It seems we're experiencing a colder and snowier winter than in recent years, and we've already used three traditional snow days. Our intent is to use no more than four traditional snow days before using remote learning days for any further school closures.

As of January 27, the final student day for this school year will be Wednesday, June 17. One more snow day will move us to Thursday, June 18. Because June 19 is a holiday, we will attempt to not use any school closures beyond that point, which means we will move to remote learning days if more than one more snow day is needed.

We'll keep you posted on these decisions as they occur. For now, let's hope fur sunshine and sixty degrees soon!

On Tuesday, February 10, Yarmouth Schools will host Maine Youth Thriving as our next event for this year's Family School Alliance Speaker Series.

Participants will explore how adverse and positive childhood experiences shape development. This session highlights research on Positive Childhood Experiences (PCEs) and how you can buffer the effects of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs), offering practical ways to strengthen protective factors and support healthier outcomes for youth in our community.

This event is free to all family and community members. We simply ask that you register so we may have an accurate count of attendees.

Please join us on February 10 at 6:00pm in the Yarmouth Elementary School Cafeteria for this amazing installment in our FSA Speaker Series.

We want to thank all of you who have been participating in or observing the Budget Workshops. Superintendent Dolloff has presented a budget to the School Committee with a 4.57% increase over the current year. As shown above in the "budget pyramid," a "roll forward" budget would result in a larger increase than is being proposed, as the district's leadership team has worked diligently to ensure the budget is right-sized for the school population and needs.

To read more about the proposed budget, please view the district's Finance Page.

Remaining meetings in the public review process include: 

Thursday, February 5            

School Committee first reading -7:00 p.m., Log Cabin

Monday, February 9               

Finance Committee review - 8:45 a.m., Central Office

Thursday, March 12               

School Committee second reading – 7:00 p.m., Log Cabin

Thursday, March 19               

Budget Presentation to Town Council – 7:00 p.m., Log Cabin

Thursday, April 2                   

Town Council – Public hearing/first reading – 7:00 p.m., Log Cabin

Thursday, May 7                    

Town Council – Public hearing/second reading – 7:00 p.m., Log Cabin

Tuesday, June 2                      

Town Meeting – 7:00 p.m., YHS Auditorium (YPAC)

Tuesday, June 9                      

Budget Referendum – 6:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m., YHS Gym

Last week, Superintendent Dolloff sent a message to the YSD community to reaffirm the district's commitment to safeguarding students and their confidential information.

As a reminder, in response to any request for information about – or access to – one or more of our students by non-school entities, school personnel follow very specific protocols to ensure (1) that the release of information follows proper legal guidelines and (2) that parents/guardians are immediately notified of the request. These protocols have been in place for several years and have been reiterated to staff in recent weeks.

Possibly the most important role we have as educators is to support students who may be feeling fearful or uncomfortable at school, as that interferes with their ability to learn. If you know of a student who is scared or anxious, please encourage them to reach out to a trusted staff member or connect them with their school principal, counselor, advisor, coach, or teacher.

Each adult in our schools is prepared to help students fully access their academic and extracurricular activities, and student support teams at each school are engaged to support individual students and families as needed.

Every two years, the Maine Department of Education administers the Maine Integrated Youth Health Survey to students in middle school and high school throughout the state. We took advantage of Notebook LM to help us dig into the data from HMS and YHS a bit deeper, looking at trends over time and comparing Yarmouth responses with those in the rest of Maine.

We were pleased to see how well Yarmouth students are doing compared to their classmates in other schools, while at the same time recognizing that our focus on student health and well-being must continue in order to meet the needs of all students. 

The analysis doesn't compare responses on every question, as the surveys are dozens of questions long and change each year, but it does focus on the larger aspects of student mental health and safety. We encourage you to read the full report here.

Thank you to everyone in the Yarmouth community who participated in the January 2026 community engagement opportunities. Input from Yarmouth staff, students, and families will inform next steps in the Superintendent Search process.

In February, Zeal Education Group will create and present a Leadership Profile to the School Committee to guide recruitment and inform hiring. Upcoming key dates include:

January - March 2026: National Recruitment led by Zeal Education Group

March 5, 2026: Application Deadline

March 2026: Application Review and Semi-Finalist Interviews with Search Committee

April 2026: Finalist Interviews with School Committee

The goal of the Yarmouth School Committee is to appoint the new Superintendent in April 2026, with a start date of July 1, 2026. Please reach out to Christina Patrick, or any members of the School Committee, with questions. 

The full community engagement calendar can be found here.