Ryan Scallon is superintendent of Portland Public Schools. He can be reached at superintendent@portlandschools.org.

One of the things I really appreciate about education is that it’s cyclical. We feel pride and a sense of accomplishment as school ends each June and renewed excitement each fall as we begin a new school year. The summer provides an interlude that we use not only for summer learning, but to reflect on what we did last year and plan for this year. Here’s a look back at the summer and some highlights of what’s next as the 2024-2025 school year gets underway.

The first day of school for students in grades 1-12 is Sept. 3, the day after Labor Day. Pre-kindergarten and kindergarten students will start on Sept. 5. Teachers return to school beginning Tuesday, Aug. 27, for teacher workdays. View the 2024-2025 district calendar on the district’s website, portlandschools.org, for more details.

Families are invited to get a jump on the new school year with welcome-back-to-school activities that individual schools are holding in August. The activities include open houses, a watermelon welcome and ice cream and Popsicle socials. You’ll find a list of planned activities on our website, but please also check with your child’s school for details and any updates.

Learning continued throughout this summer with extended school-year programming for students with specific learning needs. We also had about 250 students engaged in enrichment programming – LearningWorks summer programming served six of our elementary schools; a grant-funded program at Reiche Elementary School for rising first- and second-graders focused on strengthening reading skills; and summer math tutoring was provided for third-graders. With state grant funds, we also provided two weeks of summer programming for middle school students experiencing homelessness.

Summer also is always a busy time for hiring staff. The board of public education just approved the appointments of a new principal at Lyman Moore, new assistant principals at Casco Bay and Deering high schools and at Talbot Community School and a new co-curricular director at Portland High School, and we have a new lead teacher at Reiche Elementary School. We continue to hire, onboard and process new PPS employees every day – please go to our website’s employment page to join us in meaningful jobs serving our city’s children.

We anticipate additional school-based leadership to be in place by the start of the school year. Other hiring areas that we’re particularly focusing on include educational technicians for specialized programs and custodial and transportation staff. We anticipate having enough transportation staff to cover our routes at the start of school, and families should expect to receive bus route information on or before Wednesday, Aug. 21.

When it comes to our employees, we’re taking a united approach to launch the 2024-2025 school year. We are excited to welcome our approximately 1,400 staff members together in one space – Merrill Auditorium – on Wednesday, Aug. 28, to kick off the new school year as one district.

This one-team approach is designed to generate energy, inspire all our employees and create a shared sense of belonging. A key focus of the event will be the presentation of the district’s new strategic plan. The new five-year plan, approved by the board in June, provides us with a clear roadmap of what we want to achieve this school year and beyond and how to get there.

At our August district-wide staff meeting, we want everyone to walk away with a foundational understanding of our district’s plan and our priorities for the new school year. It will be the first step in charting our way together in 2024-2025 – as one team, with one plan.