Childcare centers adapt to support remote learning days for students

The preschool area at A Joyful Noise
Christian Day Care and Learning Center
in Windham is ready for more students
this fall. Because of RSU 14's decision to
start school next month on a hybrid model
because of COVID-19, local daycare and
childcare centers are trying to adapt
to increasing numbers of students being
enrolled this fall. COURTESY PHOTO

By Elizabeth Richards

Childcare directors have been as eager as families to hear what the plan for school in RSU 14 will look like this fall. Now that a hybrid model has been announced, centers are scrambling to create plans that will best support working families and their school-aged children.

With traditional before- and after-school care programs, space is often shared with other programs while children are at school.  With the hybrid plan in place, local centers will have two different groups of children attending full days on their remote learning days, all children on the third remote day, and children joining them for before and/or after school hours as well.

This means those childcare spaces will be used all day, and the overall number of school-aged children each center can accommodate will typically not increase.

Local childcare directors said the hybrid model has changed their programs in a variety of ways. 

Diane LaPierre, the owner of Creative Kids in Raymond, said the hybrid model will mean groups are not consistent, and staff will both be tutoring and caring for children. 

Brianna Hillock, director at All About Kids in Windham, said their program will be changed drastically.

“We were just before and after care before, with an occasional snow day, early release day, and summer camp/school vacations, but now we must accommodate for 10 or more combinations as far as full day care for three days, and then a mix of before and after care on those other two days,” she said.

Connie DiBiase, director of Birchwood Day Nursery School, said that their morning preschool classes had to be moved to the main building since the school age children will be in the other building all day.

Jennifer White, the owner of A Joyful Noise Christian Day Care and Learning Center said that with two different groups of children, they are waiting to see where their numbers end up. 

She said that the RSU 14 superintendent Christopher Howell is trying to work with childcare centers in the district to try and even the numbers out, so one group isn’t very large while the other two days have very low numbers.

According to White, they plan to accommodate the same number of children as they had last year, which will work if it’s balanced.

“It will be a little bit tricky, but we’ve had all summer to be thinking about this and be preparing for it. Even though there’s a lot of unknowns, we’ve had some time to really give this some thought,” White said.

Hillock said it was difficult to get notice of the final plans three weeks before the start of school.

“As a director/childcare provider who is a planner, it’s extremely frustrating to me because I felt like I was behind on the plan, and when I had parents approaching me asking about our pricing, plan, etc, I couldn’t give them a straight answer. We felt this was too much of a time crunch to make accurate plans,” she said.

She feels that there has been little guidance from the superintendent, school district, or anyone else for childcare providers. It was frustrating, she said, to receive a call from the bus garage on Aug. 18 letting her know she only had until Friday, Aug. 21 to notify them who would be attending before- and after-care. 

“How is that remotely possible when we don’t know what parents are committing to what, and some of the parents still have no idea what they’re doing?” she asked.

While hours and number of children remain the same for most centers, additional staff is required to hold full day programs for school-aged children.

DiBiase said they have hired two fulltime staff to be with children on remote learning days. At Creative Kids, the summer school-age teacher will now work fulltime throughout the year. Hillock has also hired more staff for their school-aged building.

 “There will be many times when we have to have extra staffing in there for certain parts of the day which is above state ratios for childcare centers,” White said. 

In addition to their usual activities, teachers in school-aged programs will be helping students with their remote learning when possible.

“We will help with their packet of learning and we are thinking we will split that into 30-minute work times and do other activities in between,” DiBiase said. “We are also hoping to create individual workstations so children can do some work outside, especially independent reading.”

LaPierre said she hasn’t developed a concrete plan for helping students with remote learning yet both because things keep changing, and because needs will depend on the individual child. 

A Joyful Noise stayed open throughout the pandemic and developed a model to use for helping with distance learning back in March when schools closed. White said they are continuing with that model and adding to it, since it’s unknown how long remote learning will last. 

“It could be a month, it could be the school year, we have no idea,” she said.

For in-home childcare providers, who have less children and less staff, supporting remote learning can be especially challenging.

Tamara Gallagher, owner of The Growing Tree Childcare and Preschool in Westbrook near the Windham town line said she has two children currently enrolled who will be staying with her part time during remote learning, along with her own three children. 

“We have set blocks of time we are working on to help them,” she said. “What makes it really tough is that it requires extra time and staff, which puts a strain on finances. I have to hire extra help for the school age, so I’m spending a lot more money and not making any more.”

