PRIORITY NOTICE: Maine DOE Announces 21st Century Community Learning Centers Grant Opportunities

The Maine Department of Education is pleased to announce the release of a request for proposals (RFP) seeking bids from interested parties to implement comprehensive 21st Century Community Learning Centers (21st CCLC) programming in 2021-2022. It is anticipated that roughly $1.25M will be available to issue grant awards later this year.

Authorized under Title IV, Part B of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, as amended by the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) Act of 2015, the 21st CCLC program provides competitive grant funding to support before school, after school, and summer learning programs that focus on improving the academic performance of students in Pre-Kindergarten through grade 12.

The primary purpose of Maine’s 21st CCLC program is to provide funding for school and community partnerships to establish or expand community learning center programs. These programs provide students in high-need, economically-disadvantaged communities with academic tutoring and enrichment opportunities designed to complement their school-day academic program. In addition, these programs can provide a broad array of additional support services related to overall student health and well-being.

Local 21st CCLC programs – which can be located in elementary schools, secondary schools or similarly accessible community facilities – provide high quality support services to students during non-school hours. As such, these programs also support working parents and families by providing safe, supportive learning environments for students at times when school is not in session.

The request for proposal (RFP), which includes information regarding eligibility, program requirements, and more, is available here. An informational webinar for this RFP will be posted to the Department’s application website on January 19, 2021. It is strongly recommended that interested parties view this presentation, in its entirety, prior to submitting a proposal for 21st CCLC program funding.

Below is the anticipated timeline for the Department’s current 21st CCLC grant competition:

Date	Task
January 6, 2021	RFP Released to Public
January 19, 2021	Informational Webinar Posted Online
February 16, 2021	Deadline for Submission of Questions in Response to RFP
March 2, 2021	Interested Parties Submit Letter of Intent to Apply
April 6, 2021	Proposal Deadline
April 2020	Formal Peer Review of Proposals
May 2020	Grant Award Notifications
July 1, 2020	Grant Award Start Date

Please be advised that the dates above are subject to change. Therefore, interested parties must consult the RFP document for the most accurate dates and deadlines regarding this opportunity.

For more information on the 21st Century Community Learning Centers (21^st CCLC) Program, contact State Coordinator, Travis Doughty, at travis.w.doughty@maine.gov.

Important Reminder: Due Date Approaches for Quarter 2 (Q2) Attendance, Behavior, Bullying, and Truancy Data Review

The Department of Education offers quarterly windows for School Administrative Units (SAUs) to review, for accuracy and comprehensiveness, the data that has been entered and reported to us. It is our hope that review of this data on a more regular basis will save SAU personnel time and work at the end of the year, and that it will provide time for analysis and to make any necessary corrections.

The certification period for Quarter 2 (Q2), which includes attendance, behavior, bullying, and truancy opened January 1st. Review and certification are required by January 15th. Superintendent certification is required for all quarterly reports.

Attendance data certification can be found here, and guidance on reporting attendance can be found here. Since Q2 attendance data for 2020-2021 will be used in analysis for comparison against 2019-2020 Q2 data to study effects from the pandemic, it is vital for this dataset to be accurate and complete. Please validate carefully prior to certification.
Behavior data certification can be found here, and guidance on reporting behavior can be found here.
Bullying data certification can be found here and guidance on reporting bullying can be found here.
Truancy data certification can be found here, and guidance on reporting truancy can be found here.

If you have difficulties navigating to Synergy or NEO, please call the Helpdesk at 624-6896 or email at medms.helpdesk@maine.gov

All due dates for reports are listed on the MDOE reporting calendar. All quarterly reports are based on the following months:

Quarter Two (Q2) – As of Jan 1 (to include Oct through Dec) – due Jan 15
Quarter Three (Q3) – As of April 1 (to include Jan through March) – due April 15
Quarter Four (Q4)– As of July 1 (to include Apr through June) – due July 15
Quarter One (Q1)– As of Oct 1 (to include July, August, Sept) – due Oct 15

Regional School Calendars Due June 1, 2021

This notification is a reminder that Regional School Calendars are due by June 1, 2021 for school administrative units and private schools, approved for tuition purposes, in coordination with their local secondary career and technical education (CTE) school. This requirement is part of Public Law 2011, Chapter 686 to promote collaboration among local school administrative units that may benefit from inter-administrative unit collaboration beyond CTE.

For school year 2021-22, both regional school calendars and individual calendars for each school administrative unit must be submitted by the director of the local CTE Center/Region to the Department of Education (DOE) no later than June 1, 2021 for a decision on approval by July 12, 2021. Guidance and templates can be accessed electronically at www.maine.gov/doe/regionalcalendar/.

Given the coordination required for fulfillment of this law, the Maine DOE recommends that SAUs initiate discussions as soon as possible, including representatives from all affected secondary schools and their associated career and technical education center or region.

For more information, including guidance, instructions, templates, a waiver process, and a link to the complete law, please visit www.maine.gov/doe/regionalcalendar/. Further questions should be directed to Doug Robertson doug.robertson@maine.gov / 624-6744 or Dwight Littlefield dwight.a.littlefield@maine.gov / 624-6721.

