Future of Windham skatepark up for debate and discussion - By Anne Libby

On Monday, May 2^nd, there was a town meeting to discuss the state of the Windham skatepark, and whether to fix the old one, or create a new one. The meeting was open to the public, and nothing official has been decided. There were a few teens who use the park that came to help develop an idea of what they wanted in their skate park. 

One option for the new and improved skatepark.

“[The skate park] is an afterschool program for the kids,” one mother said. The people who were at the meeting all agree that something needs to be done as soon as possible to give the kids somewhere to skateboard, scooter and bike. To do that, the hope is to be able to save some of the original course and take out what is completely unusable. After reopening the skate park temporarily, the idea is to give more time for a development team to design a new course. Right now the debate is whether to create a concrete park, a wooden park or a mixture of the two. 

At this meeting it seemed the best option would be both concrete and wood. An idea that was also presented was the new park be created where the bike course section was supposed to be (directly behind the present one). This is not only to cut down on the noise for the neighbors, but also may create more space for parking.  

There has not been an estimate of a budget yet, nor a timeline for the creation of a new park. It is a priority for the committee to reopen what they can of the old park, to offer a place for the kids to skate again. 

The next meeting is projected for Monday, May 9. Watch for details. Everyone from the community is welcome to come and participate, especially students who use it and want to suggest ways to make it better.

Christine Hesler and Chris Howell awarded Educational Champion Award - By Michelle Libby

Last week at the annual High School Redesign in Action conference, Christine Hesler, director of curriculum, instruction and assessment for RSU14 and Windham High School principal Chris Howell were awarded 2016 Educational Champion awards from the New England Secondary School Consortium, which hosted the conference. 
 

This was the fourth time Hesler and Howell have attended the conference and Hesler presented at two sessions. 

People from each state in New England and a regional award were given accolades for their “unique contributions to the effort to raise graduation rates, lower dropout rates and send more students on to college and post-secondary certification programs in Maine.”  

Hesler and Howell were nominated by the Maine Department of Education and two employees there. “It’s flattering when schools who are trying to do some good things are recognized,” said Howell. The RSU has been reaching out to other schools all over the state and even other states to help them create programs that benefit students. 

Hesler and Howell were awarded partially for their work with proficiency-based learning. “We’re trying to make learning as transparent as possible to the students,” Howell said. For three years, the teachers and administrations have been working on developing a curriculum that benefits students - one that is “rigorous and relevant” to them. “Kids can make choices when they leave here. The choice is not dictated to them,” he said. He doesn’t want to see a student have no choice because of a minimal curriculum path.

“We have had the support of the leadership team and teachers. They pushed us to find answers. They’re represented in the award,” Hesler said. “I’m really proud of our staff and what they’ve been able to accomplish.” 

Others who were this awarded this year were state board of education chairmen, presidents and CEOs of major corporations and executive directors of non-profits. 

“A senator won it last year. College presidents win, I’m kind of in shock, but it’s very nice,” said Hesler.  “We’re proud to represent the RSU.” 

“Mrs. Hesler and Mr. Howell were two of seven Champions recognized this year for their extraordinary commitment to ensuring that public-school student across New England have a chance to succeed in school, live a fulfilled and meaningful life, and make a positive contribution to the world,” said Blythe Armitage from Great Schools Partnership based in Portland.  

Hesler, along with teachers Jeff Riddle and Amy Denecker, and Sarah Plummer, from the Portland Water District, discussed the book their class wrote and published last year called “Discovering Water”.  On the new website www.discoveringwater.org people can see how the book came together, the team and the presentation they did at the conference, which was not only presented at the conference, but streamed live to other states. 

Students at WHS are now working on an interactive iBook for people everywhere to be able to read

and learn about water. The book is currently being used in every sixth grade in the state, Hesler said.

The students who worked on this book, graduated from WHS as published authors, photographers and graphic artists, she added. Howell is pleased that the school is able to reach out to community partners and non-profits that want to partner with the students in projects. 

“I’m excited for Chris, He’s working really hard at the high school. We’re extremely fortunate to have him,” said Hesler. 

