Windham, Raymond students and teachers return to classes Wednesday

RSU 14 school buses have been cleaned and
prepared in advance of students returning
to in-person instruction under a hybrid model
at the district's six schools starting on
Wednesday. RSU 14 has about 3,200 students
 and 750 teachers and staff members.
PHOTO BY ED PIERCE
suAdd caption

By Ed Pierce

On Wednesday thousands of students in Windham and Raymond will return to classes under a hybrid schedule while adhering to guidelines put forward last month by the Maine Department of Education and Maine Center for Disease Control in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The framework for students returning to in-person instruction mandated meeting six requirements including symptom screening at home before the school day; physical distancing at school; wearing masks and face coverings; hand hygiene and sanitizing; use of personal protective equipment by teachers and school staff members; and establishing a policy of home isolation for staff and students until they recover from a COVID-19 diagnosis.   

Last month RSU 14 Superintendent Christopher Howell recommended that the school district adopt a hybrid model for the start of the school year. To operate under a hybrid model, Windham and Raymond students would be grouped alphabetically with last names from A to K having in-person classes in school on Mondays and Wednesdays and those with last names from L to Z attending in-person classes in school on Tuesdays and Thursdays. When RSU 14 students are not in school, they will be following up online with their teachers to the best extent possible.

“I am proud of the work that has been completed by RSU 14 staff and administrators over the past couple of months,” Howell said. “In a short period of time, they have worked diligently to redefine school programs that meet the safety guidelines that have been established by the Maine CDC and the Maine Department of Education.”

To help area families screen for possible COVID-19 symptoms, RSU 14 has made available a pre-screening tool identifying questions to be asked of children each morning. 

It’s been a summer like no other for RSU 14 administrators and Howell, who have been examining how to best transition students back to in-person instruction after spending much of the spring months receiving instruction from teachers online using Zoom after the pandemic struck.

“Our challenges mean every student and every staff member has to wear a mask,” Howell said. “We’ve also had to undertake the challenge of managing and ensuring that the district has a sufficient supply of personal protective equipment ready and available. Like everyone else this summer, we’ve been thinking about what school will be like this fall and will students be safe.”

RSU 14 has 3,200 students and 750 staff members at six schools, including Windham High School. Windham Middle School, Jordan-Small Middle School, Windham Primary School, Manchester School and Raymond Elementary School.

As of Sept. 1, Maine had the second-lowest total of COVID-19 cumulative cases in the nation at 340 per 100,000 people and 4,548 since the pandemic began. In the final week of August, Maine also showed the 16^th smallest increase overall among U.S. states for the seven-day period of Aug. 24 to Aug. 31 at 3.9 percent.

To come up with a plan to safely get students back into the classroom, RSU 14 administrators had to work around a number of limitations that restricted the number of students allowed on school buses to 26 and no more than 50 students allowed in a group together at one time. They also had to comply with social distancing requirements for desks in classrooms, create new medical isolation rooms at each school, install new plexiglass protective barriers in schools, upgrade air filtration systems at each school, and ensure frequent cleaning of physical surfaces throughout the schools.

“We recognize kids can’t spend all day in the classroom,” Howell said. “We’ve also looked carefully at classroom space to keep students 3 to 6 feet apart and only 10 students in a classroom.”

For student and families choosing to opt out of in-person instruction because of COVID-19 concerns, the district will provide distance learning and laptops for students. Technology sessions are available for parents and students to help them navigate the distance learning process.

“RSU 14 continues to work to provide a mix of hybrid, distance, and multi day programs for our students.  The staffing of all of the positions that are required for a mix of programs is monumental,” Howell said. “Through some creative problem solving and flexibility, we will be able to offer a variety of school attendance options for families in our district.” <  

Be the Influence and Windham Parks and Recreation create banner for skate park

Be The Influence and Windham Parks and
Recreation worked with student campers
this summer to  create a banner for the
Windham Skate Park. Displaying the banner
from left are camper Molly Nelson, camp
counselor Archie Medina and camper Cynthia
Flaherty. SUBMITTED PHOTO

By Elizabeth Richards

As the pandemic limits socialization among youth, the Be the Influence coalition continues to work towards its mission “to promote community collaboration and positive choices in reducing youth substance use.”