With the very different look of school aged childcare this year, one thing that is essential is for families to be upfront about possible exposure to COVID-19. 

“We want to keep everybody safe, and we can only do that if parents will partner with us in doing that,” White said. <

One in 20,000 find: Third-grader discovers rare botanical five-leaf clover in Raymond

Raymond Elementary student Chase Street
shows a five-leaf clover he found at his home
in Raymond earlier this month. The odds of
finding a five-leaf clover are estimated at
20,000 to 1. PHOTO BY ED PIERCE

By Ed Pierce

If there was ever a time to place a bet in a Powerball drawing offered by the Maine Lottery, now might be it for an 8-year-old Raymond boy and his family.

Chase Street, a third-grader at Raymond Elementary School, beat the odds of 20,000 to 1 a few weeks ago and discovered a five-leaf clover outside his house. His quest to find a four- or five-leaf clover began in June when his mother, Karlie Rouzer, showed him a story in The Windham Eagle about a Windham Public Works driver, Dave Rampino, who found four four-leaf clovers and a five-leaf clover in a patch outside his workplace.

His mother said that Chase is an inquisitive student and is curious about all kinds of things, including clover, which grows naturally throughout Maine.

“Chase is always eager to explore,” Rouzer said. “He likes gardening, hiking and finding things. We went on vacation this summer to Sturdivant Island and he found what looks like a fossil in a rock there.”

For the past few months he’s searched the grounds at his school and in nearby fields to try and find a four-leaf clover, but actually he should have been checking a little closer to home.

“It was in the late afternoon on a weekend earlier this month and I was looking in a patch of rocks and well-shaped clover at home,” Chase said. “I jumped over the porch into the patch to talk to my Daddy when I looked down and saw it. At first, I thought it was a four-leaf clover, but it was really a five-leaf clover instead.”

He showed the lucky clover to his mother, his father Chris Street, and his brother, Aiden Street, 12, and they were all thrilled with his extraordinary discovery.

“My mother looked it up and found that the odds of finding a four-leaf clover are about 10,000 to 1 and that the odds of finding a five-leaf clover are about 20,000 to 1,” Chase said. “My brother told me if the odds are 20,000 to 1, then we probably have three five-leaf clovers still out there.”

As Chase wondered what to do with his lucky discovery, his mother posted about his find on Facebook’s Windham Community Board and she was hoping to find someone who could encapsulate the clover as a keepsake for her son.

“When no one came forward to do that, we decided to just go ahead with a more traditional method and press it in a book,” Rouzer said.

She said Chase isn’t stopping with finding a lone five-leaf clover and he continues to search everywhere he goes to uncover others.

“He told me ‘Mommy I want to find more’ and I just think it’s really cool that this has fueled his interest in it and it’s grown even more over the summer,” she said.

According to legend passed down over time, the four-leaf clover is an extremely rare variation of the three-leaf clover and is thought to bring good luck to those who find one.

By tradition, each leaf of the four- and five-leaf clovers are thought to be symbolic, standing for faith, hope, love and luck and in the case of the five-leaf clover, wealth. It’s said that St Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland, used the three leaves of an Irish clover, also known as a shamrock, to explain the separation of God with the Holy Trinity, with one leaf for the Father, another for the Son and and the third for the Holy Spirit.

The Irish also believe that those who discover a five-leaf clover will actually enjoy more luck and financial success than those who find a four-leaf clover because it is much rarer in nature.

Superstition claims lucky clovers are included in the Bible and when Adam and Eve were banished from the Garden of Eden, Eve took with her a four-leaf clover to remind her of what it was like in paradise.

According to Chase, he mentioned his discovery to several friends from school, but isn’t sure what many of his classmates will think about his find.

“I don’t think they’ll believe me that much,” he said.

Along with looking for four- and five-leaf clovers, Chase says he collects rocks and wants to someday become a geologist or an archeologist.

“I just think finding stuff is cool,” he said.

His advice for others looking for lucky clovers is simple.

“I’d tell them to not give up and keep your head down,” Chase said. <

Sebago Lakes Region Fuller Center for Housing seeks volunteers for first home project

The mission of the Sebago Lakes Region Fuller Center for Housing (SBLFCFH) is to make a difference in the communities of Raymond, Standish and Windham by providing safe and adequate housing repairs for those who are aging in place. The newly established non-profit organization had hoped to begin their projects much sooner, but COVID-19 has significantly impacted their timetables.

