Vassalboro Community School Principal Dianna Gram retires after 24 years

Retiring VCS Principal Dianna Gram, left, greets children at the start of a new school day with in-coming Principal Megan Allen. (Photo courtesy of Mary Grow)

by Mary Grow

Principal Dianna Gram is retiring from Vassalboro Community School this month with mixed feelings.

She expects to miss people she’s worked with over more than two decades, especially the students.

But she’s totally confident incoming principal Megan Allen is the right person to succeed her. “I have a great sense of relief and pride in her similar values,” Gram said, predicting a smooth transition.

As we talked in the principal’s office one afternoon after classes were over, those shared values kept coming up.

For example, both women prefer the school when it’s full of students, not almost quiet as it was then. “It isn’t a real place,” without students, Gram said, and Allen called it “kind of eerie.”

Both talked about the unusual atmosphere at the school – a real community, to both of them. Whole families go through the grades, and now Gram is seeing the children of former students.

Allen referred to “something different you feel when you walk through the door” – nothing she can define, but an environment and culture she has every intention of preserving.

Students walking through the door in the morning are apt to see Gram first thing, as she habitually meets them in the lobby. If a student looks distressed, Gram is likely to pull him or her aside and see if she can find out what’s wrong and take care of it.

Sometimes, she said, she gets an immediate reaction. Other times, Allen said, the student will come to an adult a few days later to talk about the issue.

Sometimes, too, a bus driver will notice a child acting unhappy and will call ahead to ask Gram to check.

VCS is not perfect. Gram admits there are problems, including bullying. But, she said, school adults try to be proactive, for example by having the school counselor spend time in classrooms. Students are encouraged to speak up if they see something wrong, to an adult or to other students. Discipline is used when necessary.

Students are surveyed every year, Gram said. Typically, 90 percent or more say they feel safe at VCS, and almost every student knows an adult to go to if he or she needs help.

Kindness is one of the values stressed at VCS. At the beginning of each school year, students are encouraged to report acts of kindness; the benefactor’s name is written on a piece of paper and the papers hung on the kindness tree in the rotunda for the year.

Two other positive comments were, from Gram, that teachers feel empowered to suggest and try out new ideas, like the Citizen of the Month program started by a former teacher and still going strong; and from Allen, a Vassalboro resident, that people are friendly and respectful when they meet her off-duty, in the supermarket or at the transfer station.

Residents’ interest in their children’s school is obvious. Gram said this year’s 16 pre-kindergarten students had 127 family members and other guests signed up for their graduation ceremony. The annual eighth-grade graduation is held at the China Lake Conference Center, where attendees’ cars fill every parking space and line both sides of the road for half a mile, because VCS is too small to accommodate the crowd.

Dianna Gram, left, retires as principal of Vassalboro Community School this month.

Allen has been at VCS since 2008, starting as a third-grade teacher and moving to grades six, seven and eight. Meanwhile she earned a master’s degree from New England College, a doctorate in educational leadership and management from Capella University and has almost earned her principal’s certificate – she will take two more courses this summer to move from provisional to full certification.

Gram has been at the school 24 years, as special education director, assistant principal and principal. She leaves behind two specific items, in addition to the school’s reputation and the pre-kindergarten program she initiated.

One is the pink flamingo in the front garden. Gram’s “thing” is flamingos; so the 2017-18 school yearbook has flamingos from cover to cover, and many of the gifts filling her office are flamingo-themed. A special gift is a bag autographed by every student, presented at an assembly June 13 that was a total surprise; Gram still shakes her head in amazement as she realizes that everyone gathered in the auditorium while she was unsuspecting in her office.

The other souvenir is Gram’s grandmother’s wooden kitchen table, under a tablecloth in front of her desk, where she has resolved innumerable problems “sitting around the kitchen table.” Asked if she was taking it with her, she said “No, it’s staying for Megan.”

Public invited to China Town Manager’s retirement party

Dan L’Heureux

Residents of China and nearby towns are invited to a retirement party for China Town Manager Daniel L’Heureux, scheduled for 5 p.m., Saturday, June 30, in the portable building behind the China town office on Lakeview Drive.

Incoming Town Manager Dennis Heath announced that the town office will be closed Saturday, June 30, to make sure office staff have time to attend the party.

Oldest Women’s Society to celebrate 200 years

2017 meeting of Ye Female Society. Contributed photo

Ye Female Society for the Support of the Gospel invites all women of all ages, to join them for their 200th annual meeting on Tuesday, June 19, at 2 p.m., at Winslow Congregational Church, UCC, at 12 Lithgow St., Winslow.

