MSAD 1 COMMUNITY CONNECTIONS - School Administrative ...

October 2011 • SAD 1 Community Connections ECRWSS • Page 1
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
POSTAL PATRON
NONPROFIT ORG.
U.S. POSTAGE
PAID
PRESQUE ISLE, ME
PERMIT NO. 1
MSAD 1 COMMUNITY
CONNECTIONS
Maine School Administrative District No. 1 Castle Hill • Chapman • Mapleton • Presque Isle • Westfield P.O. Box 1118, Presque Isle, ME 04769 Vol. 2, No. 1 October 2011
PIHS expands
AP course
offerings to 7;
could be 10
next year
SMARTBOARDS AT ZIPPEL, MAPLETON—SAD 1 has taken another step forward in bringing technology into education
by installing interactive Smartboards in grade 3-5 classrooms at Zippel and Mapleton elementary schools. Above,
students in Llori Keirstead’s third grade at Zippel use the keyboard on the Smartboard. Story on page XX.
It’s fall—time for School Farm cider!
It’s fall, and that means it’s time to
enjoy pure, unadulterated apple cider from
the School Farm.
As well as fresh apples, pumpkins, Sunshine
Squash, and other fall crops.
The School Farm, formally known as the
MSAD 1 Educational Farm, opened in 1991
on 38 acres of farmland on State Street in
Presque Isle. In 1992, the first 900 apple
trees were planted on 6½ acres, and over
the next decade they grew and started producing
apples that were sold at the School
Farm Store and at local supermarkets.
School Farm manager Aaron Buzza said
as the apple trees grew to maturity, they
started producing so many apples that the
farm couldn’t market them all as fresh.
The solution was to take the bestlooking
apples to the grocery stores,
and to use the off-grade apples—the
ones that are too big, too small,
Students at Presque Isle Middle
bruised, or not the proper red color— School have a new way to improve
and use them for making cider. their fitness, have fun, and work off
The farm’s apple cider facility excess energy.
was started in 2003 and completed Roller blading.
in 2005 through a partnership with The school has acquired 20 sets of
MBNA.
roller blades, helmets, and knee and
The concept for the building was elbow pads, and they’re available
developed in Mr. Buzza’s Natural to students during phys ed classes
Resources class at PIRCTC. Mr. and recess, before school, and during
Buzza and his students presented a after-school intramurals.
design to the SAD 1 Board of Direc- Physical education teacher Brian
tors for preliminary approval, and Cronin funds for the roller blad-
MBNA provided a grant to pay for ing equipment came from a special
the engineering work. The district donation, the Student Council, and
then hired Pam Buck of Buck En- the PTO.
gineering, who took the students’ “I’m excited about it,” he said. “I
ideas and turned them into archi- think the kids really enjoy it. We try
tectural plans, which were approved to find activities that they enjoy.”
by the board.
Mr. Cronin said interest was very
The students in the Building high when the program was intro-
Trades program started building duced in mid-September. “It was
(Please turn to page 9) (Please turn to page 7)
Two elementary school students drink a cup of cider during a tour of the
School Farm cider facility. The cider press in in the background.
Students at Presque Isle High School
who want to impress college recruiters and
possibly earn college credits now have seven
Advanced Placement (AP) courses from
which to choose.
And within the next year or two, that
number could be as high as 10.
AP courses currently being offered are:
• AP English Literature and Composition,
taught by Fran Barter.
• AP English Language and Composition,
taught by Jen Bourassa.
• AP Calculus, taught by Jeff Hudson.
• AP U.S. History, taught by Zach Powers.
• AP Chemistry (taught by Eric Henderson.
• AP Biology, taught by Linda Palmer.
• AP Psychology, taught by Ms.
Bourassa.
PIHS Principal Donna Lisnik says discussions
have started about the possibility of
adding AP courses in Spanish, Physics, and
Statistics.
“We don’t have a timeline,” says Guidance
Director Suzanne Hews, “but we’d
like to start next year. We already offer
those courses at the college prep level, so
we wouldn’t have to hire new staff to teach
them at the AP level.”
Courses to be offered would depend on
enrollment. For example, if enough students
were interested, PIHS might offer both a
college prep and an AP course in a particular
subject.
Similarly, in recent years, students who
wanted to take calculus had to take AP Cal-
(Please turn to page 5)
Rollerblading comes to Presque Isle Middle School
Brian Cronin (center), physical education teacher at Presque Isle Middle School, with a
group of students who tried out rollerblading during their recess period.

Page 2 • SAD 1 Community Connections • October 2011
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SAD 1 to participate in Witt-Fitt Pilot Project with ‘stability balls’
SAD 1 is one of seven school districts
that are participating in the
Witt-Fitt Pilot Project to introduce
“stability balls” into 16 classrooms
in Aroostook County.
Stability balls are large, inflatable
balls with four short, stubby
legs underneath to prevent them
from rolling around. Designed for
classroom use, they are easy to
store and made of the highest quality
Italian resin materials.
Students in the pilot project
classrooms will sit on the stability
balls instead of conventional chairs
for a portion of the school day.
Field studies indicate that the
stability balls increase student
attention and concentration (less
fidgeting and more time on task),
strengthen key muscle groups, and
improve blood flow to all parts of
the body, especially the brain.
The stability balls also promote
“active sitting” with little or no
disturbance, incorporate health
and wellness during the school day,
and improve posture, balance, and
coordination.
The project will start in January
and run through the end of May.
SAD 1 teachers who will be using
the stability balls in their classrooms
are:
• Robin Norsworthy, grade 5 at
Zippel Elementary School.
Some of these 5th graders in this photo are using Witt-Fitt stability balls; some aren’t.
The photo is from the Witt-Fitt website.
• Marie Waddell, health teacher
at Presque Isle Middle School.
• Laura Roope, Second Chance
teacher at Presque Isle High School.
The three teachers will also be
using the stability balls themselves.
Other school districts participating
in the project are SAD 27
(Fort Kent, St. Francis), SAD 29
(Houlton), SAD 32 (Ashland), SAD
33 (Frenchville, St. Agatha), SAD
MSAD #1 Telephone Numbers
Superintendent’s Office............................................................... 764-4101
. Superintendent.-.Gehrig.Johnson
. Asst..Superintendent.-.Ellen.Schneider
. Special.Services.-.Mary.Guerrette............................................ 764-3036
. Adult.Education.Office.-.Larry.Fox.......................................... 764-4776
. Technology.Services.Director.-.Sherry.Brown......................... 764-4101
. Transportation.-.Ray.Miller....................................................... 768-3080
. Facilities.Manager.-.Robert.Gagnon......................................... 764-4101
. Food.Services.Office.-.Kathy.Allen.......................................... 764-0792
. Athletic.Office.-.Mark.White.................................................... 764-6507
. School.Nurse.-.Deborah.Raymond........................................... 764-8105
. Business.Office.-.Charles.Anderson.......................................... 768-3441
. Volunteer.Services.-.Tim.McCue.............................................. 764-7722
MSAD #1 Schools:
Presque Isle High School (9-12).................................................. 764-0121.
Donna.Lisnik,.Principal
16.Griffin.Street,.Presque.Isle,.ME..04769
. PIHS.Guidance.Office............................................................... 764-7721.
Suzanne.Hews,.Guidance.Director
Presque Isle Middle School (6-8)............................................... 764-4474
Anne.Blanchard,.Principal
569.Skyway.Street,.Presque.Isle,.ME..04769
Mapleton Elementary School (Pre-K - 5).................................. 764-1589.
Dan.Duprey,.Principal
1642.Main.Street,.Mapleton,.ME..04757
Pine Street Elementary School (K-2)......................................... 764-8104.
Loretta.Clark,.Principal
50.Pine.Street,.Presque.Isle,.ME..04769
Zippel Elementary School (3-5).................................................. 764-8106.
Sharon.Brown,.Principal
42.Griffin.Street,.Presque.Isle,.ME..04769
Skyway Education Center (Pre-K)............................................ 764-1289.
Ellen.Schneider,.Director
1.Skyspot.Lane,.Presque.Isle,.ME..04769
Presque Isle Regional Career and Technical Center (PIRCTC)...... 764-1356
Larry.Fox,.Director
.....School.Farm.............................................................................. 764-7725
45 (Washburn), and SAD 20 (Fort
Fairfield).
Funding for the project is
through a grant from the United
Way of Aroostook. (SAD 20 is receiving
a mini-grant from Healthy
Aroostook).
Teacher training in the use of the
stability balls will be provided during
October by Lisa Witt, founder of
WittFitt LLC, the Wisconsin company
that manufactures the balls.
After the teachers have been
trained, they will measure their
students so that they all have
SCHOOL FOOD SERvICES
2011-2012
Lunch.prices:
. Grades..K-5................................. $1.90
. Grades.6-8................................... $2.15
. Grades.9-12................................. $2.30
. Reduced.price.lunch....................... .40
. Adult........................................... $4.40
Breakfast.prices:
. K-12............................................ $1.30
. Reduced.price.breakfast................FREE
. Menus.for.the.month.will.be.sent.
home.with.the.K-8.students..Please.
remember.you.can.always.find.the.menu.
posted.on.the.SAD.32.web.page....
. Parents.are.encouraged.to.sign.up.
for.Mynutrikids.to.monitor.their.child’s.
lunch.account...Deposits.can.be.made.
online.at.any.time....Please.check.the.web.
site.for.more.details.
. This.year.we.are.proud.to.announce.
that.Eva.Zippel.Elementary.and.Pine.
Street.Elementary.will.be.offering.the.
Fresh.Fruit.and.Vegetable.Program..This.
is.a.USDA.program.and.the.goal.of.the.
program.in.to.increase.fresh.fruits.and.
vegetable.consumption.in.elementary.
schools.
appropriately-sized stability balls.
Then the balls will be ordered, and
teachers will start educating student
in their use through a series of
lessons in January.
School Health Coordinator Holly
Johnson is coordinating the project
for SAD 1.
Mrs. Johnson said implementation
in the classroom will be different
at the different grade levels.
Teacher training will be personalized
based on the unique classroom
environment and student needs.
In Mrs. Norsworthy’s grade
5 classroom, the students are in
the same room most of the day, so
they’ll start by sitting on the stability
balls for short periods of time
and gradually increase the amount
of time spent on them.
By contrast, in the middle school,
students are in Ms. Waddell’s
health class for 42 minutes a day, so
they’ll probably get on the stability
balls more quickly and eventually
use them for the entire class period.
Mrs. Johnson said students at all
grade levels will have to earn the
right to use their stability balls.
“The balls won’t just be given to
them,” she says.
Before the pilot project begins,
students will go through a series of
tests. Those tests will be repeated
at the end of the project to measure
changes in behavior, time on task,
and focus.
Mrs. Johnson said a letter will
be sent home to parents of students
participating in this pilot project as
soon as teachers have received the
training.
CHILDFIND
. Maine. School. Administrative. District.
#1. seeks. to. insure. that. all. children. between.
the. ages. of. three. (3). and. twenty. (20). within.
its. jurisdiction. who. are. in. need. of. special.
education. and. supportive. services. are.
identified,. located,. and. evaluated.. . If. your.
child.is.in.a.private.school.within.our.district.
or. you. are. home-schooling. your. child. and.
reside.within.this.school.district,.you.have.the.
right.to.have.your.child.located,.identified,.and.
evaluated.by.MSAD.#1.as.a.possible.special.
education. student,. including. referral. of. your.
student. to. an. Individual. Education. Program.
Team.to.determine.whether.your.child.qualifies.
as. a. special. education. student.. . MSAD. #1. is.
willing.to.provide.special.education.screening.
upon.your.request..
. It.is.the.intention.of.this.district.to.provide.
any.eligible.special.education.student.for.whom.
it.has.a.responsibility,.a.“genuine.opportunity.
for.equitable.participation”.in.available.special.
education.programs.
. If.you.have.any.questions.about.this.notice.
or.if.you.are.aware.of.any.children.who.may.be.
in.need.of.these.services,.please.contact:
. —For.children.school.age.5.or.older:..Mary.
Guerrette,. Special. Education. Director:. . 764-
3036.
. —For. children. age. Birth. to. 5:. . CDS.
Aroostook.County:..764-4490.
MSAD 1 COMMUNITY
CONNECTIONS
is published by Maine School Administrative District No. 1 and funded by a
federal grant for the citizens of Castle Hill, Chapman, Mapleton,
Presque Isle, and Westfield.
Gehrig T. Johnson, Superintendent of Schools
David C. Wollstadt, Editor (www.schoolnewsletters.net)
Maine School Administrative District No. 1
79 Blake St., Suite No. 1, P.O. Box 1118, Presque Isle, ME 04769
207-764-4101 www.sad1.org

