RSU #34 is making a big email transition beginning at 3:30 Friday, June 16th. We anticipate that email will be down through the weekend, possibly also including the federal holiday on June 19th. Please continue to use our @rsu34.org addresses, but anticipate that your email will not be received until Tuesday. Thank you, happy last day of school, and have a fantastic weekend!
Please remember to vote on Tuesday, 6/13/2023, in support of the RSU #34 school budget!
Alton: we believe voting hours are 2 PM - 7 PM at the Town Office
Bradley: per the website voting hours are 8 AM to 8 PM at the Fire Station
Old Town: per the website voting hours are 7 AM to 8 PM at the Elks Lodge
Thank you for your support of our students and schools!
We're very proud of our World Cultures and Languages program in RSU #34 - our K-8 program was featured in the Educators for a MultiLingual Maine newsletter! You can read more here: https://5il.co/1w1kh
RSU #34 hosts the Eastern Maine Reading Recovery Site, providing teacher-leader services to more than 30 teachers across Eastern Maine in a fee-based partnership, including our teachers in Alton, Bradley, and Old Town. The Continuing Professional Development that Dr. Sharon Greaney provides to her teachers keeps honing their knowledge and skill so they can do best by their students who need and will benefit from this intensive literacy intervention. Today Dr. Greaney and the other teacher leaders in Maine are continuing their own development, with guest Dr. Betsy Kaye (Director of Reading Recovery at Texas Woman's University). In this picture, Viola Rand School's Reading Recovery teacher Mrs. Jen Dalessandro teaches a lesson "behind the glass" while the teacher leaders and Dr. Kaye observe and discuss strategies. After the lesson, Behind the Glass involves a debrief session with the teaching colleague to reflect on the strategies and decisions in the teaching session. It's amazing what these teachers fit into a half-hour session with a student!
Our neighbors at Hirundo Wildlife Refuge have a great - and free - event scheduled for April 22nd - please see the QR code on this flyer to register!
In 2018 through early 2019, a stakeholder group in RSU #34 led a community discussion about aspirations and opportunities for our community’s middle school students. This process included a community forum, community survey, and reporting to the School Board.
This fall, RSU #34 is conducting a more compact process to confirm that these are still the priorities of our community. We will use this information to inform our planning/budgeting for future years, as well as to inform our applications for grant funds such as ESSER/ARP. We invite you to complete this brief survey, and/or to join us at an open discussion at Leonard Middle School on Monday, Oct. 24th, 5:30 - 6:30 PM.
If you wish, please complete this survey by October 31st, 2022. https://forms.gle/kFYSYkuWgqCNjsuR8
If you would like to be more involved, please contact Dr. Gert Nesin, LMS Principal, at Gert.Nesin@rsu34.org !
Re-Affirming Elementary Stakeholder Priorities
In 2019 through early 2020, an “elementary stakeholder group” in RSU #34 led a community discussion about opportunities and needs for our community’s elementary students. This process included a number of open meetings, community survey, and reporting to the School Board. The committee discussed what our community was proud of, what remained on our wish list for students, enrollment projections, facilities, and a variety of possibilities.
This fall, RSU #34 is conducting a more compact process to confirm that these are still the priorities of our community. We will use this information to inform our planning/budgeting for future years, as well as to inform our applications for grant funds such as ESEA and ESSER/ARP. We invite you to complete this brief survey, and/or to join us at an open discussion at one of these times:
*with Alton Elementary PTC, @ November meeting (date TBD)
*with Viola Rand School PRIDE, Monday 10/3, 6 PM (email Heidi.Gifford@rsu34.org for Zoom link)
*with Old Town Elementary School PTC, Nov. 2nd, 2022
If you wish, please complete this survey by November 3rd, 2022: https://forms.gle/FuvZHH8NEzbhCrVL9
We also invite you to complete this survey about our use of federal Family Engagement Funds: https://forms.gle/PXY7wo2xipzEaMCfA
If you would like to be more involved, please contact your school’s administration or RSU #34’s Assistant Superintendent (jon.doty@rsu34.org)! Similar outreach will be coming out in the coming month for Leonard Middle School and Old Town High School.
It’s been a great day for RSU #34! This morning our grant application was approved for $70,000 in supplies to support Computer Science learning at all of our schools; this will support and expand our current coding and robotics efforts, and give us new capacities in virtual and augmented reality. Many thanks to our STEM specialists Mrs. Daniel and Mrs. Zabierek for their hard work in preparing the grant application. Our schools have been leading the way in robotics and coding since a 2012-era community fundraising effort! In addition to our in-school programming for all students, over the course of the past decade competitive robotics teams from LMS and OTHS have each earned their way to international competitions.
Then at lunchtime, the Department of Education announced that RSU #34 is one of just four grantees statewide under the Community Schools program. This $50,000 grant will enable us to continue our existing community outreach efforts led by Mrs. Goodwin. Many thanks to her and Mrs. Wilcox for their hard work preparing that grant application. $120,000 total in grant awards is a great way to end a busy week!
The Back to School Expo for Viola Rand and Alton Elementary School students will be on August 18, 4:30-6:30!
Check out these summer caps at Hirundo!
RSU #34- Alton, Bradley and Old Town Schools
The State of Maine and Department of Education have completed the statewide pool testing program. The Pool Testing program has ended, but that is not an indicator that COVID has ended. We have seen increased cases of COVID as of late and wanted to give our families some extra resources to help navigate this time.
