Reminders from Town Hall - April 23, 2021

ADDITIONAL SELECT BOARD MEETING
	Tuesday, April 27, 2021 - 6:00 PM   RE: Signing of MSAD#51 Budget Warrant   Wescustogo Hall & North Yarmouth Community Center

Board of Directors Meeting April 26, 2021 at 6:30pm in the Greely Center for the Arts at GHS unless otherwise noted.

April 26 - Regular Meeting - Board Approves FY 22 Budget

Remember you can watch our meetings on YouTube LIVE (http://bit.ly/msad51livevideo).

Links
Meeting Dates, Agendas & Minutes
Board of Director's Meeting Videos
Getting to GREEN Information

Dear MSAD #51 Community,

We would like to take an opportunity to acknowledge the collective weight we all have been carrying. Our community is worried about students’ mental health, social development, academic progress, along with all of the unknowns and uncertainty that COVID-19 has brought to our lives. As a Board, we share this collective weight on a daily basis, and in the past weeks, this weight has become increasingly heavy. Each of us on the Board is committed to listening and working towards our students’ best outcomes. On May 3rd, we are pleased to welcome additional students who are at an increased need into MSAD #51 classrooms four days a week.  We also want to directly communicate that we will reopen for in-person learning for all students, five days a week, this September.

We have heard from you that a solid and well-communicated reopening plan for the fall is needed, one that addresses our district’s specific needs and possible contingencies. By the end of this school year, the district will have a finalized plan detailing how it will fully open schools in the fall, with explicit consideration of distancing and other state guidelines. All of us deserve to go into summer with a plan for the fall.

We also recognize that increased communication about the district’s efforts to facilitate a full reopening plan for fall is critical for families. Starting last week, our weekly district newsletter includes a Getting to Green section that provides updated information regarding the district’s ongoing work, Board workshop information, and opportunities for community involvement. The district's most recent update is linked here if you may have missed it. This spring, we added additional workshops to allow the Board to further engage with Superintendent Porter and our administrators in the planning process. As with any Board workshop, the community is welcome to attend (click here for a list of meeting dates).

This pandemic has brought challenges and disagreements, and we deeply appreciate that families across the district have engaged with us and advocated so strongly for your children and your neighbor’s children. We hear you, and we see you, and we are committed to keeping an open and honest dialogue. We are concerned with efforts to widen our divide and distract from our shared goals. We are a strong and caring community and know that our disagreements will not permanently divide us. We are committed to working with all of you to rebuild trust and strengthen what is already an extraordinary community.

With Gratitude,

Your MSAD #51 Board of Directors

Tyler McGinley, Chair       Kevin Desmond, Vice Chair     Peter Bingham     Margo Harrington     Ann Maksymowicz     Kate Perrin     Mike Simmons     Jennifer Stewart     Mike Williams

The 2021 Spring/Summer Community Recreation brochure is now available online! Registration for programs will begin on Tuesday, April 13th at 8am.

Questions? Contact the Recreation Department at 829-2208.

The Yarmouth Community Coronavirus Task Force has a community-based, Maine state-certified COVID-19 testing service. This service is available to North Yarmouth residents as well. This testing service has the capacity to administer both rapid tests, for those who are close contacts or symptomatic, and PCR tests. It is designed specifically for those who are homebound and without access to testing, or those who have schedule challenges.

Upon receiving a referral, a nurse or CNA from the Yarmouth Covid Testing Team will travel to the client’s home and provide self-swab instructions to the client. These referrals can come from community organizations or community members themselves. There is no cost for this service.  

If you are in need of a COVID test, reach out to:

• Sher Jameson, ssjameson@me.com, (207) 751-7664
• Dale Shields, Shields.dale1@gmail.com, (603) 252-5921

Disclaimer – Requests to be included in Reminders From Town Hall are at the discretion of Town Management. The posting of announcements, reports, documents and links (embedded or otherwise) included or attached to Reminders From Town Hall does not necessarily reflect the official opinion, policy or position of any Board, Committee, Commission, Department or employee of the Town of North Yarmouth, Maine.  E-mail addresses associated with Reminders From Town Hall are considered public information and may become public knowledge.