Nominations Open for ‘Spirit of America Foundation’ School Award

Spirit of America Foundation, an Augusta based public charity established to honor volunteerism, wants to honor people, groups or projects across Maine who are helping our Maine schools. They are seeking nominations for their School Award.

Spirit of America Foundation Tribute is presented in the name of Maine municipalities – and starting in 2022, the Spirit of America Foundation School Award is presented in the name of Maine schools – to local individuals, organizations and projects for commendable community service. Community members can make suggested nominations for this award to their local schools and school principals can make the official nominations here: https://spirame.org/submit-winner/

To see past awardees or learn more about the Spirit of America Foundation, visit spiritofamerica.website.

Let’s Celebrate the School Psychologists that Live and Work in the State of Maine!

This year’s National School Psychology Week theme, “Together We Shine,” honors the hope we feel after several challenging years and emphasizes the power of our collective efforts to overcome difficulties to ensure that all our students can thrive in school, at home, and in life. Throughout the week, schools across the country will be taking part in events and activities designed to highlight how school psychologists, teachers, and other school personnel work with students and families to reestablish their sense of being valued parts of a greater whole.

National Association of School Psychology (NASP) President Celeste Malone shared, “I am proud to see how our community of school psychologists have supported their students, families, and fellow educators during difficult times. School psychologists work every day to enhance the connections between students, schools, and the evidence-based practices that help them thrive.”

In Maine, despite there being a shortage of school psychologists, these caring professionals are doing everything that they can to support our students so that they can thrive. School administrative units (SAUs) across Maine rely on school psychologists to support students who are struggling in a myriad of ways, such as clarifying treatment issues, supporting interventions for academic and functional needs, and collaborating with school staff to promote inclusive educational experiences to name a few.

So especially during the National School Psychology Week please say “thank you” to your school psychologist for all that they do each and every day!

Maine DOE Update – November 4, 2022

From the Maine Department of Education

Reporting Items

Staff Certification Report Due Soon

The Staff Certification Report is due Tuesday, November 15th in NEO. | More

| Visit the DC&R Reporting Calendar |

News & Updates

Media Release: Fourth Grade Teacher Sarah Collins Honored With Prestigious Milken Educator Award

A Hermon elementary teacher was surprised today as one of America’s top teachers. In front of a vibrant schoolwide assembly of cheering students, appreciative colleagues, local dignitaries and media, Sarah Collins, a fourth grade science teacher at Patricia A. Duran School, received the $25,000 Milken Educator Award from the Milken Family Foundation. Collins is the first teacher to receive the Award in the Hermon Public School District since the initiative began in Maine in 1990. The cash prize is unrestricted. | More

Report on Bilingual Education in Maine Now Available

Bilingual education, including language immersion programs, offer exciting and impactful interdisciplinary learning opportunities for students. Research shows that developing proficiency in two or more languages has cognitive, educational, economic, and sociocultural benefits. | More

Public Pre-K and Partnership Open Office Hours Scheduled

The Maine Department of Education (DOE) Early Learning Team is pleased to offer Open Office Hours focusing on technical assistance for public pre-k. These office hours will feature Marcy Whitcomb, Public Pre-K Consultant and Sue Gallant, Public Pre-K Expansion Consultant. | More

The Telling Room Statewide Writing Contest Open for Student Submissions

The Telling Room, a literary arts education organization in Maine has opened submissions for a Statewide writing contest. Youth youth ages 6 – 18 can submit writing samples in all forms of creative and personal writing – the theme is open. | More

Educational Resources for Native American Heritage Month and Beyond

November is recognized nationally as “National American Indian Heritage Month,” or otherwise known as Native American Heritage Month which celebrates and recognizes the accomplishments of the peoples who were the original inhabitants, explorers, and settlers of the United States. | More

Educational Resources to Celebrate Veteran’s Day

A Congressional Act (52 Stat. 351; 5 U.S. Code, Sec. 87a) approved May 13, 1938, made Nov. 11 of each year a legal holiday—”a day to be dedicated to the cause of world peace and to be thereafter celebrated and known as ‘Armistice Day.’” Congress amended this act on June 1, 1954, replacing “Armistice” with “Veterans,” and it has since been known as Veterans Day. | More

Get to Know the Maine DOE Team: Meet Cheryl Lang

Maine DOE Team member Cheryl Lang is being highlighted this week as part of the Get to Know the Maine DOE Team Campaign. Learn a little more about Cheryl in the question and answer below.. | More

Educational Resources to Celebrate Veteran’s Day

A Congressional Act (52 Stat. 351; 5 U.S. Code, Sec. 87a) approved May 13, 1938, made Nov. 11 of each year a legal holiday—”a day to be dedicated to the cause of world peace and to be thereafter celebrated and known as ‘Armistice Day.'” Congress amended this act on June 1, 1954, replacing “Armistice” with “Veterans,” and it has since been known as Veterans Day.

Resources for consideration:

National History Education Clearinghouse Veterans Day Resources
Take a Vet to School Day. Access the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Teacher Guide and information on Take a Vet to School Day.
Veterans History Project of the American Folklife Center. The center collects and makes available personal accounts of American war veterans in the “Experiencing War” section of its website. The “Students” section provides students and educators with information and resources for conducting interviews with veterans.

Public Pre-K and Partnership Open Office Hours Scheduled

Sessions are meant to be a time for educators, pre-k coordinators and administrators to come together to ask questions, celebrate successes and/or work through problems of practice in public pre-k that educators, administrators, and partnership programs may be experiencing. Office hours are offered as part of the Maine DOE’s Pre-K Technical Assistance program and are meant for your use and discussion; you can join for the full hour, or just a part; for each session or only when you have a question.

