District reports state grant-funded STEM camp for teachers; staff say classroom use is expanding

The RSU 40/MSAD 40 school board heard a presentation about a state-funded professional development program that aimed to increase teacher use of existing STEM kits and supplemental classroom technology.

District staff said the district received a Teach with Tech grant from the Maine Department of Education for $12,329 to fund a summer STEM camp and virtual vendor training and to expand hands-on materials. The district previously received nearly $90,000 worth of STEM kits; staff said the recent grant helped teachers learn to use those kits and to develop classroom activities.

Heather Westridge, identified in the packet as the district’s Instructional Technology Coach, and colleagues described two days of camp that combined vendor training (a virtual session from the company Sphero) with hands-on sessions where teachers planned classroom lessons. Westridge also described classroom examples: seventh-graders creating digital stories with Canva, middle-school students programming Bolt robots to navigate obstacle courses, and elementary students using modular connectors and cardboard to build models.

Staff reported early signs of impact: a teacher e-mailed before the school year started saying participants were “raving about the experience, putting their new learning into action, and preparing materials for instruction.” Board members asked whether the work would continue after the grant; presenters said the materials are owned by the district and can support school-year workshops.

No board vote was required for the presentation. Administrators said they will continue embedding the materials into instruction and exploring ways to scale teacher workshops in the regular academic year.