This month, we also have a new podcast series on What It Means to Be a School Leader and leading through crises. Episode 1 on Trauma-Informed, Resilience-Oriented Leadership is available now. Dr. Linda Henderson-Smith from the National Council for Mental Wellbeing has tips for proactively building resiliency and promoting healing for students, school staff, and community members.
We are including some additional resources to support your school violence prevention initiatives:
The Maine Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), in partnership with the Maine Department of Education (DOE), today announced the winners of the video competition for Maine children to encourage COVID-19 vaccination.
DHHS and DOE announced the contest on November 3, inviting Maine youth ages 5 to 17 to submit 30-second videos that they believed would encourage other children, along with their parents, to get a COVID-19 vaccine.
The winners are:
1st place: Renée Morin (sophomore), Olie Saywell (sophomore), Hunter Roberts (junior, created original score), Ian Kruger (senior, camera operator); The New School (high school), Kennebunk
2nd place: Spencer Michalski (8th grade), homeschooled, Columbia
3rd place: Natalie Waters (6th grade), Lincoln Middle School, Portland
The winning entries can be viewed here:
“Congratulations to the winners of our Maine Kids COVID-19 Vaccination Video Contest, who displayed creativity, conviction, and courage in their submissions,” said DHHS Commissioner Jeanne Lambrew and Maine CDC Director Nirav D. Shah. “We’re grateful to every Maine child and teenager who submitted an entry – they are all public health champions. Thanks to people like them, Maine is quickly getting enough students vaccinated to begin returning to more normal ways of learning and having fun.”
“Getting back to normal and doing our part to end the pandemic inspired us to submit to the contest,” said the first-place team from The New School. “By spreading awareness and empowering fellow young people with facts about vaccination, helping younger Mainers to not be afraid, and using skills we learned in video production, we hoped to contribute to positive public health messaging.”
“My plunge into the frigid water was worth the sacrifice for the greater good,” added Olie Saywel.
The Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is promoting the winning videos on social media.
Additionally, first-place winner The New School will receive $50,000; second -place winner Spencer Michalski selected Downeast Audubon as the nonprofit to receive the $25,000 second-place prize to fund summer camp scholarships; and third-place winner Lincoln Middle School will receive $10,000.
Schools can use the winnings to supplement school meals with healthy treats; purchase playground, classroom, gym, sports, or music equipment; enhance a special school activity; or support a school field trip for all students.
Over 50 submissions were reviewed, without identifying information, by a committee comprised of DHHS, CDC and DOE staff members. The selection criteria included originality and clarity of the message, consistency with public health information on youth vaccination, and potential to reach unvaccinated groups, among others.
Children could produce the video submissions on their own or as part of a school activity. Participation was limited to Maine residents.
The prize winnings are supported by the Federally funded Coronavirus Relief Fund at Maine DHHS, which was the source of funds for previous COVID-19 vaccine incentive programs in Maine.
The video competition is part of Maine DHHS and Maine CDC’s broader plan to support vaccination of children ages 5 to 11. Nearly 29% of Maine children ages 5 to 11 have received at least a first dose of vaccine, nearly double the national average of 14.7 percent and ranking Maine third in the nation, according to the U.S. CDC.
The Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine is available for children 5 to 11 years old in a two-dose series, and is administered in a lower dose than the vaccine for adolescents and adults.
COVID-19 vaccines are available at no charge at sites across the state. For information on getting a vaccine, please visit Maine.gov/covid19/vaccines or call the Community Vaccination Line at 1-888-445-4111.
Please join the U.S. Department of Education and National Association for Family, School and Community Engagement for an informational webinar following the approval of the Pfizer-BioNTech age 5-11 vaccine.
Thursday, December 9, 2021 At 8:00PM EST
This is a such special time of year, and this year, we all have one more thing to be grateful for: Kids ages 5 to 11 are now eligible to get vaccinated. The vaccine is safe and effective, specifically formulated for young kids. And getting your child vaccinated is the best way to keep them safe from COVID, including the Delta variant. This is great news for parents and families.
During the webinar, esteemed panelists including United States Deputy Secretary of Education Cindy Marten along with representatives from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the American Academy of Pediatrics will address common concerns and worries among parents and families about the COVID-19 vaccine for their child(ren) ages 5-11.
Parents are invited to submit questions about the vaccine on the registration form. Pre-submitted questions will help plan the content of the session. Time will also be reserved for live questions and answers at the end of the event.
