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Former Governor Speaks to Foundation Gala Guests


By Staff Writer
February 12, 2010

Kennebunk Post

Former Governor Angus King said the approach to public education has to change if America is to keep up with the rest of the world, during last Thursday's celebration hosted by the Education Foundation of the Kennebunks and Arundel and the RSU#21 School Board. The basics, he said, are necessary but the real skills students need to succeed are the ability to process information, to think critically, to learn how to learn.

"It isn't written in the stars that America will always be number one," King said. "Education and innovation are our only comparative advantage. We've got to think about motivating kids to engage them. We don't have time to wait."

Several educators and community members were recognized with awards during the evening. Linda McCluskey, guidance secretary at the Middle School of the Kennebunks, was honored for her willingness to take on any task for students and teachers. Roger Plummer, member of the district's maintenance team, was hailed as the "go-to guy" for any problem. Cathy Bansmer, a Mildred L. Day teacher for more than 30 years, was honored for mentoring new staff and dedicating herself to Arundel children both in and out of the classroom. Ted Damon, founder of the foundation, was applauded for his unfailing devotion to bring creative educational opportunities to the students of RSU#21.

Superintendent Andrew Dolloff commended the winners and all of his staff, praising them for helping students here consistently test in the top 5 percent in the state. "It is a thrill to work with these people who are so concerned about education."

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Keeping Students on the Ball


By Stephanie Bouchard, Staff Writer
January 30, 2010

Portland Press Herald

Does this sound familiar? You're 10 years old and you're trapped between the wooden slats of your desk chair and the broad expanse of your desktop. Your rear end has gone numb from being plastered against the hard wood of your seat. The desire to move is so overwhelming, you feel like you could explode, but you have to SIT STILL IN YOUR SEAT

Some students at Peaks Island and Kennebunk elementary schools aren't told to sit still in their seats, because their seats are made for moving. They sit on exercise balls. The Maine Department of Education doesn't know how many schools in Maine use exercise balls as seats in classrooms, and there are no hard numbers for how many schools use them nationwide. But 300 to 400 schools in Canada and schools in 32 states, including Peaks Island and Kennebunk, are using them as part of the WittFitt school program.

Based in Wisconsin, WittFitt was founded by Lisa Witt, a former elementary school teacher. The WittFitt program provides schools with specialized exercise balls for classrooms, training for teachers and a curriculum. The idea is that the balls promote physical fitness while reducing antsy behavior, thereby helping students focus on their schoolwork.

"I saw an impact right away," said Stacey Schatzabel, who began using the exercise balls in her third-grade classroom at Kennebunk Elementary last year. "When I introduced (the exercise balls), there was less distraction, kids were more engaged in discussion in the classroom, and there was less of a need to redirect their attention."

Taking the Edge Off
WittFitt began about 10 years ago, when Witt was being driven to distraction by her fidgety students. Determined to do something about it, she got on the Internet and found that many schools in Europe were using exercise balls as seating in their classrooms. What's more, the schools reported that the use of the balls seemed to reduce students' distraction.

Witt, a marathon runner and cross-country track coach, understood the importance of movement. She brought exercise balls into her classroom and found that they not only helped the most fidgety kids, they helped all of them. "I was picturing (using the balls) for three or four kids, but it really calmed the whole class down," Witt said.

Witt and other teachers who use the balls in their classrooms say that sitting on the balls improves posture, attention and focus, strengthens core muscles and enhances learning. The possibility of enhancing her students' learning experience got Schatzabel excited about using the balls in her classroom. Schatzabel had attended a conference in Boston called "Learning and the Brain," where the keynote speaker explained how exercise and movement improved attention and focus, which in turn could have a positive effect on learning. "I knew exercising was good for your heart, body and soul, but I didn"t know it impacted your learning," she said. Schatzabel brought her own exercise balls and others that had been given to her into her classroom. She then sought a grant to use the WittFitt program in her class and in the second grade at Kennebunk Elementary. The grant was funded by the Education Foundation of the Kennebunks, and the school began using the WittFitt program last year.

Students also use the balls as part of Kennebunk Elementary's physical education curriculum. That helps reinforce the importance of fitness as a life choice, rather than a tedious gym class, Schatzabel said.