The good news is, after ironing out COVID safety protocols, the Fuller Center has scheduled their first project for Friday Aug. 28 from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. with a rain date and perhaps a finishing date scheduled for Friday, Sept. 11.

This project is for an elderly couple located in Windham and will include repairing windows and door trim, caulking and repainting and some tree trimming as well as yard cleanup. SBLFCFH has a professional volunteer with window repair experience to guide the Fuller Center and its volunteers.

“It is so important to have people be able to stay safely in their homes and to know that they don’t have to leave at a time that they just want to have the memories and feel comforted by what’s around them,” said Diane Dunton Bruni, President of SBLFCFH.

The Fuller Center is open to volunteers to help with this first effort and future projects in the making. Any individual can sign up to volunteer and donate any amount of time by helping the organization keep this senior couple (and others in the future) warm during the winter months. The organization is asking for volunteers to work in a timeframe of their choice. To learn more about this project, contact the organization at [email protected].

The Fuller Center for Housing was founded by Millard and Linda Fuller, who also founded Habitat for Humanity. The Sebago Lakes Region Fuller Center for Housing, was established in 2019 and includes board members from area founding partners of Windham Hill United Church of Christ, Unity Center for Spiritual Growth, Faith Lutheran Church, North Windham Union Church, Saint Joseph’s College and Raymond Village Community Church.

To help support their housing repair efforts, the Fuller Center will be hosting a virtual bike ride fundraiser to take place from Sept. 12 to Sept. 26.  In deference to the current COVID experience, this means that any time during this period, the riders can complete the 40-mile route around Sebago Lake (which is a beautiful ride in and of itself). All registrants will get a T-shirt and prize drawings will be given after the event.

If you enjoy biking and want to support this work, this is a great way to do it. All the information regarding instructions, pledge forms, completion form, contact information, is available on the website: www.sebagofullerhousing.org.

Special thanks to following businesses who are sponsoring the virtual bike ride: The Goodlife Market, Gorham Savings Bank, Mulberry Farms, Sebago Technics, Inc., Unity Center for Spiritual Growth and Windham Hill United Church of Christ

“Millard Fuller talked a lot about hope and how hope is essential in life,” Dunton Bruni said. “What we are doing is we are giving hope.”

Be sure to follow the Sebago Lakes Region Fuller for Housing on Facebook and Instagram. <

Horse and Rider Connection launches campaign for permanent facility

Horse and Rider Connection is a nonprofit organization
that offers equine therapy for teens and young adults.
The group had been renting space in Raymond, but is
now launching a capital campaign to work toward
building a permanent home of its own in the Greater
Portland area. COURTESY OF HORSE AND
RIDER CONNECTION.

 By Elizabeth Richards

Horse and Rider Connection, a nonprofit organization offering equine therapy to teens and young adults, has moved a few times since its inception a decade ago and its last two locations have been rented sites in Raymond. Now, it is entering a new phase and launching a capital campaign to work toward building a permanent home of its own.

Executive Director Debbie Little said that HARC is still an active nonprofit organization, but they are in a transition phase.

The mission of HARC, according to their website, is “to pair rescue horses with teens and young adults facing life challenges, to help them develop and improve life skills.” 

While the organization has been working with teens for a long time, board member Laurel Salamone said that they’ve also been interested in offering services to recovery centers, veteran’s groups, and other at-risk populations.  However, there wasn’t the space, enough horses, or enough staff to be able to offer programs like that.

The capital campaign will focus on raising funds to purchase land and build a permanent facility of their own in the Greater Portland Area.

“We want to be able to help more people, and in order to do that we need to be closer to the Greater Portland area,” Salamone said.

She said that they’ve been focused primarily on the Westbrook area, since there is still farmland, and public transportation is available.

Little said they’re looking for something along a bus route, so that when participants have a bad day and just need to get to the barn, they can do so. 

“We’ve seen significant growth in kids, adults and veterans just by letting them come in and hang,” Little said.  Before the pandemic, for instance, she worked with young adults in the MainStay program on a weekly basis. 

MainStay is a program of The Opportunity Alliance that provides residential treatment for young adults ages 18 to 25 experiencing significant mental health symptoms. Working with MainStay helped keep young adults in the program since they looked forward to being with the horses each week, Little said.

Little is currently working out of Fernwood Cove, a camp for girls in Harrison, under the Natural Horsemanship Center umbrella. Her work isn’t just about riding, she said. 

“It’s about relationship with the horse, and understanding the horse, and being able to read the horse and understand what they’re asking as well, so the kids learn life skills through it,” Little said. 