The first meeting of this organization was in June of 1819 to raise money for the allocation of a pastor, a legal requirement for every town with a church. Ladies of Winslow and Clinton met and gave 25 cents each to pay for a pastor. Since then, every third Tuesday of June ladies gather in the church hall and follow the historic order of agenda, which includes reading the organization’s constitution written in 1819, and paying their 25 cent dues. Over the years a program was added to the meeting. Past programs have included gardeners, artists, historians, performances of music and theater, reenactors, and leaders of local non-profits.

This year the group celebrates its 200th annual meeting with much pomp and circumstance. President Emily Rowden Fournier, of Fairfield, will welcome women of all denominations to the meeting. Pastor Kim Shrader, the reverend of Winslow Congregational Church, will offer inspirational scripture reading and prayer. Special ceremonies will be conducted in honor of the founding mothers and to remember many women of the society who have been the primary “movers and shakers” of Winslow, putting this notable group at the center of many improvements throughout Winslow’s history. Local historian, Pearley Lachance, of Winslow, will present a program on Gold Star Mothers of World War I. A presentation of old photos and the society scrapbook will be displayed.

This is an historic event for what is believed to be the longest continuously meeting female society in America. All members and interested women are urged to attend and bring memorabilia of interest to the society. Period clothing from the past 200 years may be worn. Refreshments will be served.

For more information, please call Emily Rowden Fournier at 207-314-8607.

Before/After School students tour SAPPI

Quality Lab supervisor Raymond Caron showed the children about the paper making process. Contributed photo

The Vassalboro Before/After School Child Care Program was recently treated to a fantastic workshop by SAPPI Fine Paper North America Quality Lab Supervisor, Raymond Caron.

The children learned about soft wood and hard wood trees, how to count rings to determine ages of the trees and were treated to a papermaking process. They each made their own paper and some students even placed pine needles and other objects from nature in their paper. All students received a wood “coin” of their own and samples of how this paper is used in our communities for dog/cat food bags, magazines and even labels for canned products.

Ball announces candidacy for Maine House

Steve Ball

Steve Ball, of Windsor, veteran and teacher, has announced his candidacy for Maine House of Representatives District #80, which includes Vassalboro, Windsor, Somerville and part of Augusta. Ball retired as a colonel from the U.S. Army following a 27 year career. Since coming home to central Maine, Ball has taught at Erskine Academy, in South China, and at Thomas College, in Waterville. He has also served on the Windsor Budget Committee and been actively involved with HealthReach Community Health Centers, as a member and chairman of the board of directors, and with the Mid-Maine Global Forum. Ball is interested in supporting local schools, working to make health care both accessible and affordable for working families, and doing everything possible to support economic development that increases jobs and wages. He will work to make sure the state of Maine pays its fair share and supports revenue sharing. But mostly, he’s interested in working to find solutions to the problems and challenges we face in Central Maine.

“I learned in the Army that there is no substitute for hard work and that everyone matters,” Ball said. A successful leader throughout his career, he was taught at every level in the Army to first, fully understand the problem ahead and then work with everyone to get the job done. Ball is concerned that entrenched partisan politics has taken over for sound, intelligent problem solving. “Maine know how to solve problems. Most Mainers know that while you may not get exactly what you want, with hard work, leadership, and respectful discussion things get done.”

Ball is planning to get out and meet as many voters in the district as possible. For more information, contact Steve Ball at 207-214-2805, or steveballdistrict80@gmail.com.

Maine Antique Tractor Club to hold festival

Photo courtesy of Maine Antique Tractor Club

The Maine Antique Tractor Club has held an Antique Tractor Festival for the past 23 years and this year the event will be on Saturday and Sunday, June 23 and 24 at 351 Waterville Road, Norridgewock. Gate opens at 8:00 each day. Admission is $5.

The Maine Antique Tractor Club, founded in 1994 by a handful of tractor lovers, has grown to over 500 members. As a non-profit organization, it focuses on the preservation of information, documents and artifacts relating to the invention, development and use of farm tractors and the related implements and equipment used. Its mission is to teach present and future generations about the uses of these antique tractors, implements and equipment and show them at work.

The festival will have upwards of 150 antique farm tractors collected in one area, including Farmall, Allis Chalmers, Ford, Cockshutt, John Deere, Case, Oliver, and more. Pulling demonstrations in many weight classes, antique lawn and garden tractor demonstrations and the doodlebugs, known as the “poor man’s tractor” or “homemade” tractor are scheduled.