Relax and Learn
While exercise balls—also called Swedish balls, stability balls and physioballs—have been around for decades, they have been used primarily for physical rehabilitation, strength and conditioning, and fitness training, said Wayne Lamarre, chairman of the Department of Exercise and Sport Performance at the University of New England in Biddeford. There is much research on the benefits of using exercise balls in rehabilitation, Lamarre said, but there is little research on using exercise balls in the classroom.

The lack of scientific literature to support the use of exercise balls in classrooms doesn't mean there aren't benefits. Common sense says the proven benefits of exercise balls in other settings can be applied to the classroom, Lamarre said. For instance, take rocking and bouncing, both of which can be done on exercise balls. "The rocking-bouncing motion settles the brain and allows us to focus on other things we're trying to do," he said. Like take a math test.

As they bounce gently on their yellow and blue balls, fourth and fifth-graders in Kara St. Germain's class at Peaks Island Elementary School explain how important the balls are for their posture and how their ability to move lets them concentrate more - things they've learned in the lessons teachers offer as part of the WittFitt program.

"I really like sitting on the balls because I think they're a lot more comfortable (than a traditional desk chair)," said Danny Hanley, a 9-year-old fourth-grader. "And my grades have gone up—I'm not sure that's because of the ball."

"I like the ball chairs more. I don't know why," said 9-year-old Elisa Membreno. After a moment's reflection, she added, "They're more fun."

Fun. For the children, that's what it really comes down to. Being in the classroom is just more fun because of the balls, they say.

When St. Germain reminds her students that when they move on to middle school they won't be sitting on exercise balls, there are groans and protests all around.

But for now, bouncing is encouraged.

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Education Foundation of the Kennebunks thrives through Ted Damon


By Norm Ritter
June 25, 2009 2:00 AM

York County Coast Star

KENNEBUNK - Four years ago, Ted Damon, then 75, attended Kennebunk High School for a year as a freshman to see what he could do to help education in the local public schools. Susan Cressey, a KHS teacher and administrator, arranged for him to attend classes.

The retired Singer Company vice president with a reputation for community service decided to apply his classroom experience to the creation of the Education Foundation of the Kennebunks, now three years old. It has raised more than $200,000 and funded 42 programs, ranging from a solar panel built by ninth-graders to demonstrate how the sun's rays can replace more expensive energy for many applications, to teacher training in new brain research revealing how children learn.

The 2009-2010 annual report of newly formed Regional School Unit 21 notes the Education Foundation provided more than $90,000 in 2008 for innovative education programs throughout former Maine School Administrative District 71 schools. All five public schools of the Kennebunks have received foundation grants, mainly initiated by the teachers. Ninety-seven percent of all the funds raised by the foundation go directly to programs for students and teachers.

"Our mission is to help increase excellence, creativity and innovation in the schools, with a focus on programs designed to engage all kinds of learners in projects of lasting value," Damon says. "To spark excitement by inspiring students to make a connection between the classroom and their future is critical to their success. People in the Kennebunks believe in education."

The foundation's 14 directors include School Superintendent Pat Manuel and Assistant Superintendent Wayne Dorr. Damon is president and a director of the foundation.

Kevin Crowley, principal of the Sea Road School, praises Damon and the foundation for funding programs that "have had a profoundly positive effect on our school and school district." He cites the grant that enabled two of his teachers to attend a "Learning and the Brain" conference in Washington, D.C., and funds for the construction of a greenhouse that is an extension of the current science lab and available to all 250 students and staff members. It will support and enhance five new science units.

The foundation also has provided funding for more than 315 fourth- and fifth-graders from Sea Road School and Kennebunkport Consolidated School to attend an arts-immersion program at Heartwood College of the Arts for three years. Titled "Heartwood Bound," the program will give children the opportunity to watch demonstration lessons in 10 different media. After observing these lessons, they will return to Heartwood to create projects in the media of their choice. In other foundation-funded programs, sixth-graders learn civics and economics by running a mini-city and the businesses inside it. They learn to borrow and lend money, pay and receive interest, maintain a checkbook and understand pricing, supply and demand, and taxes. Students compete for town offices, create publicity and deliver speeches. After seven weeks, they travel to Exchange City in Portsmouth, a model city set up inside a former school building, where the students run it for a day. They have specific job assignments for which they have been prepared.

