The Office of Special Services and Inclusive Education invites you to join us in the first two webinars in our “Inclusive Education Webinar Series” presented by Dr. Kate Macleod, an innovative inclusive educator, researcher, author, and assistant professor of special education at the University of Maine Farmington.
May 22nd : The Way to Inclusion: How We Create Schools Where Every Student Belongs
Grounded in the work of Dr. Kate MacLeod’s latest book, The Way to Inclusion: How Leaders Create Schools Where Every Student Belongs (ASCD, 2023) this webinar will take participants through theinclusive school change process – from creating an inclusive vision, to identifying current successes and barriers to inclusion, reimagining roles of existing staff, and everything in between. Participants will leave with research-based ideas, practical resources, and advice from leaders who are implementing inclusive change in their schools and districts.
Second Year of Multifaceted Campaign Utilizes the Voices of Maine Teachers and Includes Targeted Advertising and Events to Recruit and Support a Vibrant Educator Workforce in Maine
To kick off Teacher Appreciation Week, the Maine Department of Education (DOE) and Live and Work in Maine joined teachers and education supporters to launch the second year of their Live and Teach in Maine campaign. At an event at Portland International Jetport, Live and Work and the Maine DOE unveiled new Jetport ads that highlight the unique benefits of teaching and schools in Maine.
The Jetport ads are part of a multifaceted campaign to attract educators and strengthen the education profession. The Live and Teach in Maine campaign includes a highly targeted advertising effort, videos highlighting Maine teachers, access to the Live and Work job board for all schools, and events across Maine to highlight education as a rewarding profession and connect and celebrate educators. The partnership between Live and Work in Maine and Maine DOE seeks to attract new educators to Maine’s public education system and elevate and celebrate the many outstanding teachers in our classrooms right now.
“Maine is an amazing place to live and an extraordinary place to teach, and we’re proud to partner with Live and Work in Maine to reach new audiences, highlight Maine educators talking about why they love teaching in Maine, and connect people with opportunities to join the teaching profession,” said Maine Education Commissioner Pender Makin. “If you’ve ever thought of teaching in Maine schools, now is the time. We’re a state that deeply values and respects the creativity, autonomy, and professional judgment of our educators and school leaders.”
“Maine has long been celebrated for the quality of our public schools. This campaign aims to amplify the incredible work of educators who are already making a difference here and to use their success to encourage others to bring their careers and passion to Maine,” said Live and Work in Maine Executive Director Nate Wildes. “We are particularly excited about this project because of the wealth of positive marketing material at our disposal—from the exceptional quality of our public schools to the relatively low cost of living compared to regional urban centers, there are abundant reasons for skilled educators to consider upgrading to Maine.”
“Maine isn’t just a place to work—it’s a place to live, thrive, and make a difference. With its outstanding education system, breathtaking natural beauty, tight-knit communities, and high quality of life, Maine offers educators the perfect blend of professional fulfillment and recreational fulfillment,” said Maine 2024 Teacher of the Year Joshua Chard. “So why wait? There are amazing teaching positions waiting for you. Join us in Maine, where every day is an opportunity to inspire, educate, and explore.”
“As an educator, I feel blessed to be at a school that honors my autonomy and voice, and provides me with an opportunity to try new things and have fun with my students,” said 2023 York County Teacher of the Year Lisa Tripp. “As Maine educators, we also have the most incredible resource to share with our students—our beautiful nature.”
“The Maine Department of Education is proud to partner with Live and Work in Maine for a second year of our Live and Teach in Maine campaign,” said Maine Department of Education Deputy Commissioner Dan Chuhta. “As we begin Teacher Appreciation Week, I want to extend our sincere thanks and deep appreciation to all of the teachers in our state for the extraordinary work you do to help children thrive. And to anyone thinking about becoming a teacher, whether you are in college right now or considering a change in career, now is a great time to join our profession.”
Maine, like most of the nation, continues to experience an educator shortage that was exacerbated by the pandemic. This partnership builds on the Maine DOE’s wide-ranging efforts to recruit, retain, and support a vibrant educator workforce and leverages Live and Work in Maine’s knowledge and expertise as the state’s premier organization devoted to attracting and retaining Maine’s workforce.