October 2011 • SAD 1 Community Connections • Page 3
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sudents at Presque Isle High School who were on the honor roll during tthe third and fourth quarters last year were given their Goldcat cards on September 1.
Goldcat cards give PIHS honor roll students discount opportunities
A total of 189 students at Presque
Isle High School have received
their Goldcat cards, making
Harvest recess isn’t the same as
it was 50 or even 20 years ago, but
it’s still important to the farming
community, according to Presque
Isle High School Principal Donna
Lisnik.
And to students at PIHS as well,
she says.
“Harvest recess is strongly supported
by our farming community,”
Mrs. Lisnik says. “They still want
the students who are willing to
work.”
She says a teacher at the high
school whose husband is a farmer
tells her that all of the extra help
they hire during harvest time are
students.
“She’s not sure where they would
find the manpower to harvest their
crop if students weren’t available,”
she says.
Mrs. Lisnik says some of the big
farms are able to bring in workers
from outside the community, but
most local farmers can’t afford to do
that.
“If you’re just a regular farmer,
and not a big mega-farmer, you
need our kids,” she says. “We no
longer have 75% of our kids working
the harvest, as we did 25 or 50
years ago, but we still have a large
enough percentage that it really
impacts the farming community.”
Moreover, she points out that
PIHS students who work during
harvests break don’t always work in
the fields.
“Some of them babysit for par-
them eligible for free cookies on
Fridays at the school cafeteria and
for discounts at 51 organizations
PRESQUE ISLE HIGH SCHOOL
Donna Lisnik, Principal - 764-0121
Potato harvest not the same as it
used to be, but harvest break remains
popular with farmers, students
ents who have little ones so they
[the parents] can work in the field,”
she says.
Mrs. Lisnik says a survey of
PIHS students shows that during
the past 10 years, between 19 and
25% of them have done harvestrelated
work during harvest break.
In addition, except for the last
two years, between 30 and 40% of
students have worked in non-harvest-related
jobs during the break.
During the 2009 and 2010 seasons,
that figure dropped to 25 and
24%, probably because of the deep
recession.
Mrs. Lisnik notes that a lot fewer
people work during the harvest
now, as the use of harvesting machinery
eliminated hand picking.
“When I was a kid, everybody
worked,” she said. “I had very few
friends who didn’t work out in
the field. When harvesting meant
picking potatoes in the field with
baskets or barrels, whole families
would be out there. Kids could always
find a job.”
She said her two sons picked
potatoes in the field when they
were in high school (they graduated
in 1987 and 1991), but when her
daughter attended PIHS (from 1993
to 1997), most of the harvesting was
done by machine.
Mrs. Lisnik said Presque Isle is
one of the few places left where the
harvest break still runs for three
weeks. The harvest recess in Fort
(Continued on next page)
and businesses in the Presque Isle
area.
The cards, which include the
student’s photo, were distributed by
homeroom teachers on September
1. They are valid through February
28, 2012.
To be eligible for a Goldcat card,
students had to make the PIHS
honor roll for both the 3rd and 4th
quarters of the last school year.
Students who make the honor
roll for both the 1st and 2nd quarters
of the current school year will
receive Goldcat cards around March
1. The spring semester cards will be
valid until September 1, 2012.
PIHS Principal Donna Lisnik
said the Goldcat cards have been
around for about 10 years.
Jess Therriault, a senior at
PIHS, says she uses her Goldcat
card when she goes to Tim Horton’s
(10% off in-store food purchases).
Molly Zeng, also a senior, says she
uses her card at Plummer’s Redemption
Center, which allows her
to get 6 cents a bottle instead of 5
cents for bottle drives.
The best deal from the Goldcat
card? “The free cookies on Fridays
at the PIHS cafeteria,” they say.
In addition to free cookies,
Goldcat card recipients can get free
admission to cultural events sponsored
by the University of Maine at
Presque Isle, along with many other
discounts, which are listed below.
PIHS Goldcat card sponsors
27 Sign Place ................................................20% Discount
A&J Florist .....................................................10% Off Flowers
Ben’s Trading Post .......................................10% Off Life is Good Products
Big Cheese Pizza .........................................Free Big Sticks with Pizza Order
Bradley’s Citgo N C-Store ............................Free 12oz Can Soda with $10 Gas Purchase
Cafe Sopresso ..............................................10% Discount on Meal / Limited to Card Holder
Carquest of Presque Isle ..............................10% Discount/Regular Priced Items
Carroll’s Auto Sales .......................................Drawing - New Car/Truck/or SUV for Prom Night
Country Collectibles ......................................20% Off Any Candles in the Store
Daigle Oil Company .....................................$.02 Discount on Gallon of Gasoline
Dead River Convenience - Main St .............10% off Dunkin Donut & Deli Items / $.05 off Gal. of Gas
Dead River Convenience - Parson St .........10% off all Deli Items / $.05 off Gallon of Gasoline
Dwight Barbershop .......................................$2.00 off Hair Cut
Eagle Hill Stamp & Coin ...............................10% Discount (except Bullion)
Friends Market ..............................................1 Free 2 Liter Coke with purchase of a Supersub
Govenor’s Restaurant ..................................10% Discount on Meal / Limited to Card Holder
Graves Shop n 1 Save ...................................Rent One Game or Video and Get 2nd One Free
Hogan Tire Center ........................................10% Discount on Regular Priced Items
J.P. Cash Market ...........................................10% Off All Deli Purchases
KFC/Taco Bell ...............................................10% Discount/Inside Only / Limited to Card Holder
M.S.A.D.#1 Food Services ...........................Free Cookies on Fridays
Mars Hill Country Club..................................$20 off a Junior Membership
McDonalds ....................................................10% Disount / Inside Only / Limited to Card Holder
Netherland Typewriter ..................................5% Discount on Regular Priced Items
Northeastland Hotel ......................................10% Discount on Regular Priced Items
Northern Lanes Bowling...............................$1.25 per String and Free Rental of Bowling Shoes
Olympia Sports .............................................10% Discount on Regular Priced Items
Pat’s Pizza.....................................................15% Off all Items Except Deliveries
Payless ShoeSource ....................................10% Discount on Regular Priced Items
Perry’s Mini-Mart ...........................................$.05 off Gallon of Gasoline and 20% off School Supplies
Plummer’s Redemption Center ...................20% Extra on Returned Items
Presque Isle Country Club ...........................$2 Discount on 9 Holes/$5 Discount on 18 Holes
Presque Isle Country Club Proshop ............20% Discount on Golf Balls by the Dozen
Presque Isle Forum ......................................25% Discount on Forum Sponsored Events
Presque Isle Indoor Pool ..............................1 Free Pass @ PIHS Office and 40% off Swim Lessons
Presque Isle Pizza Hut .................................10% Discount on Regular Priced Items
Ray’s Corner Variety .....................................10% off all Deli Purchases
Rick’s Redemption Center ...........................$.06 for Each Returned Beverage Container
Riverside Restaurant ....................................15% off or Medium Soda Free with Meal
Rosella’s Restaurant ....................................10% off any Large Pizza or Large Sandwich
Sandwich Shop .............................................10% off any Pizza or Large Sandwich / Breadsticks $.99
Sears Roebuck .............................................10% off Regular & Sale Price Merchandise
Shear Delight ................................................10% off Hair Care Services and Products
Star City IGA ..................................................$1.00 off any Italian Sandwich
Stew’s Downtown Sight & Sound ................5% off all Blank Media / 10% off CD-r & CD-RWs
Subway ..........................................................Free Small Soda with Purchase of 6” or 12” Sub
The Perfect Touch .........................................$5.00 Haircut
Tim Hortons ...................................................10% off In-Store Food Purchases / Card Holder Only
University of Maine at Presque Isle .............Free Admission to UMPI Sponsored Cultural Events
Virtues Salon and Day Spa ..........................10% off Hair Care Services and Products
Voscar, The Maine Photographer ................10% Discount off Portrait Packages More than $100
Winnie’s Restaurant ......................................Free Large Fountain Soda with any Meal Purchase

