District pupils in need will receive backpacks and supplies

By Stuart Hedstrom 
Staff Writer

    MILO — Students in SAD 41 without all the proper school supplies will not be at risk for falling behind their peers thanks to a donation of fully supplied backpacks from the Ruth’s Reusables teacher store in Portland.

    In her report to the district school board on Aug. 14, Brownville Elementary School Principal Lynn Weston said she had been contacted the previous winter by Ruth’s Reusables as the store wanted to supply each student at the school with a backpack and supplies. “I don’t how we were selected, but it’s worth the trip,” Weston wrote, as she will be heading to Portland to pick up 150 backpacks for both Brownville Elementary and the Milo Elementary School.
    “I know Milo’s getting them as well and I think this is a really nice thing for our students,” Weston said.
    “I think what we are going to do is look for students who don’t have backpacks,” Milo Elementary Principal Julie Royal said, with the remaining pieces of luggage being handed out in the spring for the ensuing school year. She said information gets home with students carrying information along with their books and supplies, so “it’s important kids have backpacks.”
    Weston also reported that she received a call from Verizon, with company employees wanting to help Brownville Elementary with school supplies again this year. She said last year the school was “adopted” by Verizon after heavy rains damaged town roads in June 2012 and wrote, “This year we’re being helped because of the recent railroad layoffs. I’m especially grateful because this is an employee initiative. Verizon also supplied us with 100 sets of earphones and we used all of them. People have such generous hearts when it comes to kids.”
    In other business, Penquis Valley School Principal Matthew Hackett said, “With the buzzer system, the wires are all run, the pusher’s outside.” Schools across SAD 41 will have new locked door security systems in place when students return in several weeks.
    “All of the school buildings should have the buzzers in place by the start of the school year,” board member Arthur Herbest said in the report of the safety committee. Herbest said Penquis Valley’s security system will include a camera by the front entrances to enable visitors to be allowed inside by staff.
    Herbest said the safety committee is working with local law enforcement to develop detailed plans for various emergency scenarios, which should be completed by October. “We all know if you make it complicated it may not work,” he said about some of the plan work done so far. “What’s the best, simplest way to make things safe for our students and administrators.”
    “All students, grade 6 through 12, will have an iPad,” Hackett said, as in recent years Penquis Valley students have used MacBook Airs. He said there is a maintenance fee of $40 for students to be able to bring their iPads home — otherwise the devices remain at school — and a fund has been established for families who may not be able to afford the maintenance fee.
    Director of Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment/Assistant Superintendent Stacy Shorey said 50 MacBook Airs, which were purchased with surplus funds from a local Maine State Retirement System account, will be moved from the high school to the district elementary schools. She said the shift of technology enables students in grades 3-12 to all have one-to-one computing capabilities next year, and students in kindergarten through grade 2 will have carts — with 20 computers per cart — available to use.
    Later this month two programs will open at the Marion C. Cook School campus in LaGrange — grade K-5 students in the Penobscot County community will now attend Milo Elementary and all SAD 41 sixth-graders will be at Penquis Valley. One program will be the Carleton Project, an alternate high school.
    “We have the same number of students as last month, which is 13,” Shorey said.
    The Marion C. Cook School will also house a behavioral program. Superintendent Michael Wright said this program will have five students, two from SAD 41 and three from AOS 43 partner district SAD 31 of the Howland-area.
    Another aspect of realignment for SAD 41 is having a pre-kindergarten program at Milo Elementary. Royal said at the present time 22 applications have been received for the two sections of pre-K, with several more expected to be turned in.
    Wright said the hope is to have about 35 pre-K students enrolled, but district officials had been told with other such programs usually a year or two passes before the slots are all filled as the community gets used to having its own program for young pupils. “I wouldn’t be surprised if those numbers go up in the next few weeks,” he said.
    Brownville Elementary now has an outdoor classroom, next to the nature trail, and a ribbon cutting will formally dedicate the space and recognize all who helped create it. The ceremony is scheduled for Friday, Aug. 30 at 1:30 p.m.