January 18th, 2022
Dear Families,
I hope that this communication finds you well. We understand that a lot of individuals and families in our community are being directly impacted by COVID-19. We know the challenges that this brings and we are here to support you and your child. We will continue with pooled testing this week, despite the holiday. If your child has already tested positive they will not participate in the pool for 90 days because of their immunity. Enrolled students will be tested tomorrow morning. Please continue to monitor your child for symptoms and and do not send them to school if they are not feeling well.
We will continue to contact families with updates on positive cases and please reach out to kingsecretary@portlandschools.org. We have developed a plan in the event that a series of classrooms or a team would need to go remote for a short period of time. If this were to happen we would share all information through parent communications and our Crew structure. Students will follow their regular schedule by attending synchronous classes through their Google classroom and Google Meets.. We don't anticipate the need for this to happen, but we want all families to know that we are prepared.
Please see below for some important updates about transportation. Thanks for your continued support and patience as we navigate challenging waters. We Are Crew!
Caitlin
Arts for Activism: Moosehead 7
The students of Moosehead culminated their expedition on Friday. In the Arts for Activism students learned about the artist JR and how he used photography to change the world. Students studied activists and came up with their own messages to change the world and created individual t-shirts. On Friday, they shared their artwork and artist statements to a myriad of community partners including:
Mayor, City of South Portland
Margaret Brownlee- Director for DEI at MDOE
Gia Drew, Program Director at Equality Maine
David Patrick, Codirector and Founder, Racial Equity and Justice
Barbara Taylor, Rural Maine Justice Attorney ILAP
Sara Squires, Public Policy Director from Disability Rights Maine
Alex Carter, Policy Advocate
Transportation Update:
Thanks to everyone’s cooperation in finding alternative ways to get our elementary and middle school students to and from school when we have to sometimes cancel yellow school bus routes because of a bus driver shortage. With families carpooling, joining in Walking School Bus groups and using METRO buses, and with staff and other community members volunteering as drivers, very few students have been unable to get to school.
We’re glad students are using METRO for free bus rides on days when their yellow school bus routes are canceled. Students can just board the bus and tell the driver which school they attend and the driver will note that and send the district the bill. Here’s a guide for middle school students on how to ride METRO.
However, please note that our agreement with METRO is only for days when students’ regular yellow bus route is canceled. Rides are not free on days when students’ regular yellow bus is running as usual. If students and adults choose to ride METRO on those days, they will need to pay their own bus fare.