Creating an environment conducive to student learning

MSAD #44 Annual Report 2019-2020 School Year

On behalf of the MSAD 44 School Board and Administrative Team, I am pleased to present the 2019-2020 Annual Report for the school district. This summary contains important information about our school system and is designed to outline the many accomplishments of our students, staff and district over the past school year. As we are all aware, there were many challenges to our students, staff and parents this year as we made the transition to remote learning in mid-March. In the weeks that followed, it was inspiring to see how well our entire community pulled together and worked to best meet the needs of our children. I am proud of this combined effort and would like to take this opportunity to thank our staff, parents, community members, and volunteers for their many efforts on behalf of MSAD 44 students during this challenging time. Finally, I would also offer my personal thanks to the members of the School Board for the time, effort and energy that they have devoted to our school system throughout the year and for the guidance and investment each of them have made to support the school system during this pandemic. Sincerely, David W. Murphy, Ed. D. MSAD 44 Superintendent of Schools

SAD 44 Technology Department 2019-2020 SY

Mike Muir, (Learning Through) Technology Director

Technology Technicians: Michelle D’Auria & James Haines

1. Technology Team Updates ★ In August, after nearly two decades of service to the District, and helping to ensure that SAD 44 was on the cutting edge of implementing technology

in schools, Peter Kuzyk retired. ★ At the same time, long time elementary Technology Technician Gary Inman retired. ★ In August, Dr. Mike Muir joined SAD 44 as the new Tech Director. Mike was part of the original MLTI Design team, was part of Auburn’s team to

implement the first 1to1 primary grades iPad initiative in the country, and served as the Learning Through Technology Director and MLTI Director at the MDOE. Mike’s charge is to work with the Technology Technicians to set up the policies, strategies, and procedures that will ensure that “Everything Just Works,” and to work with teachers in the district to design engaging learning experiences for students, leveraging technology.

★ In September, Michelle D’Auria became the new elementary Technology Technician, working with both Woodstock and Crescent Park Elementary Schools.

★ James Haines continues as technical support at Telstar Middle School and Telstar High School. He has also taken lead on district technology issues such as server support, device management, and WiFi infrastructure.

★ Wendy Hanscom has become lead on Infinite Campus and supports secretaries, administrators, and teachers with the student information system. ★ The Technology Team participated in two MLTI Technical Update sessions, to ensure we had the latest information about the state program. ★ Dr. Muir is part of the MDOE’s MLTI 2.0 Advisory Board, working to design the next iteration of the statewide initiative. ★ The Technology Team collaboratively designed a Technician Performance Review process, focused on the following performance indicators:

○ Productivity Integrity, Customer Service, Initiative, Teamwork, Job Knowledge, and Professional Attitude and Acceptance of Supervision

2. Learning Through Technology (Curriculum, Instruction, and Professional Learning) - Successes and Needs ★ “Everything Just Works” is foundation to allowing teachers to create better learning experiences for students by leveraging technology. If software,

devices, or internet don’t work, teachers are more likely to abandon the technology and revert to traditional materials. So, the Everything Just Works (see below), although focused on keeping the technology fully functioning, is also a critical component to helping to improve learning through technology.

★ We were able to send teachers to learning through technology-focused conferences, including the ACTEM Conference (state technology conference), and to Leveraging Learning (Auburn’s iPads in primary grades conference).

★ K-2 teachers were provided 3 workshops with Dr. Mauri Dufour, and Apple Professional Learning Specialist (and one of the original Auburn iPad teachers) to learn how to better leverage their iPads for student learning.

★ Once technology responsibilities were shifted and Everything Just Works efforts were underway, Dr. Muir had increased availability to do classroom observations and respond to requests for co-planning and co-teaching lessons with classroom teachers. He has been working on plans for technology-focused instructional coaching, but those plans were cut short due to the pandemic.

★ The opportunities for leveraging technology for student learning experiences will be built around these pillars: Building Curiosity, Problem-based and Contextualized Learning, Active Use, Critical Thinking, The Power of Student Voice, Reflection and Making Thinking Visible.

★ Dr. Muir offered the EdTech Challenge, a semester-long professional development opportunity, focused on the “Reflection and Making Thinking Visible” pillar for learning through technology. Twenty-three K-2 educators signed up for the course. We only had one meeting before the pandemic cut the course short. But the course will be offered once again in the coming year.

3. COVID 19 Response, and Emergency Remote Learning ★ On Sunday, March 15, Dr. Murphy announced that, due to the pandemic, SAD 44 would be closing their buildings and moving to emergency remote

learning. ★ On Monday and Tuesday, teachers did 2-week remote learning plans and had student devices and learning packets ready to be picked up or distributed

to students on Wednesday. ★ For the first time, student devices in grades 2-5 went home (K-1 families could request that their school iPad be sent home). ★ What started as a 2-week closure has extended through the rest of the school year. Teachers demonstrated great creativity and hard work in how they

totally redesigned their learning and plans to stay connected to students for emergency remote learning. ★ In many ways, SAD 44 was able to adapt to emergency remote learning more easily than other districts because we already had learning devices

(tablets or laptops) for all students that they could take home. ★ Although all students could have access to a school laptop or tablet, our key remote learning issue was home internet access. Not all families had

internet connectivity at home or an internet option that was practical to support remote learning. ★ The Maine Department of Education had plans to ensure that, statewide, each district’s need for student devices and for portable WiFi hotspots was

addressed. SAD 44 had no need for student devices and received their WiFi hotspots in mid-May ★ Dr. Murphy collaborated with other districts and Community Concepts on a hotspot pilot, intended to get participating districts Mobile WiFi hotspots,

similar to what the DOE planned to supply, ahead of when the DOE could deliver. This would give us a head start on addressing student internet connectivity needs at home.

★ These devices arrived in late March/early April, and we were able to support 20 families. They are being collected now and will be returned to our Community Concepts’ partner. We will be able to use the MDOE provided devices to meet family needs in the fall.

★ The work of the district needed to continue during the pandemic, and that included the already-scheduled SAD 44 School Board meetings. The School Board needed only to meet virtually but needed those meetings to be secure and public. The Tech Team has supported the School Board by providing secure virtual meetings (including a public comment period) via Zoom, and public access to observe the meetings live (or recorded later) via YouTube.

