New Seal of Biliteracy Awarding Process

The Maine Seal of Biliteracy is an award that recognizes student achievement in language learning. This award highlights the value of multilingualism and gives students an edge for their post-secondary studies and/or future careers. Starting this school year, schools will be able to award the Seal of Biliteracy to students directly, without submitting an application to the Maine Department of Education.

Each participating school will designate a local Seal of Biliteracy Coordinator, who will have several key responsibilities. Full details about the process and requirements are included in the new Maine Seal of Biliteracy Coordinator Guide. We are hopeful that these changes will increase accessibility to the Seal of Biliteracy and make the process easier and more streamlined for students and their teachers.

If you are a student who would like to earn the Seal of Biliteracy, but your school is not yet participating in this award, or if you have any other questions about the Seal, contact April Perkins, ESOL & Bilingual Programs Specialist/ Maine Seal of Biliteracy Coordinator at april.perkins@maine.gov

Deadline Extended: Seeking Applicants for Contracted 21st CCLC Program Specialist (30 Hours/Week)

The deadline to submit an application for this position has been extended to Friday, October 28th.

The Maine Department of Education (DOE) is seeking applicants for a Contracted 21st CCLC Program Specialist (30 Hours/Week). The purpose of this position is to provide the Maine DOE with 21st CCLC program management support in the areas of data collection, program monitoring, and professional development. This position will also provide implementation support to local 21st CCLC program providers through ongoing professional learning communities (PLCs), trainings, and targeted technical assistance. The work of this position will be largely independent. However, the position will be part of a team that oversees the successful implementation of 21st CCLC program across the State of Maine.

The 21st Century Community Learning Center (21st CCLC) program provides competitive grant funding to support before, after, and summer school programming for underserved students and communities.

To learn more about position including responsibilities, knowledge and abilities, minimum qualifications, and salary – click here for the full position description.

The application window has been extended to Friday, October 28th. To be considered for this contracted position, please submit a cover letter resume to Travis Doughty at travis.w.doughty@maine.gov by October 14, 2022 Friday, October 28th.

Get to Know the Maine DOE: Meet Kathy Bertini

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

What are your role or roles with the Maine DOE?

I am the Interdisciplinary Instruction Team Coordinator for the Maine Department of Education. My main job is to work with a team of Interdisciplinary Instruction specialists to support educators in empowering students with the tools to see the wondrous interconnectedness of instruction.

What do you like best about your job?

I appreciate that I am part of the Interdisciplinary Instruction team that shares a common vision regarding the importance of connecting student centered learning experiences across all disciplines. Also, I am thrilled to be able to work with educators and administrators statewide to provide innovative practices to help support Interdisciplinary Instruction.

Why did you decide on this career?

I am excited to be a part of the Innovation team at the Maine DOE and have the opportunities to promote the positive impact of student centered learning which is crucial for today’s evolving world. I have been in public education for more than 30 years and see how meaningful Interdisciplinary Instruction can be for all systems involved. I look forward to working with the education field to help support innovative teaching practices.

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

I live on a rural farm in the western part of our beautiful state of Maine. This area allows me to connect deeply with nature. I enjoy spending time outdoors with my family and animals. Recently I have taken up the hobby of scientific drawings and I find this interest to be both relaxing and challenging at the same time.

Maine DOE Update – October 14, 2022

From the Maine Department of Education

Reporting Items

DUE DATE CHANGE: Attendance and Truancy

The Attendance and Truancy reports are now due on October 30, 2022. For reporting guides for these reports please see the Fall Reporting instructions and for more information please see the Webinars and Presentations on the Helpdesk website. | More

Annual Audit Requirements Reminder

Annual Audit Reports Due December 30th. Annual audit reports are due within six months after the end of the audit period (e.g., reports for the fiscal year ending June 30th are due on or before December 30th). In accordance with Title 20-A, §6051.. | More

| Visit the DC&R Reporting Calendar |

News & Updates

Casco Bay High School Teacher Matthew Bernstein Named 2023 Maine Teacher of the Year

In a surprise ceremony held at Casco Bay High School in Portland, the Maine Department of Education and Educate Maine named ninth grade Humanities and Social Studies teacher Matthew Bernstein as Maine’s 2023 Teacher of the Year while students and colleagues at the school congratulated and honored his tremendous impact on his students and dedication to teaching. | More

Things Are Falling Into Place In Public Pre-K Expansion Classrooms

Autumn has arrived bringing crisp air and beautiful foliage. As the colorful leaves drift down, things are falling into place in Pre-K expansion classrooms across ten Maine school districts. This fall 17 new classrooms opened and five others moved from part day to full day programming through a grant offered by the Maine Department of Education. Funded through the Maine Jobs and Recovery Plan, the grant expands access to high-quality Pre-K programming and provides relief to families struggling to find childcare. | More