Hall-Dale Music Teacher Goes Above and Beyond to Keep Music Education Going Strong

With only a year of teaching experience under his belt, Hall-Dale music educator David Morris has been adapting his music education program to ensure that students can learn, practice, and perform music all year long, despite COVID-19 restrictions this year.

“David Morris is an old soul; I sometimes forget that he is only a 2nd year teacher,” said Dr. Andrea Freed, a colleague and fellow educator at Hall-Dale Middle/High School. “Last spring and over the summer, he went to students’ homes and stood on their lawns, teaching them music lessons while they were safely distanced on their porches.”

More recently, David arranged an outdoor concert so that his students could safely perform, both vocally and with instruments, all the while David conducted and recorded the concert so that the entire community could hear and enjoy their hard work from the first semester.

In addition to COVID-19 restrictions on schools this year, and tackling the early part of a career in education during a global pandemic, Morris also took on both the middle school and the high school music education program until a replacement arrived in December to fill the position of a long-time music educator who recently retired.

“He is a gift to the Hall-Dale Middle/High School community,” added Dr. Freed.

Information for this story was provided by Hall-Dale Middle/High School as part of the Maine Schools Sharing Success Campaign. To submit a story or an idea, email it to Rachel at rachel.paling@maine.gov.

Dropout Reporting Certification for Federal Reporting Year 2019-2020 Due January 15th; Jan. 7th Webinar Available

The Maine Department of Education (DOE) Data Team is hosting the following webinar to review and discuss Dropouts Certification Report:

Thursday January 7th at 10AM – Register Here

Dropout reporting is now for all students of compulsory age regardless of grade. On December 10, 2019 the DOE Data Governance team voted to bring Maine’s Dropout reporting into compliance with USDOEs guidance, starting with the 2019-2020 school year. As a result, our state level dropout reporting, and your review of your districts data, will include all compulsory age students that meet the dropout definition of being enrolled as of 10/01/2019 and not enrolled on 10/01/2020 and were expected to be in enrollment for the 2020-2021 school year (i.e. – did not graduate, exit to home instruction, etc.)

The dropout certification report no longer has the functionality to change exit codes of students, instead we are only asking you to verify that the report is correct and accurate. The following instructions link will guide users in locating the dropout report, as well as guide users on how to validate that the report is correct and accurate.

Dropout Reporting Instructions

Users looking to complete the Dropout Certification Report will need access to the Student Data module within the NEO application. If you do not have access to this module, please have your superintendent submit a NEO access request form on your behalf.

NEO Access Request Form

Report Open Date: December 14th, 2020

Report Due Date: January 15th, 2021

Questions, comments, or concerns in regards to the Dropout Certification Report should be directed to the Maine Educational Data Management Systems helpdesk at:

MEDMS.Helpdesk@Maine.gov or (207) 624-6896

Graduation Certification Report Due January 15th, 2021; Jan. 6th Webinar Available

The Maine Department of Education (DOE) Data Team is hosting the following webinar to review and discuss the Graduation Certification Report:

Wednesday January 6th at 1PM – Register Here

Users looking to complete the Graduation Certification Report will need access to the Student Data module within the NEO application. If you do not have access to this module, please have your superintendent submit a NEO access request form on your behalf. NEO Access Request Form

New for 2019-2020: The is no longer a need to validate the start and exit codes of students during this report. The report will also no longer be required to be ‘Accepted’ by the Maine DOE. Please make sure that all the data is accurate prior to certifying.

Graduation Certification Report Instructions

Report Open Date: December 21st, 2020

Report Due Date: January 15th, 2021

Questions, comments or concerns with the Graduation Certification Report should be directed to the Maine Educational Data Management Systems Helpdesk at:

MEDMS.Helpdesk@Maine.gov or (207) 624-6896

Get to Know the Maine DOE Team: Meet Anne-Marie Adamson

Maine DOE team member Anne-Marie Adamson is being highlighted this week as part of the Get to Know the Maine DOE Team Campaign. Learn a little more about Anne-Marie in the question and answer below.

What are your roles with DOE?

I am working on the Federal Monitoring Team in the Office for Special Services. In my role, I review district’s compliance for following special education federal and state guidelines. An important part of this process is providing technical assistance and support for special education administrators and teachers through professional development, office hours and individual meetings. I am part of a great team of colleagues for this work and really enjoy getting to know all the talented special educators around the state through our trainings. Typically, my job would entail travelling to the districts but for the time being, we are doing quite a bit remotely. We all are all looking forward to being able to get back on the road again, hopefully sooner rather than later!

How or why did you decide on this career?

Originally I chose the field of special education because I enjoy teaching to individual needs and the joy and excitement that comes when a child learns a new skill. I decided to work for the Maine DOE because I felt that supporting teachers and ultimately children through a wider lens would be more fulfilling. I truly believe that all children deserve the best possible education they can, regardless of their abilities and I believe that providing support for teachers through this process is hopefully making a difference for all children. It has been both challenging and rewarding providing this support as we switched this fall to remote and hybrid learning models.

What do you like to do outside of work for fun?

Outside of work, I enjoy spending time with my husband on our small farm raising sheep, goats, pigs and chickens. We garden vegetables and fruits and also process wool. We have six children and four grandchildren that we enjoy getting together with as much as possible. Exploring the State of Maine is something I also truly love doing whenever I can from the mountains to the coast!