The latest group of Students of the Month at Piscataquis Community Elementary School were honored in front of their peers during an April 27 morning meeting, a session moved back one week from the usual third Friday of the month due to the April vacation.

A 2018-19 academic year budget totaling $7,087,042, which includes a local assessment of just over $4,180,000, was approved by the SAD 4 school board during an April 10 meeting at Piscataquis Community Elementary School. The directors also set the district budget meeting for 7 p.m. on Thursday, May 3 at PCES.

For a decade the Valley Grange of Guilford has sponsored advertisements in the Piscataquis Observer’s annual Newspapers in Education supplement, which features business advertisement content created and drawn by school children from across the area. The advertisements for the Valley Grange have been drawn by students at the former Guilford Primary School and currently at Piscataquis Community Elementary School as again this year PCES third- and fourth-graders put their talents to work.

A look at the past four decades serving the region and a look to the future of helping the community were both features of the 40th anniversary celebration for Mayo Regional Hospital on the afternoon of Monday, April 9 in the Resource Center.

Well over a dozen students in the younger grades at Piscataquis Community Elementary School are now HEROs for their outstanding conduct during the month of March. The HERO honorees were recognized with the presentation of certificates during the school-wide morning meeting on April 6.

Sen. Paul Davis’, R-Sangerville bill to amend the penalties for hunting deer over bait survived a veto override by a vote of 33-0 in the Senate and 148-0 in the House.

Piscataquis Community Elementary School third-graders had the chance to be a little messy at their desks as the students each put together or birth a “dirt baby” -- seeds in a paper cup -- on April 3 during a GrowMe Project day at the school with activities held for the four younger grades.

Piscataquis Community High School Principal John Keane recently announced the valedictorian and two salutatorians for the Class of 2018.

Applications for the superintendent position were submitted at the start of the month and interviews with the leading candidates have been scheduled, the full SAD 4 school board learned during a March 20 meeting at Piscataquis Community High School.

At the March 23 all-school assembly to start the day six Students of the Month were named -- fifth-graders Lena Pearson and Devan Pelkey; sixth-grader Kaileigh Elderkin; seventh-graders Emma Calnan and Gracie Talbot; and eighth-grader Sydney Hutchins.

At the March 18 meeting of Guilford American Legion Post 119 Collin Bickford of Abbot, center, was presented a certificate for his 50 years of continuous membership in the American Legion.

Penobscot County’s longtime Democratic district attorney will not run for re-election, leaving an open path for one of his colleagues to replace him. R. Christopher Almy, D-Charleston, indicated he would run for re-election when he filed signed nomination papers to the Maine secretary of state earlier this month.

The Piscataquis Community High School Drama Club won a second-place trophy at the Maine Drama Festival on March 10 in Skowhegan. The name of the club’s production was “TATTERED,” a student-written play on the effects of bullying cyberbullying and suicide with the message … words hurt.

In an effort to alleviate cramped conditions at the current facility, the Piscataquis County Sheriff’s Department is looking to lease space at the former Guilford Primary School -- which more recently was the home of the SAD 4 administrative office suite -- to house its patrol division

Learning is a family affair for students in the pre-kindergarten morning and afternoon sessions at Piscataquis Community Elementary School. After the end of each of the half dozen units across the school year, parents/guardians are invited in to the classroom for a “Family Wrap Up.”

“The list was published late yesterday, there were three finalists and we were the third-ranked finalist,” SAD 46/AOS 94 Superintendent Kevin Jordan said on Feb. 15.

In September the Category 5 Hurricane Maria struck Puerto Rico. The recovery effort is continuing five months later and Piscataquis Community Elementary School grade 5-6 teacher Grace McGeehan will be spending a portion of her February vacation helping a school on the island in the Caribbean Sea.

Month by month outstanding pupils in grades 5-8 at Piscataquis Community Elementary School are honored by being named Students of the Month. On the third Friday of the month the honorees are presented with certificates in front of their peers during the morning meeting.