To accommodate school administrative units that have not yet been able to file their restraint and seclusion data yet this fall, the Maine Department of Education has reopened the Restraint and Seclusion Reporting in NEO until October 15, 2021.
In accordance with Chapter 33: Rule Governing Physical Restraint and Seclusion, “Each covered entity shall submit to the Department of Education an annual report of the incidence of physical restraint and seclusion.”
Detailed instructions on how to report restraint and seclusion data can be found here: RAS Year End Reporting
For further information or assistance with reporting this data, please contact Maine DOE Data Help Desk:
Federal and state laws regulate the privacy of student education records. These laws apply to all schools that receive funds under an applicable program of the U.S. Department of Education (DOE). With this in mind, the Maine DOE has put together a toolkit of links to information, resources, and training for district administrators and school employees to use as a quick reference for information and contacts related to student data privacy.
In addition to having links to information about the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) and other federal and state laws that protect student privacy, there are also training videos, resources and guidance from U.S. DOE about understanding what student privacy is as well as other more in-depth tutorials about everything from virtual learning to integrated data systems.
The toolkit also features state level resources such as the Maine Student Privacy Alliance (MSPA), in addition to more student privacy resources from U.S. DOE, both specifically for district administrators but also for early childhood educators, education technology vendors, parents and students, postsecondary school officials, and researchers.
The Maine Department of Education (DOE) Data Team will be holding a training session on August 24th at 10am to discuss how School Administrative Units (SAUs) and private schools should be submitting Homeless Student data to the state.
The target audience for this training includes both data coordinators and McKinney-Vento Liaisons.
We will have Maine DOE Migrant Education Specialist Amelia Lyons on hand to answer any specific Homeless Student data questions.
Please follow the “Join Live” link below at the time of the training to join us.
This fall, all schools and school administrative units (SAUs) are resuming full-time, in-person instruction. How can we use the lessons learned during the once-in-a-century pandemic to improve student privacy? This webinar brings together representatives from across the country to discuss the “must-dos” that come with federal student privacy laws, as well as the “should-dos,” challenges, and lessons learned from the recent rapid shift to remote learning.
As schools across Maine prepare for the 2021/2022 school year with many changes, including the implementation of free school meals and the challenges of COVID-19, we are aware of the increasing difficulty you face with asking families to fill out the Meal Benefit Application.
Families, schools, communities, and our state can greatly benefit from the data that is gathered from the application, which includes key funding for school resources and additional resources for families in need.
The Maine Department of Education (DOE) has created a Meal Benefit Application Toolkit for schools/districts to help inform and promote the application within your school community:
We hope that having these resources laid out in this toolkit can ease some of the burden to create your own promotional and informational materials. Here are some of the resources you will find in the toolkit:
Social Media Graphics – short informational graphics that can be shared on your district/school social media platforms.
Translated Informational Materials – a one-page info sheet that can be printed and distributed to families (translated versions available), info for teachers and school staff, and a letter to families expressing the importance of the Meal Benefit Application.
Meal Benefit Application Form Options – links to the original printable application, an online option, and an alternative sample form that can be used to help inform state subsidy calculations.
We recognize and appreciate all your hard work as you prepare for the start of the school year. Please contact Maine DOE for questions and/or additional resources:
For questions regarding application collection and SSO (Seamless Summer Option), please contact David Hartley (david.hartley@maine.gov).
To add your district to the web-based application via Nutrilink (we HIGHLY recommend this to increase accessibility of application), please contact Sarah Platt (sarah.d.platt@maine.gov).
The Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and the Department of Homeland Security have published a Cyber Risk Summary: Education Facilities Subsector
Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) vulnerability management Cyber Hygiene Vulnerability Scanning performed between January 1, 2020, and December 31, 2020—identified the following vulnerabilities on Education entity IT assets. Note: This fact sheet uses data collected from Education Facilities Subsector entities as defined in the Government Facilities Sector Specific Plan. The Education Facilities Subsector consists of private and government-owned K-12 and higher education institutions.
The Maine Department of Education (DOE) Data Team will be holding their annual summer trainings during the last two weeks of July. The focus this year will be on tips and resources to assist School Administrative Units (SAUs) with data reporting and with viewing/certifying reports.
Training sessions this year will be held remotely utilizing the Microsoft Teams application.
All training sessions will begin with a presentation and conclude with a topical Q&A. Please feel free to register for as many sessions as you would like.
Most sessions are duplicated to ensure as much availability as possible.
These training sessions are a refresher; more extensive training will be provided for individuals who are brand new to state required reporting.
The MEDMS helpdesk is now offering one on one onboard training for SAU and school staff that are new to state required reporting. To request this training, simply email the MEDMS helpdesk at MEDMS.Helpdesk@Maine.gov and request our new user training. Please note that these trainings will be held as helpdesk availability allows.