Page 4 • SAD 1 Community Connections • October 2011
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
PIHS senior Kent Smith with New York Times columnist David Brooks.
Kent Smith (second from left) with the other Bezos student scholars and Twitter founders Biz Stone and Evan Williams.
PIHS senior planning ‘KinderKollege’ for ‘local ideas festival’
A Presque Isle High School senior
who attended the Aspen Ideas
Festival in Aspen, CO, last June is
planning to host a “KinderKollege”
for students in grades K-2 at Pine
Street Elementary School in March.
Kent Smith spent the last week
of June at the Aspen Institute as a
Bezos student scholar. He was accompanied
by PIHS guidance counselor
Mary Warran, who nominated
him for the all-expenses paid trip.
Kent was one of only 12 students
from across the U.S. who were
invited to the Aspen Ideas Festival,
where they were able to mingle
with such luminaries as Supreme
Court Justice Stephen Breyer, retired
Supreme Court Justice Sandra
Day O’Connor, New York Times
columnist David Brooks, Kahn
Dani Wolland spends 2 weeks on EarthWatch internship in California
Senior Dani Wolland was one of
two Presque Isle High School students
who were selected for a twoweek
internship by the EarthWatch
Institute last summer.
Dani spent the last week of June
and the first week of July collecting
caterpillars as part of a study to
see how climate change affects the
parasites that kill caterpillars.
The study was being conducted
by Dr. Lee Dyer, professor of biology
at the University of Nevada-Reno.
Dani spent the first and last day
of her internship in Reno; the rest
of the time, she collected caterpil-
Harvest break
(Continued from preceding page)
Fairfield is one week; in Caribou, it
was two weeks this year.
She added that if a farmer starts
harvesting early, or is still harvesting
after Columbus Day, SAD 1 will
allow students up to five extra days
of excused absence, as long as the
farmer signs a note saying the student
is working for on the harvest.
“Harvest recess isn’t like it used
to be, but it’s still important to the
farming community,” Mrs. Lisnik
says. “And a lot of our students still
take advantage of it to earn extra
income.”
Academy founder Salman Kahn,
and Wendy Kopp, founder of Teach
for America.
One of the commitments Kent
made as a Bezos scholar was to
start his own “local ideas festival”
when he returned to Presque Isle.
“The whole point of [the Aspen
Ideas Festival] is the ripple effect,”
said Ms. Warren. “If you have an
idea and sit under a tree, nothing
will come of it. But if you have an
idea and you do something about
it, it will have a ripple effect and a
positive effect in your community.”
Kent selected KinderKollege as
the theme for his local ideas festival
because of the importance of getting
students to start thinking about the
future as early as possible.
KinderKollege is a program for
lars in the Sierra
Nevada Mountains
and entered
the data into the
computer at the
research station
in Truckee, CA,
about six miles
northeast of Lake
Tahoe.
Seven other
girls worked with
Dani as interns
on the research
project, and Dani
said getting to
know them was
the best part of
her internship.
“We were
from all over the
country,” Dani
said. “Everyone
was different, but
we all got along
really well. We
all keep in touch
through Facebook.”
She said she also enjoyed traveling
to California by herself.
Dani said she collected caterpillars
by placing a canvas sheet
underneath a juniper tree and then
beating on the tree limbs, causing
any caterpillars and other debris to
fall on the canvas.
students in grades K-2 that talks
about aspirations and plants the
seed that high school is not the end
of the line. The program includes
information for parents about saving
for college, as well as college and
career awareness for the students.
It was developed by Scott
Voisine, dean of community education
at the University of Maine at
Fort Kent, working with elementary
education students at UMFK.
Kent will be organizing some
fund-raising activities to purchase
the KinderKollege curriculum kit
to leave at Pine Street, so that the
teachers can use it as a resource
and the program can become selfsustaining.
A number of volunteers will be
working with Kent on this project,
Dani Wolland grimaces as a moth lands on her nose at the research station in
Trruckee, CA.
When she found a caterpillar, she
would put it and a sample of the
host tree in a plastic bag, write the
date, place, and the type of caterpillar
(if known) on the bag, and then
take the bag back to the lab.
At the research station, she entered
the data into an Excel spread
sheet.
including members of the Community
Service Initiative (CSI)
at PIHS and education majors at
UMFK and UMPI.
“Part of the point of a Local Ideas
Festival is to involve people from the
community for support,” says Kent.
This was the second year in a
row that a student and educatior
from Presque Isle High School were
accepted by the Bezos Foundation
to attend the Aspen Ideas Festival.
The previous summer, Paul Elish
was selected as a Bezos scholar. He
was accompanied to the festival by
his AP English Composition teacher,
Jen Bourassa.
Both students were nominated
by Mrs. Warren after being chosen
by a selection committee of PIHS
teachers and administrators.
After graduation,
Dani plans to
attend Ohio State
for pre-veterinary
studies, and then go
to veterinary school,
also at Ohio State.
“My dad is a vet
[who went to vet
school at OSU],”
she explained. “I’ve
always been interested
in what my
dad does, and I love
animals.”
Another senior,
Kent Smith, was
also selected for
an EarthWatch
internship, but he
decided to accept an
invitation to attend
the Aspen Ideas
Institute as a Bezos
scholar instead.
The year before,
two other PIHS
students were selected to attend
EarthWatch institutes. Katy Schneider
spent two weeks collecting
caterpillars in the Sierra Nevada
Mountains of California, while
Brandan Jeter participated in a marine
research project on an island in
the Bahamas.

(Continued from page 1)
culus. This year, there were enough
students interested to schedule both
a regular college prep calculus and
AP Calculus.
Ms. Hews says calculus was the
first course to be offered at the AP
level, about a dozen years ago. As
student and faculty interest in AP
courses grew, more were added.
The most recent additions were
AP English Language and Composition
and AP Biology, which started
two years ago, and AP Psychology,
which started this fall.
AP courses typically offer an
exam in May. Students who earn a
qualifying score on the exam (3 or
above on a scale of 5) are often able
to earn advanced placement and/
or credit for the course when they
attend college.
Ms. Hews says PIHS students
have performed above the national
October 2011 • SAD 1 Community Connections • Page 5
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
PIHS expands AP offerings to 7; could be 10 next year
10 join staff at Presque Isle High School
Michelle Carney –
Educational Technician
Michelle Carney is a graduate
of PIHS
and currently
resides in
Ashland with
her husband,
Ryan, two
stepsons, Ryan
Jr. (21) and
Brandon (17),
two daughters,
Mia (7) and
Michaela (5), a
dog and two cats. She has enjoyed
being at home raising her family for
the past several years. Previously,
Michelle taught special education at
Pine Street School as well as at the
Opportunity Training Center. Most
recently, she worked as a substitute
teacher in Ashland. She enjoys
cooking, traveling, cooking, reading,
and being with her family.
Terry Cummings –
Full Time Substitute
Terry Cummings has been a
lifelong resident of Houlton, ME.
He graduated from Houlton High
School in 1987
and went on
to receive
his B.S. from
UMPI. Terry
has spent the
past twenty
years teaching
and coaching
students at
Terry Cummings
Michelle Carney
various levels.
He has several
interests which
include vacationing with his wife,
Crystal and two sons Jordan and
Malachi. Terry also enjoys spending
time with his family at their camp
on Nickerson Lake during the summer
months. He is very excited to
join the staff at Presque Isle High
School and looks forward to coaching
the boys’ varsity basketball
team.
Katalin Grooms –
Mathematics
Katalin Grooms lives in Presque
Isle. She graduated from UMPI in
2009. Katalin completed her student
teaching at PIHS with Teri St.
Pierre and at PIMS with Lisa Dow.
average on their AP exam
scores.
“A lot of our students
have the opportunity to
earn quite a few college
credits through their AP
courses,” says Ms. Hews.
“It’s not unusual for a
student to enter college and
not have to take several
courses because they already
have the credits due
to their AP exam grades.”
She says that the AP
courses offered at PIHS are
definitely a draw for the
district.
“Parents who are moving
into the area and deciding
where they want to live are
very interested in our AP
offerings,” she says.
AP History is the most popular
AP course at PIHS, with Mr. Pow-
For the 2010-
2011 school
year, Kaitlin
taught math
and physical
science at
Houlton High
School. Outside
of school,
Kaitlin enjoys
spending time Katalin Grooms
with family
and swimming. Her goal is to make
SAD 1 her professional home.
Joel Hall – Social Studies
Joel Hall is a lifelong resident of
Presque Isle. Joel graduated from
UMPI with a B.A. in Political Science.
Joel has worked at SAD 1 for
eleven years in the Second Chances
Program. Although
he will
greatly miss
the Second
Chances staff
and students,
he is looking
forward to a
challenging and
rewarding year
Joel Hall
in the Social
Studies Depart-
ment. Joel lives in Presque Isle with
his wife, Kimberly, and three ‘young
adult’ children: Angie, Jeremy, and
Kelsey. Joel also has a Chocolate
Lab, Kody, that is the ‘Best Dog
Ever’ and a small mutt, Buster, that
is NOT the ‘Best Dog Ever’.
George Knox –
Social Studies
George Knox originates from
upstate New York where he received
his degree in education and master’s
degree in curriculum and instruction
at State University
of New
York at Plattsburgh.
He currently
lives in
Fort Fairfield
and is marrying
Amanda
Jenkins, a
speech patholo-
George Knox
gist for Caribou
Schools on
September 24th of this year. George
enjoys all aspects of the outdoors
and watching and playing sports.
Zach Powers (standing) teaches two sections of AP U.S. History.
ers teaching two sections with a
total of 50 students.
The only other AP course with
He enjoys being in the classroom and
learning new teaching strategies.
Sarah Lagerstrom –
Social Worker
Sarah Lagerstrom has lived in
Presque Isle all of her life. After
high school,
she graduated
with her BSW
from UMPI in
1998. Sarah
also graduated
from the
University of
New England
with her MSW
in 2008. She
currently is
Wes Lavigne
Sarah Lagerstrom
employed a couple days a week for
Central Aroostook Psychiatric Services
in Presque Isle. Sarah lives
with her husband of 15 years, Paul.
Together they have two daughters,
Lindsey and Emily and two Samoyeds,
Jack and Rosie. A few of her
hobbies include gardening, walking
and learning to play golf.
Wes Lavigne –
Social Worker
Wes is a Licensed Social Worker
and certified School Counselor. He
is a graduate of Franklin Pierce and
Husson Universities.
A
native of NH,
he now lives
in Mapleton
with his wife
Kim and their
two children,
Sydney and
Nicholas. Prior
to working in
SAD# 1 Wes
was employed by MSAD#20 and the
NH Department of Health & Human
Services.
Sara Martin –
Educational Technician
Sara Martin
graduated
in 2011 from
UMPI with a
B.S. in elementary
education.
She completed
her student
teaching at
Pine Street El-
Sara Martin
two sections is Ms. Bourassa’s AP
English Language and Composition,
with a total of 27 students.
ementary School with Karen Seely
and Debra Wright. Sara recently
purchased a home on the Parkhurst
Siding Rd. with her boyfriend, Jimmy,
and two lovable pets, Chloe and
Tessa. Sara’s future goal is to teach
at the elementary level in SAD 1.
Rita Rogers –
Educational Technician
Rita was raised in Florida and
has been in Maine since 1983. She
holds an A.S.
in Forest Technology
and is
a graduate of
UMPI with a
BLS with a
concentration
in environmentalinter-
pretation. She
spent 7 years
at the Francis
Bethany Staples
Rita Rogers
Malcolm Science Center in Easton
as the Outdoor Education Coordinator.
Most recently, she worked for
RSU 39 as an Ed. Tech. Rita lives
with her husband and two cats in
Perham where they enjoy gardening
and feeding birds. Both love to
kayak, walk trails in the summer,
and snowshoe in the winter.
Bethany Staples –
Special Education
Bethany is certainly not a new
face to Presque Isle High School.
She has been a Special Education
Ed. Tech. for nearly seven years
with the
district. This
year she will
take on the
role of Special
Education Resource
Room
Teacher. She
obtained her
B.A from the
University of
Maine at Presque Isle in 2008 currently
resides in Presque Isle with
her husband and daughter. She
enjoys being outdoors and spending
as much time with friends and family
as possible.