 “These champions do this through their deep thinking, their tireless energy, and their unwavering commitment to students they will never know. Far too few students will ever know that their lives have been positively influenced by the efforts of the 2016 New England Secondary School Consortium Champions," said David Ruff, executive director of the Great Schools Partnership and the New England Secondary School Consortium.

“We are able to have hard conversations with the Department of Education to tell them we need tools to do the job well,” Hesler said.

Hesler serves on the board of directors for the Maine Curriculum Leaders’ Association representing Cumberland County. Howell currently serves on the board of Jobs for Maine’s Graduates and on the advisory board for the School Education and Human Development at the University of Southern Maine. At the state level, he is a long-time board member for the Maine Curriculum Leaders’ Association. 

Howell also has served on several advisory councils for the Maine Department of Education. 

“Now we get back to work. We have much more we need to do,” Howell said. “It’s nice to be recognized, but there still a lot to do. We will still be engaged in state level policy making.” 

Howell is currently working with his team on updating the curriculum pathways to ensure that all students have a chance to meet the graduation standards as laid out, that assessments given measure the standards and targets and forming additional pathways that can help students meet standards in a non-traditional way.

“We don’t do the work for awards, we do it for the kids,” Hesler said.

Kindness Week at Manchester School ends with a celebration and a dash of color - By Michelle Libby

Last Friday over 400 students at Manchester School in Windham celebrated kindness at an assembly featuring skits, speeches and the introduction of a color run to take place in the spring. 

“The best part was last year fourth grade students approached Mrs. Weatherbee to start an anti-bullying club,” said principal Danielle Donnini. The team worked to create the name Team Kindness and met at lunch recess to plan activities. The group consists of approximately 30 fourth and fifth graders. 

 “It has evolved from September into today,” said guidance counselor Jessica Weatherbee. “One little idea can turn into something this huge,” she told the audience of fourth and fifth graders. 

On Friday, some of the team put on kindness skits showing how to be nice to someone who gets tripped or drops their books. 

The whole week was dedicated to doing something to help others. “They want to expand kindness throughout the whole school,” said Weatherbee. “We want to create a culture of kindness in the building.”

The whole school, led by the chorus, sang a kindness song about “reach out your kind-hearted hand.” All of it part of The Great Kindness Challenge, an online program that encourages schools to devote one week to performing as many acts of kindness as possible, choosing from a 50 item checklist. The items vary from smile at 25 people to walk a dog or cat. 

 

The school also held a door contest on way to show kindness. Many of the classrooms had interactive doors that had quotes and special touches to show and give suggestions on ways to be kind. One door was made to look like an iPhone with apps for kindness, for example Kindness Watchers (Weight Watchers), Teamwork, KindFlix (Netflix), FriendBook and InstaKind. 

Student Adrianna Libby said her favorite app was Stand up. “It’s about standing up for yourself.”

Donnini declared that everyone won the contest because it’s all about kindness and everyone wins when it comes to kindness. 

Donnini quoted Ellen DeGeneres, “I just think that kindness is something we should all have…We need more of that out there.” 

“This week reminded us just a little bit about how we want to be,” said Weatherbee. During the week the students were asked to bring in a food item for the Windham Food Pantry for the privilege of breaking dress code and wearing a hat in school. With a two day notice the school rallied and brought in 283 items to donate. 

The also held themed dress up days like “tied together with kindness” where kids wore curly ribbon and bow or neck ties, “crazy for kindness” where they wore mismatched clothes and the “dreaming of kindness” where the students wore pajamas. 

The students made iMovie videos about what kindness means to them and they continued talk about “creating a chain reaction,” which they learned about in Rachel’s Challenge. 

The Kindness Team has been meeting twice a month and according to Weatherbee, “the students are teaching and guiding me” about what they want to accomplish. 

“I’ve seen so much kindness and I know this is going to continue,” said vice principal Kristal Vargo-Ward. 

Weatherbee also announced that Mrs. Carle’s class will be organizing a color run as their Community Day project. Manchester hosts a community day every year to celebrate each class doing a year-long project to benefit something in the community. The color run will be a one or two mile, untimed race. Weatherbee, Vargo-Ward and gifted and talented teacher Jennifer Breton volunteered to demonstrate how the color run would work, with students tossing a colored chalk-like substance on their white shirts creating a colorful art piece. The color run is scheduled for April 10^th.