4. Technology: Everything Just Works - Successes and Needs ★ Device Management:

○ The Tech Team worked at getting an accurate inventory of all active district student and educator devices ○ Although we have a solid list of device asset tag numbers or serial numbers, we will work on ensuring that we have an accurate list of who has

what device for the fall. This already exists for many grade levels, but there are a few that still need work. ○ The Tech Team has moved most devices into JAMF, our device management system. JAMF should help us keep track of issues on devices,

and make it easier to address those issues. ○ The Tech Team has most district devices updated to the latest operating system and hope to have them all updated by next fall. ○ The hardest cohort of devices is the teacher devices, because we don’t collect them from teachers, and teachers, appropriately, don’t want to be

without them! We will work during the Fall semester to work one on one with teachers to get their devices up to date. ★ Customer Support:

○ The Tech Team has been tracking device issues and repairs, so we can address any issues more widely as patterns appear. ○ We have seen few patterns, with the exception of device system software and other apps being quite out of date. This has been addressed

largely through the effort to update software on the devices (see above). ○ Another pattern is that certain cohorts of our devices are quite old and becoming outdated, requiring more maintenance and attention in general.

This is part of our rationale for a “Refresh” strategy (see below). ○ The Tech Team has had to provide occasional support to our Food Service Departments. Due to a limitation within our software, our breakfast

and lunch programs have to use some fairly old and outdated equipment for student payments. The software company has promised to address this issue soon, which should mean that our kitchen staff can use more modern equipment that should be more reliable.

○ By the end of June, all district Windows machines should be updated to Windows 10. Our Central Office staff, school secretaries, librarians, and kitchen staff are our primary users of Windows machines. In some cases, the upgrade in the operating system also meant providing that person an updated Windows devices, as well.

★ Internet Connectivity: ○ The district used eRate funds (a federal program to mitigate the cost to districts for WiFi projects) to upgrade the WiFi at Telstar. This included

new access points, adding some access points, running some new cabling, and new switches. ○ Both elementary schools are in fairly good shape for WiFi infrastructure and only have minor needs, which can be addressed in the next year or

two. ★ District Servers:

○ The district maintains several servers: Alexandria Server (library), Camera Server (security), and the Profund and Self Service servers (financial and Human Resources), as well as others.

○ Several of the Central Office servers were quite out of date. They are, of course, considered “no fail” systems. We updated them this winter and are continuing with some additional equipment updates to ensure that they are unlikely to fail, but if they were to go down, we could return to service with a minimum of down time. (Have you noticed how much faster Self Service is now?).

○ The Tech Team is in the process of updating the Alexandria Servers (library).

★ Device “Refresh”: ○ Refreshing K-2 iPads: A device refresh is when the district purchases new tablets or laptops to replace the old ones. This year we refreshed the

K-2 iPads. The age of the replaced iPads meant that they were unable to use the most current educational software and tools and were of limited use to the teachers. All new iPads are in rugged cases (because K-2 students are energetic!), and the Gr. 2 iPads are in keyboard cases to support gaining a familiarity with keyboards and to support increased writing in 2nd grade.

○ MLTI 2016 Cohort Buyout: Our grades 3-5 and 7-8 laptops were purchased/received as part of the 2016 MLTI cohort. At the end of each cohort, districts are given the opportunity to buy out the state-owned devices, and we are on track to buy out those devices. Next year, those devices will be 5-years old.

○ Grades 6 and 9-12 laptops: Our Grades 6 and 9-12 devices were part of the 2015 MLTI cohort, and we bought those out last year. Next year, they will be 6-years old.

○ Developing a District Refresh Plan: SAD 44 is in need of developing a device refresh plan. The usable life of a school tablet or laptop is considered 4 years, although, with care (or sheer will), districts can eek a couple more years of service out of old devices. However, setting up a long term plan for a regular schedule of replacement of devices can often save money in the long run and ensure a consistent budget year-to-year. But there should be good reasons to replace technology. One reason is decreased usability and increased maintenance costs as the devices get older. Emergency remote learning has also demonstrated the value of having usable learning devices for students. Next year, Dr Muir will convene a District Tech Team to help establish a District Refresh Plan, including rationale and replacement schedule.

Respectfully Submitted,

Dr. Mike Muir

Annual Report from Curriculum Director/Educator Effectiveness Coach MSAD #44 Annual Report

2019-2020 School Year

Name: Cheryl Lang, Curriculum Director/Educator Effectiveness Coach District Student Population: 714 District Teaching Staff: 79 (including part time/full time) District Ed. Techs: 20

1. Curriculum, Instruction, & Assessment ★ MSAD #44 Curriculum Vision & Mission ★ MSAD #44 continues to use NWEA MAP testing as its universal screener for math, literacy, and science. This allows teachers to make instructional

decisions based on individual student, as well as classroom, data. It also allows additional support to be utilized in a targeted way. ○ MSAD #44 recruited seven teachers (math/ELA in grades 1-11) to pilot the STAR Enterprise Universal Screener and Progress Monitoring

platform side by side with NWEA (Universal Screener) to make a recommendation for future years. ★ School Board Presentation of MEA, eMPower, & SAT 2018-2019 testing data (comparisons to previous year & state testing data) ★ Curriculum Director regularly attended the Maine Curriculum Leaders’ Association (MCLA) meetings, which allowed collaboration, shared

understandings, resource networking, and updates on the impact of current legislation and policies surrounding proficiency-based education and other areas connected to curriculum, instruction, and assessment.

★ Curriculum Director regularly attended the Maine Cohort for Customized Learning (MCCL) meetings, which allowed collaboration amongst a coalition of school districts, shared understandings, resource networking and updates on the impact of current legislation and policies surrounding the work that has been done in the development of learning progressions that align with standards-based grading practices and proficiency-based education.

