn honors for their projects. More information about this event will be published in future issues of Parents as Partners, the Middle School newsletter.
The staff development time on Thursday afternoon, 4/15/10, was dedicated to reflective activities focused on collegiality. As a staff we looked at where we felt the building was on a continuum of collegiality in general terms and in terms of our work with RISC/Performance-based model of instruction. This was a follow-up to our grades 6-8 joint training with the High School in March with Rich DeLorenzo. Staff members were then asked to complete the same exercise with a focus on where they saw themselves on the continuum. This was completed anonymously. Information from both activities will be used as a base line to measure our future progress as a collegial community.
Challenges:
Scheduling and completing all year-end activities with placement, assessments, building schedules, etc. June 11th will be here before we know it!
Short-Term Goals:
-have Beacon teachers begin implementation of performance based model in selected classrooms, begin collection of videos to use in future District trainings
-continue to develop plans for individual students who are at risk of failing a core course for the year
-work with Dunn School and High School to plan transition activities for 4th and 8th grade students
-complete MEA science assessments in 5th and 8th grade
-complete spring NWEA assessments in grades 5-8
Emerging Long-Term Goals:
-modify budget for 10-11 school year as directed by Board
-review standards identified by State in all subject areas and align District curriculum
-use NECAP results to identify students who do not meet standards in math and/or English/language arts and implement remediation strategies
-develop schedule for 10-11 school year with allotted resources in the 10-11 budget