If your student is not feeling well or there are house members who are ill with COVID or awaiting testing, you should continue to keep your child at home notify the school and perform a rapid COVID test/seek testing at a facility.
It may be helpful to have some at-home COVID rapid tests on hand in case of an exposure, or if you/your student develop symptoms that may be consistent with COVID such as:
*Fever or chills *Cough *Fatigue
*Muscle or body aches *Headache *New loss of taste or smell
*Sore throat *Nausea or vomiting *Congestion or runny nose
*Diarrhea *Shortness of breath/difficulty breathing
How can I get an at-home test?
• At-home tests can be purchased over the counter without a prescription at pharmacies, retail stores, or online retailers.
• There are local facilities offering rapid testing services including PCHC Walk-In Care, Northern Light Walk-in Care, Curative (curative.com , located at the Bangor International Airport), The Northern Light Drive Thru, Walgreens, and ConvienentMD.
• Order free tests through the State Program: There are free at-home tests (five per household) available for Maine residents through the successful Project Access COVID-19 Tests (ACT) pilot at www.accessCOVIDTests.org. These tests can be ordered once per month per household.
• Order free tests through the Federal Program: Maine people in need of home tests may also order them through the federal program. The White House recently announced that U.S. residents can order two sets of four free at-home tests through www.COVIDtests.gov. Residents can also call 1-800-232-0233 for help placing the order.
If you have any questions or concerns, need to discuss an exposure, or report an illness please contact the school nurse Hannah Cloutier, RN (hannah.cloutier@rsu34.org ) at Alton Elementary School (394-2331) or Viola Rand School (827-2508).
Here is a link to the Pre-Screening Tool
https://5il.co/1a64g
Dear RSU #34 Community,
You have likely seen in the news that COVID-19 rates are high in our region. We also continue to see the spread of a number of other respiratory and gastrointestinal illnesses. Please help us keep kids and staff in school by doing these things:
*Please remember to do at-home screening for symptoms each and every day. (link below)
*Please order and use your no-cost at-home COVID tests from https://www.covid.gov/tests or https://www.accesscovidtests.org/
*Please keep kids home when they’re sick!
*Please consider using masks to reduce transmission of lots of illnesses at school.
This week, the week of May 9th, is the last week that the state is conducting the pooled testing program, which makes closely monitoring for symptoms at home all the more important!
Thank you, and we’re glad to see the sun shining!
https://www.maine.gov/doe/sites/maine.gov.doe/files/inline-files/Maine%20DOE%20Pre-Screening%20Tool%20for%20School%20Attendance%2010
School and Student Safety
Late yesterday afternoon, we were informed of a possible threat to the safety of our schools. We immediately initiated an investigation. In cooperation with the Old Town Police Department, we determined that a comment overheard by a student was perceived as a safety threat. The student did what we ask students to do, “If you see or hear something, say something.” Fortunately, there was no criminal or credible threat to the safety of our students. Nonetheless, the comment was perceived as a threat and as such, will be dealt with administratively.
RSU#34 maintains our high-level commitment to the safety and wellbeing of all students and staff.
If you would like to learn more about the Covid 19 vaccine for children, here is information about a zoom webinar with a panel of pediatricians from across the state.
If you'd like to sign your child up for pooled testing in RSU #34, the info is below! Pooled testing is a great way to keep more of our students out of quarantine and learning in-person. Participating in pooled testing is optional, and parents must give consent. Pooled testing is a once a week, gentle nasal swab that kids do themselves. Participants qualify for one of the four quarantine exceptions in Maine's Standard Operating Procedure for schools. Each school has a different access code and if you have multiple children, you'll need to repeat the quick process for each child. To give consent for a student to participate in optional pooled testing, start here: http://testcenter.concentricbyginkgo.com//minor-consent PLEASE BE SURE TO ENTER THE CODE FOR THE CORRECT SCHOOL. Alton Elementary School: PJDN15 Viola Rand Elementary School (Bradley): H52L8P Old Town Elementary School: Z1A0SE (note: the fourth character is a zero, not a capital o) Leonard Middle School: O9T2Y0 (the letter o at the beginning, zero at the end) Old Town High School: X67ZUZ You’ll answer a few questions and can give your consent online. No paper needed! If you need a paper copy of the consent, or if the student has reached age 18, please contact your child’s school.
School starts on Tuesday, September 7th!
The state of Maine has updated its data dashboard, where you can explore a variety of information about schools in Maine such as demographics, staffing, funding, and assessment data. You can access the dashboard here: https://www.maine.gov/doe/dashboard
If you have any questions about school/district data please do not hesitate to reach out to our district or school administrators! Contact information for each can be found at www.rsu34.org
The March PRIDE Meeting will be held via Zoom on Wednesday, March 3 @ 6:00PM.
Topic: PRIDE March Meeting
Time: Mar 3, 2021 06:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
Join Zoom Meeting
https://networkmaine.zoom.us/j/82400254991
Meeting ID: 824 0025 4991
One tap mobile
+13126266799,,82400254991# US (Chicago)
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Good morning, due to a power outage in Bradley, there will not be school at the Viola Rand School today, December 1st. The rest of RSU34 schools ARE in session. Stay safe and dry. We look forward to seeing students again tomorrow!