OXFORD – SAD 17 asked parents, teachers, administrators and board members how to best construct a gifted and talented project.

Now it wants to hear from the community in general, said Helen Nevitt, chairman of the steering committee to create a new program. The committee is seeking suggestions from people who have no children in school.

She said surveys will be placed in town offices, schools and the district office by Dec. 12. Most of the survey consist of checklist items, according to Nevitt, that require making choices from four or five possible answers.

“There are a few open-ended questions, so people can tell us what they think,” she said.

Nevitt said community members have told the district they want to have some say in the process and she’s responding to that message.

Nevitt, who is also president of the Maine Educators of the Gifted and Talented, said a steering committee was formed to create a K-12 program because the state requires it.

Previously, SAD 17 had a specified program for fourth grade through sixth grade.

Nevitt said it is important that the new program meet national and state standards and that it fits the district. She said the standards they plan to use are developed by the National Association for Gifted Children in Washington D.C. They were developed by a broad group of people active in the field of gifted education. The committee also plans to incorporate Chapter 104 of the Maine rules for education gifted children.

“There are a number of different ways a program can be built and meet standards, but we want to know what the people want,” Nevitt said. “Once we’ve gathered responses, we should be able to identify greatest strengths, areas that need changes and build our program accordingly.”

Nevitt asked that respondents return surveys by Jan. 9. She said surveys may be completed and left where they were obtained or brought to any town office, school or the district office on Route 26 in the Oxford Shopping Plaza.

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