Winterfest's first year low on winter, high on spirit - By Michelle Libby

Last Saturday, Windham Parks and Recreation and Windham PTA worked together to put on a Winterfest celebration that would mesh with the Sebago Lake Fishing Derby, however, when the derby was cancelled expected attendance dropped, but that didn’t stop the people who came from having fun. 

“It was a slow start and as the day went on more people came. It was a little lower attendance with the confusion around the canceling of the derby,” said parks and rec director Linda Brooks. “By the evening, we had a lot of visitors.”

The event was held at two venues, Donnabeth Lippman Park and the Windham Veterans Center, with shuttle service between the two. 

“A lot of people learned about Lippman Park,” said Brooks. “They didn’t know it was there.”

Skating at the park was a big hit. Youth played hockey and some families skated, said Brooks. Many of the activities were more akin to a springfest, but the bounce houses, hidden candy on the story walk and hula hooping with Flamin’ Raymond and Sizzlin’ Susan gave everyone a chance to practice their spring and summer fun skills. 

The indoor venue at the Windham Veterans Center gave people the opportunity to get out of the cold and warm up with free food and treats. The Windham PTA held a crockpot cookoff, and served hotdogs and popcorn. Guests sampled the food and voted for which dish was their favorite. The third place was a tie between Sarah Simagna’s meatballs and Julie Frost’s Taco Soup, second place went to Melissa Oldakowski’s sweet and sour meatballs and first place went to Ernesta Kennedy for her BBQ Beans. 

 

Pat’s Pizza donated a soup to the crockpot competition and 25 other businesses donated prizes for the winners and as door prizes. The Windham Veterans Association donated the building to the cause.

“It was great because we had such a response from our community,” said Wotton. 

In the past the PTA held a winter type event at Manchester School, but it had not happened for the last few years. When they heard about this event, the PTA couldn’t wait to partner with Windham Parks and Recreation. The PTA took over the organizing of the warming space in the Veterans center.

Wotton, president of the PTA in Windham, involved Cub Scout Pack 805, who set up a Pinewood Derby track and let the children build Lego cars to race. 

Leanna, 7, and Bryce, 4 1/2 , Rogers build race cars out of Legos to run down the Pinewood Derby track.

“It’s been a successful first year. We wanted to start simple so we would be successful,” said Wotton. “Next year it will hopefully be bigger.”

Thank you to the sponsors including Maine Optometry

Next year’s plans are already underway, with the possibility of a shortened day and expanded community involvement. “Lippman Park is a great opportunity for winter activities like cross country skiing, skating and snowshoeing,” said Brooks. She anticipates that the locations will stay the same. 

A Campfire.

“On the whole it was something to grow on. People were generally very pleased,” Brooks said.

Winterfest's first year low on winter, high on spirit - By Michelle Libby 
 John A. Andrew School: Can an appreciation of the past add clarity to the future? - By Walter Lunt
Business community and education - By Michelle Libby

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John A. Andrew School: Can an appreciation of the past add clarity to the future? - By Walter Lunt

All vestiges of the original wood frame John A. Andrew School in South Windham are now gone. All but the memories.
 

The 90 plus year old “grammar” school was demolished and hauled away in recent weeks after its roof was deemed beyond repair. The brick ell, an addition built in 1954 and currently used for school storage, remains on the High Street site. Concurrently, a committee of the RSU 14 Board of Directors mulls the future of the district’s three middle schools. An advisory group concluded in June, 2014 that Windham Middle School (1977) and Field-Allen School (1947) in Windham are over capacity and facing heating, electrical and other building issues. Jordan Small School in Raymond, it was determined, while suffering from roof deterioration, electrical issues and energy inefficiency, is under capacity by 45 percent. Unfortunately, efforts to resolve the middle school concerns spawned controversy over cost sharing between the two towns and Raymond’s failed attempt to leave the district.

The John A. Andrew history is a proud and storied one. The original structure, a clapboarded 2 ½ story wood frame building, built at the turn of the 20^th century, was lost to fire in the early 1920s. The more recent 4-room wooden building featured an abbreviated, shallow cellar with a raised floor. Generations of Windham children, kindergarten (early on known as sub-primary) to grade 4 learned their arithmetic facts and ABCs from stern, strict teachers, usually female.

As noted in the early Windham Town Reports, most teachers were graduates of Gorham Normal School; great emphasis was placed on penmanship (Palmer method), and promoted the craft through basic and advanced classes and special awards to those who mastered the drill sheets; and public speaking (known as elocution) was valued and practiced daily.

When primary and elementary classes at John Andrew ended in 1990, a reunion of staff and alumni was organized. Attendees reminisced about teaching practices unheard of in today’s schools: Early “scholars” entered the building in two separate lines, boys and girls – the girls entered first. Both would pause to hang up coats and remove boots in a “cloakroom.” A treasured and esteemed occurrence was to be chosen by your teacher to clean chalk board erasers by going outside and “clapping” them against the building – chalk dust was a regular and familiar part of the classroom sensory experience. And, a mainstay of the day’s opening exercises was a verbal prayer. 

