Rotattler for September 12th and Board Meeting
Announcements:
The next service project for us is hosting a booth at Eliot Festival Day on September 29th. We’ll have a corn-hole game and popcorn, with raffles and prizes. We need people from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. A sign-up sheet is circulating if you wish to do a shift.
We received 2 more checks for the Molly Banville Fund.
October 5th is the District Conference at University of Southern Maine. We will have a booth there and mostly highlight our 2 international grant projects that are in the works. It’s only from 8:00 a.m. to 4 p.m. and not too far away, so consider attending.
Speaker
Our recently appointed Superintendent of School, John Calverley, was our guest speaker. He and his family moved to the region in 2004, leaving Massachusetts to simplify his life and just teach. That lasted a year and then he was thrust into management in our school district. He states that being here has been life-changing for him and his family. He started out here as a physical education teacher and coach, then became a school principal and then moved up to the central office with Dr. Nash. He has replaced the retired Nash and has been on the job for 2 months. His priorities are 1) safety, including everything from trash and trees and signage to curriculum and staff training with police and fire departments, 2) alternative pathways for students, e.g. literacy programs, adult education, vocational programs, career exploratory sessions, 3) giving students more of a voice, making them part of the process wherever they can and allowing them to be ambassadors for newcomers, including the latest arrival, Rob Scully as the high school principal, 4) making the district more user-friendly, and 5) celebrating staff. They have tackled the issue of later start times for school and decided against changing the current schedule. FYI, enrollments are down in the high school, even when including the students from Rollinsford, but there is a little bubble of increased enrollment in the elementary schools. He hopes to increase cooperation with the vocational training in Sanford, Dover and Somersworth, as our workforce is in dire need of skilled labor.
Board Meeting
We have received and the board approved the nomination of 2 potential members: Mary Onken and Amy Miller. Both have already proven their commitment to community service in numerous ways, including becoming involved in our club’s projects. Barring any protests to their membership, we will welcome them with open arms in two weeks’ time.
Perry Ellsworth attended the board meeting. He updated us on his involvement in his pet project, which is fostering civility everywhere we can, including addressing gender equality and bullying issues, among others. He also wanted us to know that the catastrophic explosion in Farmington was near where he lives and he personally knows all who were injured or killed. He asks for thoughts and prayers and anything else that our Rotary club can do to help them.
The Community Center has replaced their coffee maker and we would like to propose that our club pay for that as a token of our thanks for being able to use the place.
We ran down the list for upcoming activities and, besides those already mentioned, we will next be providing Thanksgiving dinner to the seniors (Who is leading that effort? Who is cooking? Are the pies coming from York Hospital? So many questions.). After that, it’s Home for the Holidays where we put up the luminaries along the streets of South Berwick.
Don’t forget the Interact kids may need help on Halloween with trucks to haul their cans during that Trick or Treat can drive.