★ MSAD #44 K-12 staff & administrators participated in initial introduction to the Eduplanet21 Curriculum Development & Design software platform utilizing the UbD design template

○ District decision to implement the Understanding by Design (UbD) design & development as its K-12 unit development and housing platform

★ The district Response to Intervention (RTI) Committee met once a month ○ discuss readings from Taking Action by Buffum, Mattos, and Malone ○ Provided professional development workshops for K-12 staff

■ What is RTI? ● Determined a common vocabulary around RTI ● Provided professional development (breakout sessions) on Key Ideas

★ Thanks to the valued leadership of the following leaders, the curriculum, instruction, and assessment work continued throughout the year. As curriculum leaders for their grade spans and content areas they…

○ participated in K-12 discussions around our mission, vision, goals & objectives for the year, job descriptions & responsibilities, and planning dates for meeting goals;

■ explored evidence-based research around designing science units using Understanding by Design (UbD) framework; ■ explored Eduplanet21 as a curriculum development & design platform

○ Heather Zybas took charge of the K-5 ELA curriculum work this year: ■ utilized professional development growth (through coursework) to share relevant information and resources with colleagues; ■ collaborated with TMS and THS ELA curriculum leaders to vertically align curriculum, ensured that there was a common understanding of our

mission, and determine next planning steps for utilizing Understanding by Design (UbD) in this work; ■ worked with K-5 ELA teachers to discuss the current ELA curriculum & assessments and how they fit into the UbD framework; ■ determined resources & professional development needed to move forward with curriculum development & design work using UbD framework;

and... ■ determined next steps for next year would be to develop a new rubric system

○ Renee Charette led the K-5 math curriculum work this year: ■ led conversations around gaining a deeper understanding of the Understanding by Design (UbD) framework for unit development &

design; and... ● asked essential questions surrounding content, instructional practices, and assessments; ● analyzed grade-level content standards to determine “essential” standards; ● began planning cohesive units of study at each grade level.

○ Tonya Prentice led the K-5 science curriculum work this year: ■ As Oxford County’s Teacher of the Year for 2020, Tonya exemplifies outstanding service in education, and dedication to her

students. ● continued to review and update science reporting standards; ● attended various workshops and conferences to keep abreast of curriculum, instruction, and assessment updates; and…

○ attended Gulf of Maine Research Institute Teacher Leader Conference ○ participated in MDOE science phenomena designing lessons

● worked with the Gulf of Maine Research Institute, the University of Maine, the Maine DOE, and the Maine Science Teachers Association to evaluate science assessments and resources available for K-12 Maine students and educators.

○ Megan Howe stepped into the leadership role for the K-5 social studies curriculum this year: ■ led conversations around gaining a deeper understanding of the Understanding by Design (UbD) framework for unit development &

design;

■ collaborated with K-5 teachers to begin the process of creating a standard-aligned curriculum; and... ■ participated in social studies professional development opportunities through the Western Maine Educational Consortium (WMEC) &

the Maine Department of Education (MDOE). ○ Lindsay Luetje continued the responsibility of leading the 6-8 humanities curriculum work this year:

■ focused on integrating the 7 Peaks goals into the Community Read projects; ● connecting the questions & capstones into the projects

■ led the completion of scope & sequence of reporting standards with the newly-revised social studies standards put out by the Maine Department of Education;

■ determined best approach to creating units of study using the Understanding by Design (UbD) framework; ■ led the fine tuning of the bank of resources with the ELA department; ■ looked for opportunities to develop interdisciplinary approaches to unit development and implementation; and... ■ led the co-scoring of writing assignments;

● continuation of identifying common language and instructional strategies ○ Tamara Davis led the 6-8 math curriculum work this year:

■ met over the summer (2019) to analyze student data; ● created a data-collecting tool for upcoming school year;

■ collaborated with the 6-8 math department to create a data-collecting tool to support student learning; ■ led conversations around gaining a deeper understanding of the Understanding by Design (UbD) framework for unit development &

design; and... ■ worked in collaboration with other departments to create and refine teacher-created assessments and rubrics.

○ Pete Hedden led the 6-8 science curriculum work this year: ■ aligned reporting standards in JumpRope with state adopted Next Gen Science Standards; ■ aligned Science & Engineering Fair expectations with newly revised reporting standards; ■ aligned a common rubric vertically in grades 6-8; and... ■ collaborated with other content areas to work on teacher-created assessments

● NGSS Practice “Developing & Using Models” ○ Melissa Poston led the 9-12 humanities curriculum work this year:

■ led professional development around revising current units and/or creating new units in alignment with the adopted standards utilizing the Understanding by Design (UbD) framework;

● created sample units to be used as templates ■ acclimated a new teacher mid year to the curriculum requirements and reporting standards in the JumpRope grading platform; ■ continued the work of vertically aligning the ELA curriculum through grades 9-12; and... ■ worked closely with MDOE social studies specialist to prepare for the newly revised social studies standards roll out for the state.

○ Haley Colpitts led the 9-12 math curriculum work this year: ■ assessed the 9-12 math curriculum currently being taught to align it with the appropriate standards for each course; ■ collaborated with K-12 leaders to develop a cohesive language around curriculum; and... ■ led the high school math department to begin creating math standards-aligned units of study utilizing the Understanding by Design

(UbD) framework.

○ Elke Blauss led the 9-12 science curriculum work this year: ■ led conversations around gaining a deeper understanding of the Understanding by Design (UbD) framework for unit development &

design; ■ discussed ways of improving on-going communication with Telstar Freshman Academy (TFA); ■ identified a need for more cohesiveness between grade spans in relation to vertically aligning the science and engineering practice

standards; ■ developed practice standard rubrics that share a common language; ■ worked to incorporate the Maine State Science Fair (MSSF) into the science curriculum; and… ■ mentored a new science teacher

2. Educator Effectiveness ★ TEPG Handbook was reviewed, updated, and approved by the PLCSS Committee. ★ Teaching staff, support staff, and personnel were observed, evaluated, and provided with feedback.

○ Even with the COVID-19 pandemic closing all of the school districts in the state mid March, 32 teacher observations and evaluations were conducted by trained administrators, in addition to several non-teaching staff.

★ One new building administrator was trained and participated in calibration observations in preparation for observation/evaluation effectiveness. ★ Support was provided for six TEPG facilitators as they guided the staff in developing student learning objectives (SLOs), self reflected on professional

practice, created professional goals, and analyzed student data to determine appropriate instructional practices. ★ Support was provided for three 1st year teachers at the 6-12 level as they navigated the TEPG requirements as a first-year educator

3. District-Wide Elementary & Secondary Education Act (ESEA) Coordinator ★ State and federal regulations and reporting requirements related to the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) were completed on time.

○ The federal government and Maine Department of Education (MDOE) require all schools receiving title funding to support students of families experiencing poverty to create goals that address specific needs that typically may be associated with poverty. As a result, each school has created/adjusted goals surrounding literacy and math.