Plows take a break and save on budgets - By Michelle Libby

In January, residents expect to see their town trucks with plows keeping the roads safe and clear, but this year the plow trucks aren’t as busy as in past years, saving money in the budget and wear and tear on the trucks. 
 

In Raymond, most of the plowing is contracted out to P&K Sand and Gravel. P&K plows 40 miles of Raymond’s 50 plus miles of road. 

The town has a $180,000 contract with P&K for winter plowing. Public works director Nathan White estimates that he spends $40,000 on winter sand, $60,000 on salt and $15,000 on over time and fuel most winters. 

“We’d be happy if it didn’t snow,” White said. With a cold winter, they’re not heating as much and it helps the whole public works budget. 

Although Raymond doesn’t break out its winter budget from the year long budget, the amount of supplies and money that will roll into other items is substantial. White estimates his budget on a winter like last year. When he plans for a harsh winter, and there is less ice and snow, he is able to have money to even out the heavy winters that have more overtime or higher fuel costs. 

“Fuel and overtime are the only wildcards. I have to budget every year for fuel,” he said. 

White runs a staff of four fulltime employees and two additional part-timers in the summer for grounds and maintenance. When it’s not snowing, the crew works on maintenance of buildings and equipment, especially summer equipment. They do some brush cutting and sign repairs. Although the vehicles at public works are relatively new, the small equipment needs constant repairs. “The town’s been very generous in the last year or two,” said White.  

The public works crew is also busy with sign maintenance. People keep stealing the town’s stop and street signs, he said. It cost approximately $100 each to replace the stolen stop signs. 

The challenges in public works are to “try to get done everything that everyone wants us to do with the small stuff to keep everybody happy and satisfied,” White said. “My guys do an outstanding job getting done what has to be done in a timely manner. We always have work.” 

The trend in public works is to contract out the plowing, said White. Twenty-five years ago, Raymond contracted out all of the plowing. In 1997, the town started plowing to keep the staff busy during the winter. They now plow parking lots and other town sites. RSU14 set the plowing of Jordan-Small Middle School and Raymond Elementary School out to bid recently. 

The community is very supportive of the work Raymond Public Works does. “They respect what we do and work with us. People in town are great to work with,” White said. “My whole staff appreciates the support from the town. I’m happy to serve the town.” 

Raymond is getting ready to pave roads with a paving bond that was approved by voters. The paving is subcontracted out with Raymond Public Works doing the ditching and culverts, according to White. For the last two years the town has been doing aggressive paving, he added. 

“There’s nothing good about winter as it relates to the roads,” White said, making the need for road work more pressing.

January 15, 2016 - Front Page Stories

Energetic & talented Windham MS students deliver strong performance -Walter Lunt

Renys expands to Windham - By Michelle Libby

Dolby Funeral Chapel sold to husband/wife employees - By Walter Lunt

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Renys expands to Windham - By Michelle Libby

John Reny, president of Renys, announced this week that a new “Maine Adventure” is coming to Windham. The new store will occupy the corner space in The Windham Mall on Route 302, previously occupied by Big Lots and Summit Adventures. 

“I think it’s going to be a good location for us,” said Reny. Windham had been on the Renys radar for the past two years, but with a new computer system, they weren’t ready to open a new store, he added.

Reny’s will occupy 27,000 square feet in the old Big Lots location. Summit Adventures has been using the space and will consolidate their operations into the left side of the existing space, according to WRE Commercial Brokers, who lease the space at The Windham Mall. A new entrance will be built for Summit Adventures. 

 “They decided they like the market and asked for space,” said Windham Economic Development Corporation director Tom Bartell. “This provides another option for shoppers and a draw to bring folks to Windham. It’s a nice thing to have.” The nearest Renys is in Bridgton.

“We are excited to add another Renys location to our group of stores – There are many great towns in Maine that we would love to be in and Windham is one that we have driven by daily to bring great values to our Bridgton store and will be a great addition,” Reny said. 