Providing healthy alternatives for youth is a key strategy, and coalition community partners play a big role in helping create opportunities for youth engagement.  This summer, campers at Windham Parks and Recreation helped finish a banner designed for the skate park.

BTI Executive Director Laura Morris said that the project was started with the goal of displaying it at the grand opening of the skate park.  The Parks and Recreation department had put together a skate park task force because they knew it was a good place for youth to be outside and making healthy decisions, Morris said.

"Even law enforcement had noticed that without the skate park, youth didn’t have an outlet, and so they were engaging in more risky behaviors than before,” Morris said. Be the Influence was helping with the skate park efforts and Morris said one thing they wanted was to get youth involved by creating a banner that would hang at the park. 

The idea came from a previous project, where BTI took a large banner to schools throughout Windham and Raymond and encouraged all youth to be part of it through health and art classes as well as after school. “When we did that, we saw a lot of youth come out of the woodwork that wouldn’t regularly engage in anything, but everyone could color” Morris said.

The skate park was a good reason to get kids engaged again, Morris said, but when COVID hit, the banner hadn’t been completed.  She contacted Parks and Recreation to see if their campers could finish it, which they agreed to do. “We all thought it would be a great way to engage youth,” Morris said.

Parks and Recreation Director Linda Brooks said that although the grand opening event where the banner was supposed to be displayed couldn’t happen as planned in the spring, the skate park has been open since June and is quite popular. The skate park efforts in the past couple of years were to provide something for youth who like to take risks and challenge themselves, Brooks said. “That is a healthier risk than some of the alternatives,” she said.  

Brooks has been involved with the coalition since she began with the department in 2015.  “We’ve tried to put a focus on keeping youth active in this community,” she said.

Their summer camp program, for instance, has a place for youth of all ages.  While some departments won’t hire high schoolers, she said, that is not a philosophy they share.  They offer a senior camper program for 14-year-olds, a CIT program for 15-year-olds, and hire students part time once they are sixteen and up.  This allows them to remain a part of that community all the way through, Brooks said.

Keeping kids involved and healthy this summer required a lot of creative thinking said Kaleigh Warner, the middle school camp director for Windham Parks and Recreation.  “Similar to previous years of summer camp, we pushed our campers to get outdoors as often as possible, but with a twist due to COVID restrictions to keep all our campers, staff, and families healthy and safe,” she said. 

“This summer we encouraged campers to connect with nature and to give back to the community,” Warner said.  Some of the ways this was accomplished was through exploring the cross-country trails and building forts; partnering with Toby Jacobs of the Black Brook Reserve in Windham to help clean up trails; and weekly scavenger hunts that required kids to collaborate and exercise their brains through puzzle/riddle solving, word scrambles, and hunting for clues both indoors and out, Warner said.

As a result of the pandemic and the lack of socialization, Morris said there has been a spike in both youth substance use and stress.  BTI had intended to offer programs in the schools around resiliency, refusal skills, and education about all substances in health classes, but that’s been put on hold.  Instead, Morris said, they hope to do a community event outdoors, with movies, activities around resilience, community building games and COVID safe physical activities, in conjunction with a resource fair to showcase resources available in the community.  “That’s what we’re thinking right now for the community, but we’re dying to get back into the schools,” Morris said.  “We know it’s a tough time for youth.” 

Be the Influence offers resources on their website, www.betheinfluencewrw.org,  for addressing stress and anxiety regarding COVID-19. <

Pre-screening tool can help parents identify COVID-19 symptoms in RSU 14 students

RSU 14 is providing a pre-screening tool in today's
edition of The Windham Eagle newspaper for
parents, guardians and caregivers to review daily
prior to sending children to school. The tool can help identify
symptoms of COVID-19 and assist parents in
determining whether their children are physically
ready to attend school. COURTESY PHOTO

By Ed Pierce

In returning students safely to school this fall, parents will be the cornerstone in helping prevent the spread of COVID-19 in RSU 14 schools.

In a special insert in today’s edition of The Windham Eagle, a new COVID-19 pre-screening tool for students, is available for parents of children attending RSU 14 schools in Windham and Raymond. The pre-screening tool information was developed specifically by the Maine Center for Disease Control for the Maine Department of Education.

