Superintendent's Office
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Good Morning-
I hope you had a good weekend. With five days left before break, I will keep this brief because of how busy everyone is. The weather looks pretty good for the week but we will be up early every morning just to make sure (this morning we had some black ice in a neighborhood that got a bus stuck). We have Foodlink on Tuesday, beginning at approximately 1:00-1:30PM (depending on the arrival of the truck and when we can get everything ready to go). Hope to see you there.
If you were able to make the Gorham or high school concerts last week, it was a little bit of time to relax, enjoy, find some peace, and have some fun. Thanks to all who put the shows together, being patient with parking, and for the performances themselves!
Winter sports teams are rolling. Congratulations to Desmond (Des) Hill. The freshman broke the thirteen year old school record in the 1600m, which is also referred to as "the mile" over the weekend. He ran it in 4:29:99 (yes, you read that correctly). He currently has the fastest time in all of Section V. Congratulations to Des!
Cheer and both boys and girls basketball have the toughest schedules I have seen in quite a while, and they are all very competitive. If you are a hoops fan like I am, we have some GREAT home games coming up, including a double header (boys and girls) on Friday night. Good stuff!
Our students and staff have really been giving to others the past few weeks to make sure that people do not go without over the holidays. I am very proud of what they are accomplishing and am humbled to be the superintendent of a district that places such value on caring, support, and giving. Absolute top notch.
The governor just voted into law what will be known as the "Maximum Temperature Law" and it gives rules we need to follow if the inside temperature reaches 82-87 degrees, and then 88 degrees and above. The finished language will read something like this... "This law establishes maximum temperature rules in school district and BOCES buildings. This law defines an extreme heat condition day as a day when the occupiable educational and support services spaces are eighty-two degrees or higher as measured three feet from the floor in a shaded area near the center of the room. When an extreme heat condition day occurs, districts and BOCES will be required to take action to relieve heat-related discomfort. These actions may include, but are not limited to, turning off the overhead lights, pulling down shades or blinds, turning on fans, opening classroom doors and windows to increase circulation, turning off unused electronics that produce heat, and providing water breaks.
Under the current language, captured district and BOCES indoor spaces would not be allowed to be occupied once the temperature reaches 88 degrees. Plans for how to address extreme heat conditions would be required to be incorporated into district and BOCES school safety plans, with other plans for evacuation, sheltering and lockdowns."
If you attend or attended Marcus Whitman, you know that we already to all of the things above, and then some. We are also about to begin construction at Valley and Gorham to provide air conditioning (the middle/high school already has air conditioning), so we will be all set in terms of accommodating this new law.
Thank you for reading and have a great week!
Thank you,
Christopher R. Brown, Ph.D.
Superintendent of Schools