Meanwhile, HARC is working toward their long-term goal while still offering scholarship money to teens who could benefit from a relationship with horses to attend equine programs that the organization works closely with, including Little’s programs.

Little said she wants the community to understand that the organization is not going anywhere.

“I want the community to know that we’ve had great success with kids, and we want to keep going there, so we’re at a transition period,” she said. I don’t want people to think we’ve disappeared.”

Having a facility of their own would allow HARC to expand and operate the way they want.

“Unless you have your own place it’s really hard to run a program the way you really want to do it,” Salamone said. 

Ideally, she said, they’d love to have someone gift the organization some land and build not only the barn, but a place for a stable manager and, at some point, space for recovery meetings and therapy sessions to allow participants to process what they learned through working with horses.

“It is a huge undertaking – it’s not going to happen in a year,” Salamone said. “It’s probably going to be at least a five-year plan.”

Salamone knows first-hand how valuable the program is, since her daughter participated in the Maine Mustang Project.

“I know it works.  I’ve seen it. It’s magical,” she said. “People don’t know just how much they can get from a horse.”

HARC will kick off the capital campaign by offering a clinic with author Tim Hayes who wrote the book Riding Home: The Power of Horses to Heal. This is not a riding clinic or a horse show suitable for young children, but a clinic focusing on body language, emotions, attitudes, breakthroughs, and both equine and human coping skills.

HARC is excited to offer this clinic because “what he talks about is what we do,” Salamone said. “We’re hoping to draw mental health professionals, social service people, teachers…anybody who works in a healing industry.”

The clinic will take place from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Aug. 29 at Ashland Farm in Falmouth. CEUs for PATH professionals are available for both participating and auditing. 

The cost for the clinic is $250 to participate and $25 to audit.

Visit the news and events page at https://www.horseandriderconnection.org/ for more information and to register. <

Maine seeks public's help in checking trees for invasive species

By Ed Pierce

According to state forestry officials, the month of August is the most active time of the year for invasive insects in Maine and a period when adult wood-boring insect life and certain tree diseases can be easily identified.

Representatives of the Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry and the U.S. Department of Agriculture are asking the public to examine trees in their communities and forests and report any visible invasive pest activity they see.

Invaders such as the Emerald Ash Borer and Spotted Laternfly have made their way into Maine in the last few years and state forestry officials are striving to limit their damage here. 

"Our first defense against invasive species is to prevent their arrival in the first place," said Maine State Horticulturist Gary Fish. “Our partners at USDA APHIS and Customs and Border Protection here in the U.S. and Canadian Food Inspection Agency north of the border frequently stop plant pests before they can gain a foothold in North America. However, the volume of trade and travel prevents them from stopping every pest.”

Forestry officials say that invasive species are non-native organisms and species that when introduced to a new environment lack natural predators or diseases to keep their populations low. Species are considered invasive when they harm the environment, the economy or human health.

Patty Cormier, a Maine State Forester, said that she recognizes the importance that the public can play in protecting trees across the state from invasive species.

“Trees play an important role in our state economy and provide environmental benefits, including clean air and water and wildlife habitat and recreation opportunities,” Cormier said. “The public, our most important partner in detecting invasive species, is our eyes on the ground. We can avoid tree-loss from invasive species by stopping the spread of these pests.”

While checking trees, state officials urge the public to report finding these four invasive species:

• The emerald ash borer, a small metallic-green insect which are deadly for ash trees. They leave small one-eighth inch D-shaped  exit holes in ash bark, and deposit a sawdust-like waste for feeding under the bark. The emerald ash borer has been identified in York and Cumberland Counties and in northwestern Aroostook County in Maine.
• Spotted lanternfly, a colorful planthopper and a hitchhiker that damages grapes, hops, and a wide variety of plants. Adults lay eggs as dull-colored masses and can appear as brightly colored nymphs and adults on plants. Identification is important because while the living spotted lanternfly population dies during the winter, their egg masses of 30 to 50 eggs laid in neat rows remain and survive through the cold to hatch in the spring.
• Asian longhorn beetles feed on maple trees and other hardwood or broadly leaved trees. The public is asked to examine trees for oval to round wounds on the bark where the Asian longhorn beetle females have chewed out an indentation to deposit their eggs, leaving piles of coarse sawdust at the base of trees.
• Oak wilt disease is serious fungal disease affecting oak trees by suddenly wilting red oak trees during summer months.

