School Board Report for OTES
December 2018
Holiday Season at OTES
Parent Teacher Club: Continues to provide many activities to support our students in their learning in the month of December.
Community Resource Center: Many of our families experience hard times at the holidays and Jennifer Goodwin has worked with families to help ease their burden.
Fire Department: The Fire Department has provided boxed meals for our families in need.
Holy Family Church: The church provided gifts for many families at OTES.
Rotary Club: The Rotary Club provided stockings full of gifts/toys for the students in need.
Kiwanis Club: The Kiwanis Club hosted a holiday party for several families at OTES and Orono.
Bangor Savings Bank: Adopted a family to buy gifts for the holiday season.
RSU 34 Children's Fund: The Children's Fund provided needed support to families to purchase gifts and essentials for the families.
Dead River: Adopted a family
OT Canoe: Adopted a family
OT Police: Adopted a family
Several other concerned citizens called to adopt a family from our school.
It is always amazing at this time of year to see the community support the students in the town. I believe the measure of a good community is how they treat their children and families and I can say Old Town stands out in the field.
Communication is the Key to Success
We have made communication a priority and have concentrated on several ways to connect. Many of the teachers have used an app called Remind which texts the parent with updates, reminders, or general information. We also heavily rely on our Facebook Page and New Website to get updated information to our parents in a timely manner.
In February, we are sending out a survey asking for some input about our communication and will use the data to gauge our work and next steps.
Professional Development And Experiences Throughout DECEMBER
- Last year the school board voted to support our two positions for instructional coaching in the RSU, Literacy Coach (Amy Cyr) and Math/STEM Coach (Sandy Daniel). Each of these positions have paid off for our school district and continue to move our teachers in many professional directions. Sandy Daniel has provided a great deal of support for our first and second year teachers (8 teachers) learning about the Envision Math Program. Sandy started the school year meeting with each of the new teachers, reviewing the scope and sequence, developing an instructional structure for the teacher, and giving them time to ask questions about the program. Sandy has also provided a level of support for the teachers familiar with the program, but also those who would like to explore additional resources provided in the program and differentiated materials for supporting all learners. These sessions have been invaluable to our staff and during many of their summative evaluation meetings with me, individual teachers have expressed their gratitude for the professional support.
- Amy Cyr has been working as an interventionist/Literacy Coach this school year. Amy has been working much like Sandy with the new teachers, but she has also been offering a graduate level course at OTES in partnership with the University of Maine to develop literacy skills with 7 staff members. She has also been working with a group of teachers after school to individualize their programming and to address their instructional needs. Amy has been getting into so many classrooms, modeling lessons, giving feedback, and supporting teachers' professional development.
- These two coaches will be joining us at our January Board meeting to talk about the coaching experience at OTES
Upcoming Events at OTES
December 18: Holiday Sock Day, 5th Grade Concert, Empty Bowls Service Learning
December 19: Peaceful Message Day, D.O.G.S. Meeting at Yamas 6 pm
December 20: Holiday Outfit Day
December 21: Sparkle Day
Holiday Break December24-January 2
January 2: PTC meeting
January 8: Staff Meeting
January 9: After School Programming Session 2
January 11: Interim Reports Go HOme