“The pre-screening tool should be used daily and will help families determine whether or not their student is physically ready for school,” said Christopher Howell, RSU 14 Superintendent of Schools. “The implementation of a pre-screening tool is one of the requirements that must be met by school districts in order to open.”

Along with following established social distancing guidelines, frequent handwashing and sanitizing and the vigorous cleaning of surface areas of schools, Maine’s Department or Education recommends use of the pre-screening tool every day prior to a student going to school.

These self-checks should be conducted by parents, guardians and caregivers prior to children boarding school buses or entering a school, Maine DOE officials say. If a student develops symptoms, they must be held out of school and the school must then be notified about the symptoms.

Howell said that the pre-screening tool is simple to use.

“If a family can successfully answer no to every question, the student is ready for school,” he said. “If a student answers yes or has questions about their situation, we encourage families to reach out to the school nurse in each building to determine whether or not a student should attend school.”

Keeping students healthy during the pandemic was at the forefront of a proactive initiative over the summer months made by RSU 14 school nurses.

In a statement issued this week, RSU 14 school nurses said that they were able to contribute to the development of the state’s COVID-19 pre- screening tool from input made to a sub-committee of school nurses and school physicians.

“The tool was developed to identify any symptom that could be COVID-related and exclude symptomatic students and staff from school in order to minimize risk to others in the school,” said Matt Bell, representing RSU 14 school nurses.

In the statement, RSU 14 nurses ask that parents and guardians complete the COVID 19 pre-screening tool each morning before school.

“This process is easy to use and shouldn’t take long to complete. It consists of taking their temperature and some basic questions you should be asking your child prior to sending them to school. If you answer yes to any of the questions you should keep your child home and contact your primary care physician,” RSU 14 nurses said in the statement.

According to RSU 14 nurses, by completing the tool prior to placing your child on the bus or bringing them to school, it will help the schools prevent the possible exposure of COVID 19 to other students and staff.

“The process of minimizing the risk and keeping our students and staff safe has multiple components and the COVID 19 pre-screening tool is one of them. With overlapping safety measures such as proper handwashing and sanitizing, social distancing and wearing a proper face covering, our hope is to provide your child with a safe learning environment,” Bell said, representing the RSU 14 nurses. “However, we cannot do this without support from the RSU 14 families.”

In the RSU 14 nurses’ statement, they say that ensuring the identification of symptomatic children on school buses and in the schools will help reduce COVID-19 incidents throughout the district. And completion of the COVID-19 pre-screening tool daily is an essential part of this process.  

Howell said that everyone has a part in keeping each other healthy during the pandemic.

“The use of the pre-screening tool by families helps to deliver an additional layer of protection for everyone at RSU 14,” he said. “The pre-screening tool does not need to be limited to attending school. Students, parents, or community members who exhibit any of the symptoms, have traveled to high risk areas, or been in contact with infected individuals should limit their contact with others in the community.”

He said the COVID-19 pre-screening tool is being provided in the newspaper as a method to get it into the hands of as many parents, guardians and caregivers as possible prior to the start of school on Sept. 9.   

“If we screen each day and follow all of the safety precautions, we have a better chance of restoring full face-to-face instruction for all students,” Howell said. <

Stockhouse Restaurant & Sandbar Pub to open in Windham

Windham resident Dan Drouin will operate a new sports pub
and restaurant at the site of the former Buck's Naked BBQ
Restaurant which closed in Windham in May. The new
restaurant will employ between 25 and 30 people and Drouin
expects it to be open by October.
PHOTO BY ED PIERCE

By Elizabeth Richards         

The owners of a popular Westbrook restaurant will open a second location in Windham in the fall. Dan Drouin, who operates the Stockhouse Restaurant & Sports Pub in Westbrook, hopes the new location will be open by sometime in October.

Drouin and his wife, Jennifer, will operate the new location under a slightly different name, and with a different slant. Instead of a sports pub theme, Stockhouse Restaurant & Sandbar Pub is intended to highlight its location in the Lakes Region, having a little fun with the theme to create a “lake vibe,” Drouin said.

Stockhouse Restaurant & Sandbar Pub will go into the space formerly occupied by Buck’s Naked BBQ, which closed in late May after indoor dining was delayed in Maine due to the pandemic. Drouin said he is leasing the space, with an agreement to purchase down the road. “It probably wouldn’t be an easy venture right now as a restaurant to purchase a building,” he said.