Page 6 • SAD 1 Community Connections • October 2011
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
PIMS staff reading ‘Global Achievement Gap’ by Tony Wagner
The staff at Presque Isle Middle
School are doing something new
this year—they’re all reading the
same book and discussing it during
team and staff meetings.
The book is The Global Achievement
Gap, by Harvard University
education professor Tony Wagner.
Maine Commissioner of Education
Steve Bowen has been promoting
the book around the state. PIMS
Principal Anne Blanchard learned
about the commissioner’s enthusiasm
for the book last spring; she
bought a copy, read it, and was so
impressed that she purchased copies
for the entire staff.
Ms. Blanchard said the book was
a real eye-opener.
“We need to look at ways to make
teaching and learning fit the 21st
Century,” she said. “We know that
some of the teaching skills that
used to work simply don’t connect
with our students the way they
used to. For example, students don’t
need to memorize long lists of this
or that, because today the information
is at their fingertips, and it’s
changing daily. They need to have
“survival skills for the 21st Century,
as Wagner emphasizes, such as
Exploratory teachers at PIMS take lead role on student behavior expectations
Students at Presque Isle Middle
School know that they are expected
to behave in ways that are safe,
responsible, and respectful.
But what does that mean in the
hallways?
How are students expected to
behave in the cafeteria?
What does it mean to be safe,
responsible, and respectful in the
bathrooms, or in other areas of the
school?
Clarifying behavior expectations
and communicating them to the student
body is a mission that’s been
undertaken this fall by PIMS Assistant
Principal Barbara Bartlett
and the “X Team”—the teachers
of “exploratory” subjects like art,
music, tech ed, health, and physical
education.
Mrs. Bartlett and the X Team
spent in-service time last spring developing
short, understandable lists
of behavior expectations for each
area of the building—hallways,
stairs, cafeteria, lobby, bathrooms,
7th grade teacher gets another Community Betterment Grant for service learning project
Elaine Hendrickson, 7th grade
English and social studies teacher
at Presque Isle Middle School, has
received a $750 Community Betterment
Grant from the KIDS Consortium
to fund an integrated service
learning project with her students.
The project will involve aspects of
English, science, social studies, and
math.
It’s the second year in a row that
Mrs. Hendrickson has received a
service learning grant from the
KIDS Consortium.
Last year, she and Cindy Cote,
another 7th grade teacher, received
a $16,000 grant for a “Green the
School” project, and her students
responded with a project to replace
the school’s disposable styrofoam
food service trays with reusable
plastic trays.
This year, Mrs. Hendrickson
says she doesn’t know what type of
questioning skills and adaptability,
among others, and their curiosity
needs to be stimulated.”
She said the book is an important
professional activity, and teachers
are responding well.
“In the end, we won’t change
education on a dime, but we must
continually be asking ourselves
what works best with and for our
students,” Ms. Blanchard said. “We
have to be open to the changes in
the world. We can’t keep doing and
delivering education the way were
trained to. This little laptop right
here [the MacBook laptop computer
that all 7th and 8th graders
at PIMS and throughout Maine
receive] has changed the world—
and the way student learn, and are
excited to learn.”
PRESQUE ISLE MIDDLE SCHOOL
Anne Blanchard, Principal - 764-4474
gymnasium, recess, etc.
“We tried to list four
or five things that students
should be doing,
not all the things they
shouldn’t be doing,”
she said. “We want to
emphasize the positive,
not the negative.”
The X Team reviewed
the lists before
school opened in
September and posted
them throughout the
building. Then, on
September 9, the exploratory
teachers used
their class time to take
the students on a tour
of the different areas for which the
lists had been created, and they explained
what it looks like to be safe
and responsible, and what it looks
or sounds like to be respectful.
“PIMS students have been made
aware of what the expectations are
in each of those areas,” says Mrs.
project her students will attempt,
because they haven’t decided yet.
One of the essential components
of service learning is that the students
identify a community need
that they want to address and how
they want to address it.
Mrs. Hendrickson said the students
would be introduced to the
concept of service learning during
the week of September 19.
The next steps would be for them
to brainstorm ideas for a project—
looking through local newspapers
for ideas, identifying problems
that need to be solved, evaluating
potential solutions, and then using
a democratic process for deciding
what project to pursue.
Once a project is selected, the
students will develop an action
plan, put the plan into action and
complete the project, and then collect
data to evaluate the impact of
The first discussion of The Global
Achievement Gap was scheduled for
the staff meeting on September 20.
“We’ll go through the book chapter
by chapter, and discuss it in
small groups,” Ms. Blanchard said.
The subtitle of the book is “Why
Even Our Best Schools Don’t Teach
the New Survival Skills Our Children
Need—and What We Can Do
About It.”
Wagner’s thesis is that schools
spend too much time preparing for
mandatory tests, and consequently
lose sight of the “seven basic survival
skills” that students need to
complete in today’s world.
Those “survival skills include
problem solving and critical thinking,
collaboration across networks,
adaptability, initiative, effective
Student behavior exprectations are now posted throughout PIMS.
Bartlett.
Mrs. Bartlett says she believes
most students know what the
expectations are at PIMS, but that
the school has chosen a pro-active
approach of reminding them.
“Having the expectations in writing,
visible to students, is really
the project.
“The students have
to grapple with many
questions and come up
with the answers,” Mrs.
Hendrickson says.
Last year, she said
her students raised the
issue of why 35,000
styrofoam trays were
being sent to the
landfill, and the talked
with the food service
director, Kathy Allen,
about possible alternatives.
The students also
publicized the reasons
for replacing the styrofoam
trays with plastic
trays through an-
nouncements in the morning and at
lunchtime, and they also took steps
to ensure that PIMS students didn’t
put the new trays in the trash.
oral and written communication,
analyzing information, and developing
curiosity and imagination.
important,” she says.
Behavior expectations
have also been
developed for study
halls, for school dances,
and even for students
as they wait for their
buses at the end of the
school day.
“This is the first
time I’ve heard teachers
talking to students
about the expectations
for a school dance,” she
said.
Another advantage
of posting the behavior
expectations throughout
the school is that
everyone—faculty as well as students—has
a similar understanding
of what is expected for student
behavior.
“I’m really thrilled that the X
Team agreed to take on this important
task,” she said.
Presque Isle Middle School student gives the “thumbs up”
sign last May while eating lunch off one of the new reusable
plastic lunch trays.
Mrs. Hendrickson’s class will be
working with another seventh grade
class taught by first-year math and
science teacher Chelsea Cheney.

Boxes of apples were delivered to PIMS by the School Farm to provide snacks during state-mandated NECAP tests.
School Farm apples PIMS snack of choice
Which type of snack would a middle school student
rather have, a bag of chips or an apple?
In Presque Isle, the answer turns out to be—a
School Farm apple.
The students’ preference became apparent last October
when the PIMS staff was deciding what snacks
to offer the students to keep them “fueled” while they
took the state-mandated NECAP tests.
School Farm apples were added to the list of
snacks, and about 14 bushes of apples were brought to
‘CATS’ provides extra helps so students don’t fall further behind
Reading and math are important skills, and if a
student is struggling, it’s important to provide extra
help so that he doesn’t fall further behind.
That’s the idea behind a new Response to Intervention
(RTI) initiative that was started last year at
Presque Isle Middle School.
The program is called Children Accessing Tools
for Success (CATS), and it provides 40 to 45 minutes
of additional instruction in reading or math
every day, depending on the student’s need.
CATS is offered in place of an exploratory class
(health, phys ed, art, music, or tech ed). Every student
has two exploratory classes every day; CATS
replaces one exploratory one day and the other
exploratory the next day.
(Continued from page 1)
crazy,” he said. “We he had to turn
students away.
If that level of interest continues,
he said students who have their
own roller blades might be allowed
to bring them to school and keep
them in their gym lockers.
Increasing the supply of roller
blades is another possibility.
“We’ll play it by ear,” he said. “If
the interest exceeds the supply of
roller blades,we’ll find the money
somewhere.”
Mr. Cronin said the roller blades
are fun for students all by themselves,
but they’re also a lead-in
activity for ice skating this winter.
“It’s great exercise, either way,”
he says.
Ice skating has been a PE activity
at the middle school for a number
of years. When the school had
a block schedule with 90-minute
periods, students would bring a dollar
and they’d go to the indoor rink
at the Forum for gym class.
Later, the school decided to set
up an outdoor rink on the school
grounds to eliminate the travel
time.
“We told the Forum and they
gave us 30-40 pair of skates that
were still functional at no charge,”
PIMS so that every student could have an apple on all
four days of NECAP testing.
“Our kids loved those apples,” said Principal Anne
Blanchard. “I thought the kids might rather have a
bag of chips, but no, they asked for those apples.”
Ms. Blanchard said School Farm apples were offered
as a snack during NECAP testing again this
year during the first week of October—and they were
still the students’ favorite snack!
Students are selected for CATS based on achievement
levels in their classes and their scores on state
tests or NWEA (Northwest Evaluation Association)
tests.
The class size for CATS is limited to no more
than six students.
Anne Blanchard, principal at Presque Isle Middle
School, says CATS provides remedial instruction for
students who need it.
“It’s for kids who need a little more time to master
a concept, or a little more individual attention to
get a particular concept before they move on,” she
says. “We believe students need those basic skills
in reading and math. If they’re falling behind, we
need to catch them now.”
PIMS students get ready for rollerblading.
October 2011 • SAD 1 Community Connections • Page 7
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
New staff
at PIMS
Rollerblading comes to Presque Isle Middle School
Mr. Cronin said. “The more kids
learn to skate, the more they’ll want
to go to Forum.”
He said ice skating will be offered
at the middle school at the same
times as roller blading—before
school, during recess, and as an
intramural program after school, as
well as during phys ed classes.
Mr. Cronin said the PE department
at PIMS also has a fleet of 35-
40 mountain bikes, which are used
primarily on level courses around
the airport, as well as snowshoes
and cross-country ski for use during
the winter.
“We like any activity that will get
the kids out and moving,” he said.
Chelsea Cheney -
7th Grade Math and
Science
Chelsea Cheney is the new seventh
grade math and science teacher at Presque
Isle Middle School.
She graduated in
May from the University
of Maine at Presque Isle
with a B.S. in Elementary
Education and a
concentration in
Special Education.
Mrs. Cheney spent
Chelsea Cheney
much of her
summer planning for
her wedding in August. She and her new
husband, Gabe, live in Mapleton. In recent
weeks, they have been busy moving into
their new home.
In her spare time, she enjoys reading,
singing, and shopping for bargains.
Rocco Ventura -
Special Education
Educational Technicial
Rocco Ventura has joined the staff at
Presque Isle Middle School as a special
education ed tech.
He is a transplant
to Maine, having moved
here just over two years
ago. He has worked at
Presque Isle High School
and last year was
employed at Zippel Elementary
School.
Rocco Ventura
Before coming
to Maine, Mr. Ventura
taught English as
a second language in South Korea. While
there, he enjoyed the opportunity of exploring
many Asian countries. He also met his
future wife, who he married on August 6.
Mr. Ventura’s hobbies include fishing,
hunting, snowshoeing, and working on his
vintage motorcycle.
PIMS rollerblading equipment includes
rollerblades, helmets, and knee and elbow
pads. The student is Cameron Lahey.