During the first year of the Live and Teach in Maine campaign, there were more than 22 million impressions of the digital ads featuring teachers talking about how great it is to live and teach in Maine, nearly 2 million people engaged with the Live and Teach in Maine website, nearly 64,000 people viewed education jobs, and nearly 2,000 applied for teaching jobs. The campaign also featured physical advertising on subways in major cities, mobile billboards, and teacher-specific ads on college campuses. The Maine DOE also reported that more individuals sought teacher certifications last year than before the pandemic.
The campaign is funded through federal emergency relief funds to build and sustain Maine’s educator workforce following the pandemic.
The Maine Department of Education (DOE) is highlighting the important work of school nurses this week in celebration of School Nurse Day on May 8.
For over 120 years, school nurses have been critical to all aspects of student health, including improving public health. Each year, school nurses statewide complete the School Health Annual Report. It is used to satisfy the requirements for health-related data collection, which includes emergency medication administration, vision and hearing screening data, and other points.
Vision and hearing screenings are required in Maine schools. In the 2022-2023 school year, school nurses coordinated 122,310 screenings. Of these, 7,082 were referred for further evaluation. Early learning and literacy skills can be delayed when students have undetected hearing or vision deficits. School nurses are responsible for directing and overseeing school health screening programs and following up with referred students for evaluation and potential treatment. Without these screenings, over 7,000 Maine students would be potentially at risk for learning difficulties.
To learn more about the school health annual report and other data related to school-aged children, please visit the School Health Services: Data webpage.
The School Nurse Summer Institute is an immersive multi-day in-person event that brings school nurses together biennially. The goal is to increase the knowledge and understanding of current research and evidence-based practices in school nursing, as well as increase awareness of resources available within the State of Maine. School nurses in attendance will leave feeling energized with the latest knowledge and renewed energy to support Maine students.
Thomas College in Waterville, Maine
July 30th and July 31st
Register here(select School Nurse Summer Institute 2024 from the dropdown)
This year’s theme is An Adventure in Learning. Day One starts with a keynote presentation by Dr. Puthiery Va, Director of the Maine CDC, followed by nursing skill-building sessions and a resource fair with over thirty exhibitors. Day Two starts with a panel presentation on Population Equity and is followed by break-out session options, including MaineCare services, human trafficking, school safety, trauma-informed care, empowering school nurses, supporting LGTBQ+ youth, communicating and supporting the substitute nurse experience, Human Papilloma Virus and vaccine hesitancy.
This event is planned by the Maine Department of Education (DOE) Coordinated School Health Team, a part of the Office of School and Student Supports in partnership with the Maine Association of School Nurses (MASN).
The Maine Department of Education (DOE) Interdisciplinary Instruction Team is partnering with the Institute for Human Education to bring the Maine Solutionaries Project to educators interested in supporting students in applying their learning.
This exciting project will provide an opportunity for educators in Maine to take a custom version of the Solutionary Micro-credential Program and participate in state-wide educator cohorts that focus on climate change, water quality, plastics pollution, human rights and equity, or another topic of interest. Not only will educators be able to participate at no cost, but they will also be eligible to receive a $1000.00 stipend upon completion of the program.
Spots are filling quickly, so to learn more about this collaboration, view an informational webinar, or register for the project, visit the Maine Solutionaries Project website.
In July of 2023, Governor Mills signed LD 1315, Public Law 2023, Chapter 460, into law, beginning the revision process for Rule Chapter 41. Updates to Chapter 41 have been completed, adding the requirement that all public schools now offer naloxone education to secondary students in addition to CPR and AED training.
The Maine Department of Education (DOE), Office of School and Student Supports is collaborating with the Maine Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), Office of Behavioral Health, and MaineGeneral Medical Center to train school personnel in naloxone administration. This is a train-the-trainer model, meaning it will provide training on the topic as well as the instruction and materials people will need to implement naloxone administration education for students and staff.
A 90-minute training will be offered virtually from 3:30 – 5:00 p.m. on May 14th. The training is designed for school administrators, health education teachers, school nurses, and other health services personnel. Other interested school personnel are welcome to attend. Contact hours will be provided for attendees.
Resources to assist school administrative units (SAUs) in implementation may be accessed on the Maine DOE School Health Service: Acute and Emergency Care webpage and will also be reviewed during this training.