○ The federal government and Maine Department of Education (MDOE) require school districts that receive above funding to also create goals around homelessness and parent/caregiver communication. As a result, the district has goals that include having a homeless liaison and also include two-way communication with parents/caregivers.

★ The Comprehensive Guidance Plan continues to get revised and updated to include current best practices that inform and/or involve all stakeholders, align to policies and procedures, as well as state mandates, and are in line with the district’s mission and philosophy of putting students first.

Respectfully Submitted,

Cheryl L. Lang, Curriculum Director/Educator Effectiveness Coach

MSAD #44 Annual Report 2019-2020 School Year

K-12 Department of Special Education RSU 44

207-381-0242

Kathleen Collins, Ed.M. C.A.S Heather Jordan Director of Special Education Administrative Assistant _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Certified Special Education Teachers and Case Managers: 5 Special Educational Technician III: 1 Special Education Technicians I: 2 Van driver Special Education Technician l: 1 Speech and Language Therapist: 1 Occupational Therapist: 1 Special Education Social Worker: 1 Physical Therapist: 1 Doctoral Level Psychologist & Psychological Services Provider: 1 Teacher of the Visually Impaired: 1 Vision and Mobility Specialist: 1 Teacher of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing: 1 Board Certified Behavioral Analyst: 1 Vocational Rehabilitation Services Provider: 1 ★ Recognize our amazing employees and long time contracted providers, all of whom provide the data based, IEP determined services that a student with

a disability may require. ★ Published (yearly) a child find statement in the Bethel Citizen

○ referrals may be made by calling the director or administrative assistant at Telstar High School ★ Strove to assist the RSU 44 district staff and schools to implement the IEP

○ to teach our students in the general education setting ○ to help staff understand and raise awareness of the needs, rights, duties and responsibilities of all staff and buildings in the RSU for service

provision, adherence to compliance and access, for all Americans with Disabilities that reside within RSU 44

★ Assembled an A+ team with some of the most dedicated, effective, and well educated individuals to work with our students as we foster collaboration with our non-special education teaching peers, foster understanding and relationships with each of our families, provide access to education within the least restrictive environment, and honor our general education colleagues for developing the needed system of Response to Intervention (RTI), so all children may make adequate progress in the general education learning environment to the greatest degree possible, alongside their non-disabled peers.

★ Observed the hard work and collaboration with teams of general educators and special educators that resulted in many of our students being so well taught and accommodated in general education classrooms with their peers, that when observing, it is nearly impossible to tell which students have disabilities and which do not.

○ We continued to strive towards this end for all of our children...that each student is valued and taught according to their strengths, with accommodations for their unique learning styles, as necessary to learn.

○ Teachers are dedicated to each individual student’s need(s) to learn rather than just to get a grade or a score on a test. ★ Committed to the belief that all students, with and without disabilities, are our RSU 44 students, and the responsibility to educate is a responsibility of

all members. ★ Recognized six students with disabilities as they graduated with their high school diploma.

○ Kudos to them and how hard they and their teachers worked for many years towards this coveted end! It truly takes a Village (like Bethel!) to do the job of educating our children.

★ Congratulations Bethel Special Education Team, parents and students, for a job well done this school year 2019-2020. You each went above and beyond the call of duty during the most trying, and unprecedented times. Be proud. I am. Thank you all .

Respectfully Submitted, Kathleen Collins

MSAD #44 Annual Report

2019-2020 School Year

Name: Jessica Wilkey, Principal of Woodstock Elementary School Students: 68 Teaching Staff: 7 Ed. Techs: 1 Secretaries: 1 Custodians: 1 Cafeteria Workers: 1 Others: 1 Part Time PE Teacher, 1 Part Time Librarian, 1 Part Time Social Worker Shared district staff: 1 shared Special Education Social Worker, 1 shared Art Teacher, 1 shared Nurse, 1 shared Nurse's Aide, 1 shared Technology Technician, 1 shared Music/Band Teacher, 1 shared Custodian, 1 shared Speech and Language Pathologist, 1 shared Special Education Ed Tech III 1. Student accomplishments during 2019-2020 ★ All students participated in weekly Friday Meeting presentations on a variety of topics to audiences of students, staff, and parents. Students are gaining

a lot of confidence speaking in front of an audience. ★ Each week at Friday Meeting a student from each class was recognized as Student of the Week. ★ Fifth grade students were again able to participate in Modern Band. Third and fourth graders were able to participate in the strings program. We had 8

students participate in this program. ★ In the fall, Mrs. Zybas, Mrs. Keough, Ms. Stambolis, and Mrs. Colombotos served as coaches/facilitators for our Girls on the Run program. Girls who

participated in the program worked on learning about healthy habits as well as building confidence in themselves while training for a 5k, which they ran in New Gloucester.

★ Our Student Council had 12 members and 3 alternates from the 3rd through 5th grades. Under Ms. Jordan’s guidance, they planned spirit days and conducted a Thanksgiving food drive that allowed us to provide 3 Thanksgiving meals to families in need.

★ Third, fourth and fifth graders once again participated in the RugRats ski program at Sunday River.

★ Students performed a Holiday Concert in early December. They performed a combination of choral and instrumental songs. ★ Grade 5 students volunteered as elves at the PTA holiday event, Cookies with Santa. They helped younger students to do crafts.

Some students were able to be on the local news when Ted McInerney came to do Weather at Your School. ★ We held a Fine Arts night virtually on May 27th. Students were asked to hang artwork up in their windows and to play music or sing from their

porches or front lawns. ★ One student was selected to participate in the District 2 Choral Music Festival. Mya Buck was selected by Ms. Birkhold to attend, but unfortunately

the event was unable to be held due to Covid19 restrictions. ★ Fifth grade once again successfully raised salmon in their classroom and Mrs. Prentice traveled to the Swift River to release them. Students were able

to continue to see the salmon grow before they were released over Zoom meetings with Mrs. Prentice. ★ Students participated in the Valentine Project by making cards and bringing in items to donate to homeless shelters.

2. Staff accomplishments during 2019-2020 ★ We had a couple of new staff members join us this year at WES. Andrea Howe joined the staff as our part time librarian. Students already knew her

from the MKA program and were excited to have her as a teacher. Michele McDonnell joined the staff as our food service provider. Students knew her from the bus and were excited to have her in the building every day.