The original school in the 1920s

John A. Andrew in South Windham and the old Arlington School in North Windham (predecessor to the Manchester School) were among the vanguard schools that lead rural communities from the 19^th century “district” school systems, or one-room schoolhouses – there were once 19 in Windham). The newer, larger schools were less expensive to operate and required fewer grades per room. The dawn of the automobile, in this case buses, afforded pupils the convenience of “conveyance” instead of walking long distances.

1990

The school’s namesake, John Albion Andrew, was a favorite son of the community. His birthplace is located near the school site on Depot Street. Born in 1818, “Albion” was home schooled, and later attended Bowdoin College. After pursuing a law career in Boston he is best remembered for serving as governor of Massachusetts during the Civil War. In his last return visit to Windham during the town’s centennial celebration in 1862, Andrew regaled local citizens with a rousing speech crediting his early life in Windham with his success. Later, in 1935, Windham historian Frederick Dole would write, “He was a son of whom Windham is justly proud.” In the early 1900s, one deserving Windham High School graduate would be honored with the John Andrew prize by being awarded the sum of $12.

As residents pay humble respects and bid a necessary though sad good-bye to the John Andrew School, Marge Giovani, chair of the current day RSU 14 Board of Directors, looks ahead to the task of meeting modern school needs. “We’re whittling down our options on the middle school issue. It’s a difficult one,” she said.

Before the brick addition. 

Giovani said the facilities committee hopes to give district voters two viable options later this year, either in an advisory or a binding referendum. Choices, she says, could involve new construction or major renovations.

School facilities director Bill Hansen said that the Andrew site will continue to be cleaned up. “Right now, we’re enhancing the area for future use.” The brick building that was the 1954 addition to the Andrew school is serving a critical need for storage. Attractive metal siding is being placed where the two buildings connected. He said tires and other lingering debris will be removed, and it will soon be an attractive lot.

 

Almost as an after-thought, Hansen mentioned that he is planning to construct a special plaque in honor of the school, a unique one.

It seems, during the tear-down, while the Windham Historical Society salvaged old slate chalkboards and decades old wainscoting for use in their Village Green history center, Hansen removed the front stair treads that lead to the classroom areas. “I’d like to use them for a plaque,” he mused, “that would show (highlight) the indentations formed by years of foot traffic.”

So, gone but not forgotten. Hansen’s plaque will be a physical testament to immortalize decades, that is, generations of little feet. Memories.

Business community and education - By Michelle Libby

At a workshop last week, principals Drew Patin from Windham Middle School and Kyle Rhoads from Windham Middle School presented to businessmen and women in Windham and Raymond how education has changed in the last 20 years. 
  

“Education of our students today impact businesses tomorrow,” said Rhoads. The plan for the presentation was to inform the business community about what is going on in schools and how the perspective of employers might need to be adjusted. 

“The factory model of schooling is dead,” Rhoads said. “The world has become customized.” He used Amazon and Pandora as examples of that. Amazon tells us what we might like in a book, in products and more. “Pandora is trying to create the idea listening experience for me,” he added. 

“Companies are trying to create the ideal shopping experience. We’re trying to do the same with education.” 

Memorization is no longer needed, said Patin. Everything is at our fingertips. Employers should want employees who can communicate, persevere and can problem solve. “We have the kids go through relevant, real life solutions,” he said. 

Teachers are more of a guide through education, giving students the opportunity to fail by not giving them instant gratification. “It’s not just can they do calculus, but can they apply calculus,” Patin said.

They showed a multi-media presentation of examples of learning across the district. “There’s been a change in our culture,” said one high school teacher. Another pointed out that teachers need to teach 21^st century skills. 

We have to do authentic lessons that utilize skills that are relevant, said WHS teacher Jeff Riddle. Teachers are creating standard operating procedures that allow the student to know what to do when they finish a lesson. It allows each student to move ahead that their own pace. “It will serve its purpose to make them independent thinkers,” said Manchester School teacher Kelly Williamson. “The kids are happier and more engaged,” said another teacher. 

“Regardless of what you call it a good teacher, is a good teacher, is a good teacher. You teach a child where they’re at and show them where they can go,” said Rhoads. 

The school is asking that business people be mentors to students to give them the opportunity to see what different professions are like. There has to be a balance between the knowledge the students need to know and the skills they need to be effective problem solvers, Rhoads said.

Volunteerism has increased at all of the schools over the last few years and parents are encouraged to be engaged in their children’s learning.