“We’re asking people to take 10 minutes to search the trees in their yards, neighborhoods, and forests,” Cormier said. “If you find a suspected invasive pest, take a picture and send us information at [email protected]. Its quick and easy and will connect you with an expert who can help.”

Cormier said that the photographs should show enough detail that an expert can verify or determine if follow-up is needed.

“It can be helpful to include an object, such as a coin or pencil, for scale,” she said.

If it is an insect, Cormier recommends trying to capture it in case a photograph is not enough for forestry officials.

“Otherwise, make sure you can find the affected tree again if needed,” she said. “Captured insects can be stored in hard containers in a cool place. Most will survive in the refrigerator long enough to receive a response from the department.”

State officials say that there are simple actions that everyone can take to avoid introducing and spreading invasive insects in Maine.

They recommend only purchasing firewood where you’ll be burning it or gathering locally on site when permitted. When transporting or moving firewood, they suggest an inspection to detect invasive insects hiding within log piles.

Another suggestion is when driving to a new area in Maine, carefully inspect bags and boxes to ensure they are free from insects or invasive species.

Fish said that we all have a role to play in preventing invasive species movement in Maine.

“Taking just a few minutes to check the trees in your yard can go a long way to ensuring that the forests and trees we rely on now are here for future generations,” he said. <

Windham TV returns to airwaves and moving to Channel 5

Brad Saucier, program manager for
Windham TV, says that the public
access channel is back on the air
after technical issues and COVID-19
restrictions halted broadcasting
in March. The station will be moving
soon to a permanent location at
Channel 5 on Spectrum cable and
is currently dually broadcast on
Channel 7 and Channel 1303.
PHOTO BY MATT PASCARELLA

 By Ed Pierce

One of the few stations on cable television where Windham residents can find true diversity of opinion, civic engagement, entertainment, children’s programming and spirited community dialogue and discussion is back on the air and looking to become a favorite once again among local viewers.

Windham TV, formerly known as WCCG TV-7, resumed broadcasting in July after being on hiatus since March because of COVID-19 restrictions and technical issues. As the home of long running popular programs such as “Speak Out,” hosted by Representative Patrick Corey, the public access channel had been moved from its traditional site on Channel 7 by Spectrum to Channel 1303 in 2017 but is now being dual-illuminated on Channel 7 while awaiting a permanent move to Channel 5.   

Last year a Maine law was upheld by a federal judge that requires cable television providers to relocate public access channels to their former low-channel positions to make them easier for area viewers to find.

“Our viewers will still be able to find Windham Town Council meetings, Windham Planning Board meetings, RSU 14 meetings and Windham Zoning Board meetings on our broadcasts,” said Brad Saucier, Windham TV program manager. “But want everyone to know that our programming is so much more than merely local meeting coverage.”

Saucier has been working for the public access Windham TV station for the past 18 years and says that the channel’s main programming runs 18 hours each day with a continuously-running Community Bulletin Board filling the overnight hours.

He said at any given time of the day or evening, viewers can tune in to find a cooking show, a children’s program, a spiritual show, a political discussion or a movie.

“I always try and change up the formats of our shows,” Saucier said. “We just don’t want our programming to be all about meetings.”

According to Saucier, public meetings filmed by Windham TV cameraman Bill Burwell are aired for on the channel for a week and then replaced by newer coverage.

“We do accept video from private or public submissions,” Saucier said. “We set the programming about a week in advance and it’s challenging to try and incorporate all of the ideas and put them together in a short period of time.

Some programming comes from a website called pegmedia.com, which airs a verity of shows from across the world. Saucier uses pemedia.com to add appropriate kids, cooking and other informational shows with broad appeal for local viewers.

“There’s really something new for our viewers to find on Windham TV every week,” he said.

The programming schedule for WCCG-Windham TV is posted on the Town of Windham’s website each week at www.windhammaine.us, Saucier said.

Public access programming is a great way to stay informed about issues that matter to the Windham community, he said.

“Windham TV can inform Windham residents about new initiatives put forward by the town and all of the services it offers to the public,” Saucier said.

The station is currently preparing new Bulletin Board items for broadcasting and Saucier said groups or residents wishing to air community announcements can send those to Windham TV by email at [email protected].

"I love the changes and our ability to get information and entertainment out to the public,” Saucier said. “Some people may know that it’s available, but we want everyone to be aware that we’re back and we’re way better and so much more than just meeting coverage.”

Saucier said he expects the permanent move of Windham TV to Spectrum Channel 5 to be made by early fall. <