Great Schools Partnership

We are incredibly proud to be featured in the Elmina B. Sewall Foundation's 2025 Annual Report.

With support from the Sewall Foundation, GSP was able to partner with Maine Indian Education to build a collaborative learning experience focused on strengthening educators' ability to lead effective professional learning communities that enhance student outcomes.

It is a privilege to partner with both the Sewall Foundation and Maine Indian Education. Thank you for your generous support and commitment to fostering a just, healthy, and sustainable Maine.

Read their full annual report below!

2025 Annual Report — Elmina B. Sewall Foundation  In times of so much upheaval, there are many thoughts and emotions asking to be heard. At Sewall, during 2025’s dizzying whirl of social and existential challenges, we did our best to listen. We listened to discern where to bring our attention, we listened to learn, we listened to align our real...

Thank you, Black Travel Maine, for taking us on a walk through history this week.

If you don’t know of Black Travel Maine, YOU SHOULD!

They do incredible work sharing the deep history of the Black Mainers who shaped our state and whose ongoing impact is too often ignored. Their celebration of Maine’s culture and heritage through inclusive travel experiences is a gift to our great state

We are grateful and proud to partner with Black Travel Maine. We can’t wait to find more ways to work together!

The inaugural Maine Impact Education Fellowship cohort is wrapping up, and the work they are taking back to their schools will make a difference for students across Maine.

This year, educators from across Maine came together to strengthen their leadership and advance educational equity. On May 19, they will present their final capstone projects at the Fellowship's culminating event.

Read our latest blog to learn more about the Fellowship and the leaders behind this work.

The 2026 Maine Impact Education Fellowship Great Schools Partnership's Scarlett Tannetta details the mission of the Maine Impact Education Fellowship and the success of our inaugural cohort.

GSP's latest blog breaks down the fundamentals of PBL and the structures schools need to make it work. Then join us on May 12 for a free webinar on GSP's reimagined approach to putting it all into practice.

GSP's latest blog breaks down the fundamentals of PBL and the structures schools need to make it work. Then join us on May 12 for a free webinar on GSP's reimagined approach to putting it all into practice.

Monday, May 12, 2026 3:00 PM – 4:00 PM ET Free, via Zoom

Read the blog and register:

www.greatschoolspartnership.org

It is our last Teacher Appreciation post!

This week has flown by! Thank you to all the GSP team members who shared their stories. We could have posted 100 thank yous, and that still wouldn’t cover how much we LOVE teachers. Without them, our work wouldn’t be possible. Happy Teacher Appreciation Week!

Ms. Diakite was my middle school advisor and, if memory serves, my social studies teacher as well. There is a moment from her class that remains vivid in my mind. We were reading about enslaved people, and the textbook offered only a brief, surface-level acknowledgment of their lives and experiences. I remember questioning why that was all there was to say. Ms. Diakite didn’t need to respond with words as her expression alone told me she understood exactly what I was feeling. In that moment, I felt seen. I felt protected. I felt affirmed. That experience taught me something enduring: representation in education is not symbolic—it is transformative. It creates space for truth. It creates space for inquiry. It creates space for students to trust their instincts and name what feels incomplete or unjust.

-Darthula Mathews
GSP Senior Associate

When I look back, the teacher I appreciate most is my elementary school librarian, Mrs. Raymond. I was never the perfect student. I squirmed, chatted, back-talked, and made many a mischief (I loved to hide a paperback in a textbook). None of this made me very popular with the teaching staff. While there was many a teacher who worked hard to “focus my potential,” only one made me feel accepted, and that one was Betsy Raymond. She showed me how a story can anchor a spinning mind, how to quell curiosity with research, and the meditative peace of shelving books. Her library was my calm in the storm, an oasis of incandescent light and soft places to land. I can never thank her enough for the well-being and belonging she brought to that whirlwind of a girl. Thank you, Mrs. Raymond!

-Kendra Carter
GSP Communications and Development Specialist

In honor of Teacher Appreciation Week, GSP is sharing stories about the teachers who shaped us and continue to inspire us every day.

Today, we have four teacher appreciation submissions! Starting with one of the founders of GSP, and ending with our current executive director:

"Paul Hazelton was a brilliant, gifted educator and my mentor. As I pursued a degree in Government and planned to attend law school, I also chose to take Paul Hazelton's legendary courses in Education at Bowdoin College. He taught the history of American public education in an eye-opening way that championed the profession and tied the importance of teaching to the core of citizenship and our democracy.

Paul served on Maine's State Board of Education, was considered the historian of Maine public schools, and stood tall as a pioneer in bringing students with disabilities into schools, public events, and the mainstream, having his son become an accepted citizen in the schools, at the College, and in the community of Brunswick. The modeling of Paul and his son happened concurrently with federal legislation ushering in special education. It was incredible.

Upon graduation, I headed back home to Rhode Island, only to return to Maine 2 months later after accepting a Senior Government teaching position at Messalonskee High School in the Belgrade Lakes. Professor Hazelton changed my life's direction.