Maine PBIS Brief Published in the National Center on Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports

Maine PBIS (Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports) state leaders recently published this brief in the national Center on PBIS with a focus on developing systems of support in rural school settings. | More

Student Mental Health Support Modules

The Maine Department of Education’s SEL4ME platform is now hosting over 100 free, PK-12th grade modules focused specifically on supporting student mental health and wellness. While schools and districts are faced with significant educational and developmental priorities for many children and students associated with the pandemic, there is a need for balanced programming that supports learning, while also supporting their social, emotional, and behavioral adjustment. | More

Maine DOE and Lives in the Balance: Collaboration to Reduce Restraint and Seclusion

The Maine Department of Education (DOE) is partnering with Lives in the Balance, a Maine founded and nationally renowned organization that uses evidence based practice approaches to support schools seeking to reduce their use of Restraint and Seclusion. | More

Toileting Support Resources for Schools

Frequent inquiries from the field about how to support children who need toileting support has prompted the creation of this resource document for schools. Ultimately, a public school district cannot refuse to enroll or serve a child who has toileting needs, nor should there be any punishment associated with soiling, wetting, or not using the toilet. Each School Administrative Unit (SAU) is encouraged to adopt sanitation and hygiene procedures for assisting with toileting and/or diapering that adequately protect the health and safety of all children and staff. The determination of which school personnel within a school setting can be asked to assist with toilet training/toileting support is a local employment and collective bargaining matter. | More

October is Dyslexia Awareness Month

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) describes dyslexia as a brain-based learning disability that specifically impairs a person’s ability to read. Other definitions (e.g., First Step Act – § 3635; International Dyslexia Association; Mayo Clinic) describe dyslexia in a similar way. The reading impairments associated with dyslexia are also unexpected in that individuals with dyslexia typically demonstrate otherwise typical intellectual functioning and developmental growth. | More

Maine Schools Sharing Success Stories

| Submit your Maine School Success Story |

Professional Development & Training Opportunities

Free Virtual On-Demand Financial Education Training for Maine Educators

The Finance Authority of Maine (FAME) and the Center for Financial Literacy at Champlain College, in partnership with the Maine Jump$tart Coalition for Personal Financial Literacy and its sponsors, the Office of the Maine State Treasurer, and Next Gen Personal Finance (NGPF), is offering free online and on-demand training for Maine teachers. | More

| Visit the Professional Development Calendar |

Latest DOE Career/Project Opportunities:

View current Maine Department of Education employment opportunities here

Student Mental Health Support Modules

The following resources can be incorporated into existing Social Emotional Learning, School Counseling and Health programs as well as part of an overall MTSS approach, and are accessed through a free registration of the SEL4ME platform.

Mental Health Modules: https://www.maine.gov/doe/mentalhealthmodules

More information on SEL4ME and login: https://www.maine.gov/doe/sel/sel4me

For more information, reach out to Bear Shea, Maine DOE Mental Health / School Counselor Specialist at w.bear.shea@maine.gov.

Maine DOE and Lives in the Balance: Collaboration to Reduce Restraint and Seclusion

Collaborative & Proactive Solutions (CPS) is the evidence-based model of care that helps educators focus on identifying the problems that are causing concerning behaviors in students and solving those problems collaboratively and proactively. The model is a departure from approaches emphasizing the use of consequences to modify concerning behaviors. In families, general and special education schools, inpatient psychiatry units, and residential and juvenile detention facilities, the CPS model has a track record of dramatically improving behavior and dramatically reducing or eliminating discipline referrals, detentions, suspensions, restraints, and seclusions. The CPS model is non-punitive, non-exclusionary, trauma-informed, transdiagnostic, and transcultural.

Lives in the Balance will be offering free technical support and training in the CPS model to Maine schools working to reduce or prevent the use of restraint and seclusion.

Webpage link: https://www.maine.gov/doe/reducerestraintandseclusion

For more information, reach out to Bear Shea, Maine DOE Mental Health / School Counselor Specialist at w.bear.shea@maine.gov.

Annual Audit Requirements Reminder

Annual Audit Reports Due December 30th

Annual audit reports are due within six months after the end of the audit period (e.g., reports for the fiscal year ending June 30th are due on or before December 30th). In accordance with Title 20-A, §6051:

Per statute, the auditor is required to review the audit with the school board.
Per statute, it is the school board’s responsibility to submit the annual audit document unless it is stated in the engagement letter that the audit firm will submit the audit to the Department on behalf of the school board.
Municipal school units are required to submit either a combined annual audit or a school department audit and a municipal audit to the Department. The municipal annual report (a.k.a. town report) cannot be accepted in lieu of the complete municipal annual audit.
Per statute, Maine DOE must receive a Schedule of Expenditure of Federal Awards(SEFA), which includes federal award expenditures for all reporting entities, even if a Single Audit (formerly A-133 audit) is not required to be conducted. The SEFA provides information needed by Maine DOE to conduct sub-recipient monitoring as required by the US Department of Education and is due at the time of the annual audit.