Students in the second and third grades may significantly improve their reading skills through a motivational program financed by the foundation. They track their own daily progress by computer, learning through immediate feedback. Damon's dedication to educational excellence impresses his colleagues. "In his low-key but very effective manner, Ted conceived and continues to develop a growing source of funds that provide career-building experiences for students," says Bob Bauman. "As a donor, I've been very impressed with the way he involves givers in choosing and working on projects. It's a treat to be with students and see their enthusiasm. The towns owe a lot to the hard work of Ted Damon."

"Ted's drive to make a difference, especially with young people, is amazing," says Tim Hussey, a foundation director who has been associated with Damon for a decade. "He has a unique ability to have visionary thinking while at the same time sweating all the details. Ted is singularly responsible for stimulating staff ideas, recruiting community members to be involved, and being fearless in raising money."

Ann Stockbridge, a director and chairman of the grants committee, is another Damon supporter. "His genuine and selfless interest in creating excitement in learning for our students is admirable and inspirational," she said, adding that she "loves to see the experiences materialize in the students. I asked a friend's second-grader how he knew the answer to a question, and he said, 'I sit on a ball at school and it makes my brain think.' His teacher had introduced stability balls to replace chairs in her classroom after hearing about the benefits of them in a conference the foundation sponsored." The other directors of the foundation are Tim O'Brien, secretary; Kate Rizzo, treasurer; Julie Allaire-McDonald, Tricia Gallagher, Jeni Kingston, Gary Koch, Steve Morris, Jason Saltmarsh and Steve Vatcher.

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Immersed in art


By Laura Snyder Smith
lsmith@seacoastonline.com
June 04, 2009 2:00 AM

York County Coast Star

Pencils starting on the horizon, they dip down and around for the bow, then continue back again to finish drawing the sheer. With their eyes up to compare Peter Hoff's example, the students continue sketching the rest of the boat.

"Nice," says Hoff, pointing to Kathryn Ross's rendering.

"Nice ...; nice ...; nice, nice, nice, nice," he continues, checking individual progress. "That's nice. That takes my breath away! Hey, these guys are great today!"

The seven girls and one boy in class today at Heartwood College of Art aren't the Kennebunk college's traditional students. They are Sea Road School students, here today as part of Heartwood Immersion. This is the third year the Education Foundation of the Kennebunks has funded the two-week program, through which approximately 150 fifth-graders from Consolidated School in Kennebunkport and Sea Road School in Kennebunk visit the college to sample their choice of art classes. Each student gets to immerse him- or herself in two of nine workshops ranging from watercolor painting to jewelry making, as well as photography, papermaking, polymer clay design, pastel painting, drawing, cartoon drawing, and Chinese calligraphy, all taught by Heartwood faculty artists.

Back in artist Hoff's watercolor class on Thursday, May 27, the techniques are taught, sketchings done, revisions made. Hoff gathers the students around again, this time to talk color.

And when their paint hits the paper, creativity begins to shine.

"I recommend the blue for the boat, but that's just me," says Hoff with a knowing laugh; he's retired from 36 years of elementary school teaching in the Maine School Administrative District 71 system, now a self-taught full-time watercolor artist from Kennebunkport. "We're all different people, so our pictures are going to be a little different, too." Autumn Desrosiers carefully, methodically, mixes colors in her palette of red, yellow and blue. Next to Desrosiers, Cooper Fuller wastes no time in putting mixed colors to the paper. Hope Morrison decides her boat is going to be red.

"I love to watch the children work," says Sea Road School visual arts teacher Darlene Nein. "We plant the seed - and they water it."

The room is silent, except for the occasional question or teaching moment by Hoff, because students are intently focused on their work.

"If you like to draw, practice drawing parallel lines (from different angles and perspectives). It will help you learn control," offers Hoff. "Drawing is just a matter of seeing shapes and angles." Nein says they're so engaged "because it's what they want to do."

And so it is around the different rooms at Heartwood on this day.

"Making paper is like the funnest thing I've ever done," says Holly Cloar in Gayle Fitzpatrick's papermaking class, where the kids are literally immersing themselves in their art. Here they soak pulp in buckets of water before straining it, and by class end, let's just say the kids are really into it.

