Bulldog Bulletin

The Bulldog Bulletin features school events, updates on student life, and general information about JFDS.

Be sure to check the JFDS website regularly for news, the events calendar, and more. Download the Bangor App as well to help stay connected!

• Tuesday, November 11th - No School
• Wednesday, November 12th - Family Bingo & Spaghetti Dinner (6:00 to 7:30PM)
• Tuesday, November 18th - Eighth Grade Trip to UTC
• Tuesday, November 18th - Bulldog Boosters (5PM)
• Thursday, November 20th - Maine Bioscience Day
• Monday, November 24th & Tuesday, November 25th - No School, Parent Teacher Conferences

• If you have not received it already, ask your child for a letter with information about Parent Teacher Conferences (sent home on October 20th).

• The Bangor School Department has set Parent/Teacher Conferences in grades K-12 for November 24 and 25, 2025.

• At the James F. Doughty School, we offer in-person conferences at the school. For parents who can not make it to the building, conferences using Zoom or over the phone are also available.

• Conferences are structured with teams of teachers at the same time, so there is no need to schedule multiple conferences.

While cheering tryouts wrapped up last week, basketball begins next week. Students trying out need to complete all necessary paperwork and SWAY testing before tryouts begin,

Girls' Basketball Tryouts:

• On Monday, November 10th - All grades from 4:15 to 5:45 PM.
• On Thursday, November 13th - All grades from 2:30 to 4:15 PM.
• On Friday, November 14th - All grades from 2:30 to 4:15 PM.

Boys' Basketball Tryouts:

• On Monday, November 10th - 6th grade from 2:30 to 3:30 PM, and 7th & 8th grade from 3:30 to 4:15 PM.
• On Thursday, November 13th - 6th grade from 4:15 to 5:15 PM, and 7th & 8th grade from 5:15 to 6:15 PM.
• On Friday, November 14th - All grades from 4:15 to 6:15PM.

For tryouts and practices, all students should enter through the cafeteria doors.

• The JFDS Guest Lunch Server program continues this year. So far, the JFDS Boosters, the PCHC Clinic, Bangor Housing, and Senator Baldacci have served lunch to our students.
• The Bangor Police Department served lunch in mid-October, bringing many of their police resources to share with students.
• The annual Thanksgiving Lunch will be served by the Superintendent's Office on November 20th.

• After learning about the recent jewel heist at the Louvre museum in Paris, 8th grade French students participated in a scavenger hunt to find a reproduction of the Mona Lisa that Mrs. Dupuy secretly hid in the school.
• Students had to ask teachers around the school for clues, which spelled out the French word for the location of the painting. Students worked in groups to figure out which teachers had clues for them, then asked them questions to learn facts about the Louvre.
• The class then worked together to put all the letters together to spell the word 'bibliotheque", which means library. They sped to the library to find the painting, and the whole class won a reward for their detective work.

• Last week, students tasted a brand new seafood product utilizing locally harvested fish - the Maine Coast Flounder Fish Cake. The fish cakes are the result of a collaboration between Maine Coast Fishermen’s Association, a non-profit dedicated to fostering sustainable fisheries in the Gulf of Maine, and Graffam Brothers Seafood in Rockport, Maine, a multigenerational family-run seafood business.
• MCFA’s work to increase accessible seafood options to Maine students began with the Fishermen Feeding Mainers fish donation program, which provides free filets of groundfish species like pollock, hake, flounder, haddock and monkfish to schools as well as training for school nutrition staff to learn how to best prepare these fish for students.
• Here’s what kids had to say about the fish cakes - “I normally don’t like fish, but I liked it” and “This is probably the best fish I’ve ever tasted!” And, some kids even asked for seconds and thirds!

• Eighth grade science students were asked to watch the short film Caine’s Arcade, a 2012 short documentary about a 9-year-old boy named Caine who built an elaborate cardboard arcade in his father's auto parts store in Los Angeles
• Our eighth-grade science students were then asked to put their imaginations to work for an Invention Convention challenge! Students brainstormed and designed their own cardboard arcade games, and for extra credit, some even built their ideas into real, playable creations. The results were incredible! We had everything from a catapult game that knocks down block castles, a magnetic fishing game, and a “Whack-A-Mrs. V” complete with hilarious photos, to a spinning prize wheel, a clown toss, skee-ball, Plinko, a tossing game, a chance wheel, and a marble maze. Our students showed amazing creativity, problem-solving, and engineering skills, all powered by cardboard, tape, and their imagination!

