Schoolboard Budget Workshop 1 2010





To Cape Elizabeth Families,
You have recently been seeing the reports regarding the swine flu (H1N1) and concerns about the future course of the disease. As we know, cases in Mexico are clearly of great concern and possible cases in several states in this country and in Canada are being monitored carefully. The following report comes from Augusta.
"At the present time, there have been no reported cases in Maine or the other New England states.The important thing to remember as we all return to school is where our staff and students have been during April vacation. Highest risk obviously is anyone traveling to Mexico last week. Also, it is important to watch students who may have visited relatives in California or Texas. It appears that this flu is spreading quickly and anywhere someone has traveled could be bringing this flu to Maine.
Regular flu prevention techniques are important. Please remind your students about proper respiratory hygiene (cough in sleeve, frequent hand washing and stay home if ill). It might be interesting also, to ask students today "what did you do on vacation??" I would like to know which students have visited Mexico or other states that might cause a concern, just to keep track, in the event there is any illness.
According to the CDC, the flu appears to be milder in the US than in Mexico. So far there have been no fatalities from this flu in the U.S. Dr. Dora Mills, Director of the Me CDC will be providing more information to school nurses as it becomes available and I will keep you all informed when I receive updates."
We will keep you updated as more documentable information becomes available.
What role should technology play in an ever quickly changing world of knowledge that surrounds us? As educational demands continue to expand in the beginning of the Twenty-First Century, we must relook at the foundation of our schools very differently. Curriculum, instruction and assessment must be accompanied by the tools necessary to open the world for our students.
The primary function of student use of computers today needs to expand to facilitate their learning experience. With that in mind we must remember that technology can provide the activities reflect a partial list of goals of the classroom.
On-line access from the classroom to review and research materials, and prepare reports and presentations that combine text, graphic sound, music, motion video, and still images. Interfaces to musical instruments provide flexible study of music. Computer-aided design and drafting tools as well as desktop publishing, and multimedia development tools provide design capacity to better illustrate their ideas. Students can utilize software for review, practice, simulation, and complex problem-solving. Computer interfaces in their science laboratories, allow students to develop instrumentation strategies assessing temperature, pressure, electrical, light, and sound measuring; frequency counters and scales; all linked to a graphic display with an immediate printed output.
Many of these types activities are present today in our classrooms. Consequently students should be engaged in learning utilizing these resources as a part of the learning process.
A vision of K-12 student today helps each of us, not born in this technology generation, to understand the changing picture of the process of learning.


Each day brings something new. Remembering the amount of work that was necessary just a few years ago to get current messages to the public, today I learned an entirely new format for sharing information. Perhaps I need to modify that statement; this information devise known as a BLOG is not brand new but it is new TO ME! Thanks to Jason Lund from the technology department I am writing my first BLOG entry.
A week ago Friday the Superintendent’s site opened with an online video of the first budget workshop. When the school system considers transparency as a part of our commitment to the public, this is a next step in trying to make such items easily available. If you are interested, take some time to sit back to listen and learn about the initial presentations regarding the Superintendent’s Budget proposal.
Another first step for me in this process is the opening of
the COMMENTS feature. You can go to any posting and immediately comment on
anything you have just seen or read, or make comments about the process and our
schools. So that you do understand, all responses will first be reviewed to
ensure that the language is appropriate.
This first step is an important one. In the coming days, I
will begin to provide frequent blogs that will deal with various aspects of our
school and our community. In the future, I hope to be able to offer a series of
online video programs that focus on our schools.
Yours truly,
Alan H. Hawkins