"Look at how wet my jacket is!" exclaims Cloar to her friends, as across the room Sea Road band director Barry Saunders desperately tries to keep up with a mop.

"I love to work with children," says a good-natured Fitzpatrick, who is quite soaked herself. "And we have so much fun. It's great because they get an exposure to different art forms and then they get exposure to Heartwood as an integral part of the community."

Sentiments echoed by Berri Kramer, president of Heartwood, who taughter polymer clay designs to an enthusiastic class Thursday.

"It's just such a great opportunity for them to experiment with different mediums and materials, and it teaches them a whole host of other skills, like problem-solving," she says. "They soak it all in here.

"It's also important for us to be mindful of where that generation is at and understand their point of view. "And it's important to give them something, not teach them something, but give them something. If even one or two kids are inspired, then it's totally worth it."

By day's end, it's also worth it for the teaching artists, who agree they have learned just as much from the kids.

"I'm a very literal painter," says Hoff, adding that he often learns from student's "mistakes."

"I'll go 'Hey, look at that!' I'm looking over their sketches and see something and say 'hmmm,' I should try that," he says, wiping down the tables. "I learned so much."

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Une crepe, c'est combien? Students hold first French market days in Kennebunk


By Robyn Burnham
May 06, 2009

Journal Tribune

KENNEBUNK - Parents and volunteers helped students at the Middle School of the Kennebunks practice their French Tuesday at the school's first French Marketplace. French teacher Tad Williams organized the two-day event, which he has held at other schools before, with the help of French teacher Amber Burks. Students had a chance to practice their language skills in a simulated marketplace, customs station and bank.

"It's fun to speak French with people other than your classmates, and try French food," said Emily Carman, 12, as she ate a crepe after making her way through the market. "I want to go to Paris."

Carman and her classmates have studied all year and had to speak French with volunteers running the bank, shops and passport control in their simulation Tuesday. If students could successfully make it through the market speaking only French, they were able to buy a crepe with euros they acquired at the bank.

"I'm having a ball," said Stella Comeau, a customs agent for the day. "I spoke French at home, my parents were Acadian French, in fact, I went to a French school."

Comeau spent the day speaking with students as they traveled through customs. Her grandson, Zachary Comeau, is a seventh grade student at the middle school. Pat Putnam joined Comeau at passport control for the day. She learned French studying in Switzerland during college. Her son, Dylan, is in sixth grade.

"It's been real playful with the kids," Putnam said. "It's been a lot of fun - and made the French more fun for the kids."

Williams and Burks agree the French marketplace is fun for the students and many expressed their particular enjoyment of the crepes. Williams said students are often hesitant at first, but once they start speaking with the adults they feel comfortable.

Williams and Burks said they hope the French market days will become an annual event.

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Sixth graders find business ownership challenging


By Carol Bousquet/Community Contributor
April 17, 2009

Kennebunk Post

They took out loans, scratched their heads, and changed their business strategy all in a few short hours. It wasn't corporate America but Middle School of the Kennebunks sixth graders who got a chance to run a mini-city for a day. The bottom line? They had a lot of fun but a few headaches too.

After weeks of civics and economics lessons in school the students put them into practice Thursday at Exchange City, a mock city complete with bank, shops and city hall. The children not only took out loans and had to pay them back, but they had a payroll with employees, and shopped to keep the economy rolling.

Nature Shop owner Allison Morgan took out a bank loan for $159.70. Two hours later she found her income wasn't going to pay the bills. "It's a lot of stress right now," Morgan said. What to do? Make more of what her customers wanted. "We're making more sand bottles. They are our big sellers."

Supply and demand came into play often. The Cody Sports and Recreation Store ran out of goods, so the students put a putting green on the town green to generate more income. Other stores had to lower prices to move merchandise.

City hall had its own financial worries. Fines for walking on the grass weren't being paid promptly. Mayor David Behrens told his police officers to go collect. He got good news. "Fine payments are coming in," he said. "We're heading in the right direction."

"They're applying what they have learned," said Middle School of the Kennebunks teacher Tom Taylor. He commended the Multi-Service Center, one of the first student-run shops to repay its loan. "They paid off their loan, they're making a profit. They rose to the occasion."

This is the second year The Education Foundation of the Kennebunks, a non-profit group that provides students with innovative learning opportunities, has funded the trip to Exchange City.