Sessions after the first session will not be predetermined but will be an open conversation driven by the topics brought from the field. Our first session will focus on celebrations and problems of practice from the first months in the classroom.

Sessions will be held every first and third Thursday of the month, from 3:00 to 4:00 p.m., on the following schedule:

November		17th
December	1st	15th
January	5th	19th
February	2nd	16th
March	2nd	16th
April	6th	20th
May	4th	18th
June	1st	15th

Please use and save the following Zoom link and password to access each meeting (the meeting link will be the same for each office hour session):

Join Zoom Meeting
https://mainestate.zoom.us/j/82733636260?pwd=VUd5eklsaHRIaEEzeldhazJDSWw2dz09

Meeting ID: 827 3363 6260
Passcode: MePreK22!
One tap mobile
+13017158592,,82733636260# US (Washington DC)
+13092053325,,82733636260# US

To submit a topic or question prior to a session and for more information please email Marcy Whitcomb, Public Pre-K Consultant, at: Marcy.r.whitcomb@maine.gov

Educational Resources for Native American Heritage Month and Beyond

The Maine Department of Education website has a listing of curated material which represent a continuing collaborative effort between the four nations of the Wabanaki in Maine, Native and non-Native educators, the Maine Indian Tribal-State Commission, the Maine Department of Education, and the University of Maine System.

This website is designed to support K-12 Maine educators in integrating Maine Native Studies into existing curricula. While it is most common to find this content taught in a social studies curriculum, it can be easily integrated into content areas and courses across all grade levels. Resources included here are not comprehensive or definitive but rather represent high-quality materials that are widely available. They have been reviewed by cultural experts designated by Wabanaki Tribal leaders and by practicing Maine educators.

Maine Native Studies Website

Report on Bilingual Education in Maine Now Available

In response to interest in developing bilingual programs from a variety of schools across the state, the Maine Department of Education launched the Multilingual Education Task Force (METF) in May of 2022. Over 100 educators and community members came together to learn about bilingual education and to provide the Department with recommendations to inform its plan for promoting bilingual programs and supporting interested schools. The Department would like to express its sincere appreciation to METF participants for their contributions to this important work.

The Multilingual Education Task Force Report compiles participants’ recommendations and offers a road map of action steps for the Department. Educators and community members who would like to pursue the development of a bilingual program in their school are encouraged to contact April Perkins, English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) & Bilingual Programs Specialist, at april.perkins@maine.gov.

Get to Know the Maine DOE Team: Meet Cheryl Lang

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

What is your role or roles with the Maine DOE?

I am the ESEA Federal Programs Director.

What do you like best about your job?

Working as a collaborative team to support educators in the field of public education in their efforts to provide an equitable learning environment for all students.

How or why did you decide on this career?

When my own children were in the early grades of school, I worked in an organization that supported Junior Achievement. I volunteered in schools as both a parent and a business woman, and the more I volunteered, the more I fell in love with it. I then left the business world and went back to school to get another degree…this one in elementary education. From there, I was privileged enough to have the financial backing of the school districts I worked for to support continuing education for myself as a life-long learner and earned my doctorate in educational leadership.

What do you like to do outside of work?

Hanging out with family (grandchildren in particular) and friends, kayaking, bicycling, taking my dog for long walks, antiquing, and traveling.

Staff Certification Report Due Soon

The Staff Certification Report is due Tuesday, November 15th in NEO.

Instructions for certifying this report are here.
- Webinar: Staff Certification Instructions
Instructions for accessing, adding, and updating staff in the NEO Staff Module can be found here.
For additional NEO Staff information please visit Staff Data Entry Guides on the MEDMS Helpdesk Website.

This data is critical for determining EPS funding.

If you questions please contact the MEDMS Helpdesk at 207.624.6896 or email MEDMS.Helpdesk@maine.gov

For training in NEO Staff please contact Alexandra Cookson – Data Quality Trainer at 207.446.3897 or email Alexandra.Cookson@maine.gov

Innovation and Interdisciplinary Learning Has Students Doing Math in Orono’s Webster Park

Would you go to the park to do a little innovative learning connecting math, science, and art using the sun? Students from nearby schools did just that on October 21, 2022!

A unique partnership between the University of Maine and the Town of Orono made it possible for students, and members of the public, to go to the park and explore multiplication and division using the sun. The interactive sculpture, the SunRule, was unveiled in a public ceremony in October.

The project was a part of UMaine’s MIRTA accelerator program that is designed to advance research to commercialization with a focus on innovation and real-world connections. This type of work brings to light the connections within and across the content areas (math, science, and art) and community partnerships that opens doors to student curiosity, engagement, wonder and joy for learning.

The concept for the sculpture began as an email between UMaine Associate Professor of Mathematics Education and Instructional Technology, Justin Dimmel, and Associate Professor of Mathematics Education, Eric Pandiscio, in 2019 just before the pandemic started! The concept went from SunRule 1.0 (a sawhorse with dowels) to cardboard boxes and then was shared with UMaine Associate Professor of Art, Greg Ondo, and Sculpture Studio Technician, Sam Hoey. With the artistic influence of artwork using sunlight and further planning, a prototype sculpture was created and then a final sculpture of granite and bronze was produced and installed in Webster Park on North Main Avenue in Orono.

Using the sunlight to measure the shadow of an object is something that has been done in math classes for a very long time. The SunRule concept uses the sunlight, not the shadow, to show the continuous nature of multiplication by using a scaling model, showing that for every discrete number (1, 2, 3, etc.) and all those in between, there is a product.