The new restaurant will employ between 25 and 30 people.  Drouin said that the current permit allows for 130 seats inside, though during COVID restrictions there will be less indoor seating.

“We’ll lose anything I can’t socially distance,” he said, estimating that they would end up with about 75 seats indoors.

According to Drouin, there are 20 seats outside on the deck and he is also asking for the permit to be extended to the front porch, which would offer approximately 20 additional outdoor seats.

He said if they can get on the agenda for the next Windham Town Council meeting on Sept. 8, they   Either way, he said, the restaurant should be open by Nov. 1.

hope to open early in October. If they have to wait until the meeting on Sept. 22, he said, that will push the opening to later in the fall.

“I can’t think that we would not be open by then,” Drouin said.

Drouin has looked at other locations for a second restaurant in the past few years, he said. He chose the space in Windham because he liked the building and enjoys the community. Drouin lives on the Windham/Standish line off White’s Bridge Road.

 “I looked at the space and immediately my wife and I both felt like that space would fit us,” Drouin said. “Even with what’s going on with the pandemic I think we can get it off the ground and going, and as things get better that will allow the restaurant to grow with us.”

His experience in the Westbrook location makes Drouin confident they can operate safely under the COVID-19 restrictions.

“We’ve learned a lot in the last few months in Westbrook and we’ve been able to maintain a pretty high volume with making sure that we’re doing everything safely,” he said. “I think if you’re consistent, people appreciate the fact that you’re trying to create a safe environment, and we’ll do the same thing in Windham.”

The menu in Windham will be the same broad offerings as they offer in Westbrook, Drouin said, including burgers, wraps, pizza, home cooked specials like shepherds’ pie and turkey dinners, and wings. Because there’s a smoker still at the Windham restaurant, Drouin said that in Windham, once he is comfortable knowing how to smoke wings, he will add those to the wing lineup in Windham.

Drouin said their goal is to provide another family friendly eatery with affordable prices, good food, and a good selection of beer. He said he plans to keep things as consistent as possible, with food and drink specials, and some entertainment if they can do so safely under the current restrictions. <

Alateen hoping to create a group for Windham and Raymond teens

By Lorraine Glowczak

We all may know someone whose alcohol consumption causes disruption in our lives, whether the individual misusing the substance knows it or not. A loving spouse or parent who overconsumes can exhibit harsh personality changes that include, but are not limited to, outburst of anger creating physical and/or emotional abuse and harm.

As a result, some individuals need to talk about how this affects them personally and may yearn for support. These experiences are difficult for everyone but can be especially difficult during teenage years. This is where Alateen can help.

Alateen is a part of the Al-Anon Family Groups, commonly referred to and known as Al-Anon. It is a support group specifically for teenagers whose lives have been affected or disrupted by the alcohol misuse of a family member or any individual close to the teen.

“Alateens share their experience, strength, and hope in order to gain a better understanding of alcoholism and to lessen its effects on their own lives,” the Alateen website said.

Al-Anon member, who is a certified adult-member chair and chaperone of Greater Portland area Alateen groups, Barry Wolach, reignited the teen organization in Southern Maine a little over a year ago. He is looking to invite Windham and Raymond area teens who may need support and/or are interested in gaining knowledge regarding alcoholism and its effects on others around them.

“I realized how much I have gained being a member of Al-Anon and wanted to extend the same benefits to area teenagers,” Wolach said. “Alateen teaches teens how to take care of themselves and not the alcoholic. I wanted to help in some way, so I became certified as an Al-Anon member in Alateen Service to help start Alateen groups across Maine.”

Before the COVID pandemic, Wolach and others initiated Alateen groups at Noble High School in Berwick, Bonny Eagle Middle School in Standish, as well as St. Mary’s Episcopal Church in Falmouth.

“Since COVID, we have had to go online,” Wolach said. “We took a couple of months off during the summer but the Alateen group will resume meeting via the Zoom online format on Tuesday, Sept. 1.”

This online Alateen group will begin at 7 p.m. every Tuesday beginning Sept. 1. The groups will eventually return to meeting in person once it is safe to do so. Online and in person meetings are safe, private, and only first names are used.

