Windham High’s Restorative Learning Program assists students in getting back on track

Windham High School's Restorative Learning
Program assists students who have been
suspended or expelled to remain engaged and
learning while also helping them take
steps to repair the damage of their actions.
COURTESY PHOTO

By Elizabeth Richards

Often, when high school students are suspended or expelled, they fall behind in their academics because of time spent out of school. The Restorative Learning Program at Windham High School is an innovative approach that keeps these students engaged and learning while helping them take steps to repair the damage of their actions.

WHS Assistant Principal Phil Rossetti said the program began as part of a grant program several years ago, with several area schools involved in similar work. Windham is the only high school that still has the program, he said, which demonstrates the district’s commitment to helping students succeed. 

“School is not a one-size-fits-all system. It fits most but there is a group of students that need alternate pathways,” Rossetti said.  “RSU 14 lives by the motto “Success for all”. This is exemplified in the many ways the district support’s our high school programing. The Restorative learning program is one of several that are designed to support students that are struggling to find success.” 

Jill Tank and Dr. Leisl Johnson staff the RLP at the high school in a typical year. This year, due to COVID 19, the program isn’t functioning normally, so the two are providing academic support for students and coverage for staff who need to quarantine.  

In a regular year, students can enter the RLP when they have made a mistake that leads to suspension or expulsion.  Typical suspension or expulsion doesn’t result in repairing the damage or help keep students engaged academically.

If students are home, Rossetti said, they may continue making the poor decisions that led to those consequences. 

Time may also be spent in unproductive ways, like playing video games, Tank said. 

“They don’t play games in my class,” she said.

Expulsion isn’t the “old school” idea that once you’ve been asked to leave, you’re gone forever,
Rossetti said. 

What it means, instead, is that a student is removed from their program and enrolled in RLP to help them discover what they need to get back on track, he said. Once that hard work is completed, they have an opportunity to return and continue working towards graduation. 

Students enrolled in the RLP are picked up at their homes by a staff person in a district van. The program operates from 9:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Monday to Thursday.

Once at school, students spend their day with RLP staff keeping up with schoolwork and finding ways to repair the damage of their actions, such as reflective work around what prompted their choices or restorative letters to others impacted by their behavior. RLP staff coordinates with the teachers to determine the work that needs to be completed for each individual student.

The RLP is a different way to connect with students, Tank said.

This approach helps keep students on track academically and allows students to build important relationships. Typically, one to four students are participating in the program at a time.

“The success of many students is based on the relationships they form,” Rossetti said.  “The [RLP] staff do a great job building these relationships with students. Knowing that they have a place that is safe where they can be themselves and seek out advice helps foster success.”

Tank said the relationships formed is evident in the number of students who leave the RLP but continue to return to connect with the staff.

“The RLP Program provides students an opportunity to not only remain engaged academically and not fall behind, but form relationships with staff who are there for them even after they leave the program,” she said.

Although the pandemic has put a temporary stop to the program due to the challenges of this school year and transportation difficulties it remains one of many ways in which students can reach graduation in RSU 14. 

“There are many ways for students to be successful in RSU 14 and Windham High School that include not just RLP, but the Katahdin Program, JMG and the APEX program as well. I think that’s what makes us special and unique,” Tank said. <

The Windham Eagle partners with Windham Community Board to assist local families during holidays

The Windham Eagle newspaper and the Windham Maine Community Board on Facebook are excited to come together again this holiday season to create a positive solution by helping some local families who are in need or have fallen on hard times.

If you or someone you know is in need this holiday season, please fill out this electronic form here: https://forms.gle/2qjX6haLaE4yzd9n8

As we cannot guarantee every family will be adopted, we will work diligently to bring cheer to as many Windham and Raymond families as possible. We will be accepting requests from residents of Windham and Raymond until Sunday, Nov. 30.

If you are able, we would love for you to join us in sharing some joy with our neighbors this season.

