BIDDEFORD – Maine Department of Education Commissioner Stephen Bowen will visit Biddeford Middle School Thursday to see the positive impact of a transformational principal.
The Commissioner’s visit is part of his Promising Practices Tour, which will take him to each of the state’s nine superintendent regions to see innovative practices schools are implementing that show promise and move forward the Department’s vision of an evolving education system that meets the needs of all learners by putting them first.
During Thursday’s visit, the Commissioner – himself a former social studies teacher – will sit-in on classes at the middle school before participating in conversations first with a group of teachers and then with area principals.
BMS Principal Charles Lomonte, named Middle School Principal of the Year in 2010, has worked to turn around the school, using data to initiate informed decision-making about school improvement planning and action and where to most meaningfully direct resources.
His efforts have excited the school’s teachers, who have allow themselves to be taped during instruction and to use those in group discussions about using effective practices and best supporting one another.
At one point a Continuous Improvement Priority School for failing to make adequate yearly progress for two or more consecutive years, student performance has now been on the rise at BMS for three years.
WHERE: Biddeford Middle School, 25 Tiger Drive
WHEN: 8:30 to 11:45 a.m., Thursday, May 30
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