June 18, 2021
Good Afternoon,
This is Dave Murphy, MSAD44 Superintendent of Schools, and
As we head into the summer, I just wanted to offer my thanks and congratulations to the students, staff, parents and community. Over the past year, MSAD 44 has been able to accomplish something that has been somewhat of a rarity in American public education by maintaining that in school five-day a week option for all of our preK through grade 12 students that I have mentioned so many times in past months. I know we hit a few speed bumps along the way but we were able to bounce back from those and learn from them.
We were only able to experience this level of success because of the investment, understanding and support of everyone involved. I sincerely thank you for that. Across the country, there is a great deal of concern about the loss of learning that has occurred because of the pandemic. Although we will certainly find gaps, which will need to be addressed in the immediate future, our students should find themselves in a much better place than many others because of the consistency that they have experienced over the past year.
Now that the school year has ended, we have already started planning for the fall and are already interviewing for open positions, completing facility projects and tackling the many components involved in looking ahead to a new school year. When we return in the fall however, we will be missing some familiar faces, who will be retiring. I would like to acknowledge them, thank them for their years of dedicated service to MSAD 44 and wish them many long, healthy and happy years in this next phase of their life. We say goodbye to Chris Cole, our district nurse, Betsy Raymond, Crescent Park librarian, Charlie Raymond, Telstar Alternative Learning Coordinator, Chuck Mason, long-time bus driver, Cindy Bobbe, Woodstock Elementary School Secretary, Barbara Russell, Telstar Middle School Health and Physical Education teacher, Milly Akers, Crescent Park lead custodian, Kathleen Collins, Special Education Director and Kelly Scotti, Telstar Middle School secretary. We thank them all and wish them well in the years to come.
Finally, this will be my final Friday Update for the summer. Over the past 15 months, I have tried to make these Updates part of the routine and I hope you have found them to be helpful and informative. I think it is safe to put them at pause at this point in time but please be assured that I will be back in touch if there is anything of importance to share with you in the weeks to come. In the meantime, please accept my best wishes for a fantastic summer!
Sincerely,
Dave Murphy