Let us know how you can help by filling out this form here:

https://forms.gle/yjEuo3p5WGmxTmqY8

We wish everyone a safe and wonderful season. <

 

Raymond firefighters continue Fire Prevention Month tradition adjusting for pandemic

Raymond Elementary School students visit with
Raymond firefighters on a visit to the school
during Fire Prevention Month. PHOTO BY
RAYMOND FIRE & RESCUE

For almost 100 years, firefighters across America have a week every fall to observe Fire Prevention Week, an initiative designed to show children, adults, and teachers how to stay safe in the event of a fire.

Raymond firefighters use the opportunity to provide lifesaving public education to try and help drastically reduce casualties caused by fires.

“For us, this has always been Fire Prevention Month, because we have a lot of activities each year that just don’t fit into one week” said Raymond Fire Chief Bruce Tupper.  “But because of the pandemic, we had to change some of the ways we had been doing things.  All our members wore masks, and we maintained social distancing with the children.”

Because of the pandemic, the Raymond Elementary School requested training videos be created to avoid having firefighters in the classrooms. 

With the help of Bill Blood, Raymond’s videographer, two videos were created:  one for the younger grades emphasized that ‘firefighters aren’t scary’ and told the children not to hide from firefighters during an emergency.  The other video, for grades 3 to 4, emphasized kitchen safety and how to escape from their bedroom at night.

School administrators reported that the videos, which were shown by the teachers in the classrooms, helped the children have sufficient time to digest the invaluable lifesaving information. 

Each class then went outside, and all the grades got to see some of the tools in ‘the big red truck.’  The
children were provided with Halloween trick-or-treat bags with fire safety information for their families.

The videos are available for families to view.  For Kindergarten to Grade 2 students, there is an under six-minute video showing a firefighter suiting up, and why he is “not scary.”  To see the video, go to   https://www.raymondmaine.org/content/suiting

For students in Grades 3 and 4, an under 12-minute video discusses kitchen safety, and how children should escape from their bedrooms at night if there is a fire.  See the video at https://www.raymondmaine.org/content/kitchen-safety

Fire Prevention Month efforts also included other activities.

Raymond Deputy Fire Chief Cathy Gosselin said that members of the fire department also visited several of our day cares, and the Raymond Village Library, in order to connect with younger children and their parents. 

“We have been doing that for many years and the children look forward to it,” Gosselin said. <

Diamond proposes bill to set standards for vanity plates

Senator Bill Diamond of Windham has
introduced a bill to strengthen the standards
used by the Maine Secretary of State's office
in issuing vanity license plates and to reject
applications for those that are vulgar,
contain hate speech or include language
that refer to drugs.
FILE PHOTO

Senator Bill Diamond of Windham has introduced a bill to strengthen the standards that Maine’s Secretary of State uses to issue vanity license plates.

Diamond’s bill will allow the Secretary of State to reject applications for plates that are vulgar, contain hate speech or that include language referring to drugs.

“As a former Maine Secretary of State, I know that these additional standards are badly needed,” Diamond said. “Some of the plates I see when I’m out on the road today provide strong evidence that the Legislature must create more thorough guidance.”

He served as Maine’s Secretary of State from 1989 to 1997, during which time Maine’s vanity plate program was first implemented. Maine law currently prohibits plates that encourage violence, may result in an act of violence or spur other unlawful activities.

In 2015, Maine repealed restrictions on license plates that could be considered obscene, contemptuous, profane or prejudicial, or which promoted abusive or unlawful activity.

“As the Secretary of State who began the vanity plate program, I never imagined that plates would be used to make such vulgar statements as the ones we’re seeing today,” Diamond said.  “Vanity plates are a fun part of driving in Maine, and have even become a tradition here, but we need to have some limitations when it comes to making public statements on state property (vanity plates) if for no other reason than to demonstrate to our youth that with life comes certain boundaries. Setting some clear standards will make sure everyone is on the same page about what is and is not appropriate for our roadways.”

The bill will now undergo further work in committee.

