Superintendent's Office
20 Dean Street
Winslow, Maine 04901-5437
Tel: 207.872.1960
Fax: 207.859.2405
News:
Click here for the 2023-2024 School Calendar (Approved April 24, 2023)
You can view a live stream of School Board Meetings on the Black Raider News Channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqwwWEB_VIc7GhwkPYjySHg.
Archived Messages from the Superintendent
Scroll down to see some of Winslow Public Schools' Proud Moments 2023-2024
Message from the Superintendent
June 6, 2024
Dear Parents, Guardians, Staff and Community Members,
I would like to begin by congratulating the parents, guardians, staff and caregivers of students who are graduating this year. It has been an honor to serve your children and to see that their education from Winslow Public Schools has set the stage for their future plans. Please know that your untiring support, perseverance, and guidance has played a monumental role in their success! From the first days in pre-k to singing in the parent choir at class night, you have done it all!
In a few short days, (Tuesday, June 11, 2024) Winslow residents will be asked to vote on the FY 25 school budget. Voting will take place at the Winslow VFW located at 175 Veterans Drive. The polls will be open from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.
The development of a school budget is a long process involving numerous meetings and conversations with key stakeholders. As always, the budget is developed with certain priorities in mind as a result of our analysis of student data (both academic and social-emotional). Six budget presentations were held with the Winslow Board of Education between the months of January and March of 2024. In addition, we held a budget workshop with the Town Council on April 9, 2024. All six school board meetings were open to the public, live-streamed, and recorded for transparency and accessibility. These presentations featured a line-by-line accounting of the budget and highlighted the major cost drivers which include inflation, rising insurance cost, unfunded mandates, contractual obligations, negotiated labor increases and the request for new positions.
The requests for the new positions have taken cost savings measures into consideration, along with state compliance obligations and, of course, the needs of our students. It’s important to note that the request for new positions is not taken lightly. In fact, we constantly analyze our needs from year to year and make recommendations based on those needs which often leads to the elimination of positions over time. For example, over the past few years we’ve eliminated or reduced several positions at Winslow High School due to changes in student enrollment and decommissioning of the old junior high school. These have included:
2018-19
Reduced English Teacher
Eliminated Academic Support Lab Ed Tech III
2020-21
Reduced PE Teacher
HS Health moved to JH/HS Health
Reduced Media Center Librarian (went to K-12 model)
Assistant Principal moved to split JH/HS
2021-22
Reduced Math Teacher
2023-24
Reduced Science Teacher
Reduced Spanish Teacher
Reduced Social Studies Teacher
The decommissioning of the old jr. high required that we move an entire grade ( Grade 6) to Winslow Elementary School. Doing so increased the student population in that school to 551 students with a range of needs spanning from pre-k to what would be considered the first year of middle school in many districts (grade 6). Our elementary school is now the largest school in our district, thus the request for additional support in this year's budget so that we can ensure the safety of our students and that we are meeting their unique needs.
Many of you took advantage of the opportunity to attend our school board meetings in person, others took advantage of viewing the meetings live online while still others watched the recorded videos of the meetings. I thank all of you who were able to take time out of your busy schedules to learn about the thinking that went into the preparation of this budget and the needs we are trying to address with our financial request.
For those who have not been able to attend the various meetings and would like to learn more about our budget, you can visit the following web site at Winslow Public Schools - 2024-2025 Proposed Budget Plan where you will find information about the proposed budget including, a slide show, links to watch the various meetings that took place, and a full description/rationale for the requested positions.
The following is a brief description of the slides if you choose to visit the above listed website:
-Slides 2- 4 provides a brief overview and a list of fy 23 highlights
-Slides 5-14 provides early college stats, an overview of our school district, the students we serve and what our budget supports
-Slide 15 shows the dates of our school board budget presentations with links to recordings of the listed meetings for your viewing convenience.
-Slide 17 is referred to as the Projected Revenue Worksheet. This slide shows the total request for next year's budget and the sources of revenue that will be applied in support of the budget.
We were pleased to learn during the Town Council/Board Budget Workshop on 4/9/24 that the FY 25 school budget as presented to the Town Council will not require an increase of local tax dollars over last year.
Please exercise your right to vote on June 11th.
Thank you,
Peter Thiboutot
Superintendent of Winslow Schools
Winslow Public Schools' Proud Moments
See an archive of this year's "Proud Moments" below
Congratulations to the Winslow boys track team for winning the Class C State Championships
June 1, 2024
Place Holder
Superintendent of Schools
Peter Thiboutot - pthiboutot@winslowk12.org
Director of Special Education
Jennifer Knowles - jknowles@winslowk12.org
Director of Facilities
Cory Eisenhour- ceisenhour@winslowk12.org
Administrative Assistant to Superintendent
Brandy Huggins- bhuggins@winslowk12.org
Director of Technology
Will Backman - wbackman@winslowk12.org
Finance Assistant
Amanda Rowbottom - arowbottom@winslowk12.org
Winslow Public Schools' Proud Moments Archive
Top 10 Seniors
May 17
Congratulations to the Winslow Junior High School Jazz Band on their Silver Medal performance!
March 22
This photo represents all the senior students who have parents that work in our district! We live and work in our community. We raise our families here because we believe in Winslow.
March 1
Winslow Chorus students perform at the State House
February 2024
Winslow takes personable approach when applying for college
Click here to read article posted on foxbangor.com
February 2024
Mid Maine Technical Center Local Skills Championships
February 2024
KVAC B Champions!
January 2024
Winslow Elementary School students from the 4th grade visited with and delivered handmade cards for line workers who were in a parking lot near the school. Students expressed their thanks and appreciation for the workers coming to Maine from Kentucky to help restore power to their homes and schools. Photo courtesy of Sam Smith and Tammey Quirion - Grade 4 teachers
December 2023
November 2023
Congratulations to Winslow High School for their continued accreditation in the New England Association of Schools and Colleges!
November 2023
Read-A-Thon: On November 1st, our elementary school celebrated the joy of reading with a school-wide read-a-thon event. The event included an assembly with a mystery reader, some literacy activities, and time to “drop everything and read.” Students (and staff) were encouraged to dress like a book character and bring the book with their character to school. Can you guess what books the third grade teachers were reading that day?
November 2023
Winslow Field Hockey Sportsmanship Award
November 2023
Winslow High School sends messages of encouragement to Lewiston High School and Winthrop following the tragedy of October 25th
October 2023