Pat Garland, Exchange City Program Director, said, "There is no way to fail. You are a success just by working hard and doing a good job!"

That's the grand part about it. No government bailout required and some good lessons learned. Taylor will tackle what went right and wrong with the kids back in the classroom. He will add a budget and savings component as well.

Morgan ended her day just happy to be on the way to the bank. Her income was picking up and she was making a payment on her loan.

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Hunt for Ed October to benefit Education Foundation of the Kennebunks


By Laura Dolce
ldolce@seacoastonline.com
October 09, 2008 2:00 AM

York County Coast Star

Cars full of people will soon be zooming around town on a quest for crazy stuff to have a good time with. They'll be plenty of laughing, a little competition and lots of oneupmanship.

No, it's not homecoming (though that's coming up this weekend in Kennebunk). It's "The Hunt for Ed October," an adults-only scavenger hunt that will benefit the Education Foundation of the Kennebunks.

The Hunt for Ed October tickets are $50 each and can be bought at Sea Road School, The Clam Shack or by calling 967-3006.
The idea for the event came from board member Jeni Kingston.

"I had done this as a party eight years ago," she said, "and it was a blast. I had an idea it would make a good fundraiser."

The premise behind the hunt, Kingston said, is that teams will be given a list of items to find around town. The items might include things like a small American flag, or a picture in a particular spot (each team must have one digital camera), and each team must collect a number of them from places around town - not including their own homes - in the two hours they're given.

"They have to stay together," Kingston said.

There will also be math problems and riddles on the scavenger hunt sheet, and a little performing will go on later, after everyone returns.

The event is being held from 3:30 to 8 p.m. Oct. 18 at The Chase Hill Event Center on Chase Hill Road in Kennebunk. Teams will meet there to receive instructions at 3:30, and leave on their quest at 4, returning at 6.

Upon their return, team leaders will meet with the judges and everyone will enjoy a cash bar and hors d'ouvres.

Tickets are $50 per person, and teams (must fit in one car) can enter together or individuals can call Kingston to be put on a team.

Proceeds will benefit the Education Foundation of the Kennebunks, which provides the students of the Kennebunks with innovative educational experiences

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MSK kids take on Exchange City


By Laura Dolce
ldolce@seacoastonline.com
April 17, 2008 2:00 AM

York County Coast Star

Look around and you'll see an ideal town.

The judge is working away in City Hall, while the mayor discusses law enforcement with the DA and police department. The radio station is giving shout outs to folks up and down Main Street, and the bank is bustling with people waiting to cash their checks.

The fast food joint is hopping with lunchtime customers, and over at the newspaper, the editor sends a reporter out to get the scoop on a big arrest that just went down.

All around the town square, money is changing hands as businesses grow and prosper.

If it sounds like a blueprint for saving the U.S. economy, you might just be right. The only problem is the American public may have to wait a few years for these business geniuses to make their mark. That's because all of the movers and shakers in this town - from Judge Meg Cadigan to assigning editor Sarah O'Connell to food worker Bryce Fraser - are sixth graders at the Middle School of the Kennebunks, and the "town" they spent the day running was really Exchange City, an innovative educational program that teaches kids some valuable economics and civics lessons.

A national program with 14 locations, the Exchange City the MSK kids visited last week is in Portsmouth, N.H., in an old school building. Inside the school's gym, an elaborate city, complete with a Post Office, power supply company and various stores and businesses was created so that students can experience what it's like to work in the adult world.

"The students had to pick jobs and then interview for them," said Social Studies teacher Tom Taylor, who spearheaded the project for the sixth grade Bridge Team. "They had to write a resume, they had to fill out applications." Taylor said the MSK trip was made possible by funding from the Education Foundation of the Kennebunks and took six weeks to prepare for. This was the first time MSK students visited Exchange City, but Taylor's hoping it won't be the last.

"It's a good idea, not just to see how business works, but to see the interconnectivity of a community," he said. "They've really been exposed to a lot." For example, the students had to prepare for their jobs weeks in advance, and then learn how to deposit their paychecks, balance their checkbooks and monitor their own spending.

"I'm really impressed with the way the kids have taken ownership," said language arts teacher Laurie Jacques. "They all have roles and they know what they're doing."