The Maine Department of Education (DOE) announced grants for 30 additional Maine schools to implement the Building Assets Reducing Risks (BARR) model to increase academic achievement, engagement, and student and staff wellbeing. These new grants build on the Maine DOE’s initial BARR investment last summer, with nearly 100 schools now implementing BARR across the state. | More
The Maine Department of Education (DOE) ESEA team is pleased to provide FY25 Preliminary Allocations for all Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) title programs. Preliminary allocations for each title are located on the ESEA Federal Programs webpage. | More
In 2022, the Maine Department of Education (DOE), in partnership with the Maine Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), was awarded the Preschool Development Renewal Grant B-5. This three year, $8,000,000/year grant supports early care and educational programming for our youngest students. The Maine DOE, in collaboration with Maine DHHS, is exploring strategies to help support transitions from early childhood settings into kindergarten settings. | More
Maine’s biggest city is home to one of the largest school administrative units in the state, which offers seventeen different schools covering its large and diverse population, ten of which are elementary level. One of these elementary schools, Gerald E. Talbot Community School, sits in the northwest of the city and offers a unique model to serve its high-need population. | More
Jannet Harjula started her education journey as the owner of a local daycare more than 30 years ago. Like so many educators, Harjula found herself drawn back to education after selling her business. She started substitute teaching at St. George School. It wasn’t long before she transitioned to school nutrition, where she has been since 2014, first as a food service assistant and now as the food service director. | More
Karen Morin, a long-time resident of Kennebec County, has worked in crisis services, corrections, and risk reduction for the military. For a little over a year now, she’s been a Career Advancement and Navigation Specialist employed by the Adult Ed hub in Kennebec County. She is one of four “Career Navigators” funded by the Maine Jobs Recovery Plan (MJRP). | More
As IT Director, Dr. David Fournier leads a team of seven people in Regional School Unit (RSU) 71 in Belfast. Together, they manage all aspects of technology in the district, including everything from building and maintaining networks to laptop fleets and much more! | More
The Maine Council for English Language Arts (MCELA) awarded its 6th annual Claudette & John Brassil Distinguished Educator Award to Jennifer Babcock, a 25-year educator at John Bapst who currently teaches American Literature and Composition, British Literature and Composition, AP Literature and Composition, and Creative Writing. | More
Since 2018, the Maine Department of Education (DOE) has adopted and piloted open-source instructional programs for early elementary grades based on the Boston Public School’s evidence-based Focus Curricula. Pre-K for ME was launched in 2019, K for ME was launched in 2021, and 1st Grade for ME was launched in 2023. | More
The Maine Department of Education (DOE) Office of Special Services and Inclusive Education invites you to attend the first two webinars in our “Inclusive Education Webinar Series,” presented by Dr. Kate Macleod, an innovative, inclusive educator, researcher, author, and assistant professor of special education at the University of Maine Farmington. | More
The School Nurse Summer Institute is an immersive multi-day in-person event that brings school nurses together biennially. The goal is to increase the knowledge and understanding of current research and evidence-based practices in school nursing, as well as increase awareness of resources available within the State of Maine. School nurses in attendance will leave feeling energized with the latest knowledge and renewed energy to support Maine students. | More
The Maine Department of Education (DOE) Interdisciplinary Instruction Team is partnering with the Institute for Human Education to bring the Maine Solutionaries Project to educators interested in supporting students in applying their learning. | More
In July of 2023, Governor Mills signed LD 1315, Public Law 2023, Chapter 460, into law, beginning the revision process for Rule Chapter 41. Updates to Chapter 41 have been completed, adding the requirement that all public schools now offer naloxone education to secondary students in addition to CPR and AED training. | More
(Jannet Harjula and Nancy Duguay serve lunch to St. George Municipal School kindergarten Students.)
Jannet Harjula started her education journey as the owner of a local daycare more than 30 years ago. Like so many educators, Harjula found herself drawn back to education after selling her business. She started substitute teaching at St. George School. It wasn’t long before she transitioned to school nutrition, where she has been since 2014, first as a food service assistant and now as the food service director.
Harjula starts her day bright and early at 6:30 in the morning with her right-hand woman, Food Service Assistant Nancy Duguay. Harjula jokes while carefully layering sausage on a sheet pan in preparation for lunch and breakfast sandwiches. Duguay and her counterpart, Dawn Gauthier, worked for Harjula at her former business. “We come in at 6:30 every morning. Nancy starts breakfast, and I start prepping for lunch. Dawn comes in after breakfast,” says Harjula.
