• Friday, October 4: BHS Girls Soccer Food Drive at 6pm at Waterhouse Field

• October 6-12: Biddeford’s Homecoming Week

• Thursday, October 7: Dayton Community Club Meeting at 6:30pm at DCS

• Tuesday, October 8: Dayton School Committee at 6:30pm, Dayton Consolidated School

• Wednesday, October 9: Biddeford School Committee at 5pm, BHS Little Theater

• Friday, October 11: No School - Teacher Professional Development Day

• Monday, October 14: No School - Indigenous Peoples’ Day

• Friday, October 18: Pink-Out Day at Dayton Consolidated School

• Saturday, October 19: BEF’s Pillars of Pride Event, 6-9pm, The Lincoln Hotel (Tickets required in advance)

• Wednesday, October 23: Dayton Early Release & Biddeford School Committee at 7pm, BHS Little Theater

• Sunday, October 27: BMS STEM 5K & Candy K Fun Run at 10am, BMS (Register in advance)

• Tuesday, October 29: Center of Technology Ribbon-Cutting at 9:45am
  

The BHS Girl Soccer Team will hold a food drive for the Biddeford Food Pantry at the football game this Friday (Oct 4). Anyone bringing non-perishable food items or making a financial contribution will be entered to win raffle prizes. Winners will be drawn during half-time at the game.

Wear It Pink 2024 is an annual event that invites people to wear pink clothing or accessories to show their support for breast cancer awareness and research. Dayton Consolidated School will be showing our support on Friday, October 18. We hope all staff, students and families will join us in wearing PINK on this day!

Children of parents who talk to their teens regularly about drugs are 42% less likely to use drugs than those who don’t; yet, only a quarter of teens report having these conversations.

Red Ribbon Week (October 23-31), the oldest and largest drug prevention campaign in the nation, is your opportunity to get the ongoing conversation started. This year’s theme is Life Is A Movie, Film Drug Free.™ Visit www.redribbon.org to learn more about Red Ribbon Week, enter the Red Ribbon These Contest, and get tips for talking to your kids about drugs. The life you save may be that of your own child or a dear friend.

Screenagers: Under the Influence is a special documentary addressing vaping, drugs, and alcohol in the digital age. In conjunction with Coastal Healthy Communities Coalition, the screening and panel discussion kicks off Red Ribbon Week on Wednesday, October 23rd, from 6-7:30pm at Thornton Academy’s Garland Auditorium. A Resource Fair will occur from 5:30-6pm and 7:30-8pm.

The National Prescription Drug Take Back Day, held on Saturday, October 26th from 10am-2pm, aims to provide a safe, convenient, and responsible means of disposing of prescription drugs while also educating the general public about the potential for abuse of medications. Collection sites in our area include Biddeford Public Works and Buxton Police Department. Many area police departments, including, but not limited to, Saco, Kennebunk, and Kennebunkport PD, have 24-hour medication disposal bins located in their lobbies 365 days per year.

On Sunday, October 27, BMS will once again host the Annual Halloween STEM 5K Race/Walk and Kids Candy K Fun Run (costumes are encouraged). The Candy K Fun Run is geared toward children 10 and younger and includes age-appropriate games and a 1-kilometer fun run, during which participants collect candy and traverse through a decorated course.

STEM students work alongside their teachers in planning and hosting this event. The purpose is to promote a positive community and raise money for the 7th-grade STEM activities and equipment at BMS. In addition, students learn many other valuable skills as they work on various planning aspects of the project, such as fundraising, marketing/design, course planning, and race to officiate. The money raised supports academic-related field trips that help our students learn and grow.

In collaboration with the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention (Maine CDC) and the Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry (DACF), we want to inform you of an elevated risk of mosquito-borne illnesses in our state. West Nile Virus (WNV), Eastern Equine Encephalitis (EEE), and Jamestown Canyon Virus (JCV) have all been detected in animals, and one human case of West Nile Virus has been reported. The affected counties include Cumberland, Kennebec, Penobscot, Somerset, and Waldo, with elevated risk across the state. These viruses are transmitted through mosquito bites, with the highest chance occurring from dusk to dawn and when temperatures are above 50°F (especially above 60°F). Symptoms in humans can range from flu-like discomfort to more severe issues such as meningitis.

To mitigate the risk, we encourage families to take preventative measures, particularly in the evenings until two hard frosts occur later in the fall:

• Use repellent. Use an EPA-approved repellent containing DEET, oil of lemon eucalyptus, picaridin, or IR3535 on skin and clothing. Permethrin can also be used on clothing only and is effective through several washes.

• Wear protective clothing. This includes long-sleeved shirts, pants, and socks to cover the skin.

• Identify any stagnant water sources and drain them. Standing water presents an opportunity for mosquitos to breed, so check your water spigots and get rid of any water sitting idle (i.e., flower pots, buckets, rain gutters, play equipment, etc.

• Check windows: Ensure windows/screens are intact and any holes in screens are patched.

For more information, check out the video below.

Our district is partnering with Tooth Protectors Inc. to offer Preventative Dental Care at school on the upcoming dates below. Services are available for students WITH or WITHOUT dental insurance.

• Dayton: December 3 & 4

• JFK: November 8

• BPS: October 17 & 18

• BIS: December 5 & 6

• BMS: December 3 & 4

• BHS: December 2

Services are FREE to those with MaineCare, self-pay fees are listed on the permission form, and other dental insurance can be billed. To participate, please fill out this form or click on the below button to complete it online.

Thanks to a $5,000 grant from the Big Ideas to End Hunger in Greater Biddeford, Biddeford Middle School is almost complete with the construction of a new greenhouse. The funding was part of the Community-Driven Strategies to End Hunger program launched by Good Shepherd Food Bank, which focuses on local solutions to hunger across Maine’s regions. Thanks to ESL Teacher Jayme DePaolo, who envisioned the BMS Garden Club project aimed at addressing food insecurity among students and their families, and volunteer partners Biddeford Community Gardens, Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge, and Youth Full Maine.

Stay informed by downloading the school district’s mobile app! It will allow parents to choose the school(s) they would like to get notifications from, see the dining menu quickly, access the live feed, sports schedules and scores, important documents, emergency notifications, and more! Simply download the relevant app at the link below:

• BIDDEFORD:

• Download for Android: https://bit.ly/3fu8z4q

• Download for iPhone: https://apple.co/2QFUBST

• Video - https://youtu.be/IEc79nbB43c

• DAYTON:

• Download for Android: https://bit.ly/3ubORP7

• Download for iPhone: https://apple.co/2Ps31fY

• Video: https://youtu.be/YABUu1YruGI