Training Sessions, Dates and Times
*Please note that you do not need to have or install Microsoft Teams to attend any of these trainings, simply use the “Watch on the web instead” button.
What’s New for 2022 & Online Resources – A presentation of all of the new staff and student data requirements for the 2021-2022 school year. We will also review the helpful online resources available to SAU and school staff charged with required state reporting.
If you have any questions, comments or concerns regarding these trainings please contact the MEDMS Helpdesk at (207) 624-6896 or MEDMS.Helpdesk@Maine.gov .
The Maine Department of Education (DOE) Child Nutrition is excited to announce that we are moving over to a new program, CNPWeb, which will replace NEO for all School Nutrition functions.
CNPWeb will streamline the claiming, ordering, annual application and review process for all of our child nutrition programs. The system will go live in July 2021 at which time each district will need to submit their annual Sponsor Application and Site Information Sheets for approval.
Superintendents will have permissions to approve the monthly claim for reimbursement. However, if you wish to delegate another person as the Approving Officer, the Superintendent must email Pamela.Partridge@maine.gov to make this request.
For technical assistance and questions please contact Pam Partridge at Pamela.Partridge@maine.gov or (207) 624-6843 the Child Nutrition Team at child.nutrition@maine.gov, or (207) 624-6842.
The recovery of Q3’21 MaineCare Seed will occur in the July 2021 subsidy payment. The Maine Department Of Education (DOE) is asking School Administrative Units (SAUs) to review their reports by July 15, 2021 to ensure accurate adjustments to subsidy. SAU staff must review, and submit disputes, or student by student claims on both the public and private MaineCare reports for Q3’21 by July 15, 2021.
To access the MaineCare Seed reports, please follow the instructions below.
Choose the quarterly Seed report and the report type (private/public)
Click view report button
Export Button
Once the report appears on the screen, choose the export button.
You may export the reports to Excel, but please be aware that there may be multiple worksheet tabs within the workbook. Save the file to your computer.
To dispute a claim:
If you disagree that a particular student or time period should not be on the report, please send an email with the following information for each State Student ID to stephanie.clark@maine.gov.
State Student ID
The reason that you disagree
Identify the type of report: public or private
Quarter in which the claims are located
Service provided dates (From and To)
Total amount of Seed being disputed
Summer services:
Students must be enrolled for the time period they are receiving educational services. This means that students that are receiving extended school year services in district, or extended school year services in an out of district placement, must have a primary enrollment for that time period. This will ensure that Maine DOE has the most accurate enrollment data to determine SAU responsibility for MaineCare Seed.
If you have difficulty logging into NEO:
Anyone who currently has Special Education Director permissions to the Special Education module will automatically have permissions to access MaineCare reports.
As in the past, if a new staff member needs permission to access this module, a request from the Superintendent to the Maine DOE helpdesk will be necessary. The helpdesk contact information is medms.helpdesk@maine.gov or 207-624-6896.
Please contact stephanie.clark@maine.gov for more information or technical assistance related to MaineCare Seed.
The Maine Educational Data Systems Team will be hosting a webinar to discuss the end of year reporting requirements in this notification on Friday June 11th from 10:00am to 12:00pm. Register here
The following checklist is designed to assist School Administrative Units (SAUs) with publicly funded students in completing required end of year reports. The dates listed after each report are when the report is open for entry and due for certification, if required.
Synergy: The following items are available in the Synergy Student Information System. Please visit the Synergy Instructions Helpdesk Page for Synergy codes to be used for the items below.
Concurrent enrollment MUST be ended before the primary enrollment can be ended
All students will need to be exited on their actual last day of school. This may be verified using “Attending Student Report” in NEO> Student Reports.
June 30 should not be automatically populated for the last day of school.
Future exit dates that are more than 7 days out are not permitted in the system.
Ending a student’s enrollment will end Economic Status and Truancy – to avoid this, update Truancy records prior to ending enrollments
Ending enrollments will prevent you from manually updating Attendance Data. Once an enrollment has been ended, attendance data can only be modified by uploading the data.
Please ensure that you exit all your graduates accordingly
Only exit students who have met graduation requirements by the graduation date
For those who are expected to meet graduation requirements over the summer, leave the exit blank for now and there will be an opportunity for you to exit them later in the summer (by August 15)
Do NOT graduate students in non-high school grades (Pre-K, Kindergarten, Eighth Grade, etc.)
Please remember to exit your enrolled home instruction students back to home instruction at the end of the school year.
New enrollments will need to be uploaded/entered as well as special education information each school year.
If you have questions about accessing the reports, please call or email the helpdesk, 624-6896 or MEDMS.helpdesk@maine.gov
If you do not have credentials for Synergy or NEO, the district superintendent may grant access using the appropriate webform on the Helpdesk Page: Access Request Form
Maine DOE Newsroom 