A Message From The Administration:
Greetings Patriots!
This notification is a follow-up to the School Messenger notification that was sent on Monday (07/27). We understand that you may have questions/concerns pertaining to individual student schedules; accessing PowerSchool to complete the required on-line back-to-school student registration forms; or just wanting to know what the plan is for when school is scheduled to begin for the 2020 – 2021 school year. So with that in mind, we wanted to address what we could in this notification.
Main Office Hours: The Main Office at the high school will be open during the work week from 9:00am – 1:00pm. Cloie Smith (Lead Secretary) is also available Monday – Friday (excluding the week of 08/03 – 08/07) to respond to emails and voicemails (remotely) between 7:00am – 3:00pm. Phone 207-657-9303 or email csmith@sad15.org. If it’s an emergency and you need assistance during the week of 08/03 – 08/07, please email the Principal (Ted Finn) at tfinn@sad15.org or the Assistant Principal (Sadie Grealish) at sgrealish@sad15.org and one of us will get back to you as soon as possible. Thanks!
Guidance Department: As mentioned previously, the Guidance Office is closed until August 19th. The office itself has been undergoing a significant make-over and will not be ready until August. Having said that, the Guidance Secretary (Louise Chaplin) does check her email (lchaplin@sad15.org) and voicemail (207-657-9320) remotely every week and does pass on messages to the appropriate counselor. Even though they aren’t officially back until 08/19, the counselors do check their emails periodically and if there is an urgent matter, they will respond. Ms. Piker (the school counselor for students with last names A – F) has moved on, and her replacement is Ms. Flanagan who has 10+ years of Guidance experience in a variety of academic settings both nationally and internationally. We wish Ms. Piker the very best, and we look forward to introducing Ms. Flanagan to our GNG community in the near future. Guidance contact information: Kelly Flanagan (A – F; kflanagan@sad15.org and 207-657-9321); Kate Genovese (G – O; kgenovese@sad15.org and 207-657-9322); and Kaley Sawyer (P – Z; ksawyer@sad15.org and 207-657-9323).
Student Schedules: Concerns around scheduling can/will be resolved between 08/19 and the end of the second week of school (which is our add/drop period). We are addressing some issues with schedules, so since Guidance isn’t available until 08/19, we have made the request that we limit access to the student schedules until further notice. Just as soon as we can (no later than the week of 08/10), we will reactivate the student/parent access. Please keep in mind that we did our best to ensure students received as many of their course requests as possible, however there will be those students who didn’t get exactly what they wanted due to the inevitable scheduling conflicts that happen. We will do our very best to work with any student in this situation to explore other options. Note: Ms. Chaplin will be away from 08/03 – 08/07. When she returns on 08/10, she will continue to take messages for the three counselors and schedule appointments for them with the appointments taking place via Zoom beginning on 08/19.
Back to School Registration Paperwork: All parents/guardians of enrolled students should have received an email two weeks ago with instructions on how to complete the on-line student registration forms. This needs to be completed as soon as possible (before the school year begins please and thank-you). If you have issues with accessing your PowerSchool account, please contact Cloie Smith (csmith@sad15.org) or at 207-657-9303 this week (07/27 – 07/31) or anytime from 08/10 on and she will gladly assist you with passwords or any other questions you may have.
What is the start of next school year going to look like at GNGHS? The SAD 15 District Leadership Team in conjunction with the SAD 15 School Board and a Task Force consisting of parents, staff, and community members representing PK – Adult Ed have been meeting and developing/reviewing options based on guidelines and recommendations provided by the Governor, the CDC, and the Maine Department of Education. In a nutshell, we have been developing three plans that would support the following models: remote, hybrid, and a full-return. Please visit the MSAD 15 website (msad15.org) for up-to-date communications from the Superintendent. The School Board will be having a workshop on Wednesday (07/29) to learn more about where we are at with respect to these three options, and they will meet again next Wednesday (08/05) to decide what option works best for our district based on a color-code (Red, Yellow, or Green) that will be assigned to our county by the State this Friday (07/31). We will be sending out a summer edition of the Patriot Express! on 08/10 with the goal of sharing with you as much as we possibly can about where we are at with the plans for the new school year. Stay tuned!
Athletics: Our Athletic Director (Susan Robbins) has been working very hard with the MPA, other regional ADs, coaches, other administrators, and a task-force to determine what a potential fall sports season may look like. As she has information to share, she will and we encourage you to check out the GNG Athletics website to stay updated. If you have any questions or concerns pertaining to athletics, please direct them to Cheryl Piper (cpiper@sad5.org) or Susan Robbins (srobbins@sad15.org). Thanks!
As we reach the half-way point of the summer break, we hope you and your family are enjoying your time together with family and friends. Take care and stay well.
Ted Finn, Principal
Sadie Grealish, Assistant Principal
Last updated 07/30/2020