August 1, 2024
Dear Glover Parents, Guardians, Students, Families, Faculty, Staff and Community Members;
Upon extensive review with the Board Facility Committee, Experts in the Field; we will not be able to house Glover's grades 5-8 at the Orleans Elem School as planned back in April for this fall. The Orleans Elementary School suffered a water main break back in mid-May. There has been a lot of remediation work, deconstruction and we are now in the reconstruction phases. Unfortunately, the Orleans School won't have full use of the bottom floor in this building, which resulted in us having to move a few classrooms from the bottom floor up into the second and third floors. We are hopeful that this will be temporary as well. Updates will be regularly shared at all EMS Board Meetings from the Facility Director and Facilities Committee.
Considering this situation, I have been meeting with the EMS Administrative Team and members of the Central Office to determine our next best option to provide a safe space for a short term for Glover students in grades 5-8.
The final proposal for opening school this fall for the Glover Students will be as follows:
· *Grades K-2 will go to the Barton Academy with Jenna Lawrence, Principal.
· *Grades 3-4 will go to the Irasburg Village School with April Brown, Principal.
· *5-8 will go to the Grammar School located on the Old Stone House Museum property in Brownington, with JoAnn Martin, Interim Principal.
The factors involved in making these decisions include but are not limited to: appropriate space for the students to be together with their class and their teacher if at all possible vs blended with another class; facility components such as connectivity, bathrooms, kitchen facilities and access to food; travel time from the central location of our SU/Orleans/Barton and the outdoor space for appropriate physical activity that is safe for all.
I have been working closely with Julie Sicard, Butler's Bus, and we will be able to pick up all Glover students as we did last year in the mornings at their residence and use the Barton property to transition students to another bus to reach their temporary locations in Brownington, Barton and Irasburg. Please contact the School Principals with questions about the bus routes.
Be well,
Orleans Central
Superintendent Chamberlin