The Maine Department Education has posted a Maine Schools/School Approval FAQs document on the Maine DOE Public School Approval webpage to addresses questions about public school approval and can further assist schools in the approval process for 2018-2019 specifically.
The frequently asked questions with answers have also been provided below for your convenience.
For further questions, please contact Maine DOE School Enrollment Specialist, Pamela Ford-Taylor at 207-624-6617 or Pamela.Ford-Taylor@maine.gov.
Maine Schools/School Approval FAQs
- How do SAUs that operate only K-8 schools answer the CTE questions (#21 and #22)?
The SAU may check “no” and comment “Grade Level K-8.” Please note that it is recommended currently that 6-8 schools consider introducing students to the concept of alternative pathways, in preparation for high school CTE opportunities. In addition, new legislation (see LD 1576 – An Act To Enable Earlier Introduction of CTE in Maine Schools) will require middle schools to include a CTE experience as part of the curriculum beginning in September of 2019. - How do SAUs that don’t operate CTE schools answer the questions regarding CTE?
For Question 22, regarding Perkins funding, the SAU may check “no” and enter a comment indicating CTE programming details if they are not the fiscal agent for the CTE. SAUs with a secondary school (and soon, SAUs with a middle school) each have an assigned CTE (Center or Region) as outlined in M.R.S. 20-A, Chapter 313 and must offer students an opportunity to participate in state approved CTE programing as required by M.R.S. 20-A Section 4725. - How should SAUs respond when the law doesn’t go into effect until later this year; should they answer what they plan to do or what is in place currently?
The SAU may check “no” and indicate the timeline and plan for compliance in the comment section. - Will the comments be read even if the answer to the question is Yes?
Yes. - Do SAUs need to have actual policy documents with the titles that are in the SAU approval questions? Or can the policies be embedded within other SAU policy documents? If specific types of documents are required, are there templates available?
The policies may be embedded within other SAU policy documents. Per DOE Rule Chapter 125, “The school administrative unit shall determine the format of the Comprehensive Education Plan. The unit’s Comprehensive Education Plan shall address all plans required by the Department to meet state and federal requirements. This may be done by integrating the multiple requirements or by including each required plan as a distinct component of the Comprehensive Education Plan.” The Department recommends indexing the location of required policies, whether they are standalone documents or part of a larger subset. - How do SAUs that do not operate schools answer these questions?For the following NEO School Approval questions [only], SAUs that operate no schools may check “no” and enter a comment “SAU has no schools” and indicating where the resident students attend school:#s 1, 2, 4, 7-10, 12, 13, 15-18, 20, 22, 25-27, and 30-44.
The requirements represented by the above questions will be waived.
Although a Comprehensive Education Plan (CEP) is currently not required of SAUs that operate no schools, the following school approval questions refer to policies and process requirements that apply to all SAUs, including SAUs that do not operate schools. These requirements will not be waived:
3 – Nondiscrimination
5 – School finances
6 – Property disposal
11 – Transportation
14 – Personnel clearance
19 – Students with disabilities
21 – CTE opportunities
23 – English Learners (EL)
24 – Homeschool students
28 – Student assessment
29 – Dropout Prevention
45 – Rosters/Records
Please verify that the above required policies/processes are in place, and select the appropriate response during the school approval process
7. What happened to the information that I entered in NEO?
The application will time out in 20 minutes, please save often.