Local student seeks help battling cancer - By Michelle Libby 
 Honk! Jr. takes center stage - By Walter Lunt
UPDATE to ice derbies taking place this weekend

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Local student seeks help battling cancer - By Michelle Libby

Windham High School student Hunter Loring has spent the majority of his junior year in the hospital. Halfway through the soccer season this past fall, he had to stop playing because of the pain in his back. When he no longer could walk, stand or sit, muscle relaxers didn’t work and hot and cold didn’t touch the pain, he went to the doctors. After an MRE, doctors found two cancerous tumors wrapped around the nerves in his lower back. 
 

“The tumors he had were in there a long time,” said Hunter’s mom, Wendy Loring. “It has been weird from the beginning.” The tumors were taken out and tested. The rare tumor, called Myxopapillary Ependymoma, is more often found in 40- to 50-year-olds. The doctors at Maine Medical Center said they had never seen a kid with this type of cancer, Wendy said. 

Since the fall, Hunter has had two major back surgeries and has been under anesthesia eight times, six of those so that he could relax enough to be in the MRI machine. He is on constant pain medication and is only now able to walk 300 yards, with the medication. He started radiation to kill the cancer cells, but wasn’t able to do it consistently, so they suspended that until he could try to get his pain under control. 

Hunter is not able to sit in a chair or lay flat, according to Wendy. He now can sit up to 30 degrees in his bed. 

After the second surgery, the family was told that Hunter would be back on the slopes snowboarding before the end of the season. Hunter has been disappointed that this hasn’t happened. “He thinks it’s never going to happen. The chronic pain scares him,” said Wendy. “This is one chapter in our life. We’ll get through it.”  

His family has been looking for a facility where Hunter can do inpatient pain management therapy, occupational therapy, physical therapy and counseling, all in addition to radiation. “He needs so many other things that go with the radiation,” said Wendy. Once the radiation begins he will need 24 treatments over five or six weeks. 

Hunter has been at Maine Medical Center’s Barbara Bush Children’s Hospital wing since January 14, unable to go home while waiting for a bed in a pediatric hospital that can meet all of his needs. He has had some of his friends come in to visit him, which he likes. He plays X-Box, but he isn’t able to keep up with his school work, nor is he able to continue participating in the culinary arts program in Westbrook. “That’s what got him to go to school,” Wendy said. 

Wendy, an administrative assistant in the RSU14 superintendent’s office, has had to take time off to spend time in the hospital with Hunter. She also works two other jobs that she’s had to cut back on. She has had her car packed to travel to the nearest hospital that has the care that Hunter needs since January 31. The cost of some of the rehabilitation hospitals average $2,700 a day per bed. The Loring’s have insurance, but it won’t cover the whole expense. 

Michael, Hunter’s father, works for Walmart’s distribution center. 

“It’s just exhausting,” Wendy said, of trying to keep up with work, Hunter and their oldest son, Tyler, who is 21. 

To help the family with the mounting medical bills, friends have arranged a spaghetti supper and auction fundraiser on March 12 from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the Windham High School cafeteria. Donations will be accepted at the door. Volunteers have been stepping up and the coordinators, a group of five, have been successful in getting donations for the silent auction. The LEO Club from WHS has volunteered to put on a cake auction the same night. 

Kellie Sampson, Wendy’s co-worker, has taken the point in the fundraiser. She wanted to help with the dinner, “because she’s my friend and because I care about her and her family.” The hope is to raise between $3,000 and $4,000. All proceeds will go to the Loring family.

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“The community has really stepped up,” Sampson said. So far the auction has a large number of gift cards as well as two signed basketballs from Dave Cowens, formally of the Celtics basketball team. Other notable items are a certificate for a driver’s education class, a kid’s crooked playhouse and a crooked dog house, $500 worth of services from Designs by Gary and Arkie Rogers has donated a septic cleaning. 

“It’s taken on a life of its own. Everyone wants to help,” Sampson said. 

Hunter and his family are hoping for a pediatric, inpatient hospital that can give him all of the services and therapy he needs, but so far they are striking out. At some facilities, they only have outpatient care, but Wendy said that Hunter can’t ride to get to the hospital every day. At others he’s on a waiting list with 40 people ahead of him. One hospital is in Ohio and Hunter won’t be able to get on a plane, she said. “We’re stuck.” 

“It’s going to be a long, slow process,” Wendy said. “He’s in less pain because he’s on more drugs. It’s the worst thing to watch,” she added.  Dealing with the chronic pain has been one of the hardest parts for Hunter. 

“There are not a lot of places to take kids with chronic pain,” Wendy said. “We’re playing it day by day,” said Wendy. “We’re moving to get new eyes and ears on the problems.” 

Hunter started a consultation for radiation this past week at MMC. 

“I’m a believer that things happen for a reason,” Wendy said. She’s hoping for the best. 

Donations can be made by check to Norma J. Huntley/Hunter Loring Benefit, TD Bank, NA, Mailstop, ME 2-076-031, PO Box 9540, Portland, ME 04112-9540. There is a GoFundMe page set up.