★ Mrs. Prentice, Mrs. Zybas, and Mrs. Howe all held curriculum leadership roles in the district. Mrs. Prentice was the chairperson of the Science Curriculum committee. Mrs. Zybas was the chairperson of the ELA Curriculum committee. Mrs. Howe was co-chair of the Social Studies Curriculum committee.

★ Mrs. Howe and Ms. Wilkey worked on a district wide RTI team and presented during district workshop days and meetings. ★ Mrs. Howe, Mrs. Zybas, and Mrs. Prentice all participated in a program to become STEM certified teachers. ★ Mrs. Prentice was again our TEPG facilitator. She assisted staff in setting professional goals, student learning objectives and in completing various

aspects of the teacher evaluation program requirements. ★ Mrs. Howe and Ms. Wilkey participated in the Maine Math and Science Alliance’s Innovate to Integrate (i2i) research to practice project. They

worked with members of SAD 44 and three other rural districts to work towards bringing computer science education to rural schools. ★ Mrs. Prentice served on the Gulf of Maine Research Institute as a Lead Teacher for Western Maine. She was interviewed by the local news about the

GMRI and its resources during the Covid-19 school closure. ★ Mrs. Prentice was named the Oxford County Teacher of the Year. She was a finalist last year, and we were thrilled that she won this year! ★ During the Covid19 school closure, Michele McDonnell worked hard to help organize food distribution at our site. ★ Mrs. Zybas coordinated with the Rangeley Logging Museum to have a presentation for students about the history of logging in Maine during Maine

Forest Products Week. ★ All teachers and staff did an excellent job of planning and jumping into remote learning once school closed. They went above and beyond to learn new

technologies and to provide students with continuity in their education. 3. Curriculum/instruction initiatives or changes in 2019-2020 and plans for the next year ★ Staff have been receiving professional development in RTI and two district workshop days have been spent learning more about RTI. The district RTI

group shared plans to continue with this work over the next couple of years in an effort to refresh and refine the district’s RTI process. ★ All curriculum areas met at K-12 district meetings. The focus became the Understanding by Design (UbD) framework. Mrs. Lang presented a platform

for using UbD to plan and organize curriculum. Plans were made to continue with this work in curriculum and/or grade level teams next year using an online platform to organize units of study.

4. Staff development projects/focus for 2019-2020 and plans/goals for this year ★ Staff participated in a district sponsored workshop day on Resiliency and Trauma Informed teaching. Staff signed up for workshop sessions presented

by district staff and then participated in learning about community circles and the Zones of Regulation. ★ School based staff meetings utilized the community circles structure and a school wide initiative to try out circles in class was begun. We plan to

continue this next year and to read Fostering Resilient Learners to continue to develop ways to address trauma and resiliency. ★ Professional development opportunities around technology were offered this year. Tech director Mike Muir brought in training through Apple for

teachers in grades K-2. There were also opportunities for teachers in grades 3-5, including an elementary level staff meeting with mini workshops. Professional development in the area of technology will continue next year, with a focus on remote learning strategies if necessary.

I applaud the efforts of all staff, students and families during this school year and am confident that this will continue no matter what format we return to for the 2020-2021 school year!

Respectfully Submitted, Jessica L. Wilkey

MSAD #44 Annual Report 2019-2020 School Year

Name: Tanya Arsenault, Principal of Crescent Park Elementary School Students: 292 Teaching Staff: 20 Ed. Techs: 10 Secretaries: 1 full time, 1 part time Custodians: 3 Cafeteria Workers: 3 Shared District Staff : 1 shared Special Education Social Worker, 1 shared Art Teacher, 1 shared Nurse, 1 shared Nurse's Aide, 1 shared Technology Technician, 1 shared Music Teacher, 1 shared Instrumental Music Teacher, 1 Part Time Gifted & Talented Teacher, 1 shared Speech and Language Pathologist, 1 shared Special Education Teacher, 1 shared Special Education Ed Tech III. Others : 1 PE teacher, 1 part time LCSW, 1 part time guidance counselor, 1 part time Title One Teacher, 1 Special Education Teacher 1. Student accomplishments during 2019-2020: ★ All students participated in monthly Student of the Month assemblies, focusing on positive character traits. Student Council helped to organize these

assemblies, putting together presentations around the focus word. Staff gave out one Student of the Month award per grade level or speciality area each month, and winners received a tie-dye Student of the Month t-shirt.

★ Our Student Council had 29 members from the 4th through 5th grade classes. Under Mrs. Conrad’s guidance, they planned Spirit Days and organized classroom presentations related to our Student of the Month assemblies.

★ Kindergarten students participated in Invest in ME activities as a part of the grant the school received. They received books about community helpers, as well as community helper puppets.

★ First grader Hugo Morton and his family organized a PJ and Book Drive and donated the items to families in need. ★ Third Grader Emma Buck organized a Toy Drive for Team Hailey Hugs. She collected items from other students and then presented the donations to

the Barbara Bush Children’s Hospital.

★ Fourth grader Kira Hiebert organized “Kira’s Coats for Kids” and collected winter coats from families and community members that were then distributed to students in need.

★ The third graders completed a successful virtual simulation of the Ellis Island immigration process. Students dressed to look like they were in the late 1800s or early 1900s and did research in order to have a backstory for their character.

★ During distance learning, students participated in a Virtual Spirit Week, as well as a Window Art Show and Porch Concert. ★ First through fifth graders, once again, participated in the RugRats ski program at Sunday River. ★ Fourth and fifth graders had the opportunity to participate in both our soccer and basketball programs. Our soccer team had a total of 21 members, and

the basketball team had 24 members. 2. Staff accomplishments during 2019-2020: ★ We had several new staff members join us this year at CPS. Mrs. Kathy Doyon and Mrs. Carole DelDuca joined us as 4th grade teachers. To support

students' social and emotional needs, Mrs. Bonnie Spencer joined us as a part-time LCSW, and Mrs. Elizabeth Repetto served as our part-time guidance counselor.

★ Mrs. Broderick (Elementary Art Teacher) is a member of the Bethel Area Arts and Music Organization, and she helped to bring enrichment programs to our school this year.