In municipal school units where a combined audit is not conducted, Maine DOE should receive two audits: an audit with a SEFA for the school department, and an audit for the city/town including a SEFA.

If a management letter is prepared by the auditor, a copy must be submitted to Maine DOE with the annual audit, as this letter provides us with the information needed to conduct sub-recipient monitoring, as required by US DOE.

Extensions and Subsidy Payments

If an extension or exception is needed for the deadline to submit either the municipal or school department audit, the superintendent must contact us to request the extension.

The forms are available on the Fiscal Review and Compliance webpage, under forms on the menu bar.

Initial extension requests will be for a period of 2 months, and 30 days thereafter.
Extension requests will be considered until June 30th (six months after the due date); extensions will not be valid after June 30th and all municipalities and school administrative units with overdue audits which have not submitted an extension request before May 31^stmay have a delay in subsidy release. Those who have not submitted an extension request will have subsidy withheld until addressed.

Please submit all annual audit documents, reports, information requests, questions, and other audit correspondence via email to DOE.Audit@Maine.gov

Free Virtual On-Demand Financial Education Training for Maine Educators

The Financial Educator Virtual Academy will train Maine educators on how to successfully teach personal finance in their classrooms and communities. Educators will receive contact hours for each course module attended, and the first 100 Maine classroom teachers to complete all seven hours of training will receive a $50 Amazon gift card.

The online course offering is available starting October 12, 2022 and will close on December 16, 2022. The goal of this training is to support educators as they work to ensure that all Maine students have access to high-quality personal financial education. Maine educators can earn up to seven hours of professional development training and receive suggestions for grade-appropriate personal finance classroom resources over the duration of the virtual academy.

During the virtual academy, which features nationally known experts, participants will learn how to implement the JumpStart National Standards in K-12 Financial Personal Finance Education. These standards allow for the teaching of personal finance in an interdisciplinary or stand-alone manner.

Interested educators may register for the program with this link.

Download a flyer for distribution

For further questions contact Maine Jumpstart Coalition for Personal Financial Literacy at info@mejumpstart.org

October is Dyslexia Awareness Month

In preparation of Dyslexia Awareness Month, The Maine Department of Education Office of Special Services hosted a webinar with Dr. Nadine Gaab, an Associate Professor of Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Dr. Gaab’s work focuses on developmental cognitive neuroscience, particularly in language-based learning disabilities. Her research in the GaabLab examines the development of typical and atypical language and literacy skills in the pediatric brain and pre-markers of learning disabilities and the development of screening tools for screening literacy milestones and dyslexia. The Webinar was titled “Screening for Early Literacy Milestones, Dyslexia, & other Reading Disabilities: The WHY, WHEN, WHO, HOW and WHERE,” the recording is available here on the Maine DOE Office of Special Services Professional Learning Page.

Be watching for additional information and resources throughout the month of October.

For additional information please contact, Anne-Marie Adamson (anne-marie.adamson@maine.gov), Dee Saucier (danielle.m.saucier@maine.gov), or Tracy Whitlock (tracy.w.whitlock@maine.gov).

Things Are Falling Into Place In Public Pre-K Expansion Classrooms

Grant funds have supported districts with renovating spaces, purchasing furniture and materials to create engaging learning spaces, meeting transportation needs, and ensuring a skilled workforce to serve Pre-K students. Over the past few months, teachers and administrators have been busy attending training, setting up classrooms, meeting families and working with partner agencies to ensure a smooth start to the school year. The little faces below show that their hard work has more than paid off.

Students at Newburgh Center in RSU 22 enjoy playful learning during Centers time. RSU 22 has relocated their Newburg and Winterport classrooms to the Newburg Center, expanded to full day, full week programming and added a third classroom to expand access in their community.

Abraham Lincoln School in Bangor has expanded their pre-k from part day to full day in a beautiful space set up to spark the imaginations of young learners.

Downeast School in Bangor has expanded to a full day program and has added a new classroom as well. Here the teachers join students to support learning through play.

Students build their language skills through story time and conversations around the table during meals in Limestone’s new pre-k classroom. Limestone collaborates with Aroostook County Community Action Head Start to provide rich learning opportunities and comprehensive services to students and families in their program.

The Maine DOE is pleased to announce a second round of public pre-k expansion grant funding available for the 2023-24 school year. The submission deadline is rapidly approaching (October 14, 2022). To learn more please visit the Pre-K Expansion Grants page of the Maine DOE website.

For more information, contact Sue Gallant, Pre-K Expansion Consultant (Sue.Gallant@maine.gov) or Nicole Madore, Early Childhood Specialist (Nicole.Madore@maine.gov).