An important topic in education remains the learning impacts from Covid-19. How students are progressing toward the Maine Learning Results is something that our school is constantly monitoring. This year in particular, we had a flood at BRES that added to the impacts of student learning. While we were in the middle of navigating our needs early on, we knew there would be a learning impact that would require remediation. Many of our community partners, businesses, organizations, and families reached out to see how they could help. One business in particular wanted to make a donation that would directly impact students during the flood. This is when principal Shawna Kurr pitched the idea of grades 4-8 summer school. Robinson’s Wharf agreed that was exactly the type of project they were looking to support and donated a generous $5,000 to BRES for the purpose of summer school needs.

This donated money allowed BRES to plan for a summer school program for grades 5th-8th grade, which is currently not budgeted for. Grades K-3 host an annual summer school currently supported by federal Title 1 funds. Overall, summer school funding will need to be looked at in the near future as Title monies continue to diminish.

We are thankful to have our very own Michelle Miclette and Sandy Wheeler committed to teaching students over the summer. They provided programming two days a week for five weeks in July and August to help students gain more skills and be ready for the next school year. Seventeen students participated in this flexible program. Five chose the option of working at home with check-ins while 12 students chose in person tutoring for skill development in math and reading. Our teachers appreciate the efforts by students and parents who made this a worthwhile and successful experience. We are looking forward to further developing the program next summer.