○ Thanks to BAAM we had the Theatre at Monmouth come to present the Frogtown Puppeteers How the Grinch Stole Christmas. ★ The PreK team collaborated to plan a Math Family Engagement night that involved teaching families about different math games they can play at

home. All PreK students and their families were invited to this event, and a total of 65 people were in attendance. ★ Ms. Gina Lavoie was our TEPG facilitator. She assisted staff in setting professional goals, creating student learning objectives, and completing various

aspects of the teacher evaluation program requirements. ★ Gina Lavoie, NBCT, and Brenda Wight, NBCT, completed the required professional development training to be a Professional Learning Facilitator for

National Board Certification candidates at the Maine Department of Education. As trained PLFs, Ms. Lavoie and Ms. Wight are prepared to support other educators in their pursuit of National Board Certification and can facilitate information sessions on National Board Certification.

★ Our PTA continues to be a great working partnership. They continued to plan and put on many fun events and programs. They organized a great Halloween Walk and also sponsored the Mad Science show brought to us on Halloween. They hosted a fabulous “Stars Night Out” Dance for our entire school in March as well. We look forward to more fun events next year!

★ Mrs. Spencer organized presentations by the Cromwell Center for Disabilities Awareness. This organization brings awareness and sensitivity programs and focuses on building an understanding, reducing bullying, and helping create more inclusive schools and communities.

★ Mrs. Bullen, Mrs. Conrad, and Mrs. Doyon were nominated for Oxford County Teacher of the Year. ★ This was Mrs. Keane’s last year of teaching. She has worked at Crescent Park for 17 years. The students and staff will miss her greatly and wish her a

very happy retirement!

3. Curriculum/instruction initiatives or changes in 2018-2019 and plans for the next year: ★ Staff continued using JumpRope as our reporting system. JumpRope reports were sent home to parents. The parent portal was opened for parents to

access grades digitally during the second trimester. ★ A small team of people participated in a pilot of the STAR assessment program. ★ All curriculum areas met at K-12 district meetings. Professional development was provided for staff on the Understanding by Design (UbD) in

preparation to move all curriculum areas to utilizing that model. ★ Many staff participated in professional development opportunities throughout the year provided by outside organizations. Topics such as Restorative

Practices, Native American studies, and technology were explored by our staff. 4. Staff development projects/focus for 2019-2020 and plans/goals for this year: During the 2019-2020 school year, with new administration, we began the year developing staff culture and climate, and a mission for Crescent Park Elementary School. In summary, the adopted mission became“Crescent Park Elementary School, our mission is to provide a safe, inclusive, equitable and nurturing environment where students are encouraged to be mindful of differences as individuals.” Collectively, we continued to address the social emotional needs of our students by implementing in class lessons on mindfulness, breathing techniques, and the Zones of Regulation. These lessons provided us with common language around emotions and the teaching of strategies for regulating emotions. Another school-wide initiative revolved around working in small professional learning communities to combat barriers that we felt needed to be addressed. We prioritized the barriers and created three groups around prioritizing the curriculum standards, attendance, and grouping/regrouping of students. We began this work with the plan of creating professional development proposals to work on during staff meetings during the 2020-2021 school year. Affinity diagrams were created and potential solutions were identified. While the school year was interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, our school staff and students rose to the occasion and completed three successful months of remote teaching and learning. All of our students were connected through technology, and teachers completed weekly virtual lessons and continued to provide both academic and social/emotional support. We are hopeful to return back to the building in the fall and look forward to a healthy and productive 2020-2021 school year. Respectfully Submitted, Tanya L. Arsenault, CPS Principal

MSAD #44 Annual Report

2019-2020 School Year Name: Mark Kenney, Principal of Telstar Middle School Dean of Students: Lindsay Luetje Students: 160 Teaching Staff: 17 (+2 HS teachers: Industrial Arts and Librarian) Ed. Techs: 3 Secretaries: 1 Custodians: 4 (shared with THS) Cafeteria Workers: 3 (shared with THS) Others: 1 Guidance Counselor/Social Worker, 1 Part Time Gifted & Talented Teacher Shared district staff: 8 1 shared Social Worker MS/HS, 1 Activities Coordinator, 1 shared Special Education Social Worker, 1 shared full-time Librarian, 1 shared Nurse, 1 shared Nurse's Aide, 1 Technology Technician, 1 Athletic Trainer 1. Student accomplishments during 2019-2020 ★ We spent the third trimester in the first ever Remote Learning year due to COVID-19. ★ Student Led Reflection nights were still conducted during the week of May 20-27th. The focus this year was reflection on their year, a special time to

discuss the third trimester and a focus on their grade level 7 Peaks question. ★ This year our annual Spring Art Show was created by Mrs. Prescott as a virtual art show featuring works from the school year and remote learning

time of all students. It was a creative and fun way to display the artistic talents of our middle school students. ★ All students at TMS participated in the Hour of Code Day in December which was organized by Mrs. Kelley Fraser. Students all took an hour out of

their day to practice coding, create a video game, and see how coding can be used in the “real world”. It was a great success and many students throughout the year incorporated coding into some of their class projects.

★ Unfortunately we were not able to hold the Science Expo this year due to the COVID-19 closure. Our night was scheduled for the week after we switched to Remote Learning.

★ For the fourth year in a row, our 8th grade science teacher and students teamed up with Gary Proulx from the Bryant Pond 4H Camps for the Tech Wizards program. In the fall Gary continued with his kids from last year working with our 8th grade science teacher Pete Hedden. Gary worked with them until the end of January. Then he started to work with Mrs. Proulx’s for a month before remote learning started.

★ Again this year our student participation in after school sports has been over 50% of the student body in our fall and winter season. We also had our largest X-C running and ski teams in over ten years! It is great to see so much involvement in our athletic programs and showing a lot of school spirit in the process.

★ Student Leadership continued their role in our building under Linda Cozzolino. Doing the morning announcements, helping to run our monthly assemblies, organizing our monthly activity nights, and a variety of fundraisers, they have really established themselves as school wide leaders this year. The students were able to raise and donate just over $5100 this year to a variety of causes chosen by the group.

★ Mrs. Cozzolino and the Student Leadership Committee took on the task of organizing the 5th annual fundraiser called ‘Dodge for a Cure’ where dodgeball teams were created to participate in a dodgeball tournament. The teams were made up of middle school students, staff, and a couple of brave parents. $1000 was donated to the TMS Science Department for materials. We had about 60 spectators this year, family and friends who came to watch and support as well.

