Please see the ATTACHED LETTER from our invention convention parent co-coordinators: Beth Hawkins and Claudia Bartolini.

The deadline to register is Wednesday, December 18th.  Please fill out the REGISTRATION FORM LINK prior to 12/18/24.

**4th grade parents: Your students will be participating in this event as part of their STEM class instructed by Randy Weld, please disregard any communication about the event from the parent coordinators! 

As always, our staff worked hard this year to build an appropriate school budget. This involves an in-depth process where I collaborate with SAU 50 Administrators and the Greenland School Board to evaluate the proposed budget and make cuts as needed. In October, we presented our budget to the Board, which initially showed an 8.89% increase despite our efforts to keep it lean.

Our goal is always to keep the budget at or below a 5% increase, so additional work was needed. We carefully reviewed the budget line by line, making reductions based on historical spending. For example, we budgeted $20,000 for Summer Skills programming but only spent $6,000 last year, allowing us to reduce that line. Other cuts included eliminating the permanent building substitute (which has been difficult to fill), reducing a paraprofessional position  due to a reduction in anticipated needs next year, utilizing the high school tuition expendable trust fund, and trimming classroom equipment and building maintenance costs.

Class sizes also became a topic of discussion this year, especially as some classes have low enrollment. As a result, we have reduced the budget by one classroom teaching position. This reduction will happen through attrition, as we have one staff member planning to retire at the end of this year. We will not be filling that position. Thanks to these adjustments, we’ve reduced the budget increase to 4.83%, which was presented to the Town Budget Committee on Saturday, 12.7.24.

I’m pleased to share that the budget session with the town budget committee was a success! We were able to answer all their questions, and the Budget Committee was in support of moving forward with the budget as it is. If you're interested, you can watch the meeting recording on the Town of Greenland’s Town Hall Streams.

**Next Steps - Save These Dates!**

1. Budget Committee Public Hearing - Tues. Jan. 14, 2025 - 6:30 p.m. @ GCS Multi-purpose room

2. School Budget Deliberative Session - Mon. Feb. 3, 2025 - 6:30 p.m. @ GCS Multi-purpose room

Two of our staff members, Spanish Teacher, Cindy Frizzle, and Gr. 6 Social Studies Teacher, Bridgette Hartley, travelled with other Seacoast area educators on a professional cultural learning trip to Zimbabwe this past June. As a result of that experience, Sra. Frizzle and Ms. Hartley welcomed Olga Kunonga to GCS this week. Olga visited several middle school classes and provided our students with firsthand insights into Zimbabwe's traditions, history, and worldview. Her stories and experiences inspired empathy, global responsibility, and a sense of interconnectedness for our students.

GCS middle school students created remarkable artwork to honor and celebrate our veterans, which was proudly featured during our annual Veterans Day assembly. Our artists truly captured the spirit of the occasion.

The GPO has opened up the GCS Apparel Shop again for the holiday season.  In order to guarantee delivery by 12/20, the store will close on 11/17.  Thank you! 

GCS Apparel

Congratulations to all students who participated in the SAU50 Portrait of a Learner graphic contest. Congratulations to our runners-up, Quinley Pelech and Joseph Moses, and our winner, Georgia Westerberg!  Thank you for visually representing what it means to be a learner at GCS and at SAU 50.

Carla Cole from No Brain is the Same and Megg Thompson will be at GCS on November 19th to present information about neurodiversity and information about what it looks like and how it feels to be neurodivergent.  The presentations will be done by our grade level “houses”  K-2, 3-5, and 6-8.

Retake day is for new students and staff members, transfer students, or for anyone who may have missed the initial picture day, OR for anyone who was unhappy with their original picture and would like to give it another try.  If your student would like the retake photo to replace the original photo, please send them to school with the original picture package.  They will hand it to the photographer on picture day. We will replace the original package at no additional cost.