COVID-19 Reopening Model

Portland Public Schools gave families a choice about how they wanted  their students to return to school for the 2020-21 school year. Roughly 1,000 students requested to have school completely online in a “Remote Academy,” so PPS created a new, separate district-wide remote learning program for them.

The remaining 5,000+ students chose a hybrid learning model that includes in-person instruction two days a week at school and remote learning from home two days a week. No classes are held on Wednesdays, to give teachers enough time for preparation and student outreach. Elementary school days are shortened from a regular 6 hour day to just under 5 hours. When students are on campus, their teachers are encouraged to bring them outside for class as much as possible, and to have breakfast, snacks, recess and other school activities outdoors.

Planning Process

The advocacy effort for outdoor learning began in May 2020, when parents, community members, school board members, and local outdoor learning-related organizations—with whom many schools already worked—came together in a series of networked conversations to discuss making a case to the district for outdoor learning. A key school board member, the School Ground Greening Coalition, and many active parents and teachers also drove advocacy via emails, facebook posts, and calls.

When the district decided to support outdoor space planning, the Portland Society for Architecture sprang into action, matching each of the 17 schools with a volunteer design professional who created a unique site plan for physically distanced outdoor learning. The outdoor infrastructure models developed by the National COVID-19 Outdoor Learning Initiative played a central role in shaping the volunteer’s approach to site planning. The PSA’s Facebook post about this work went viral, and the idea gained momentum and support. The site plans made the ideas real for the school communities, and the school staff could then more easily envision their next steps to move forward with the planning process.

Planning at the district level began when STEM Coordinator Brooke Teller was tapped to connect with the Portland Society for Architecture, school staff, and the community advocates. By early August, PPS’s district administrators, with school board agreement, officially appointed her to lead the planning and implementation process for outdoor learning and become PPS’s new Outdoor Learning Coordinator. Under her leadership, PPS developed a district-wide outdoor learning plan, in collaboration with teachers, district staff, and local partner organizations who specialize in outdoor education, like Cultivating Community, Rippleffect, and Maine Audubon.

Summer preparations also included professional development for teachers, to help them adjust to teaching outside for the first time. (Please see the information described below.)

District Education Data

• 17 schools

• 6,750 PreK - 12 students

• 53% qualify for free/reduced lunch

• 83.5% students’ households have broadband internet

• District website

Location

• Southern Maine, along the Atlantic Ocean coast

• Portland: 66,000 residents, diverse population speaks 64 languages

Climate

• Mild spring and fall weather: 40°F - 70°F

• Cold, snowy winters: Daytime temperatures below 40°F for 3+ months

• Precipitation: 128 days per year

• Rainfall: 49” per year

• Snowfall: 61” per year

Outdoor Infrastructure

When they first started planning, PPS initially decided to install two outdoor classrooms for each of the 17 school sites, to ensure that they were equally distributed. Extensive public comments and growing interest from the community encouraged them to expand that initial plan to create a total of 156 outdoor classrooms across the district. Each of these outdoor classrooms is designed to seat 10-12 students, so the overall outdoor classroom capacity across the district is approximately 1,800 students.

Shelter. 33 of the outdoor classrooms across the district have shade sails, created by a local company called Transformit that specializes in fabric-based architecture. The eye-catching shade sails they created are intended to protect classes from the sun in the fall and spring, but are not designed for snow loads and do not provide rain protection. The fabric portion of the shelters will be removed in the winter, before heavy snowfall is expected. Since the attachment points will remain in place, the sails can be easily re-attached in the spring. The total cost to purchase and install the 33 sun shades was approximately $80,000.

Seating. Most of the outdoor classrooms use large 5 gallon buckets and stumps as individual seats for the students. The buckets also act as personal storage containers for each student, to hold their supplies. PPS worked with local distilleries who donated hundreds of these bucket-seats. The district also purchased additional buckets, as well as camp chairs for teachers, to meet their seating needs.

Easels and carts. Portland Public Schools worked with the United Way of Greater Portland and the local carpenters’ union 349 to build 204 outdoor easels, used to hold white boards for each of the outdoor classrooms. (See directions below.) Rolling file carts were purchased for teachers to move supplies outside.

Learning kits. Each of the 5,000 students also has their own “learning kit,” purchased by PPS, that includes a drawstring backpack, a clipboard, notebooks, and pens. The personal learning kits help the students avoid sharing materials, and reduce the need for sanitation.

Warm clothing. Appropriate clothing makes or breaks outdoor learning experiences in 4-season climates like Maine's. Equity is a top priority for PPS, and students lacking outdoor clothing gear will not have equitable access to outdoor learning experiences in chilly fall, winter, or spring weather. To address the gear gap, PPS purchased 500 hats and gloves, snow pants for elementary students, and many bolts of fleece to make lap blankets and neck gaiters.

