News & Events

Portland Public Schools educators have shared some recent examples of innovative teaching and learning in the arts in our schools this year. Read on to learn more details:

Painting for a Purpose, a local nonprofit organization founded by teachers, brings creative people together to paint whimsical decorative items that they sell to raise money to fund service-learning projects led by Portland Public Schools students who want to make a difference. Students receive up to $500 to put their idea into action. So far this school year, Painting for a Purpose has funded a wide variety of PPS students' amazing service-learning projects.

For example, a King Middle School sixth-grader won a grant to help her share Ethiopian cuisine and traditions with the school community. She conducted independent research on Ethiopia and fed her classmates injera flatbread and other Ethiopian food. She had a meal catered from Asmara Restaurant, and shared a presentation that celebrated her culture and educated others on her mother’s home country. Click HERE to learn about this and the seven other projects that Painting for a Purpose helped make a reality this year.

An exhibition of work by students in the Commercial & Advertising Art program at the Portland Art and Technology High School (PATHS) has been installed at Pinecone+Chickadee, located at 6 Free Street in Portland.

March 27 is Maine Maple Sunday, an annual event when the state’s sugarhouses offer maple syrup samples and demonstrations on how Maine maple syrup is made.

The Portland Public Schools is proud to announce that Martha Thompson, an educational technician at the Portland Arts and Technology High School (PATHS), is among 11 Maine finalists for the national Recognizing Inspirational School Employees (RISE) Award.