Antique equipment demonstrations such as that of the 1940’s rock crusher, a working blacksmith, a cedar shingle mill and a Windlass, are just some of the working attractions.

Roger Files graduates from virtual school

Roger Files

Roger Files, of Palermo, will graduate this month, with honors, from the eighth grade at the Connections Academy, a virtual school, headquartered in Portland. Roger was one of 13 students to receive an award as “Most Improved Students.” He was invited this year to participate in a pilot program named “Ten Marks,” in language arts. He will attend high school in the fall, at the same school.

Roger enjoys swimming and karate.

He is the son of Rachel Files, and the grandson of Valerie Files, all of Palermo.

Two generations of small business success in central Maine

Winslow McDonald’s first general manager, Jim Sevey, left, sits in the new dining room with two generations of Ortins, from left to right, Mike and Lana, and Lorraine and Bob. Photo by Eric Austin

by Eric W. Austin

It’s hard to find anything more American than McDonald’s, or more emblematic of the American spirit than the family business. The recent remodel of the McDonald’s, in Winslow, represents both these traditions and it’s a story more than 30 years in the making.

In 1986, Bob Ortins moved his family to central Maine. After years working for the McDonald’s corporation, starting in 1971, an opportunity had opened up to buy four McDonald’s restaurants in the Pine Tree State. The move proved to be a huge success, and at their peak, the Ortins family owned nine restaurants across central Maine.

Around this same time, another small business was also starting to make a local name for itself. Although founded in 1974 by David Poulin, of Brunswick, Poulin Construction earned state-wide fame in 1984 for their classy conversion of the historic Gore House into a McDonald’s restaurant, in Freeport. This early success led to an on-going relationship with the McDonald’s corporation and eventually to a partnership with Bob Ortins, who, in the fall of 1987, hired Poulin Construction to build a new McDonald’s restaurant on the China Road, in Winslow.

In 2014, Brent Poulin bought the construction business from his father. And Bob Ortins’ son Mike, after working with his father for more than 30 years in every conceivable position, from cashier to general manager, took over full control of the business with his wife, Lana, in 2016.

Now, more than 30 years after that first building project, these two families have come back together for a renovation of the original restaurant as part of McDonald’s “Experience of the Future” initiative.

“It’s about building a better McDonald’s,” Mike tells me as we sit outside in the shade, watching workers from Poulin Construction put the finishing touches on the remodel.

The Winslow McDonald’s sports a new, “rustic” aesthetic to the new dining room.

The renovations will feature a number of cool new updates and modern conveniences. Along with a sleeker, more contemporary look to the interior, the location will now showcase high-definition, digital menu boards inside and out. The remodeled restaurant will also feature two self-service kiosks – enabling customers to order from a touchscreen menu without standing in line – and table-location technology, allowing employees to deliver food directly to a customer’s table.

McDon­ald’s has also recently implemented a new “always fresh, never frozen” policy for all their quarter-pound burgers, which owner Mike Ortins says makes them taste “even better than before.”

Another feature, which has been available for some time, is the ability to make one’s order via McDonald’s new mobile app. However, the renovations will add to this convenience by designating two parking spots on the east side of the restaurant specifically for “curbside ordering.” Park here, submit your order via the mobile app, and a few minutes later your food will be brought directly to the car!

The Ortins have succeeded because of a deep commitment to their employees and the communities in which they live. Offering tuition assistance of up to $3,000 a year, many employees start working part-time as they go to school. Jim Sevey, the first general manager of the McDonald’s location in Winslow when it was opened in 1987, is now a company supervisor and will be on hand at the ribbon-cutting ceremony on June 16.

Mike Ortins firmly believes in supporting the local community and has sponsored a number of fundraisers over the years, such as McPuzzle Night in support of autism awareness. He plans to continue that tradition. At the grand re-opening of the Winslow’s McDonald’s on Saturday, June 16, 20 percent of all purchases between 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. will be donated, along with a check for $1,000, to the Winslow Parks and Recreation Department.

The renovations of the McDonald’s in Winslow are done, and it’s looking great.

Fairfield veterans lay wreaths

Fairfield veterans laid wreaths at the cemetery and Memorial Park on Memorial Day, May 28. (Photo courtesy of Lyn Rowden)

Fallen law enforcement officers remembered

Maine Gov. Paul LePage, left, a former Waterville mayor, and Department of Public Safety Commissioner John Morris, former Waterville Police Chief, at the Law Enforcement Officers Memorial ceremony on May 17. (Photo by Mark Huard, owner Central Maine Photography)