And their jobs weren't easy ones, either. On the village green, broadcast journalists Hannah Brimigion, Hayley Richardson and Crystie Sandmire maneuvered their video camera in place and began interviewing a police officer for a broadcast. In the bank, tellers Tessa Johnson, Gabby Coyne and Brooke Adams struggled to keep up with a steady flow of customers looking to cash their checks.

Paper money in hand, citizens went from store to store to browse and to buy.

But a lot of bill-paying went on, too.

Each business, in fact, had an accountant who was responsible for payroll, bills, a bank loan and taking in money for various services, from newspaper ads to electric bills.

"They're learning computers, economics, physics," said Ted Damon, Education Foundation of the Kennebunks director, who also credited Kennebunk Savings Bank for helping to fund the trip.

From creating the laws to helping to keep them (or not), the students had a say in everything that happened in Exchange City for the day. And while at the end of the day more than half the businesses had paid off their loans and succeeded, that wasn't the only benefit to be found. Some had proven to themselves - and others - that they had the skills needed to succeed.

"Some of these kids amaze me," said Sandy Noble, mother of Mayor Ellen Noble and a parent volunteer. "I would hire some of them tomorrow. You can see already that they're ready to take this on."

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i came, i saw, ipod


By Carol Bousquet

KENNEBUNKPORT, ME, May 6, 2009- Vacations are often adventures we take with our faces buried in a map. Now Kennebunk Middle School students will just about take visitors by the hand as they explore the area. On Thursday May 7 the Nonantum Resort will unveil its student designed Green Rooms complete with podcasts touting the area's best finds ready to download onto your iPod. Check in and minutes later you're ready to check out the region, with audio-video guides from the students in hand.

"I came, I saw, iPod" is high tech tourism developed by 8th grade students and art teacher Mary McCarthy. Students wrote podcasts about locals' favorite landmarks, beaches, restaurants and family fun. There are podcasts about strolling down Ocean Avenue and shopping in Dock Square, and even one about what 10-14 year olds like to do best here.

"Ocean Avenue is one of the most beautiful roads in Kennebunkport," comment Sara and Ella. "If you take a right outside the Nonantum the Colony Beach is a nice quiet place to relax. There are rocks to jump off and boats to watch, so bring the family."

Fifteen students traveled to the Apple Classroom at the Apple Store in the Maine Mall in April to be trained on how to produce their podcasts. Eight iPods were purchased through a grant from the Education Foundation of the Kennebunks, a non-profit group that supports innovative programs to "ignite the spark" in students' minds, inspiring critical thinking, communication and teamwork.

"This age group adapts so well and so fast to technology," says McCarthy, "In their real lives they use technology. Let's show them how to use it for educational reasons, to make doing work more interactive and fun."

Also unveiled Thursday will be three newly designed Green Rooms at the resort, all decorated by the students with eco-friendly products. Mary McCarthy and Claudia Dalton are in their 3rd year partnering with Tina Hewitt Gordon at the Nonantum to redesign Green Hotel rooms as part of an interior design unit. Fifty-two students participated in the Growing up Green and iPod project.

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`The Buzz' stings competition at third annual Spelling Bee


By Carol Bousquet

KENNEBUNK, ME - The Journal Tribune took the title of spelling champs for the second time at the Third Annual Spelling Bee in support of the Education Foundation of the Kennebunks.

Fifty teams competed in the April 1 event at Sea Road School. Local businesses sponsored the teams and raised more than $7000. Ted Damon, founder of the EFK, said, "It's exciting to have so much energy here on behalf of education."

Words like pecksniffian, euterpean and aileron stumped teams throughout the evening. Ten teams made it to the final round. The winning word? Maneuver.

"Regardless of win or lose it's a privilege to work for something that benefits education," said Drew McMullin, captain of the Journal Tribune team. He credited team member Claire Putnam with preserving their title. "Claire is above the rest when it comes to spelling."

The Education Foundation of the Kennebunks is a non-profit group that has been funding innovative programs for Kennebunk and Kennebunkport students since 2006. The foundation is committed to "igniting the spark" in students' minds with opportunities that promote critical thinking, communication and teamwork. More information on the EFK can be found at www.efkennebunks.org.

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Last updated: Apr 1 2010