Page 8 • SAD 1 Community Connections • October 2011
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bob Graves (right), co-owner of Graves Shop ’n Save in Presque Isle (with his brother Greg), and produce
manager Laurie Kinney stand next to a display of School Farm apples.
School Farm produce featured at local markets
Produce from the SAD 1 School Farm is a
regular feature in stores in the Presque Isle area,
including Graves Shop ’n Save.
“We’ve been working with the School Farm
as long as they’ve been there,” says Bob Graves,
owner of Graves Shop ’n Save along with his
brother Greg. “Any time they have something, we
take it. People like it, and they like the fact that
we have it. It’s good for us and it’s good for them.”
Mr. Graves says he’s not doing the School
Farm, which is owned by SAD 1, any favors.
For the past two years, the Aquaculture
program at the Presque
Isle Regional Career and Technical
Center (PIRCTC) has been raising
about 1,000 brook trout as part of a
project to reclaim Big Reed Pond in
northern Piscataquis County.
The brook trout are descendants
of fish that were removed from Big
Reed Pond between 2007 and 2010.
The Department of Inland Fisheries
and Wildlife (DIF&W) will pick
them up and reintroduce them to
Big Reed Pond at some point, either
later this fall or in 2012.
The reclamation project began in
2007 after DIF&W biologists determined
that Big Reed’s Arctic char
population was threatened by the
illegal introduction of bait fish, such
as rainbow smelts and creek chubs.
Arctic char, also known as blueback
trout, are rare. Maine is the
only state in the lower 48 that has
blueback trout, and Big Reed Pond
is one of only 12 bodies of water
that support the last native populations
of bluebacks.
After the smelts were introduced
into Big Reed, they competed with
the bluebacks for food, and the
adult smelts ate juvenile bluebacks,
decimating the blueback population.
When the DIF&W decided to
reclaim the pond, the plan was to
capture as many bluebacks as possible
to use as brood stock, along
with a strain of brook trout that is
native to Big Reed. Once a future
supply of bluebacks and brook trout
was ensured, the pond would be
chemically treated with Rotenone to
“When they have produce, we look
forward to getting it in, because it does
well for them and for us, too.” he says.
“A lot of the products they have we
can’t keep in stock.”
When SAD 1 Community Connections
visited Graves’ produce section in mid-
September, School Farm apples and Sunshine
Squash were on display. School Farm apple
cider—100% pure with no additives or preservatives—is
another fall favorite.
destroy the nonnative
species.
Despite an allout
effort, DIF&W
personnel were
able to capture
only a dozen
bluebacks in three
years. In the fall of
2010, the DIF&W
concluded that they
had caught all of
the bluebacks in
the pond. And sure
enough, when the
chemicals were
applied, no bluebacks
floated to the
surface.
One biologist
told the Bangor
Daily News that
the project came
just in time—and
that within a
couple of generations,
the bluebacks
would have
been gone.
The captured
bluebacks and
brook trout were
taken to a private fish hatchery
in Frenchville, where they were
spawned.
Some of the brook trout that
hatched at the Frenchville hatchery
were transferred as fingerlings to
the Aquaculture program at PIRCTC
in Presque Isle in 2009. Aquaculture
teacher Shelly Gross, her students,
and lab assistant Karen Lajoie have
School Farm Sunshine Squash on display at Graves Shop ’n Save.
been raising the brook trout—feeding
them and monitoring the water
temperature and chemistry to keep
them healthy—and they have grown
to adult size, weighing a pound or
more.
Last June, about 1,100 descendants
of the bluebacks, 7 to 9 inches
long, were put back into Big Reed
Pond, and brook trout fry from the
Produce manager Laurie Kinney says strawberries
are probably the most popular School
Farm product.
“That’s what comes in and goes out the fastest,”
she says.
PIRCTC Aquaculture students assist Big Reed Pond reclamation project
Aquaculture student Phillip Hanson feeds brook trout for the Big Reed Pond reclamation project.
Frenchville hatchery were also introduced
into Big Reed’s tributaries.
The brook trout that have been
raised in the Aquaculture program’s
tanks will have their turn soon.
“They’ll put the fish back into Big
Reed Pond in steps,” says PIRCTC
director Larry Fox. “If everthing
goes OK, they’ll put more in, and
then more.”

For the second year in a row, the
Presque Isle Regional Career and
Technical Center (PIRCTC) will be
entering two teams in the statewide
Envirothon competition this year.
As usual, the teams will compete
in four academic areas—soils, forestry,
aquatics, and wildlife—along
with a current events topic .
This year’s current events topic
is “Non-Point Source Pollution/Low
Impact Development.” Last year,
the topic dealt with fresh or salt
water estuaries.
The PIRCTC teams will be drawn
from Vicki McCurry’s Natural Resources
class. This is the third year
that Mrs. McCurry has advised the
Envirothon teams and the second
year that participation in the Envirothon
has been a requirement of
the course.
This year’s team members in-
clude Zack Haggerty, Randy Silvain,
Christopher McIntosh, Cole
Richards, Tristan Russell, Emily
Transue, Brett Wilson.
Zack and Randy, who are taking
a second year of Natural Resources,
participated in Envirothon last year.
Emily, who commutes to PIRCTC
from Hodgdon High School, has two
years of Envirothon experience with
her high school team.
Mrs. McCurry says the Natural
Resources curriculum at PIRCTC
matches up very well with the content
areas of Envirothon.
“Our first unit is on soils,” she
says. “That’s the first content area
of Envirothon.”
Mrs. McCurry says she recruits
professional soils scientists to help
her teach the students about soils
and other Natural Resources/Envirothon
topics.
October 2011 • SAD 1 Community Connections • Page 9
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
PIRCTC Natural Resources students practice Envirothon skills, setting waypoints using GPS units (left photo) and practiciing tree identification (right photo).
PIRCTC Natural Resources students compete in Envirothon
For example, Mary Jo Kimble
of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s
Natural Resources Conservation
Service (formerly the U.S. Soil
Conservation Service) comes in to
do soil judging with the PIRCTC
students.
Dave Rochester, district forester
for the Maine Forest Service, has
come in a number of times and has
taught the students many different
skills, including GPS, compass,
timber cruising, and the use of such
forestry tools as the clinometer, the
biltmore stick, and the prism.
Mrs. McCurry says Ken White,
former forestry instructor and Envirothon
coach at PIRCTC and now a
forester for Seven Islands Land Co.,
has offered to offer students some
after-school and weekend activities
this year.
“One of the best components
It’s fall—so it’s time for School Farm apple cider
(Continued from page 1)
the structure in 2003. During the
winter of 2003-04, they built the
building in sections in the shop at
PIRCTC, storing them on a trailer.
During the 2004-05 school year,
they took the trailer with the prefabricated
wall sections to the farm,
where a contractor had done the
foundation work.
“The building went up quite rapidly,”
Mr. Buzza said. “The students
did all the insulation and finish
work inside.”
Once the first floor was in place,
the district hired Buck Construction
to erect the second story, and by the
fall of 2005, the School Farm was
pressing cider.
Mr. Buzza says the cider pressing
equipment was purchased with
a grant from MBNA. The building
materials were purchased with
funds raised through an adopta-tree
program, in which people
donated $100 and received $10 a
year in apples or merchandise for
five years.
Mr. Buzza says the farm starts
pressing cider in mid-September and
continues until Christmas. After New
Year’s, people stop buying cider.
Halloween has turned out to be
the biggest sales week
for cider.
“Initially, the students
thought that
Thanksgiving would be
the biggest cider season,”
Mr. Buzza said.
“It turns out we sell
more cider during Halloween
than Christmas
and Thanksgiving put
together.”
Currently, cider is sold at the
Farm Store, at local supermarkets,
and to school lunch programs as far
north as the St. John Valley and as
far south as Houlton.
The cider is sold in gallon, halfgallon,
quart, pint, and half-pint (8
oz.) containers. The 8 oz. containers
that are delivered to school lunch
programs have non-screw caps so
even a kindergarten student of first
grader can get the top off and drink
the cider.
“The students have a choice of
fresh fruit or a bottle of cider,” Mr.
Buzza says. “They can choose the
cider, because there’s absolutely
nothing in it but 100% fruit juice—
there are no additives or preservatives.”
The cider is treated with ultravi-
olet (UV) radiation to kill any e-coli
or other pathogens.
“You should treat the cider just
like milk,” Mr. Buzza says. “You can
keep it in the refrigerator for about
14 days. If you keep it too long, it
won’t turn hard—it will just spoil.”
Every batch of cider is tested for
pathogens at the Micmac Environmental
Laboratory to make sure it’s
safe for human consumption.
Sales of apple cider have grown
steadily, according to Mr. Buzza.
“Our customer base is as far
away as Lincoln,” he says. “The
popularity [of School Farm cider]
is getting to the point where it’s
almost too much.”
By 2009, the school market had
grown to the point where the farm
had to invest in a bottling machine,
which can fill four of the 8 oz.
of this is that it gets my students
together with professionals in soils,
forestry, aquatics, and wildlife—the
four areas of Envirothon,” she says.
Last year, PIRCTC entered two
teams in the northern regional Envirothon
competition at Littleton on
May 12.
Team A, which included Luke
Brabant, Tyler Eager, Zack Haggerty,
Ben McKenna, and Terrence
Reidy, placed third in the regionals
and qualified for the state competition
in Augusta.
Team B was made up of Cody
Cheviot, Josh Michaud, Kord Putman,
Randy Sylvain, and Robert
Deschesne.
This year, the regional competiton
will be held on May 10 at Aroostook
State Park in Presque Isle. The
state finals will be held May 31 at
the University of Maine in Orono.
bottles at a time—up to
4,000 bottles a day.
Mr. Buzza says the
School Farm orchard
has expanded to 2,560
apple trees (24 varieties)
on 13 acres. Annual
production is about
100,000 lbs. of apples
(2,400 bushels), about
half of which is pressed
into 4,000 gallons of cider.
One of the more interesting questions
that Mr. Buzza is dealing with
is what to do with the pomice—the
part of the apple that’s left over
after the juice is pressed out.
Currently, its given to pig farmers
and chicken farmers, who add it
to their feed as a filler, as it has no
nutritional value.
Mr. Buzza said he tried composting
it in the fields. However, instead
of decomposing, the pomice rehydrated
itself and expanded back to
its dry volume.
Mr. Buzza also wonders whether
the pomice could be burned if it was
dry enough.
“I don’t know,” he says. “That
would make a great science project
for somebody, and it would produce
a good aroma.”

Page 10 • SAD 1 Community Connections • October 2011
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
One of the advantages of a Smartboard is that it will display the screen of the teacher’s laptop, allowing the entire class to surf the Internet in search of information. Above, students in
Llori Keirstead’s third grade class at Zippel Elementary School find information to answer their questions about the history of mobile phones and batteries.
Smartboards installed at Zippel, Mapleton for grades 3-5
SAD 1 has taken another step
forward in bringing technology
into education by installing interactive
Smartboards in grade 3-5
classrooms at Zippel and Mapleton
elementary schools.
The smartboards are large whiteboards
that are connected to the
teacher’s computer and and and
overhead projector, which projects
the computer desktop onto the board.
The boards can act like a touchscreen,
with the teacher and/or the
students controlling the computer
using a pen, finger, stylus, or other
device.
“You can do anything on a
Smartboard that you can do on your
computer,” says third grade teacher
Llori Keirstead. “You can type on
your computer, and you can stand
in front of the smartboard and type
on the smartboard.”
She can also use the Smartboard
to show her students a lesson in
Fresh Fruit and Vegetable program expanded to Zippel; now three times a week
The Fresh Fruit and Vegetable
program that delighted students at
Pine Street Elementary School last
year has been extended for another
year, with two big changes.
First, the program has been extended
to Zippel Elementary School,
as well as Pine Street, and the fresh
fruits and veggie snacks are being
provided three times a week instead
of two.
Kathy Allen, food service director
for SAD 1, says the fresh fruits
and veggies come from a variety of
sources, including the School Farm,
local stores, and the district’s food
service vendors.
She said the School Farm provides
apples, cucumbers, tomatoes,
and carrots.
“Whatever they have available,
we’ll try to use,” she said.
The first offering this year was
a fruit tray, which included cantaloupe,
grapes, pineapple, honeydew
melon, and watermelon.
The fruit trays for Zippel were
prepared by Graves Shop ’n Save;
the fruit trays for Pine St. were
prepared by Star City IGA.
The second day, the students received
individual packets of grapes
called “Giggles.”
“The kids are excited,” says 4th
grade teacher Mary Graham. “They
can’t wait to see what the snack is
going to be.”
math, visit a website to
learn about apples (or
almost anything else);
watch a news broadcast
on cable TV, take a tour of
Rome via the Internet; or
watch a movie or DVD.
“Some of the websites
we visit, like Discovery
Education (www.discoveryeducation.com)
have a lot of
interactive lessons,” she says. “And
all of our reading lessons are now
on the Smartboard.”
Ms. Keirstead took a class last
summer with several other third
grade teachers to learn more about
using the Smartboard.
“There’s no limit what you can
do,” she says.
She says she’s still learning how
to apply technology in the classroom.
By contrast, her third-grade
students are familiar with the
Smartboard, having seen them in
ZIPPEL ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
Sharon Brown, Principal - 764-8106
action during their first and second
grade years at Pine Street.
The third-graders aren’t shy
when asked what they like about
the Smartboard.
“I like the Smartboard because I
like all the math games on it,” says
Connor Michaud.
“I like to draw on it,” says Meg
Casavant.
Jacob Smith says the Smartboard
gives the class a lot of options.
“You can do a lot of different
things on it,” he says, “like go on the
Internet and play a lot of games.”
Noah Roy points out
that it’s no longer necessary
to bring a TV into
the classroom. “You can
play videos on the Smartboard,”
he says.
Brandon Dubie says he
likes the Smartboard for
math.
“When we do math,
we get up and draw on the Smartboard,”
he says. “It’s better than
paper because you can draw on it
and erase it a lot faster.”
Adds DeLaini Huston: “I like the
Smartboard because you can learn
on it.”
Ms. Keirstead said when she first
used the Smartboard, she used it
like an overhead projector, writing
things on the screen.
“That’s about all I did at the
beginning,” she said. “But then I
discovered I can access everything
on the computer.”
Students at Zippel Elementary School enjoy healthy snacks through the USDA’s Fresh Fruit and Vegetable program.
The snacks are served between 9
and 10 a.m. on Tuesdays, Wednesdays,
and Thursdays.
The fresh fruits and vegetables
are provided by grants to each
school by the U.S. Department of
Agriculture under the Fresh Fruit
and Vegetable Program.
The snacks must be served during
the school day, but they can’t be
offered as part of the school lunch
program.
The fruits and veggies must be
fresh and unprocessed. Vegetables
can be served with a low-fat dip.
The rules allow the snacks to be
cooked only if the preparation is
part of a teaching experience.
“We can’t serve applesauce from
a jar,” says Mrs. Allen, “but we
could serve it if we were teaching
students how to cook it, starting
with fresh apples.”
Mrs. Allen says the favorite
snacks at Pine Street last year were
strawberries and watermelon.
“Strawberries are a treat during
the winter, because they’re too
expensive for most families, ” she
says. “And the kids always go for
watermelon.”
The goal of this program is to:
• Create healthier school environments
by providing healthier
food choices.
• Expand the variety of fruits
and vegetables children experience.
• Increase children’s fruit and
vegetable consumption.
• Make a difference in children’s
diets to impact their present and
future health.
Holly Johnson, school health
coordinator, provides educational
materials to the teachers to promote
this snack program. Teachers at
the schools will be providing nutrition
education activities within the
classroom to increase the students’
knowledge of the health benefits of
eating fruits and vegetables.

