Dear friends,
This evening, I will nominate Dr. Christina Boursaw as the next principal of Westbrook Middle School, replacing Laurie Wood who will retire at the end of the school year after 10 years at WMS. Dr. Boursaw currently serves as principal at Gilbert Elementary School, a K-6 school in Augusta where she was honored as 2024 Distinguished Elementary/Middle School Principal by the Maine Principals’ Association. Prior to moving to Maine, she was an elementary and middle school administrator and teacher in Redlands and Beaumont, California. She also served as her district’s Human Resources director and Title IX coordinator, published several articles on teaching, and wrote K-8 units of study integrating literacy and math with Next Generation Science Standards. Christina has mentored aspiring and novice principals, developed mentor programs for teachers, and supported professional development through workshops and coaching. She prioritizes building relationships and dialogue, creating welcoming and inclusive environments for all students, staff, and families, and is eager to get to know our Westbrook community.
Please join me in welcoming Dr. Christina Boursaw to Westbrook Middle School!
Take care,
Peter Lancia, Ph.D.
Superintendent of Schools
Our two Congin Cougar interns graduate this weekend! Congratulations to Hailee Conlogue and Jessica Daniels for finishing their program!
Our Congin staff were celebrated today for the last day of staff appreciation! Each Congin cougar was able to give their teacher a flower so that each teacher could build a bouquet!
Yesterday our third and fourth grade cougars had a surprise guest come to Congin! Author Francie Latour came to speak to our students about her books, the inspiration behind her books, and she discussed her writing process! Thank you for coming Francie Latour!
More pictures of our creativity assembly!
Happy Neon Day!!
We had a very special guest join us at Congin today! The Portland Symphony Orchestra Brass Quintet met with our 1st and 2nd grade cougars for an interactive reading of Burt Dow: Deep Water Man that blended literacy and music! Our cougars were a great audience!
We have some amazing new additions to our playgrounds at Congin! Thank you to Rebecca Spitella, one of our Congin parents, who had a vision of adding musical instruments to our playgrounds, and thank you to the Warren Memorial Foundation for fully funding this project so that our Congin Cougars had more opportunities at recess!
These Congin Rockstars are ready to rock Staff Appreciation week!
Dear families,
This week, May 5-9, is Staff Appreciation Week. We honor our entire staff - teachers, support staff, and administrators - throughout the week and thank them for everything they do to support our students and the community. In Westbrook, we value strong relationships and our staff members are all dedicated to making connections that lead to the success of every student, every day. Please join me in recognizing them for their hard work! I encourage you to take a moment to send school staff a note or give them a call to say thank you. Connect with your school PTO to see how you can help with their activities to celebrate staff. Encourage your child to draw a picture for them, write them a poem, say thank you, or give them an extra smile. Small gestures of kindness mean the world them. We are fortunate to know and learn among such talented educators in Westbrook! Let’s tell them how much they mean to us!
Take care,
Dr. Peter Lancia, Superintendent of Schools
Happy National Principal’s Day! Mr. Bisson was incredibly lucky to receive all kinds of notes, messages, and hugs throughout the day!
Check out these amazing Cougars! These cougars read numerous books for a few months and were chosen at random to receive a brand new bike and helmet! Thank you to the Kiwanis Club, Ernie’s Bike Shop, and the Saccrappa Mason’s who made this happen for our students!
Read the April Teaching and Learning district newsletter! https://westbrooksdme.edurooms.com/engage/westbrook-school-department/newsletters/april-teaching-and-learning-newsletter
We had an amazing turnout for our Congin UA night! Thank you to all of those who attended, and thank you to Ms. Cyr, Miss E, Mrs. Murphy, Mrs. Gaulrapp, and Teacher Jones for planning all of the fun activities!
Congin Cougars are inclusive! This month, we are working on the theme of inclusivity and students are filling out bingo sheets with a variety of inclusive actions. We have a goal of 200 bingo sheets by the end of the month. Check out Antonio from Mrs. Townswnd’s 3rd grade class who was the first Congin Cougar to finish his inclusive bingo board!
Tonight's event at WMS, "Raising Humans in a Digital World", has been postponed. The speaker's flight to Maine was cancelled. We are working to reschedule for September and will share the new date as soon as it's confirmed.
Today we had the Ned Show join us at Congin as we celebrate meeting our goal for our perseverance challenge! NED is an acronym that stands for Never Give Up, Encourage Others, and Do Your Best! This engaging assembly teaches students how they can persevere and work hard!
More pictures from our inclusion assembly!
Check out our 4th grade civil rights team! Yesterday, our cougars got to walk the Portland Freedom trail and learn a little bit about Portland history. Finally, they ended their day with lunch at Otto’s pizza! Thank you to Mrs. Richardson for making this field trip happen!
We had an amazing turnout on Friday night for our bingo and plinko event! Thank you to everyone who came out and enjoyed some fun, and thank you to Congin School PTO who helped plan this amazing event!
