The Boothbay-Boothbay Harbor CSD School Committee meeting Nov. 8 marked the second to last meeting for Superintendent Eileen King before she departs Alternative Organizational Structure (AOS) 98 for the Maine Superintendents Association.

The meeting kicked off with Emily Higgins’ presentation on plans for the gifted and talented program.

“We’ve had a plan, as required by the state, for a long time and it’s come time to revise said plan. What that entails is looking at what we have available for us, here, but also what we are required to do.”

The state requires that schools have a gifted and talented program that assists students who excel or who have the potential to excel, said Higgins. It must be a comprehensive kindergarten through grade 12 program, she said.

“We also need to be looking at kids who aren’t doing well in school, but who have the potential to do well.” She noted that the difference between gifted and talented now from when she was a girl is that programs no longer overlook students with potential. Higgins said students who may do poorly in one subject yet excel in another would get the help needed to continue their exceptional performance.

"Ten to 20 percent of dropouts are gifted and talented ... If we can catch kids when they’re younger before they become less interested and engaged in school and help them find ways to grow their abilities and strengthen those, then we have the potential to serve the students we’re losing.”

Because Higgins is a certified gifted and talented teacher and there will soon be a full, comprehensive program, the CSD will be able to receive subsidies, King said.

Also Nov. 8, Boothbay Region High School Principal Mark Tess introduced the committee to a new term being used in Kathy Hartley’s and Jennifer Lassen’s fourth grade class.

“Sometimes you’ll hear terms like literacy thrown around … numeracy when you’re talking about math, but I have a new one for you,” said Tess. “It’s called oracy.”

The two teachers borrowed the term and idea from a school in London that wanted to find a way to teach students how to make an argument through speech in a peaceful and respectful manner. Hartley and Lassen use the exercise every day during morning meetings.

“I think it’s a great thing to give students at that age the opportunity to speak before their peers, perhaps use this with their families at home, but it also leads right into our (fifth through eighth) grade literacy going from speaking it to persuasive writing and speaking,” said Tess.

Tess then talked about a couple opportunities for middle school students to get exposure to science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) and expeditionary learning. Fifth and sixth grade classes have been growing kelp in the classroom to plant in the Damariscotta River.

“In another few years, these students being introduced to this now — that could be their livelihood,” said Tess.

He went on to explain programs called Prodigy and Cahoot are interactive games encouraging students to use math skills. Teachers can then increase the difficulty of the mathematics to bolster progress.

“Anybody who thinks that technology is not the ‘here-and-now’— they might as well leave and find another job …,” said Tess. 

Assistant Principal Tricia Campbell spoke again on developments the PTO has passed along to her concerning the new playgrounds. Campbell met with Eric Welzel, a representative from Miracle Recreation Equipment, as well as Dave Benner, facilities and transportation director for the Boothbay schools, to discuss equipment and the grounds. Campbell reported the expected cost of a pre-kindergarten to first grade and second grade through eighth grade playgrounds would fall somewhere between $85,000 and $160,000.

The committee meets next on Wednesday, Dec. 6 at 6 p.m. in the BRHS Library.

A recording of the Nov. 8 meeting can be viewed on BRCTV’s website.