• Both the boys and the girls U12 Bangor Soccer Club teams won state titles last weekend. JFDS Bulldogs Nora Alley, Dinh Duong, William Sprague, Maxwell Strout, & Zane Zezmia joined students from around Bangor to claim the titles! The boys' U12 team was coached by former Bulldog Ben Sprague.
• Meanwhile, the Bangor Middle School football team defeated Medomak to win the Eastern Maine Middle School Football League championship.

• Congratulations to everyone!

• Did you know that JFDS has a food and flower garden? Thanks to a hard-working Garden Club crew, we were able to harvest and share over fifty pounds of food with our school during our lunch service this fall.
• This year, our largest crops were potatoes, carrots, kale, garlic, basil, and tomatoes.
• Here are a few pics of our students in action!

• On October 31st, Mrs. Erb led eighth grade Spanish I students to the University of Maine to participate in the Day of the Dead program put on by the Hudson Museum at the Collins Center for the Arts.
• The Day of the Dead, El Día de los Muertos in Spanish, is a holiday dedicated to remembering loved ones who have passed away. This celebration is similar to America’s Memorial Day because the focus of the holiday is to remember deceased loved ones.
• The day’s activities included a presentation conducted by Eunice Laredo. As presenter Laredo explained, the meaning of this important Mexican tradition, students were able to witness firsthand the culture and vocabulary they had studied in the classroom. In addition, students learned about the significance of various elements included in a sample memorial that had been created for the occasion.
• The students also spent time learning how to make traditional holiday decorations including: masks, tissue paper flowers, and papel picado, a decoration made by cutting designs into paper. Students also sampled a traditional holiday bread called pan de muerto.
• The program was a wonderful opportunity for the students to experience Hispanic culture. It was an enjoyable and informative day!

• On October 27, six students joined Mrs. Caldwell for archery at Penobscot County Conservation Association.
• The next archery session is scheduled for Monday, February 9th. See Mrs. Caldwell if you're interested in attending.

You can now order 25-26 Yearbooks in the office with cash or check for $25.00 each. You can also order your yearbook online through Memory Book for an additional service fee of $2.99.

• Go to https://shop.memorybook.com/login or QR Code
  
• Click to create an account.
• Enter your name, email, and our Class CODE: 232734M
• Create your own password.

After creating your account, you’ll be taken to the products page.

• Select the one for your student.
• Enter the student name, grade, and homeroom teacher.
• You’ll also see an option for a student who may not be able to purchase one; even one extra book can make a big difference!

The 2025-26 School Calendar includes six early release days for professional development. Middle school students will be dismissed at 11:30AM on the following days:

• Wednesday, February 11th
• Thursday, March 12th
• Wednesday, April 8th
• Wednesday, May 13th

Looking to show off your school pride?

Wights Sporting Goods has an ongoing JFDS school store for hoodies, t-shirts, and more.

Click here to shop!

Click here to download a copy of the 2025-26 BSD School Calendar.

• Chronic absenteeism occurs when a student misses 10% of the days that they are enrolled in school. In Bangor, for a student attending the entire school year, chronic absenteeism would be 17 days or an average of approximately two days per month. Chronic absenteeism is based on total absences - both excused and unexcused. We look forward to meeting our school goal of 95% attendance by June 2025!

• Please click the link below for more information about chronic absenteeism.

  https://5il.co/32v66

The Bangor School Department has partnered with Smart Social, an online digital web platform filled with resources for students and families.

https://www.smartsocial.com/

• ConnectSafely helps to educate people about online safety, privacy, security, & digital wellness.
• Click here to find out more information.

Would you like access to the parent portal of PowerSchool? Click on this link to sign up:

https://forms.gle/apRn3BWD2FJEjXWXA

Confirmation of your account will come from techsis@bangorschools.net

Do you have school related questions or need help from someone at the school? Feel free to reach out to the main office at (207) 941-6220.