Renee Eager
2011-12 is ‘Year of Reading’ for PI Elementary PTO
October 2011 • SAD 1 Community Connections • Page 11
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Renee Eager is the new ‘face of Zippel’ as school secretary 5th graders
Renee Eager is the new “face of
Zippel” Elementary. She took Laurie
Berry’s place as school secretary
when Laurie retired in June. Renee
is new to the front office of Zippel
but not new to our District. She has
served as special education technician
at Presque Isle Middle School
and as Title I Ed. Tech. in the fifth
grade classrooms at Zippel. She is
also an SAD#1 parent, having one
son who graduated from high school
last year and one son who is currently
a senior at PIHS. Renee is an
avid support of SAD#1 sports teams.
Renee is a native of Farmington,
Maine. With her husband and sons,
she has lived in Presque Isle for 17
years. Renee is a graduate of Northern
Maine Community College and
is the first in her family to attend
and graduate at the college level.
She worked for several years as an
office manager and went back to
school because she has always had
a desire to work with children.
In her spare time, Renee enjoys
skiing, biking, and camping with
her family. Her new passion is making
bead jewelry.
For the Presque Isle Parent
Teacher Organization, which serves
Pine Street and Zippel elementary
schools, 2011-12 will be the “Year of
Reading.”
Leslie Smart, the new PTO president,
says the group’s activities for
the coming year, including the three
scheduled fund-raisers, will be
focused on reading.
The first fund-raiser, which was
held in September, was a magazine
sales drive, with the most prominent
titles, such as National Geographic
for Kids and Highlights, being
magazines for younger readers.
The PTO is also planning a Reada-Thon
in March, where students
will get pledges for reading books.
“The more books they read, the
more money they raise,” says Mrs.
Smart.
In the past, pledges have ranged
from 5 cents per book up to $1.
“The goal is for kids to read more
books, not just raise money,” she
says. “We want students to get
together with mom, dad, and other
family members and read.”
The third fund-raiser will be a
book fair, but the date hasn’t been
determined yet.
The PTO book fair will be held at
Pine Street, because Zippel has its
own book fair, which is sponsored
by the school.
Funds raised by the PTO benefits
both elementary schools. Money
raised by the group last year helped
fund a variety of activities, including
the Rick Charette concert,
author visits, publication of kindergarten
class books, purchase of
tissues for classroom use, the first
grade sleigh ride in the winter, Dr.
Seuss’s birthday activities, and the
field day at the end of the year.
“Basically, we’re here for the
teachers,” says Mrs. Smart. “When
they come to us with a request, we
try to help them as much as we can.”
Mrs. Smart and her husband
Fred have four children in SAD 1
schools—Alyssa in grade 2, Emma
in grade 1, Frederick in kindergar-
As secretary at Zippel Elementary,
Renee hopes to carry on the
tradition of helpful, caring concern
for students and parents. She is
working hard to learn all the names
ten, and Alivia in pre-K.
Mrs. Smart says she gets a lot of
support from her husband.
“He supports me,” she says. “He
takes care f the kids when I’m at
PTO meetings. He gives me the support
I need and makes be believe
that I can do it.”
Mrs. Smart says the PTO is
looking for more parents who are
interested in helping with school
and PTO activities.
“We want everyone to know
FAMILY EDUCATIONAL
RIGHTS AND PRIvACY ACT
NOTICE
. The. Family. Educational. Rights. and.
Privacy. Act. (“FERPA”). provides. certain.
rights. to. parents. and. eligible. students. (18.
years. of. age. or. older). with. respect. to. the.
student’s.education.records.
. A. Inspection of Records.. Parents/
eligible. students. may. inspect. and. review.
the. student’s. education. records. within. 45.
days. of. making. a. request.. . Such. requests.
must.be.submitted.to.the.Superintendent.or.
building. administrator. in. writing. and. must.
identify.the.record(s).to.be.inspected...The.
Superintendent. or. building. administrator.
will.notify.the.parent/eligible.student.of.the.
time.and.place.where.the.record(s).may.be.
inspected. in. the. presence. of. school. staff..
Parents/eligible.students. may. obtain.copies.
of.education.records.at.a.cost.of.$3.00.for.the.
first.page.and..50/per.page.thereafter..
. B. Amendment of Records. Parents/
eligible. students. may. ask. MSAD. #1. to.
amend. education. records. they. believe. are.
inaccurate,. misleading,. or. in. violation. of.
the.student’s.right.to.privacy...Such.requests.
must.be.submitted.to.the.Superintendent.or.
building. administrator. in. writing,. clearly.
identify. the. part. of. the. record. they. want.
changed,. and. specify. why. it. is. inaccurate.
or. misleading.. . If. the. Superintendent. or.
building.administrator.decides.not.to.amend.
the. record. as. requested,. the. parent/eligible.
student.will.be.notified.of.the.decision,.their.
right. to. request. a. hearing,. and. information.
about.the.hearing.procedure.
. C. Disclosure of Records....MSAD.#1
must.obtain.a.parent/eligible.student’s.written.
consent. prior. to. disclosure. of. personally.
identifiable.information.in.education.records.
except.in.circumstances.as.permitted.by.law.
or.regulations.as.summarized.below.
. . 1. Directory Information. MSAD.
of the children and families served
by Zippel. Her infectious smile
and friendly voice help everyone
feel welcome in the office.
that we’re not the PTO from the
movies,” she said. “We’re not the
scary ladies. We’re just a bunch of
parents who want the best for their
kids. We want to do everything we
can to help our teachers, and to help
our students have a great learning
experience.”
The PTO meets from 6:30 to 7:30
p.m. on the third Monday of each
month, except when holidays intervene.
The group alternates between
Pine Street and Zippel
#1 designates. the. following. student.
information. as. directory. information. that.
may.be.made.public.at.its.discretion:.name,.
participation.and.grade.level.of.students.in.
officially. recognized. activities. and. sports,.
height.and.weight.of.student.athletes,.dates.
of.attendance.in.the.school.unit,.and.honors.
and. awards. received,. and. photographs. and.
videos.relating.to.the.student.participation.in.
school.activities.open.to.the.public.(except.
photographs. and. videos. on. the. internet)..
Parents/eligible. students. who. do. not. want.
MSAD.#1 to.disclose.directory.information.
must. notify. the. school. Principal. in. writing.
by.September.15 th or.within.thirty.(30).days.
of.enrollment,.whichever.is.later...This.optout.request.will.remain.in.effect.unless.and.
until.it.is.rescinded.
. . 2. Military Recruiters/Institutions
of Higher Education. Military. recruiters.
and. institutions. of. higher. education. are.
entitled.to.receive.the.names,.addresses.and.
telephone. numbers. of. secondary. students,.
and.MSAD.#1 must.comply.with.any.such.
request. provided. that. parents. have. been.
notified. of. their. right. to. request. that. this.
information. not. be. released. without. their.
prior. written. consent.. . Parents/eligible.
students. who. do. not. want. MSAD. #1 to.
disclose. this. information. must. notify. the.
school. Principal. in. writing. by. September.
15 th or.within.thirty.(30).days.of.enrollment,.
whichever.is.later.
. . 3. School Officials with Legitimate
Educational Interests. Education. records.
may.be.disclosed.to.school.officials.with.a.
“legitimate.educational.interest.”..A.school.
official.has.a.legitimate.educational.interest.
if. he/she. needs. to. review. an. education.
record.in.order.to.fulfill.his/her.professional.
responsibility.. . School. officials. include.
persons. employed. by. MSAD. #1 as. an.
administrator,. supervisor,. instructor,. or.
support. staff. member. (including. health.
or. medical. staff. and. law. enforcement.
attending
‘BEEP’ at
UMPI Nov. 3
About 30 fifth graders from Zippel
Elementary School and a half
dozen from Mapleton Elementary
School will attend the BE Energywise
Program (BEEP) at the
University of Maine at Presque Isle
College Center on November 3.
BEEP is sponsored by Maine
Public Service Company. This year’s
theme is “Kids Energizing Kids.”
The day-long workshop attracts
elementary school groups from
throughout Aroostook County.
The program will cover a variety
of energy-related topics, including energy
conservation and renewable and
non-renewable energy sources.
One of the featured activities this
year will be an hour-long session
entitled, “Senate Energy Hearings—the
Great Debate.”
Robin Norsworthy, fifth grade
teacher at Zippel, says students
attending the workshop will be
selected on the basis of persuasive
writing, academic performance, and
good citizenship.
“The students have to write a
letter saying why they want to participate
in the workshop,” she says.
“They have to persuade us to take
them.”
Ms. Norsworthy says the students
attending the workshop will
receive packets with information on
energy sources.
She says the Zippel fifth graders
will be team leaders when their
classes study renewable and nonrenewable
energy sources later in
the year.
unit. personnel);. members. of. the. Board. of.
Education;.persons.or.companies.with.whom.
MSAD.#1 has.contracted.to.provide.specific.
services.(such.as.attorneys,.auditors,.medical.
consultants,. evaluators,. or. therapists);. and.
volunteers.who.are.under.the.direct.control.
of. the. School. Department. with. regard. to.
education.records...
. . 4. Health or Safety Emergencies..
In. accordance. with. federal. regulations,. the.
School.Department.may.disclose.education.
records. in. a. health. or. safety. emergency.
to. any. person. whose. knowledge. of. the.
information.is.necessary.to.protect.the.health.
and.safety.of.the.student.or.other.individuals.
without.prior.written.consent.
. 5. Other School Units. .As.required.
by. Maine. law,. MSAD. #1 sends. student.
education.records.to.a.school.unit.to.which.
a. student. applies. for. transfer,. including.
disciplinary. records,. attendance. records,.
special.education.records.and.health.records.
(except. for. confidential. health. records. for.
which. consent. for. dissemination. has. not.
been.obtained).
. . 6. Other Entities/Individuals.
Educa-tion. records. may. be. disclosed. to.
other.entities.and.individuals.as.specifically.
permitted.by.law...Parents/eligible.students.
may. obtain. information. about. other.
exceptions.to.the.written.consent.requirement.
by.request.to.the.Superintendent.or.building.
administrator.
D. Complaints Regarding School
Depart-ment Compliance with FERPA.
Parents/eligible. students. who. believe.
that. MSAD. #1. has. not. complied. with. the.
requirements. of. FERPA. have. the. right. to.
file. a. complaint. with. the. U.S.. Department.
of. Education.. . .The. office. that. administers.
FERPA.is:
. . Family.Policy.Compliance.Office
. . U.S..Department.of.Education
. . 400.Maryland.Avenue,.SW
. . Washington,.DC.20202