The 130^th Maine Legislature will be sworn in on Dec. 2. <

IIA’s Academic Elders act as patients so nursing students can learn real-life clinical assessment skills

The Academic Elder volunteers brought out the
life experiences, frailty and struggles of the
characters portrayed in the scenarios so
students could learn to see the person and
not just the illness or disease. As a result
of the volunteers, there was improvement
in students' verbal and non-verbal
communication, fostering a positive and
effective nurse-client relationship.
COURTESY PHOTO

By Lorraine Glowczak

Officially established a little over one year ago, the Institute for Integrative Aging (IIA) at Saint Joseph’s College of Maine (SJCME) seeks to address loneliness and isolation experienced by many older adults by offering a variety of intergenerational activities. Programs such as Silver Sneakers®, online Coffee and Conversations, a hiking program, a book club and much more have been and continue to be successful. The recent launch of the Academic Elder Volunteer Program was implemented for the first time this fall with nursing students and also proved to be a success.

“We had four amazing Academic Elder volunteers who virtually joined Professor Nancy Bonard’s Nursing Fundamentals Course, acting as ‘standardized patients’ IIA Director Heather DiYenno said. “This opportunity allowed the nursing students to practice their clinical assessment skills along with general communication and interviewing techniques in a simulated environment.”

DiYenno and Bonard have been collaborating on several projects that support both the nursing program at SJCME and IIA. Due to the restrictions from the COVID pandemic, the Academic Elder Volunteer Program filled a gap in hands-on learning.    

“The nursing program’s clinical sites for long-term care have been part of the curriculum, working directly with patients at long-term care facilities,” Bonard said. “However, this semester, the nursing students were not able to visit the facilities due to the risk of coronavirus transmission.”

Learning how to communicate effectively with the patient and create a therapeutic nurse-patient relationship would not have been fulfilled if not for the help of the Academic Elders.

“While there are ample opportunities for practicing skills on mannequins [such as bathing and transferring clients], there was a need for students to be able to practice therapeutic communication skills,” Bonard said. “The discussions included many important themes for nursing care, such as caregiving, the unique needs of older adults, transitions of care, and holistic care of clients.”

“At the conclusion of the four-week period, both volunteers and faculty noted that there was improvement in students’ verbal and non-verbal therapeutic communication, fostering a positive and
effective nurse-client relationship,” DiYenno said.

Although the students were not available for an interview, they expressed to both DiYenno and Bonard that they were grateful to talk with a real person, being able to ask better questions that included feedback as a result. This included proper and effective ways of communication – knowing what to say and what not to say to a patient. They also said this portion of the experience was one of the favorite parts of their clinicals.

The Academic Elder volunteers, who had heard about this opportunity through email communications with IIA, share some of their own experiences. Lyman and Darnell Stuart were two of those volunteers.

“Meeting with Nancy and Heather was all that it took to see what a wonderful experience this would be for their students,” Lyman Stuart said. “I love helping anyone further their education in whatever they may be learning, and I found this to be unique.”

Darnell Stuart, who is very engaged in theater, was looking for ways to be involved now that theaters are closed. Having had many years of work experience in senior health care, Darnell believed she was able to contribute to the students’ learning. But she also learned something as a volunteer.

“I was reminded of the term, ‘youth is wasted on the young.’ This is not so true - it is not wasted. It is they who keep us young if we allow them to grow.”

A third volunteer, Donna Leitner decided to be an Academic Elder because she had many positive mentors throughout her educational and professional career and thought this would be an opportunity to “pay it forward."

“I’m hoping my involvement afforded students a ‘live elder’ (albeit by videoconference) to practice
communication and assessment skills,” Leitner said. “Most importantly, I feel I brought out the life experiences, frailty and struggles of the characters portrayed in the scenarios so students could learn to see the person and not just the illness or disease.” 

“Watching their growth caused me to ‘up my game’ in portraying the character as realistically as possible,” she said. “In some instances, I had to do research on the character’s illness or the formal medical assessment scales/tools that might be utilized in their questioning.”

There may be more opportunities for both older adults and students next semester.

