PARIS — Oxford Hills school district Curriculum Director Jill Bartash, Outdoor Learning Coordinator Sarah Tim and Roberts Farm STEM Educator Sarah Kearsley updated the school board Tuesday night about outdoor learning at Roberts Farm and the district’s eight elementary schools.

With standards for outdoor education well-established at Agnes Gray Elementary School in West Paris, similar programs are being rolled out in other towns. By the end of the current school year infrastructure in the form of outdoor classrooms, trails and gardens will be added to all other elementary schools in SAD 17. Timm prepares training and professional development for educators to incorporate outdoor lessons with overall curriculum.

Additionally, each of the district’s 230 fifth grade students spends one day each month attending programs at Roberts Farm, with the day split between physical activities (snowshoeing, hiking, etc.) and STEM-based classes utilizing lab equipment, agriculture and food production. Last year students harvested 270 pounds of produce that was sold to the district’s food service program (including 100% of the lettuce used for summer meals) and donated to local food pantries.

A new portable classroom will be added to Roberts Farm this year using $890,000 from the American Rescue Plan Act.

Looking forward, SAD 17’s outdoor education team is consulting with administrators for Oxford Hills Comprehensive High School and Oxford Hills Middle School to expand programs for older students.

Superintendent Heather Manchester explained that SAD 17’s successes in experiential learning were made possible with Rethinking Remote Education Ventures (RREV) grants from the Maine Department of Education and federal programs developed in the wake of the pandemic. But she cautioned that in order to continue increasing and improving outdoor education in the future the district will need to commit local dollars to resources and staffing.

During his administrative report, Assistant Superintendent Steve Ciembroniewicz told directors that the district’s safety committee, which began holding monthly meetings in October, is working towards three goals. The first is to put an updated emergency management plan into place.

The second is to expand safety and emergency training to all district staff with clear expectations and accountability mechanisms. Lastly, the committee is formulating three or four objectives for improving safety for board members to consider, as they will likely have budgetary implications.

Ciembroniewicz also shared statistics on student homelessness, which the district is required to track through the McKinney Vento Act. Currently, 91 families with students attending school in SAD 17 are experiencing homelessness or in danger of becoming unhoused. Almost half of the affect students are between Pre-K and sixth grade, 20% are middle-school aged and about a third are in high school.

The majority of families are what is referred to as “doubled up,” which means they are staying with relatives or at other places. The Maine Department of Education awarded $33,000 to Oxford Hills to assist student families in need, which extends to helping with utilities and other expenses so they can remain in their own homes.

Jessika Sheldrick, principal at Otisfield Community School, presented to the board some trends she and her team are seeing in their building. She said students are engaged with positive behavior intervention rewards, including support and recognition of their peers making improvements.

She also said she has sat in on math class for every grade and is observing increased interaction among the students, especially in lessons where sharing ideas and answers on math problems is required. Sheldrick also said she’d like to thank the school’s custodian Ryan Adams, who procured drinking water for students and made sure restroom plumbing was monitored during a power outage before Christmas vacation.

Manchester announced that staff members of the month for November and December were special ed teacher Michaela MacDonald of Oxford Elementary School and Walter Hopkins, custodian at Oxford Hills Comprehensive Middle School.

Directors unanimously approved the second reading of four district policies: DJ Bidding/Purchasing Requirements; KB Parent Involvement in Education; KEB Complaints about School Personnel; and KE Public Concerns and Complaints.

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