Page 12 • SAD 1 Community Connections • October 2011
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
UMPI student serving as intern in Mrs. Willey’s kindergarten class
For the second time in three years,
Pine Street School has a student
intern from the University of Maine
at Presque Isle who will be spending
the entire year working at the school
and learning the art of teaching.
The intern, Danielle Pelkey of
Caribou, is working with kindergarten
teacher Tammy Willey.
Ms. Pelkey was at Pine Street
every day during the first week of
school, and she’ll be helping Mrs.
Willey every Friday during the first
semester.
Then, she’ll do her student teaching
during the second semester,
working full-time in Mrs. Willey’s
class until she graduates in May.
Ms. Pelkey also helped Mrs. Willey
set up her classroom during the
week before school started and was
there on “Cookie Day” (to meet the
incoming kindergartners.
Ordinarily, a student at UMPI
majoring in education spends one
semester during his or her senior
year student teaching. The student
usually spends 7 or 8 weeks with
one teacher and 7 or 8 weeks with
another teacher at a different grade
level. Ms. Pelkey will spend all 15
weeks in Mrs. Willey’s class.
The internship arrangement
is part of a Professional Development
School agreement between
SAD 1 and the University of Maine
at Presque Isle that started with
the 2009-10 school year. The agree-
PINE STREET ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
Loretta Clark, Principal - 764-8104
ment calls for SAD 1
and UMPI to pilot the
goals and activities
of the partnership at
Pine Street Elementary
School, Presque Isle
Middle School, and Presque
Isle High School.
In addition to Ms.
Pelkey, there are four
other interns working in
SAD 1 this year.
Lisa Davis, Stephanie
Pemberton, Cassie
Green, and Crystal
Cummings are doing
internships at PIMS,
while Crystal Cum-
mings is serving as a guidance
intern at both PIMS and PIHS.
Ms. Pelkey is the second UMPI
student to spend a year as a student
intern at Pine Street.
During the 2009-10 school year,
Shannon Cheviot was an intern in
Mrs. Willey’s kindergarten class. Although
Mrs. Willey said she was very
capable and dedicated as an intern,
Student intern Danielle Pelkey (right) works with kindergarten
students along with kindergarten teacher Tammy
Willey (second from right).
Attendance high at Pine Street Elementary School open house
A large number of parents, siblings, and other family members
attended the open house at Pine Street Elementary School
on Tuesday, September 13.
“It was the largest crowd that I have seen for an open house,”
said Pine St. Principal Loretta Clark. “A lot of teachers commented
about the large percentage of families that attended. It
was a nice way to to start that home-school partnership that we
strongly feel is important for our young children.”
Mrs. Clark noted that the open house came just five days
after the first day of school for students, which was September 8.
She said having the open house earlier in the school year may
have increased attendance.
In addition to parents, grandparents, and aunts and uncles, the
students brought their brothers and sisters, and even some friends.
“A lot of siblings come, including many former students,” said
Mrs. Clark. “They were excited to see their former teachers.”
The open house gives students an opportunity to show their
parents and other family members what their day looks like
when they come to school.
“They show them the playground, the cafeteria, and how they
have to go through the line in the cafeteria to get their breakfast
and lunch,” said Mrs. Clark. “The parents get to meet the homeroom
teacher and all the other staff who work with their child.
It’s a nice way to start our year.”
she decided that she didn’t want to
teach kindergarten, and she is now
teaching a self-contained special education
class in another district.
Loretta Clark, principal at Pine
Street School, says the internship
program is a “win-win” situation for
both the interns and SAD 1.
“The intern starts before school
starts, helping the teacher prepare
The Maynard Family: mother Lyndsey
Maynard with Jackson, grade 2, and
Jorja, kindergarten.
the room and materials for the
first day of class,” Mrs. Clark says.
“They get to see how much work the
teacher puts into physically preparing
the room, as well as getting
material ready for students.”
By the time the intern is ready
to start student teaching in Janu-
ary, she’s already formed a good
rapport with both the teacher and
the students. “The students see the
intern as another teacher in the
classroom,” Mrs. Clark says.
The school district also benefits
because the intern is in the building
for the entire year, not just one
semester, and she works with the
same teacher.
Also, students who have chosen
to do the internship tend to be
highly motivated.
“They have to go through a process,”
Mrs. Clark says. “It’s just like a
job. They apply for for the internship,
and we interview them. It has to be
a good fit. Not just anyone can do it.
Hopefully, by the end of the year we’ll
know whether the intern is someone
we want to consider for potential
teaching positions in our system”
The Professional Development
School agreement also provides for
the possibility that UMPI faculty
could teach courses on site at Pine
Street, PIMS, or PIHS to meet the
needs of both student interns and
veteran teachers seeking recertification.
For SAD 1 kindergartners, the first day of school is ‘Cookie Day’
The first day of school is a particularly big day
for kindergarten students, many of whom may be
spending their first day away from home.
To make the transition a little easier, SAD 1
invites all incoming kindergartners and their parents
to “Cookie Day,” which is held the day before
school starts at Pine Street School in Presque Isle
and Mapleton Elementary School in Mapleton.
This year, Cookie Day was held from 11 a.m.
to 12:30 p.m. at both schools.
“It’s like a kindergarten open house,” says Loretta
Clark, principal at Pine Street. “It’s a chance
for students and parents to see their classroom, meet
the teacher, and see who they’re going to have as
friends in the classroom. They also have cookies and
juice, which is the best part for most of the kids.”
There’s also a school bus out in the parking lot, so
the children can practice getting on and off the bus.
Tammy Willey, kindergarten teacher at Pine
Street, says she tries to have everything ready in
her room, so that the new students can come in
and find their coat hook with their name on it.
“When they come to school on the first day, they’ll
know where they’re going, they’ll, know what I look
like, and they’ll have a picture in their head of what
to expect,” she says. “That way, it won’t be so scary.”
Mrs. Willey says there’s no set schedule for
Cookie Day. “It’s an informal meeting,” she says.
“Parents can come in and look around the room
and leave when they’re ready. The children can
also play on the playground.”
This year, Mrs. Willey was joined by Ms. Michaud,
an educational technician who helps out
in the classroom, and Miss Pelkey, a student intern
from the University of Maine at Presque Isle
who will be helping out one day a week in Mrs.
Willey’s classroom this fall and doing her student
teaching with Mrs. Willey in the spring.
Mrs. Clark says the goal of Cookie Day is to
help children make the transition to kindergarten.
“Even if they’ve already attended pre-K or a
private day care facility, kindergarten is a new
building, a new teacher, and different friends in
the room,” she says.
“Some children need multiple opportunities to
make the transition—to adjust to the change,” Mrs.
Joey Donovan was all smiles, as were his parents, Sean
and Kierston Donovan.
Clark says. “Hopefully, Cookie Day not only relieves
student anxiety, but parent anxiety, as well.”
Cathy Haskell (left) with Danica, grade 2; and Leslie
Smart with Alyssa, grade 2; Frederick, kindergarten; and
Emma, grade 1.

October 2011 • SAD 1 Community Connections • Page 13
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Page 14 • SAD 1 Community Connections • October 2011
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
MAPLETON ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
Dan Duprey, Principal - 764-1589
Large crowd attends
First Day at Mapleton
A large crowd of parents and family members joined students
at Mapleton Elementary School on Thursday morning,
September 8, for the traditional First Day Celebration
around the flagpole on the school’s northwest lawn.
About 8 a.m., after students got off the buses and
parents had arrived, the teachers came out of the school
build-ing. All the students, accompanied by parents and
family members, got in line behind their teacher.
Led by two fifth grade grand marshals pulling a wagon
with a loudspeaker playing marching music, the students
and parents paraded around the front of the building to
the flagpole.
With the crowd surrounding the flagpole, the grand
marshals and staff members raised the U.S. and State of
Maine flags. Then, Principal Dan Duprey led the commu-
3rd. 4th, 5th graders learn golf at Mapleton Elementary School
Golf is a lifetime sport that anyone—young
or old, boys or girls—
can enjoy.
That’s why Ralph Michaud, physical
education teacher at Mapleton
Elementary School, has made golf
part of the fall PE schedule for
third-, fourth-, and fifth-graders.
“I introduce golf to the thirdgraders,
and when they get to
fourth grade, it’s more review,” he
says. “By the time they’re in fifth
grade, they’re quite good.”
The golf lessons last three or four
weeks. This fall, golf was a threeweek
unit because school didn’t
start until September 8.
For the first two weeks, students
hit balls in the field in back of the
school. After each session, they go
out and collect the balls they’ve hit
and put them back in the buckets
for the next day.
During the third week, Mr.
Michaud set up a nine-hole putting
course in the gym.
Gym class lasts 30 minutes, so
there isn’t enough time to go out on
a real golf course, but Mr. Michaud
teaches them the rules of the game
and how to keep score.
He also provides a copy of the
scorecard from the golf club he
belongs to, so that the students can
keep score on the putting course.
“They have to record the correct
score on the correct hole—and do
the math correctly,” he says.
Mr. Michaud is a golfer, but
never thought about teaching the
sport at Mapleton until he attended
a conference for PE teachers about
eight years ago.
“There was a session on teaching
golf to middle-school students,” he
recalled. “I thought I could do this
at Mapleton. We have the room.
We’re not a middle school, but I
could do it with third-, fourth-, and
fifth-graders.”
Mr. Michaud says his young golfers
did pretty well this September.
“The fifth graders I have this
year are quite good,” he says. “Some
of them were hitting the ball 100 to
120 yards.”
He also enjoys working with the
beginning golfers and helping them
Third grade golfer shows good form.
learn the basics of the game.
“With the third graders especially,
it’s fun to watch their eyes light
up when they finally hit a ball that
goes in the air,” he says.
(Continued on next page)
Fifth grade grand marshals Jacob Sjoberg and Elizabeth Collins help raise the flag during Mapleton Elementary
School’s traditional First Day Celebration on September 8.
nity in the Pledge of Allegiance followed by a
brief wel-coming back to school speech.
The fifth grade grand marshals were
Jacob Sjoberg and Elizabeth Collins.
Mr. Duprey said it was very well attended.
“This event is well attended every year,”
Third graders tee off during Mr. Michaud’s golf unit in physical education class.
Mapleton Elementary raises $1,000 for C.A.N.C.E.R.
For the second year in a row, students at Mapleton
Elementary School held a penny drive to raise money
for the local C.A.N.C.E.R. (Caring Area Neighbors for
Cancer Education and Recovery) group.
Dan Duprey, Principal at Mapleton Elementary,
says the students raised $1,000, exceeding the previous
year’s total by $300. The check was presented to Louise
Calabrese, C.A.N.C.E.R. volunteer and board member,
by Mr. Duprey and a contingent of Mapleton Elementary
students, on May 31 at the school.
Mr. Duprey said last spring’s campaign started slow but
finished strong. “We were way off for a while, but we got a
lot of support from the community,” he said. “People came
in with pennies—and with checks. They wanted to make
sure we met our goal, and we surpassed it by $300.”
C.A.N.C.E.R. is a local group that was formed to help
people who are undergoing treatment for cancer. The
group is not affiliated with any state or national organizations,
and it is staffed entirely by volunteers. Every
penny it raises is spent supporting cancer patients and
their families.
he says. “The First Day Celebration demonstrates
to our students how important and
valued they are. Family members, faculty
and staff, along with the entire community
play a significant role in their education. It’s
a positive community event, for sure.”
Principal Dan Duprey (standing, left) and students present a check
for $1,000 to C.A.N.C.E.R. volunteer Louise Calabrese (left).

