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The $25,000 award from The Stephen and Tabitha King Foundation will be used to purchase books for the Lyman Moore, King and Lincoln middle school libraries that will benefit students learning English as well as other students.

The second meeting of the district’s new Community Advisory Committee on Attendance Boundaries for PreK-8 Schools took place on Sept. 26. The Boundaries Committee had 3 objectives: Understand the process, familiarize themselves with data to be used to consider adjustments to the boundaries & identify the committee's priorities when making adjustments to boundaries.

Nyalat Biliew – Sierra Club Maine's Grassroots Climate Action Organizer, a member of the Portland Board of Public Education and a Deering High School alum – was nominated in September for the Congressional Black Caucus’ Young, Gifted & Green 40 Under 40 Award. This honor recognizes environmental justice leaders under 40 from across the U.S. – including Black, Latinx, Indigenous, and other non-white individuals. These leaders come from various fields such as education, arts, policy, healthcare, social justice, storytelling, and clean energy, and they are all contributing to solutions for the climate crisis and dismantling environmental inequities.

There are many ways to volunteer in The Portland Public Schools. Volunteers are always needed for classroom assistance, after-school tutoring, and chaperoning field trips. In addition, there are a wide variety of other volunteer opportunities. Check out the following examples and volunteer to make a difference in the lives of our students:

World-famous cellist Yo-Yo Ma is coming to Portland’s Merrill Auditorium on Thursday, Oct. 10 – and Portland Public Schools high school orchestra students will have a unique opportunity to attend as Ma rehearses with the Portland Symphony Orchestra that day.

Every year for nearly two decades, the Maine Supreme Judicial Court has held oral arguments in appeals of real cases in Maine high schools as a learning exercise for students. This year, on Wednesday, Oct. 9, the state’s highest court will be holding oral arguments at Deering High School, with students from Deering, Portland and Casco Bay high schools invited to attend.

Joshua Chard, East End Community School teacher and 2024 Maine Teacher of the Year, and Melissa Frans, PPS special education multilingual coordinator, have been named as Maine Department of Education 2024/25 Teacher Leader Fellows – a cohort of six extraordinary educators from across the state. The six will share their expertise in civics, personal finance, integrated arts, and multilingual learning, including teaching multilingual learners with disabilities, with other educators across the state.

Portland Adult Education put together a cycling team to participate in the Dempsey Challenge in September – and PAE Communications & Outreach Coordinator Adam MacDonald described this intrepid team’s success in both pedaling and fundraising:

On Saturday, Sept. 21, the Portland Public Schools held ribbon-cutting celebrations of the beautiful new renovations at Presumpscot, Longfellow and Reiche elementary schools. If you were unable to attend these Buildings for our Future ceremonies, you can watch each ceremony on YouTube:

The Portland Public Schools needs school crossing guards. Be a local hero to help students get to and from school safely! Rewarding work with no nights, weekends or holidays. Earn $20 per hour plus bonus time! For more information, call Area Supervisor Lenore at (207) 680-0180, text “KIDSSAFE” to 22100 or visit: https://acmssafety.com/careers/

The Portland Public Schools will again be partnering with Northern Light to offer flu vaccines in our schools for students and staff. Students and staff must enroll a week prior to the clinic. Unlike previous years, there will not be any same-day enrollments for the flu clinics.

The first PATHS SkillsUSA Car Show on Sept 21 was an overwhelming success, surpassing expectations for the inaugural event, according to Kevin Stilphen, director of PATHS (Portland Arts and Technology High School).

On Saturday, Sept. 21, the Portland Public Schools will hold ribbon cuttings to celebrate the completion of the renovation projects at Presumpscot, Longfellow and Reiche elementary schools! City voters in 2017 approved a $64 million Buildings for Our Future (BFOF) bond for renovations to Lyseth, Presumpscot, Longfellow and Reiche elementary schools. The renovations to Lyseth were finished in 2021, and a community celebration was held then.

Seven Portland Public Schools seniors have been named as Semifinalists in the 2025 National Merit Scholarship Program: Violet Blum Levine, Anja Machado and Asa Tussing, all students at Deering High School; and Madeline Butters, Lawrence Foster, Dvora Katz and Alexander Price, all Portland High School students.

Emily Wells, a Lyman Moore Middle School mentor teacher who has served on the school’s leadership team, is now the school’s new assistant principal. The Board of Public Education voted Sept. 3 to approve her one-year appointment to that role.

The entire PPS employee community gathered together on Wednesday, Aug. 28, in Merrill Auditorium to launch the 2024-2025 school year as one team, generating energy, inspiration, and a shared sense of belonging. The All Staff Welcome event also included a foundational overview of the district’s new strategic plan and priorities for the new school year.

At its Aug. 20 meeting, the Portland Board of Public Education unanimously approved the appointment of the members of the district’s new Community Advisory Committee on Attendance Boundaries for PreK-8 Schools. The new Boundaries Committee is tasked with evaluating whether, and how, the district should redraw the enrollment boundaries for some or all of its elementary and middle schools to achieve more equitable enrollment and demographic balance. Also, the committee will consider whether changes should be made to the district’s current middle school model to better reflect current and future enrollment and better promote equity and achievement.

Kate Hersom has been selected as the new assistant director of Portland Adult Education, with a start date this fall.

Hayley Didriksen, the district’s new senior Director of Data & Assessment, joins the Portland Public Schools with more than a decade of experience in education research and program evaluation.

Tesia McCarthy, a 20-year veteran of the Portland Public Schools, has been selected as the district’s new assistant director of specialized programs.

The 2024-2025 school year officially gets underway for students in September, but schools are also holding open houses and other activities in August to welcome back students and families.

Two students at Deering High School were selected this summer as Bank of America 2024 Maine Student leaders, winning paid summer internships connecting them to leadership training and work experience. Isabella Figdor and Jael Mowa, both rising seniors at Deering this fall, not only gained practical work and leadership experience while working with local nonprofits, but also have received financial education coaching from Bank of America’s Better Money Habits curriculum, all while earning competitive wages.

At its Aug. 6 meeting, the Board of Public Education approved the appointment of Darralynn Jones as Lyman Moore Middle School Principal and also of three assistant principals: Alberto Morales at Casco Bay High School, Kristin Rogers at Talbot Community School; and Rebecca Schouvieller at Deering High School. The Board also approved the appointment of Spencer Allen as Portland High School’s co-curricular director and was introduced to David Briley as a new teacher leader at Reiche Elementary School, a teacher-led school.

Three Portland Board of Public Education seats are up for election on Nov. 5: an at-large seat and the District 1 and District 2 seats. Only the at-large seat is contested on the ballot.

That seat is currently held by Board member Nyalat Billiew, who is not seeing re-election. Two candidates are vying for that at-large seat: Maya Lena and John Rousseau, both newcomers to Portland politics. Lena is a substitute teacher and artist in Portland and a PPS parent.

Portland Adult Education (PAE) hosted its 176^th graduation ceremony on June 27 at Merrill Auditorium. There were 85 graduates in the Class of 2024.