★ This year we are thankful to not have dozens of snow days. Learning from years past we added 10 minutes to each day to bank time. This proved to be a very effective and productive time for everyone involved. Excitedly, in the end, we did not need extra days to our calendar due to weather.

★ Our latest cohort of students were selected to be a part of the NorthStar program with Lyndsey Smith. We now have groups going into 9th and 8th grades with another 7th grade group selected. Their season was cut short due to Remote Learning and not being able to gather or go on a field trip, but Lyndsey has been very creative in finding ways to remotely get the students together.

★ 7th grade students participated in the second NorthStar Preview Day this year with 20 community volunteers who came in to share their talents with the students. It was a great cultural experience for the students and a way to connect with community members they might not have the opportunity to.

2. Staff accomplishments during 2019-2020 ★ We had a couple of new staff members join us this year at TMS. Sarah Crockett joined us as the new 6th grade science teacher. We have three of our

staff who are not returning after the 2019-2020 school year, Jim Cobb 7th grade SS, Leanne Waldie 7th grade Math, and Duncan McFarland MS Music. We wish them all the best!

★ This year we held three Star Assemblies virtually due to the Remote Learning sessions. These were shared with the student body and community and were a great way to keep students engaged while celebrating during the remote learning period. These were received very well by students, families, and community members too through our Facebook page.

★ We successfully had our first “drive-in” 8th Grade Night Celebration in the high school student parking lot as a result of compliance with social distancing regulations. Staff was able to present their awards and share highlights of the year with students and their families while they remained in their vehicles.

★ We are so fortunate to continue working with the Oxford County Resiliency Project at TMS. Working with our additional part-time social worker, Jenni Smith, she continues to work with staff and students in our pursuit of being a Trauma Informed School. We continue to refine our disciplinary practices and instituted talking circles into RAP and staff meeting practice.

★ Mrs. Luetje continued the monthly Stars Assemblies with embedded work from the Resiliency Team to make them more interactive and student focused. In doing so, the regular star awards were taped to lockers for the morning of the assembly along with a dance party in the halls to celebrate which allowed for focused time in the assembly to be a part of the OCRP work.

★ Our PTA continues to be a great working partnership for the MS. They continued to do the Muffin Mondays each month, and held movie nights in the library throughout the year, and supported the needs of both our staff and students in every aspect. Their feedback and participation have been very valuable. We are very fortunate to have built up a strong parent connection through the PTA. Our president, Jamie Hastings, is an active member on the school board as well as Marcy Winslow the new TMS PTA secretary.

★ Mrs. Mastroianni and I continue to submit a bi-weekly article for the Bethel Citizen highlighting events going on at TMS. This outreach along with submission to the monthly Satellite page have been great positive PR for the middle school. We make sure that upcoming dates and events are included as well as direct updates from the teaching staff on a grade level rotation so that the community has a snapshot of what is taking place in our classrooms too. We also work to make sure there are at a minimum weekly updates to our TMS website besides the daily announcements and promote to our parents to use the website as a one stop information spot to hopefully meet all of their needs. Stephanie also creates amazing bulletin boards each month with the help of her Guidance students to brighten our hallways and share positive messages.

★ TMS continues to be the district leaders when using our grade reporting system Jump Rope. There is a parent corner and laptop set up in the middle school office that any parent may access if they do not have internet or technology access at home. Over the summer we will all be upgrading to the new Jump Rope 2.0 platform moving on from the Flashplayer format of the current edition.

3. Curriculum/instruction initiatives or changes in 2019-2020 and plans for the next year ★ All curriculum areas continue to work throughout the year to fine tune their Reporting Standards in Jump Rope. We use “I can” statements or learning

targets created to communicate with parents and students what they are learning and why. ★ All staff continued to work on writing across the curriculum, tailoring to their assessment needs and working towards common scoring rubrics.

Departments work at creating cross curriculum units as well based on what they have learned this spring about remote learning. ★ There was time and professional development this year focused on Understanding By Design or (UbD) for unit development. Curriculum meeting

time and district workshop time was devoted to staff training as well as a PLC who worked on this monthly. ★ Three MS teachers were a part of the pilot program for STAR Enterprises this year to look for a new progress monitoring system. This was done in

parallel with NWEA testing, however with the move to remote learning we did not finish the pilot nor did we get to do our spring testing. 4. Staff development projects/focus for 2019-2020 and plans/goals for this year ★ The staff continued to work and build our Content Area Reading (CAR) classes and Math Workshop as a part of our RTI plan. All students receive

supplemental practice and instruction during this time. This block of intervention time has proven effective in helping our students in achieving their standards and building their self confidence at the same time.

★ This year we continue to spend significant time working with the Oxford County Resiliency Project in our quest to become a trauma informed school.

Staff worked on further ACEs training, using the Zones of Regulation research not only for their students but themselves, and implementing Talking Circles. The circles took place in RAP, but we also did them in staff meetings as well. It also placed Jenni Smith, and LCSW in our building five days a week for additional social work support, student small groups, and staff development. We used our 3rd staff meeting each month to focus on different aspects of this work 6-12. We look to continue to grow the tool kits of both staff and students going forward into next year.

5. Equipment improvements during 2019-2020 and areas of need: ★ All students are using MacBook Airs that are either two or three years old. We have never been this well set up with technology across the board

thanks to the support of the school board and continue to work with staff on successful technology integration into units of study. We have nine apple televisions available for our teaching staff which will give them more of a chance to infuse technology into their classrooms. We have two external hard drive/DVD player to the technology equipment in the middle school. We have 1 classroom without a SmartBoard. Five classrooms have the latest style interactive projector/whiteboard that does not require a special board.

A lot happened this school year, prior to and during remote learning. It is uncertain what the fall will bring, but we will be ready.