Construction has begun “Reny-vating” the space for the new store. Reny anticipates that fixtures will be placed in March and the store will open in April. There will also be a new front on the store. “We try to make it nice. We have customers to have a nice, clean shopping experience,” he said. “We hope they really like what they see. Great deals, new merchandise, quality at a good price.” Renys is known for carrying Timberland boots, Carhartt and Smartwool socks, to name a few items. 

“We live here, we know what you need,” said Reny. 

"Renys is a landmark Maine business, and it will be great to have Windham be a part of Renys Maine Adventure," said Windham town manager Tony Plante.

The new store will employee between 40 and 50 people full and part time combined. “It’s going to be a busy store,” said Reny. 

Renys most recently opened stores in Portland and Topsham in 2011 and currently has 16 locations across Maine. Founded in Damariscotta in 1949, Renys continues to succeed, employing over 500 people across the state. 

“We are excited to be part of your town,” added Faustine Reny.

Dolby Funeral Chapel sold to husband/wife employees - By Walter Lunt

In-house transaction ensures little, if any, changes to services

The Dolby Funeral Chapel, long a Windham institution that is the source of service and comfort to local families in grief, has changed hands. It’s been sold “…but I’m still here,” Tim Dolby said on Monday. But now he’s there in the capacity of an employee. The familiar establishment in the Newhall section of River Road, as well as the chapel in Gorham, was purchased about four weeks ago by Kristin and Eric Segee, both funeral directors, who have been employed by Dolby for the last three years. The Dolby business name will be retained.

I think everybody involved “wanted to avoid a sale to a big corporation,” Eric speculated, “If Tim could be here forever, I’m sure he would.”

“I’ve done this for a long while, but it was time for some kind of change,” Dolby said. In addition to the Dolby family having operated the funeral service for decades, Tim was also Windham fire chief for a number of years.

The Segee’s are licensed and certified morticians, and in addition to their work with the Dolby funeral chapels they have also worked at funeral homes in Portland and Bangor. So far, patrons have reacted with a mix of surprise and acceptance, said Eric.

“Most respond with ‘Oh, how sad, but good for you’.” And, he added, most are glad to learn that Tim is still very involved. 

On the topic of possible changes to the operation and physical plant, the Segee’s agreed there will be little, if any. “We want the same level of service and commitment to the community,” said Kristin.

Eric said both he and Tim have agreed on the need for one set of improvements to the chapel facility. Technology. Especially the electronic options which are now limited to cassette and CD players. The plan is to modernize by offering multiple flat screen TV’s that will receive wireless video, still pictures and musical playlists from a patron’s smart phone, which are utilized as tributes to the deceased. In addition, Eric said the website will be revamped and expanded.

“Years ago, if you knew the deceased’s church affiliation you knew the kind of memorial service that would be expected. But today the range of funeral and memorial services are vast and varied.

“The new website (expected to be in operation in four to five weeks) will be used to educate consumers about the now infinite personalization options.”

Another long range goal, he added, might be to enlarge the chapel to accommodate the growing number of people that attend services.

At nearby Thayer’s Store, proprietor Jim Quimby said the news of the Dolby sale took him and his wife, Judy, by surprise. “It’s the end of an era,” he quipped. He said the most frequent response from his startled customers is, “Are you kidding me?”

“Changes in your neighborhood, like any change to your lifestyle, take time to get used to,” he said. “People are reluctant to embrace change. But it’ll work out…(the new owners) seem to be nice people – very congenial.”

The Segee’s (pronounced suh-ghee) seem to be comfortable and content in their new role at the Dolby chapel. They say they’ve gotten to know at least 100 families during their employment there.

“We’re excited, but a little anxious with the new endeavor,” said Kristin, smiling. Eric, who grew in East Machias, indicated they’ve settled in for the long haul. “We like living in Windham.  The town is like a hybrid, it’s got the feel of a suburb, but the character of the old farming community is still here.” Everyone seems to know and care about each other.

January 8, 2016 - Front Page Stories

WHS alum entertain @ 18th Nickerson Scholarship Concert - Elizabeth Richards

On Thin Ice – rescued dog “doing fine” - Crews display teamwork - By Walter Lunt

Be The Influence Coalition welcomes new director - By Elizabeth Richards

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