The St. George kitchen sits behind the cafeteria, adjacent to the school gymnasium and music room. In the first hours of the morning, the sun filters through the cafeteria windows, illuminating a mural of animated fruits and vegetables dancing up the walls and a certificate of excellence celebrating Harjula and her team’s perfect score on their recent state inspection.
Duguay serving students cereal during breakfast.
Students start arriving around 7:30, giving Duguay about an hour to set everything up. Breakfast prep starts with washing fruit; today, it’s apples. Duguay runs hot water into an empty silver sink, so clean she can see her reflection as she washes each apple and places them carefully into a giant metal colander.
After filling her cart with orange juice, granola bars, and milk, Duguay heads to the cafeteria to meet the morning’s first students. “We have the best kids,” she beams as she greets each child by name and asks them about their weekend.
After breakfast, everyone pitches in to keep the dishes down and the kitchen clean. Gauthier arrives just as the last breakfast bowls are packed away. As the students start their day, data from their “crew” or homeroom teachers starts pouring into a shared spreadsheet created by St. George Technology Director Paul Meinersmann. “Before Paul, we had to do this all on paper,” said Harjula. “Someone had to bring the information down to us, or we had to go get it.”
With this data, Harjula and her crew know how much each lunch option needs to be made. “Every day, we [also] offer students a sandwich or salad, so they don’t just have to choose the hot lunch option,” she says.
At this point, the kitchen is a perfectly choreographed routine. Harjula starts putting together the breakfast sandwiches she made for today’s lunch in shiny tinfoil. To her right, Gauthier masterfully constructs sandwiches, layering ingredients while Duguay chops vegetables and portions each chef’s salads. As the women move around each other with the grace of familiarity, it is so much like watching a dance that one almost misses all that is being done. They make nearly 200 meals, keep every counter spotless, and never forget to wear the right gloves or wash their hands.
Between prepping for lunch, Harjula lays out the ins and outs of her job. “You have to keep things balanced,” she says about planning nutritious meals. “For some of these kids, this is the most nutritious food they eat. A lot of them aren’t getting healthy foods at home.” Harjula goes on to explain how she and Duguay sit down each month to plan meals, brainstorming on how to use the ingredients they already have in stock to build nutritious “colorful” meals.
Maine was one of the first states to provide universal meals to all students. This ensures that every child has access to nutritious food without stigma and so that they are prepared to learn and thrive in school.
It is thanks to school nutrition workers like Harjula and Duguay that Maine has the second most nutritious school meals in the country, according to ProCare Therapy. However, when it comes to the student’s preferences nutrition isn’t always their priority. “Pizza days are our most popular,” Harjula jokes with Duguay, who laughs and says, “We always have to make extra.” Most students don’t even know that Harjula makes sure their donuts are whole grain or that their pizza sauce is full of healthy vegetables.
From 10:30 – 1:00, Harjula and Duguay serve lunch to students from Pre-K all the way up to eighth grade. No matter their age, the students light up when they talk to Harjula. “The kids respect her, and you see that when they’re in line or putting their trays away, saying thank you all the time,” said Ashley Gill, St. George’s athletic director, as well as physical education and health teacher. “She’s very good to me and to a lot of people [at St. George].” St George students are just as excited to sing Harjula’s praises. “Jannet’s really sweet and funny,” said fifth grader Elena. Her friend Lilly chimes in, commenting, “she makes great food.”
In between each lunch, Harjula resets the dishes, Duguay cleans the cafeteria, and Gauthier takes care of the trash, recycling, and compost. In the blink of an eye, four sets of lunches have been served, every table and chair wiped down and stacked away, and, of course, Harjula’s kitchen is still spotless.
School Lunch Hero Day is organized by The School Nutrition Association.
With every student fed, Harjula can sit down for the first time in eight hours. The three nutrition workers sit together in the cafeteria to finish up the day’s paperwork. “We have to do a production report, which is what this is,” Duguay gestures to a sheet in front of her. “So we have to keep track of everything that we serve, how much we make, how much we have left, and how much we actually serve.” The team has been putting data into the system Meinersmann created throughout the day. Now, Duguay will use that data for her production report which Gauthier will use to create a daily summary report. Around 2:30, the day is done for everyone except Gauthier, who is the middle school softball coach, though Harjula and Duguay will often stay to finish work like meal prepping or large food orders. Talking about a day in the life of a food service director, Harjula keeps it concise: “It’s long, but we’ve got such great kids.”