New staff at
Pine Street
and Mapleton
Holly Vigue –
Guidance/ Social Worker
at Pine Street, Mapleton
Holly Vigue is the new guidance/
social worker at Pine Street and
Mapleton elementary schools.
She grew up in Aroostook County
and resides in
Castle Hill with
her husband and
two children.
She received her
bachelor’s degree
in Social Work
from the Uni-
Holly Vigue
Jay Blackstone
versity of Maine
at Presque Isle
and her Master’s
degree in Social Work from the University
of New England.
She has worked in the social
work field for several years and was
employed prior to MSAD #1 as an
Early Childhood Specialist coordinating
FAPE services for preschool
children, a Children’s Targeted
Case Manager, an outpatient mental
health therapist, and a mental
health consultant for a local Head
Start and Early Head Start programs.
She thoroughly enjoys working
with the school aged population
and is excited to join the MSAD
#1 team. She is looking forward to
working with the staff, students,
and families of Pine Street Elementary
School and Mapleton Elementary
School.
She can be reached Monday,
Tuesday, and Wednesday at Pine
Street Elementary School, and
Thursday and Friday at Mapleton
Elementary School.
Jay Blackstone -
3rd grade, Mapleton
Jay Blackstone has joined the
staff at Mapleton Elementary
School as a third grade teacher.
Teaching is a second profession
for Mr. Blackstone.
After
graduating from
Washburn District
High School,
he attended
Alfred State College
in New York,
where he
received an associate’s
degree
in General Agriculture. He spent
the next six years working with his
cousin, operating the potato and
dairy farm which has been in his
family for six generations.
Mr. Blackstone then decided to
pursue a career in education. He
graduated from the University of
Maine at Presque Isle in 1996 and
taught third grade in Caribou for
two years.
Mr. Blackstone came to SAD 1
in 1998. His first teaching assignment
was at Cunnigham Middle
School, where he taught 6th grade
social studies for six years. He then
went to Pine Street and Zippel to
teach 4th grade for six years. He
also taught at Presque Isle Middle
School for a short time and now is
excited about the opportunity to
teach third grade at Mapleton.
Mr. Buzza said that there is one kind of apple that would grow as
big as her head!
Students in the SAD 1 Pre-K program took their first
field trip of the year to the School Farm on September
14.
The program included a tour of the farm and the apple
orchard, led by School Farm Manager Aaron Buzza.
The students rode in a wagon pulled by a tractor.
During the tour, they saw the apple trees and some
corn and sunflowers. They also found some pumpkins
and chose one to bring back into their classroom.
The Pre-K students also learned about pumpkins
from the ladies of the Cooperative Extension Service
during a presentation inside the barn.
The ladies talked aobut the life-cycle of the pumpkin,
and they showed the students a huge pumpkin and
asked them if they thought it would float or sink in a
tub of water. Since the pumpkin was so big and heavy,
the Pre-K’ers thought it would sink—but since it had air
inside to give in buoyancy, it floated.
The Pre-K students were divided into two groups.
One class went on the tour, while the other learned
about pumpkins in the barn. For the second half of the
field trip, they switched.
Both classes had their picture taken with Mr. Buzza
and enjoyed pumpkin muffins made by the Cooperative
Extension ladies.
The Pre-K program has a number of other field trips
planned for the 4-year-olds.
• In October, they’ll visit the Malcolm Science Center
in Easton to see the program “Birds, Birds, Birds”
• In December, the students will make little ornaments
and give them to the residents of Leisure Village
and Leisure Garden. During their visit, they’ll sing
Christmas carols and pass the ornaments to the residents.
• Next spring, the Pre-K’ers will make a second trip
to the Malcolm Science Center to see “Don’t Duck, Look
Up,” a program about day turning into night and night
turning into day—and what they see in sky at night and
during the day.
• Prior to Mothers Day, they’ll visit the greenhouse
at the School Farm to hear Mr. Buzza talks about
plants and to prepare a pot with a marigold plant for
their moms.
Students are enjoying a tasty snack of pumpkin muffins at the
school farm.
October 2011 • SAD 1 Community Connections • Page 15
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
3rd, 4th, 5th graders learn golf at Mapleton Elementary
(Continued from preceding page)
Mr. Michaud’s biggest concern about teaching golf is
safety. “We go over the safety rules every day,” he says.
“The kids have been excellent—everyone follows the rules.”
The biggest challenge is to get the students to stop
using their baseball swing and to use a proper golf
Mrs. Boyce’s afternoon Pre-K students discovered that this great
big pumpkin really does float!
Pre-schoolers enjoy visit to School Farm
Students look on as Miss Sasha put the pumpkin in water to see
if it would float.
Mr. Buzza used Cassidy Carlisle’s head to show how big the
Wolf River apple grows! Mrs. Boyce’s afternoon Pre-K students
enjoyed the ride around the farm.
Mr. Buzza and the afternoon students!
swing instead.
“The kids can grip the club correctly, but they want
power, so they swing around their body like they’re hitting
a baseball, instead of swinging up and down,” he
says. “Your hips don’t turn the same way as they do in a
baseball swing.”

Page 16 • SAD 1 Community Connections • October 2011
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Student workers at Graves Shop ’n Save earn scholarship benefits, too
Fifteen Presque Isle High School
students who work at Graves Shop
’n Save supermarket may be eligible
for scholarship assistance when
they go to college.
The scholarships are provided by
supermarket owners Bob and Greg
Graves, based on the the student’s
grades and number of hours they
work.
Students who have an average
of 90 or above can receive scholarship
assistance totaling $1 for every
hour they’ve worked at the store.
For students who graduate with an
average of between 80 and 90, the
scholarship amount is 50 cents for
each hour worked.
To be eligible, a students has to
work at the store for at least a year
and continue working there through
graduation.
A student with a 90 average who
works 10 hours a week for a year
prior to graduating would be eligible
for a $520 scholarship. If that
same student worked 15 hours a
week for two years, the scholarship
Kelli Beaulieu’s 1st grade in the corn maze with School Farm manager Aaron Buzza.
Store Manager Don Samiya (left) of Graves Shop ’n Save stands with four of the 15
Presque Isle High School students who are working part-time at the store. They are
(l. to r.): Justin Pelletier, Connor Churchill, Ethan Beauman, and Connor Savage, all
service clerks. At right are Assistant Store Manager Ryan Graves and Grocery Manager
Nick Nadeau. PIHS students not present when photo was taken: Olivia Cyr, Chandlaer
Guerette, Kolby Knight, Madison Michaud, Haleigh Argraves, Haley Bouchard, Logan
Dumais, Dakota Dinatale, Ashley Johnston. Kelsey Buck, and Chelsie Turner.
2 Pine Street 1st grade classes tour School Farm
Kelli Beaulieu’s and Jennifer
Espling’s first grade classes at Pine
Street Elementary School visited the
SAD 1 School Farm on September 15.
Jennifer Espling’s 1st grade in the corn maze with Mr. Buzza.
5th graders select instruments, get ready for band rehearsals
About 85 fifth graders at Zippel and
Mapleton elementary schools have started
learning to play musical instruments as part
of the SAD 1 fifth grade band program.
The students receive lessons once a week
during the school day from elementary band
teacher Keven Kinsey.
Later this fall, after they develop some
basic musical skills, the students will start
practicing together as a band after school for
an hour a week.
Band practices will be on Thursday afternoons
at Zippel. Mapleton students will be
bused to Zippel, but should be picked up by
parents after rehearsal.
The program will conclude in May with
a combined Fifth Grade Band concert in
conjunction with the SAD 1 Art Show at the
Aroostook Center Mall.
Mr. Kinsey says the program focuses
on the standard band instruments—flute,
clarinet, saxophone, trumpet, trombone, and
drums.
He says some schools go through an elaborate
testing program to determine which
instruments students are suited for, but he’s
always felt that students should play the
instrument they’re interested in.
“They have to be excited enough to practice
amount would increase to $1,560.
Bob Graves told MSAD 1 Community
Connections that the scholarship
program has been in effect
The students enjoyed a presentation
by the Cooperative Extension
Service on pumpkins, and each
class received a big pumpkin for
it at home,” he says.
Sometimes, a student will switch instruments
partway through the year, but most of
the time they’re going to be most successful
playing the instrument they want to play.
Mr. Kinsey says the instrument lessons
are voluntary, as is participation in the afterschool
band practices. He says the music instruction
book comes with a CD that students
can use for practicing at home.
“All the songs in the book are on the CD
twice,” he says. “The first time through,
there’s somebody on their instrument playing
the song along with the student; the second
time, the helper instrument isn’t there, just
the background music. That way, the students
get a chance the play with a group
while sitting at home next to their computer.”
Mr. Kinsey says the fifth grade band program
helps a lot of students become interested
in playing and enjoying music.
He says in a typical year, he’ll start with
about 85 students playing instruments,
and he’ll wind up with 55 or 60 in the band
concert at the end of the year. Then, about
50 of those students will sign up for the band
program with Mr. Bragdon as sixth graders
at Presque Isle Middle School.
since the early 1980s.
“My dad came up with idea.”
Mr. Graves said. “We had a lot of
kids who were good kids and good
their room.
The two classes also toured the
farm, riding on a cart that was
pulled by Mr. Buzza’s tractor. One
workers. He wanted to help them
earn the money for school that they
wanted to earn, but he also wanted
them to maintain their grades and
not sacrifice one for the other.”
Initially, the scholarship amount
was 50 cents an hour for students
with a 90 or above, and 25 cents an
hour for students with an 80 or above.
Mr. Graves said students continue
to be eligible for the scholarship
bonus if they work at the Presque
Isle store while attending college—
either during the school year or
during vacations.
He said one of the very first
participants in the program, Mike
Underwood, worked four years
while a student at Presque Isle
High School. Then he worked four
more years while attending the
University of Maine at Presque Isle.
“He took advantage of the program
for eight years,” Mr. Graves
said. “He worked at one of the Shop
’n Save stores that we sold, and he’s
now a manager for Hannaford at
the Hogan Road store in Bangor.”
of the stops was a corn maze, where
the children walked between rows
of corn that was much taller than
they were.
Zippel fifth grader Andre Daigle practices on his trombone.