Paul Hazelton: a great teacher, for sure, and a mentor who championed education and influenced scores of college students to pursue a teaching career. Thank you, Paul."

-Duke Albanese
GSP Senior Policy Advisor
Former Maine Commissioner of Education

"Ms. Barter was my 10th and 12th-grade English teacher at Presque Isle High School. Her classroom was a space both for deep discussion and for fun! She made me a better writer and thinker, and I will never forget the song she would perform for us on our birthdays - you knew what was coming when she pulled out the bugle!"
-Kayla Girardin
Finance and Procurement Specialist

"Mrs. Wong was my 8th-grade math teacher. She was incredibly firm but also warm and fair. She is the reason I fell in love with mathematics, and most importantly, she helped build my confidence. I became a math teacher because of her!"
-Leah Tuckman
GSP Senior Associate

"Mrs. Ferguson was a real-life Ms. Frizzle. In 3rd grade, our class was headed to the Boston Aquarium for a field trip. That morning, we were disappointed to learn that we would have a substitute teacher because Mrs. Ferguson had to be out sick. A few hours later, as we strolled through the Aquarium, we looked over and saw a scuba diver feeding the sharks, knocking on the tank, and waving to us. That shark-feeding scuba diver was our teacher, Mrs. Ferguson! Her love for science, adventure, and learning was infectious "
-Paulina Murton
GSP Executive Director

In honor of Teacher Appreciation Week, GSP is sharing stories about the teachers who shaped us and continue to inspire us every day.

Today, we have four teacher appreciation submissions! Starting with one of the founders of GSP, and ending with our current executive director:

Paul Hazelton was a brilliant, gifted educator and my mentor. As I pursued a degree in Government and planned to attend law school, I also chose to take Paul Hazelton's legendary courses in Education at Bowdoin College. He taught the history of American public education in an eye-opening way that championed the profession and tied the importance of teaching to the core of citizenship and our democracy.

Paul served on Maine's State Board of Education, was considered the historian of Maine public schools, and stood tall as a pioneer in bringing handicapped students into schools, public events, and the mainstream, having his son become an accepted citizen in the schools, at the College, and in the community of Brunswick. The modeling of Paul and his son happened concurrently with federal legislation ushering in special education. It was incredible.

Upon graduation, I headed back home to Rhode Island, only to return to Maine 2 months later after accepting a Senior Government teaching position at Messalonskee High School in the Belgrade Lakes. Professor Hazelton changed my life's direction.

Paul Hazelton: a great teacher, for sure, and a mentor who championed education and influenced scores of college students to pursue a teaching career. Thank you, Paul.

-Duke Albanese
GSP Senior Policy Advisor
Former Maine Commissioner of Education

Ms. Barter was my 10th and 12th-grade English teacher at Presque Isle High School. Her classroom was a space both for deep discussion and for fun! She made me a better writer and thinker, and I will never forget the song she would perform for us on our birthdays - you knew what was coming when she pulled out the bugle!
-Kayla Girardin
Finance and Procurement Specialist

Mrs. Wong was my 8th-grade math teacher. She was incredibly firm but also warm and fair. She is the reason I fell in love with mathematics, and most importantly, she helped build my confidence. I became a math teacher because of her!

-Leah Tuckman
GSP Senior Associate

Mrs. Ferguson was a real-life Ms. Frizzle. In 3rd grade, our class was headed to the Boston Aquarium for a field trip. That morning, we were disappointed to learn that we would have a substitute teacher because Mrs. Ferguson had to be out sick. A few hours later, as we strolled through the Aquarium, we looked over and saw a scuba diver feeding the sharks, knocking on the tank, and waving to us. That shark-feeding scuba diver was our teacher, Mrs. Ferguson! Her love for science, adventure, and learning was infectious.

-Paulina Murton
GSP Executive Director

Happy teacher appreciation week!

For the rest of the week, we will be sharing stories about the teachers who shape us and continue to inspire us every day. Read on or scroll through to hear our stories.

Have stories you want to share? Sound off in the comments. We would love to hear them!

This week I'm appreciating my 1st-grade teacher, Mrs. Mullen! Almost 35 years later, I still think about her often and the impact she had on me as a young student. Now that I have a daughter of my own in 1st grade, I'm realizing even more how special first-grade teachers can be — they set the stage for a student's entire academic journey, and Mrs. Mullen filled mine with such warmth. Whether she was playing "Getting to Know You" on her guitar during morning circle, showing up at our dance recitals on weekends, or bringing us to the beach to explore tide pools, that year with her was such a gift.

-Brean Flynn Witmer

Mr. Parrett, my high school homeroom and Spanish teacher, was a constant presence throughout my high school years. His boundless enthusiasm for learning and life left a lasting impression. He was a wonderful mentor who encouraged students to see educational opportunities in every experience and to pursue their goals creatively. I also credit him and his beloved classroom lemon tree as early influences on my fondness for house plants.

- Dylan Reynolds

My niece Alexandra is completing her first year of teaching at Durham School of Arts in NC. She's dedicated to her students and listening to how she cares about her students and the future of education is inspirational and fills me with hope!

-Johanna Broadwater