7th Grade North Star Preview Activities:

Bulletin Boards Courtesy of Mrs. Mastroianni’s Guidance Classes:

TMS PTA Remote Teacher Appreciation Day:

One of our Muffin Mondays: Respectfully Submitted, Mark C. Kenney

Name:

MSAD #44 Annual Report 2019-2020 School Year

Mark Kenney, Principal of Telstar High School Dean of Students: John Eliot Students: 172 Teaching Staff: 19 Ed. Techs: 2 Secretaries: 3 Other: 1 Guidance Counselor Custodians: 4 (shared with TMS) Cafeteria Workers: 3 (shared with TMS) Shared district staff: 8 1 shared Social Worker MS/HS, 1 Activities Coordinator, 1 shared Special Education Social Worker, 1 shared full-time Librarian, 1 shared Nurse, 1 shared Nurse's Aide, 1 Technology Technician, 1 Athletic Trainer 1. Student accomplishments during 2019-2020 ★ This year due to COVID-19 we pulled off a graduation week like no other with, Senior Class Banners and daily Facebook Shout Outs!, a live

broadcast of scholarship night, a community parade, the students were able to come in for A Coming Together, and Sunday River hosted an outdoor graduation and Project Graduation event after for us all. It was amazing! WHAT TV also broadcast all of these events live through YouTube Live for those who could not join in person which was excellent.

★ We had 4 students very successfully complete their CMCC Dual Enrollment senior year this year. All four did a great job representing THS. ★ Students took online AP exams remotely for the first time due to COVID-19 and we await their results. ★ We had two students make the All-State Music Festival, Ainsley Brown for choral and Evan LeConey for both choral and instrumental. Evan was also

selected to All-New England. ★ Seven students were named to the Region 9 Technical Honors Society. ★ THS conducted their first ever school wide Community Outreach Day in October where the staff and students went into the community to provide

service acts. We purchased shirts for the kids and logged 6 hours for every student. We had a 95% participation rate that day! It was awesome and with the help of the Bethel Rotary we have bigger plans for next year.

★ Homecoming was a great community event. The whole community came out for activities and the parade on Saturday before the football game and the school spirit was alive and well!

★ This year we are thankful to not have dozens of snow days. Learning from years past we added 10 minutes to each day to bank time. This proved to be a very effective and productive time for everyone involved. Excitedly, in the end, we did not need extra days to our calendar due to weather.

★ This fall Mrs. Lynch and I took a group of 15 students to the 9 Dragons plant in Rumford for a tour and spent time with the engineers of the plant learning about all of the different job opportunities that existed there. It was amazing to see the plant from the inside.

★ Winter Carnival went off to great success this year. Ms. I posted a lot of the events live on Facebook Live to the public. Students created murals, participated in games, and had a most wonderful variety show that showcased so many talented students and staff. We also were able to institute a bunch of outdoor activities this year which were a lot of fun!

★ Our students collected 3 Sportsmanship Banners this year during the sports season that were held. While we struggled at times with numbers of participants, the athletes and teams we were able to put out there represented our school very well.

★ In November, Mrs. Luetje and Mr. Eliot took 4 students to China for a week in our exchange program through American Schools. They had an amazing experience meeting with our sister school from the summer exchange program and saw many amazing sites while there.

★ TFA students had a very successful Harvest Community Dinner in the fall with local products and their Think Tank presentations were amazing. Due to COVID-19 there was no trip to Washington, D.C. this spring.

★ For one week in July, Telstar hosted a group of students from Wenzhou, China, for a cultural exchange in setting up a partnership with Telstar. Our THS staff and students rose to the occasion and we had some amazing local host families take in the Chinese students and teachers. There were daily class lessons and field trips to enrich their experience. We had a culminating activity at Stonybrook Campground with a bar-b-que while the students worked to paint a picnic table that will remain on the Telstar patio for all to enjoy.

2. Staff accomplishments during 2019-2020: ★ We had new staff members join us this year at THS. Scott Underhill, a former TMS PE and Health teacher returned to Telstar as the new HS teacher.

At the end of the year, we had two retirements, Marilyn Howe long time Guidance Secretary and Val Forman THS ELA teacher. ★ With the Bethel Rotary, we were able to continue the Student of the Month assemblies and recognition program. The rotary sponsored a student from

each grade each month selected by the staff to be presented a certificate in front of their peers, and then attend a breakfast meeting of the whole rotary so the group could also recognize them. It was great to be able to bring this back to the high school after several years of it being gone.

★ Elke Blauss led the National Honors Society coordinator and hosted her first Thanksgiving Dinner with the students. They also spent time volunteering at CPS working with their students of the month in tie dying shirts.

★ Tera Ingraham and Kelley Fraser led a very active and successful group of students through all of the Student Council events this year to promote school spirit, sense of community, and giving back. From Homecoming, to Winter Carnival these two go above and beyond their job descriptions for our students and our school.

★ Haley Colpitts led the Math Team for the second year which traveled to all conference competitions this year scoring points in each one. This season THS was able to host the final meet of the year with students from 9 schools present, which was a great experience for us all.

3. Curriculum/instruction initiatives or changes in 2019-2020 and plans for the next year: ★ All curriculum areas continue to work throughout the year to fine tune their Reporting Standards that will be used in Jump Rope. Most curriculums

have “I can” statements or learning targets created matching what is posted on classroom walls or boards, so students know exactly what they are learning, why, and what is expected of them.

★ All staff worked on writing across the curriculum, tailoring to their assessment needs and working towards common scoring rubrics. Staff will continue to work on building standards based assessments both formative and summative in the coming year.

4. Staff development projects/focus for 2019-2020 and plans/goals for this year ★ This year the complex spent significant time working with the Oxford County Resiliency Project in working towards becoming a trauma informed

school. Staff worked on further ACEs training, using the Zones of Regulation research not only for their students but themselves, and implementing Talking Circles. We continue to work with Jenni Smith, five days a week for additional social work support, student small groups, and staff development.

★ We will continue to also work on deadlines and timeliness of work by students. Making better use of ASA and Saturday School, and holding students accountable for their learning.

★ Starting the process of building a new advisory program and 7 Peaks initiative for the complex. This year’s seniors completed the first ever Senior Capstone Presentations.

5. Equipment improvements during 2019-2020 and areas of need: ★ All students are using MacBook Airs that are either now four years old. We have never been this well set up with technology across the board thanks

to the support of the school board and continue to work with staff on successful technology integration into units of study. ★ We have six apple televisions available for our teaching staff which will give them more of a chance to infuse technology into their classrooms. We

have two external hard drive/DVD players to add to the technology equipment in the high school. Looking forward to getting back to school in the fall!

Our Telstar Crew in China

THS Winter Concert 2019

9 Dragons Plant Tour

Community Outreach Day 2019

Winter Carnival 2019

Graduation June 2020

THS Graduation South Ridge Parking Lot at Sunday River 6/5/20

Respectfully Submitted, Mark C. Kenney