“I want to extend the invitation to any Windham and Raymond teen who may need support – especially during COVID,” Wolach said. “This is the reason why I recently reached out to Laura Morris for her assistance in getting a group started in this area.”

Morris is the Director of Be The Influence, a Windham/Raymond coalition of parents, educators, business owners, government personnel, area clergy and other sectors whose primary focus is on reducing access to and substance youth use in the community. The organization offers fun and engaging activities that emphasizes healthy choices.

“There is a huge need for Alateen services in Windham and Raymond and I was so pleased to connect with Barry and his mission as it aligns with our own objectives,” Morris said. “Be The Influence will help him in any way we can to begin an Alateen group in Windham and Rayond.”

Wolach explained that to have an official Alateen meeting in Maine, there must be two adult certified Al-Anon members who act as chaperones, but he made it clear that teens are in charge.

“The teens run and facilitate their own meetings,” Wolach said. “The chaperones are only there for protection and assist with requests by the teens, when needed.”

Alateen is not a religious program and there are no fees or dues to belong to it. For more information, contact Barry Wolach at [email protected] or peruse the national website at https://al-anon.org/for-members/group-resources/alateen/ <

Options for voting available for 2020 election

Windham Deputy Town Clerk Pam Cleaves, left,
and Windham Town Clerk Linda Morrell show
a new secure dropbox for absentee voters
near the front door of the Windham Town Hall.
The dropbox was installed in April as a convenient
way for voters to file their absentee ballots
during the COVID-19 crisis.
PHOTO BY ED PIERCE

By Matt Pascarella

COVID-19 has complicated a lot in 2020. The presidential election is right around the corner and may have some asking “how can I vote in a safe manner, both for myself and so that my vote gets counted?”

There will be no online voting in Windham or Raymond, but there will be in-person voting for Windham and Raymond residents. If you would rather not vote in-person, you can vote absentee in both towns. Windham absentee ballots will be available late September/early October. Raymond absentee ballots will be available the first week of October.

In Windham, if you are not registered to vote you can stop by Windham Town Hall anytime between now and Election Day, Nov. 3.

If you’d like to vote absentee, registered voters can call 892-1900 and their ballots will be mailed to them. Voters can also stop by the Windham Town Hall and fill out an application and take your ballot home or vote in Town Hall once ballots become available.

You can also fill out an online request at www.windhammaine.us. There is a ballot drop box outside of Town Hall.

If you like to go to the polls on Election Day, voting will be held from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. at Windham High School.

 Voters need to be aware of limitations because of COVID-19. Social distance markers will be in place. They are only allowed to have 50 people in the gym at one time and that includes election workers.

“If we have a lot of voters go to the polls, they will have quite a wait,” said Windham Town Clerk Linda Morrell.

In Raymond, if you haven’t registered to vote, you may do so by mail by Oct. 13. You may also register in person anytime right up until Election Day at Raymond Town Hall. 

In person voting will take place from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. at the Jordan Small Middle School gym. It is requested that masks be worn and there will be signage to maintain social distancing. Raymond will also be following safety guidelines, so if you plan to vote in person, you should also be prepared to wait.

If you would like to vote absentee, you may request a ballot online at www.raymondmaine.org, by mail, by phone (655-4742 ext. 124) or in person, at Raymond Town Hall, once ballots become available.
If you have concerns about your ballot not being counted in time, Raymond Town Clerk, Sue Look, said absentee voters should request their ballots early enough for them to be returned on time.

To eliminate time for delivery, Look said voters can bring their ballots to the town office or drop them in the drop box outside Raymond Town Hall.

In both Windham and Raymond, ballost will be processed through a voting machine as long as it is received by 8 p.m. on Election Day. All ballots are counted by ballot machines. The only ballots that are hand counted are the ones the machine could not read for some reason.

As long as your ballot makes it in by the 8 p.m. deadline, every effort is made to make sure your vote is counted. In both Windham and Raymond, these processes are done by election clerks from both the Republican and Democratic parties.

If you’re interested in volunteering to help during the 2020 Election, in Windham contact Town Clerk Linda Morrell at 892-1900. In Raymond, contact Town Clerk Sue Look at 655-4742 ext. 124. <