Funding. The outdoor classroom infrastructure and related teaching supplies and resources described above cost PPS approximately $120,000. (This includes the $80,000 for shade sails, described above.) The funding came primarily from money received by the district from the federal CARES Act, and from grants from the Foundation for Portland Public Schools, as well as in-kind donations of time and materials from the community.

Coordination. To further support the transition to outdoor learning, PPS created a stipended building liaison position for each school. The building liaisons coordinated material distribution, infrastructure installation, and communications with teachers about schedules and curricular opportunities. They also recruited volunteers and secured additional in-kind donations for outdoor building materials and supplies.

Easel Directions. Click here for PPS’s directions for building outdoor classroom easels.

PPS Outdoor Learning 101 — Portland Public Schools produced this fantastic professional development video (above) in Summer 2020 to help their faculty make the transition to teaching outdoors. Schools reopened for in-person learning in August 2020.

Curriculum, Staffing,
and Professional Development

Portland Public Schools recognized that their teachers needed additional support to move their usual curriculum from an indoor model to one that could take place outside. In August, they created a professional development video (left) to provide their faculty with initial strategies, tips, and advice about how to teach outside. This training video was created in collaboration with local partners, such as Cultivating Community and outdoor learning consultant Erica Beck Spencer. The video was intended to help teachers prepare to teach any subject outdoors, including science, English, social studies, and others.

As teachers settled into their outdoor classroom spaces in the fall, PPS added to their professional development program. They are now shifting their focus to enable and encourage teachers to stay outside through the winter, and also to frame outdoor learning as a permanent addition to their longterm instructional model for the district. Some of this fall and winter professional development is offered in collaboration with colleagues from a private school in Maine called Juniper Hill that has had a 100% outdoor curriculum for many years. Juniper Hill has developed a robust consulting program in response to this year's demand for outdoor learning expertise and training at public schools across Maine.

The district is also investing in mobile, bin-based teaching resources that support Next Generation Science Standards for elementary school students, and in place-based curriculum from Maine Audubon.

PPS is able to provide these professional development and curriculum resources through grants awarded by the Foundation for Portland Public Schools and Maine Environmental Education Association.

Community Partnerships Expand After School Care Programs

Portland Public Schools expanded their after school program this year by continuing with their existing after school program providers and also adding new community-based partners such as Portland Community Squash, the Boys and Girls Club, and local theater, arts, sports, recreation, and music organizations. After school childcare at the elementary schools is now provided for five hours during each of the four instructional days that are on-campus each week, and for the entire day on Wednesdays, when students do not have classes on campus. The community-based partners supervise students and provide enrichment activities in the outdoor classrooms on campus as well as at nearby parks and off-site in large indoor spaces like theaters.

School Schedule

A typical school day for elementary school students now follows a schedule along these lines:

Sample School Day (Elementary School)

7:45 am - 8:15 am Breakfast — Outdoors

8:15 am - 8:30 am Morning Message — Outdoors

8:30 am - 10:00 am Academic Block — Indoors or
outdoors

10:00 am - 10:30 am Snack and Recess — Outdoors

10:30 am - 11:30 am Academic Block — Indoors or
outdoors

11:30 am - 12:15 pm Special Classes — Art, Music, P.E.
— Indoors or outdoors

12:15 pm - 12:30 pm Pack up, receive bagged lunch

12:30 pm Dismissal

Aftercare Schedule

12:30 pm - 1:00 pm Lunch — Outdoors

1:00 pm - 6:00 pm Afterschool enrichment programs —
Outdoors, on campus or at nearby sites

Outdoor Learning Overview

In this recorded presentation, Laura Newman from Learning by Nature for ME and School Ground Greening Coalition, Lily Chaleff from Cultivating Community), and Brooke Teller from Portland Public Schools explain the planning and implementation process for outdoor learning at Portland Public Schools in Portland, Maine, and talk about their experiences building this inspiring effort to take learning outside across the district. This presentation was delivered on November 10, 2020, during one of the National COVID-19 Outdoor Learning Initiative’s bi-weekly “Working Group 11” meetings, which provide a forum for schools and districts around the country to share their outdoor learning questions, plans, and progress.

Webinar Timing

0:00 Laura Newman, Consultant, Learning by Nature for ME
and School Ground Greening Coalition
6:40 Lily Chaleff, Schools and Youth Program Coordinator,
Cultivating Community
13:00 Brooke Teller, Outdoor Learning and STEM Coordinator,
Portland Public Schools
23:47 Questions and discussion

Click the image above to watch the recorded video presentation.
Laura Newman, Lily Chaleff, and Brooke Teller share the inspiring work they are doing with Portland Public Schools in Portland, Maine, to use outdoor classrooms as part of the school district’s COVID-19 recovery. Recorded November 10, 2020.