“Nancy’s class will continue with a different curriculum and there is a possibility to work with them again this spring,” DiYenno said. “Due to limitations of clinical placement, these students would have otherwise lost a whole year of clinicals without the help of the volunteers.”

IIA is also having discussions with other departments at the college including Social Work and Communications about other Academic Elder opportunities. And it seems from the positive feedback from the first set of volunteers, IIA and the professors will not have to look far for more Academic Elders.

“Their enthusiasm is infectious,” Lyman Stuart said. “I am already looking forward to the spring
semester when we can do this again.”

For other older adults who may be thinking about volunteering their time as an Academic Elder, Darnell Stuart has this to say:

“I do hope more people get involved. The students deserve what each of us can give them and we deserve the joy of helping them grow.”

For more information on the Academic Elder Volunteer program, contact Heather DiYenno at the Institute of Integrative Aging by email at [email protected] or by phone at 207-893-7641.<

Raymond Village Library makes annual appeal

By Briana Bizier

Sometimes it feels like the COVID-19 pandemic has changed everything. As we adjust to working from home or working while wearing a face mask, helping our children with hybrid and distance learning, and the awkwardness of Zoom dinner parties, our community connections have become more important than ever.

The Raymond Village Library is not fully funded
by the town of Raymond and nearly half of
the library's budget comes from grants and
private donations collected during their fall
Annual Appeal, now under way.
FILE PHOTO

One of those community institutions is now asking for your help. Unlike many similar libraries, the Raymond Village Library is not fully funded by the town of Raymond. Nearly half of the library’s budget comes from grants and private donations. This means that the funds used to purchase new books, pay for subscriptions, and support their wonderful librarians come directly from generous community donations during their fall Annual Appeal. Raymond Village Library cannot function without the financial support of its patrons and donors.

This investment in our community is especially crucial during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Raymond Village Library has played an essential role in helping Raymond residents navigate this strange and unprecedented time.

As soon as Maine’s COVID restrictions allowed, the Raymond Village Library began offering curbside pickup of books, movies, and children’s materials. The initial curbside pickup program was incredibly well received.

“Our pick-up was so popular we started running out of bags for the books,” said Allison Griffin, Director of the Raymond Village Library. This service is still available through phone, email, and the library’s website at www.raymondvillagelibrary.org.

As the entire world stayed at home and much of our lives moved online, the free internet connection offered by Raymond Village Library became more important than ever. Generous community donations this fall allowed the library to provide additional outdoor seating around picnic tables so that the wi-fi was easily accessible even if the library was closed. In addition to providing internet service, the library also has a professional Zoom account, so that library events, such as the monthly book club or community classes, can be held safely online.

Some of the most perennially popular activities at the Raymond Village Library are the weekly baby and toddler story time hours. When social distancing requirements made those gatherings impossible, Children’s Librarian Karen Perry got creative. The library now offers weekly Story Time At Home kits complete with crafts, books, and songs to help encourage a love of literacy in even the littlest library patrons. These kits, as well as teen and tween crafts, are available every week and are always free of charge.

In addition to the take-home Story Time kits, Perry also created two popular outdoor Story Walks. The first, Jack in the Beanstalk, wound its way around the Raymond Community Garden this summer while the second, Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, follows the store window fronts in the Raymond Shopping Center.

All of these activities are only possible thanks to the generosity of Raymond Village Library patrons. Unfortunately, even as the pandemic has made so many library services invaluable, it also has disrupted many of the library’s traditional fundraising activities. The Raymond Village Library truly needs our help this year more than ever.

The library’s 2020 Annual Appeal aims to raise $40,000. This amount will allow the library to expand staff hours in addition to continuing regular (or, regular for the pandemic) services. Donations to the Raymond Village Library are accepted in person, through the mail, or at their website: www.raymondvillagelibrary.org. Contributions of any amount will allow the Raymond Village Library to continue providing books and activities to babies and toddlers, internet access to students completing their work online, new books to homebound seniors, and classes to all members of our community. Together, let’s make sure our library remains available for all our friends and neighbors during this difficult time. <