Vine Street School

                              Highlights 2020-2021

 

 

Excellence

 

The State of Maine switched their mandatory assessment from eMPowerMe to NWEA.  One advantage to this change is that instead of waiting 4-8 months for results, we were able to see how students performed immediately.

• In math, 69% of all students demonstrated proficiency.
• In math, 96% of students not on an IEP demonstrated proficiency.
• In reading, 71% of all students demonstrated proficiency.
• In reading, 100% of students not on an IEP demonstrated proficiency.

 

Learning and Teaching

• Vine Street was excited to welcome several new staff to our school.  Mrs. Pratt, formerly an art teacher in Baileyville, joined our team of specialists as our art teacher.  Mr. Phinney, a recent Husson graduate, split physical education duties with Mr. Pangburn.  Erika Hutchins, our new occupational therapist, received her education in Maine and her experience in Alaska.  Our own educational technician, Deidre Yeo took over the responsibilities as the head teacher in the Choices program.  Danielle Stockinger joined Vine special educators as the district BCBA.  Vanessa Bean and Jada Robinson split 21st Century Coordinator duties with Lucas Lockhart assuming the 21st Century director position.  Welcome all!

 

• At the school level, professional development focused on Jennifer Serravallo’s text Connecting with Students Online:  Strategies for Remote Learning.   This text was instrumental in helping teachers who were assigned to teach remotely full time and to help teachers prepare to pivot from in person to remote instruction with little notice.

• • All staff participated in a regional day of training on social and emotional issues at the March inservice day
  • All staff attended DEI training prior to the start of the school year.
  • All staff attended a staff meeting with personal accounts of the impact of DEI 
  • All staff attended Topics in Special Education presentations by Principal Silk (Understanding the Math of Standardized Assessments) and Dr. Rogers (Special Education Assessments, Understanding the WISC)
  • All staff worked to develop proficiency in technology including Google Meets (or Zoom), Google Classroom, Google Slides, Google Contacts and Saavas Online Platform.  

• Staff participated in grade level reading Response to Intervention meetings every three weeks led by Literacy Coach Curtis.  At each meeting the team discussed students who were not meeting expected benchmarks.  The team identified, using data, a specific skill for the teacher to address, strategies to use for instruction and set a goal for improvement to be reviewed at the next monthly meeting.

• Staff participated in grade level Math Response to Intervention meetings every three weeks.  Teachers used data from an analysis of assessments and daily work to determine skills in need of remediation.  The team identified strategies for instruction and set a goal to be reviewed at the next meeting.

• Principal Silk and Literacy Coach Curtis met weekly to discuss academic data, goals and progress.  During meetings they adjusted Title I support, planned coaching cycles for teachers, planned professional development opportunities for staff and created opportunities to build student excitement about reading.

 

• Staff Achievements

• • Mrs. Bridges earned her Masters’ Degree from UM!
  • Mrs. Deveau will complete the requirements for her Masters degree this summer.  She took 12 courses this year!

Engaged relationships   

• Staff chose Dan Santat’s story, After the Fall, as the mentor text for the school this year.  This story with themes of overcoming adversity to meet goals was a perfect selection for this challenging school year.
• Mrs. Yeo and Principal Silk served on the district’s DEI Committee for the 2020-2021 school year.  They worked as part of a subgroup to research high quality texts that featured characters/authors/illustrators from underrepresented groups with a goal of continuing to add literature to school and classroom libraries where all children can find positive representations of themselves.
• Vine Street staff hosted 5 virtual informational meetings for parents during July and August to help explain the steps the school district had implemented to keep children safely engaged in learning through each of the three pathways.
• The PTO met regularly on Zoom throughout the year.   Several teachers attended each meeting along with Principal Silk and parents.
• Vine staff hosted a virtual Open House in August.  The staff created a “Virtual Vine Street” interactive slideshow for parents.  Families could click on various links to learn more about a teacher or activities at the school.  Staff introduced the slideshow during the open house and then posted it on the school’s website.
• Vine staff hosted a PEAK night early in the year to share a resource with parents on remote learning.  The presentation included a walk through of a resource prepared by Vine Teachers, Mrs. Bosco and Mrs. Gilpin, that helped parents learn how to navigate the technology aspect of remote learning.  All parents received a copy of the handbook.
• In June, staff hosted a Math PEAK night showing parents the progressions children make in their math education.  The evening provided a knowledge base for number concepts and examples of how students learn at school.  Finally, teachers provided lots of fun activities parents can do with their children to strengthen math skills.