May 3th, 2024 is School Lunch Hero Day! Make sure to celebrate the School Nutrition Workers in your school for the hard work they put in to ensure that every Maine student has nutritious, reliable meals at school. Click here for ideas on how you can show your appreciation!
Nearly 100 Maine Schools Now Implementing BARR Through Maine DOE Grants to Increase Academic Achievement, Engagement, and Student and Educator Wellbeing
The Maine Department of Education (DOE) announced grants for 30 additional Maine schools to implement the Building Assets Reducing Risks (BARR) model to increase academic achievement, engagement, and student and staff wellbeing. These new grants build on the Maine DOE’s initial BARR investment last summer, with nearly 100 schools now implementing BARR across the state.
BARR offers schools a framework that combines relationship building and asset development with real-time data to support students based on their strengths and connections to school. Empirical studies show that BARR results in increased student engagement, reduced chronic absenteeism, a 40 percent reduction on average in failure rates after one year of implementation, increased student achievement rates, and a reduction in high-risk student behavior and substance use. Educators report increased job satisfaction, higher levels of collaboration, and higher likelihood of persisting in their jobs after implementing BARR.
These positive changes are reflected in Maine schools that are already implementing BARR. Since implementing BARR, Bucksport High School’s graduation rate increased by more than 15 percent and Mt. Blue School High School has experienced a 30 percent decrease in chronically absent students, with a daily attendance rate of 94.14 percent. Through BARR, Noble Middle School has created more than 200 mentor matches to support students with significant risk factors. Westbrook High School’s BARR team was able to identify increased anxiety as the cause of a chronically absent student’s disengagement. They collaborated as staff and worked with the student’s family to create personalized interventions to improve the student’s experience at school. Now actively engaged in school activities and supported by a comprehensive plan, this student is not only coming to school and passing classes but has found a new passion for theatre.
“We are focused on empowering educators and school leaders, providing them with the tools and resources to strengthen the incredible teaching and learning happening in Maine schools. When I speak with educators who have implemented BARR in their schools, they are so enthusiastic about the positive academic and wellbeing changes they’ve experiences with students and the deeper relationships they are building with students and colleagues,” said Maine Education Commissioner Pender Makin. “We’ve invested in BARR as a state because of the extensive research behind it and the overwhelming support it has among Maine educators. BARR offers a flexible framework that any school can adapt to meet their unique needs with results that extend years beyond the initial investment.”
“We are thrilled with the success of the schools implementing BARR in Maine. Bucksport, Maine was the first high school to take on the BARR model after I developed the model as a high school counselor in its original site in Minnesota. Jim Boothby, superintendent of Bucksport, saw BARR’s potential in 2010, and now we are the most researched model in the country,” said BARR Founder and Executive Director Angie Jerabek. “Maine schools continue to show student and educator gains under the BARR model, and we are excited to partner with the Maine Department of Education in this expansion.”
“The numbers speak for themselves,” said Mt. Blue High School social studies teacher Matt Fournier. “BARR doesn’t take time out of our schedule; it makes time. Since we are building relationships, we get greater buy-in, and students are more connected to the school.”
“I’m a true believer in the program. We originally brought it on because the main focus was grades and the transition into ninth grade. For us, it really made a difference when we could see the number of failures in our coursework had changed significantly in the first year and then changed again the next year. And then as time went on, it went into more of the behavioral and checking in with the students and making sure they had trusted adults and really working on how they created a culture within the ninth-grade cohorts,” said Superintendent Mary Anne Spearin, who first implemented BARR as principal of Calais Middle/High School. BARR expanded to Calais Elementary School this year.
“The Loranger team is very excited to be partnering with BARR and implementing their research-based program. We know that this will help us grow and better meet the needs of all of our learners. We’re grateful for the funding to bring a program that has proven results among many schools in our state. We are eager to begin working with BARR to put into practice a system that supports both staff and students,” said Loranger Memorial School Principal Matthew Foster, who first experienced BARR as a classroom teacher at Noble High School. He is enthusiastic about bringing BARR to his school as an administrator in Old Orchard Beach.
“We are excited to welcome BARR to Indian Township School,” said Indian Township School Principal Molly Newell. “BARR’s focus is on building supportive relationships, addressing social-emotional needs, and promoting academic success, which aligns with our school’s goals of culturally relevant education, community involvement, and holistic student development within the context of our Indigenous values and traditions.”
More than 60 Maine educators just attended BARR’s national conference, with Commissioner Makin speaking on a panel of other state education leaders about how they are improving outcomes in their states. Educators from Brunswick Junior High School, Calais Elementary School, Maranacook Community High School in Readfield, Mt. Blue Regional School District, and Saccarappa Elementary School in Westbrook led workshops and served on panels to share the expertise they have gained through BARR implementation.
Maine was selected by the National Governors Association as one of five states who are engaged in exemplary efforts to support the mental health and wellbeing of students and school staff. Through this initiative, the NGA is supporting implementation of the BARR model in other states through technical support at the national level.
(Pictured: Karen and Adult Education colleagues work with Sam’s Club to develop a workforce program.)
Karen Morin, a long-time resident of Kennebec County, has worked in crisis services, corrections, and risk reduction for the military. For a little over a year now, she’s been a Career Advancement and Navigation Specialist employed by the Adult Ed hub in Kennebec County. She is one of four “Career Navigators” funded by the Maine Jobs Recovery Plan (MJRP).
MJRP has committed $6 million to Adult Education in Maine to address the workforce development needs of those disproportionately impacted by COVID-19. The Maine DOE Adult Education Team has been helping eligible adults and employment sectors recover from the pandemic’s stresses through various academic and job training supports, including Career Advancement Navigator Specialists.
In Karen’s first year as a Career Navigator, she has worked with more than 220 people in Kennebec County to help them move forward in their careers, whatever that may be. Her clients are getting employed, participating in workforce training, improving their resumes and interviewing skills, acquiring English language skills, transitioning fields, and more. She’s worked with local unemployed and underemployed people, new Mainers, people coming out of the criminal justice system, and unhoused individuals, among others. She also works with employers and supports them in their hiring needs.
In this photo, Morin and colleagues prepare learners for the process of applying and working at Maine General in their Strengthening Maine Workforce program that provides English classes onsite at Maine General as a part of the employee’s work day as well as opportunities for advancement.
“Take the time to listen to someone’s story—you can learn a lot about someone from a short conversation. Often, if you can’t make a connection with someone in the first ten minutes, you’ve lost them,” said Morin.
She also shared that “talking with people and businesses together reduces the hiring process time between the application and the hiring.”
She provides a direct connection to individuals looking for work and businesses looking for employees. Karen meets people where they are in their career journey through her low barrier and personalized services, including meeting up with them at a convenient location. Though she’s based in multiple local Adult Education programs (Mid Maine Adult Education, Augusta Adult Education, and Winthrop Adult Education), she meets people virtually, at various community agencies or businesses, at the shelter, or even for support at interviews.
She posts on the website What’s Up Waterville, walks into businesses to see what their hiring needs are, and follows job postings on the chamber’s website to make qualified candidates more aware of opportunities. COVID-19 exacerbated problems in Maine that have long existed: transportation barriers, childcare availability and affordability, and housing. Having community-embedded, low-barrier services is deeply necessary. Also of great importance is the collaboration of agencies. Karen collaborates with critical partner agencies and organizations such as CareerCenter, Jewish Community Alliance, Catholic Charities, Capitol Area New Mainers Project, and the local Chambers of Commerce.
In this photo a new Mainer participates in a ride along and information interview with local law enforcement.
There are currently only three other Career Navigators in this role in Maine. Karen’s colleagues include Kate Points, who serves York County; Frank Spurr, in Androscoggin and Oxford Counties; and Cassie Robichaux, who serves multiple counties, including Sagadahoc, Lincoln, Knox, and Waldo Counties.
At a listening session for the sustainability of these positions, one community member said, “There should be a Career Navigator in each county in Maine.” Collectively they’ve connected with over 1101 people in their communities. However, funding is currently provided by the Maine Jobs Recovery Program, and the future of this program is uncertain.
Maine DOE Newsroom 