• Principal Silk, Guidance Counselor Morris, Nurse Streams, Social Worker Tower and School Secretary Robertson met weekly as a Student Assistance Team to identify students at risk and to develop action plans to help.

 

• The Behavior Team comprised of the school psychologist, principal, guidance counselor, BCBA, OT, special education teachers and educational technicians, and regular education teachers as appropriate met weekly to analyze data, revise plans and make specific action steps to help students regulate their behaviors.  The team started with a goal to reduce restraints and seclusions by 10%.  They exceeded this goal with restraints down by 40% and seclusions down by 26%.
• Mr. Whitney (Head Custodian), Mrs. Robertson  (School Secretary), and Mrs. Murphy (Lunch Accountability Aide) exemplified the concept of One Team One Mission by working with children 1:1 to promote reading skills and/or to be a trusted adult to help support children during the day.
• The 21st Century offered virtually clubs for after school programs.  4 clubs were offered in person in April and May.
• Vine Street staff had a beach theme day for the last day of school.
• Third grade students ended their year by walking the perimeter of the school grounds waving to former teachers/staff and younger students.  They made their way into the gymnasium where they watched a slide show commemorating their time here at Vine through pictures.
• 7 students in third grade this year have been Vine Street students since PreK.
• Several community groups partnered with the Vine Street School to support our mission including:  Bangor Police Department, Bangor Fire Department, Bangor Public Health and Community Services,  UM, Husson University, Good Shepherd Food Bank of Maine, Bangor Public Library,  Maine CDC, Maine DOT,  USDA Community Eligibility Provision Grant, Maine DOE, Mexicali Blues,  Charleston Church, and the Vine St. PTO.
• Social Worker Becky Tower coordinated with the Good Shepherd Food Bank to provide a weekly meal to  Vine Street School families in need through the Backpack program.
• Transitions are difficult.  To help ease the third graders’ concerns over moving into Fairmount, several action steps are initiated including:  sharing a guidance counselor between the two schools and  having Fairmount special educators attend IEP meetings at Vine.   Fairmount Principal Mr. Enman visited both third grade classes as did guidance counselor Mrs. Tlili.  Former Vine Street students now attending Fairmount met with third graders virtually to share their experiences at the grade 4-5 school.  Additionally meetings are held between the two building principals, the guidance counselors and third grade teachers and special education teams to consider how to continue to best serve the needs of the students.

 

Safety and well-being

• The implementation of the Reopening Plan required many new protocols including new arrival and dismissal procedures, adjusted schedules to accommodate mask breaks, and changes to accommodate physical distancing at all times.
• Guidance Counselor Morris presented guidance classes to all classes throughout the year.  Additionally, she met with children in small groups or 1:1 to help them with issues around anxiety and/or changes in their lives.
• Social worker, Mrs. Tower made multiple home visits to check on students and to help provide essentials to families in need.
• Lunch and breakfast were eaten in classrooms with 6 foot distancing between students.  This required a comprehensive duty schedule to cover all classrooms while teachers had their lunch.
• New protocols were implemented to ensure surfaces were sanitized frequently and no materials were shared.
• Students were encouraged to wash their hands frequently and to use hand sanitizer when needed.
• Only 1 student or staff person tested positive for COVID this year.
• No students had to quarantine due to an exposure at Vine.
• Vine went remote for only 4 days due to exposures on the buses.