Paid for by the State of Maine, the Behavioral Threat Assessment Team Training gives Maine school districts access to the leading training program for Behavioral Threat Assessment (BTA) at no cost to them. Targeted violence is preventable. When school teams have the knowledge and skills to identify, assess and intervene, they can help guide students to a safer path.
CSTAG Level 1 Training: Begins November 29, 2021 – Asynchronous, online (You must complete Level 1 by 12/14/21 to participate in Level 2).
CSTAG Level 2 Training: December 15, 2021 – Synchronous, in-person or virtual
workshop from 9:00am – 1:00pm.
Training is ideal for all members of a multi-disciplinary BTA Team, including:
School administrators, school mental health professionals, School Resource Officers (SRO) or law enforcement, special education coordinators.
Behavioral Threat Assessment Team Training is a necessity when it comes to helping students move off a path of violence to themselves or others.
The training is hosted by Navigate360, a leader in school safety solutions and Dr. Dewey Cornell, author of the Comprehensive School Threat Assessment Guidelines (CSTAG).
Those headed down a path of targeted violence display observable behaviors (i.e. they don’t just “snap”) When school communities know these warning signs, they can intervene and help Behavioral Threat Assessment is a fact-based, non-punitive method of identifying the reasons a student may beheaded down a path of violence
BTA uses a collaborative, multidisciplinary team to assess and identify effective interventions and supports that mitigate a potential threat.
To register for the trainings contact Karen Barnes, Threat Assessment/Mental Health Officer at the Maine School Safety Center at karen.a.barnes@maine.gov
With authorization of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine for children ages 5 to 11, the Maine Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), in partnership with the Maine Department of Education (DOE), is sponsoring a competition for videos made by and featuring Maine children encouraging other children to get vaccinated.
Videos can include:
Messages children or youth ages 5 to 17 believe will be effective in encouraging other children or youth along with their parents to get a COVID-19 vaccine.
Original music or humor
Information on the vaccine’s safety and efficacy
Discussions of the impact of not getting vaccinated
Information that participants can use in developing these videos can be found at on the US CDC website.
Children can make these videos on their own or as part of a school activity. They can choose whether or not to include their school name.
To enter, contestants must complete the online entry form. Once the form is submitted, contestants will receive an email with instructions for submitting their video.
To be considered videos must be:
30 seconds in length
Shot in portrait mode on a smart phone
Video file must not exceed 32MB
The deadline for submission is 6pm on November 22.
The winners will be announced on December 1, 2021. The selection committee includes the Commissioners of Maine DHHS and DOE, and their communications teams.
The selection criteria will include:
originality and clarity of the message
consistency with public health information on youth vaccination
potential to reach groups that may be hesitant to be vaccinated
Three winners will be selected. The prize will be the use of the videos by Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on television via press conferences and/or PSAs and social media in promoting vaccination.
Additionally, the school that the winners attend will receive a cash prize to be used for:
supplementing school meals with healthy treats;
purchasing playground, classroom, gym, sports or music equipment; enhancing a school fun day; or
supporting a school field trip for all students.
Other ideas from the winners will be considered as well. If the winners attend different schools, then the prize will be pro-rated for those schools.
If the participants are home schooled, they may designate a public facing non-profit serving all children in the area receive the prize.
Prize amounts will be:
$50,000 for the first-place winner
$25,000 for the second-place winner
$10,000 for the third-place winner
Winners will need to have a consent form signed by parents that allows:
The CDC has recently recommended 5 to 11 year old children receive the COVID-19 vaccine, offering a way for parents to protect their children and families from COVID-19 infection. Join MECAP for a forum featuring Maine pediatricians as they share information about children and the COVID-19 vaccine and give advice on what to consider when making the decision to vaccinate children against COVID-19. There will be time for questions from the audience.
Speakers:
Gretchen Pianka, MD, MPH, Pediatrician at Central Maine Pediatrics
Jillian Gregory, DO, Pediatric Critical Care Physician at Maine Medical Center
Sydney Sewall, MD, MPH, Pediatrician at Maine General Health
Michael Ross, MD, Pediatrician at Northern Light Pediatric Primary Care
Moderator: Claire Berkowitz, President, Midcoast Maine Community Action
WHEN: Tuesday, November 9, 2021 from 6pm–7:15pm EST
WHERE: Via Zoom, register at mecap.org/events to receive the webinar login information.
NAMI Maine, a training contractor for the Maine Suicide Prevention Program, is offering a Training of the Trainer (TOT) in-person, half-day training on November 16 in Westbrook.
This training prepares participants to deliver a facilitated 60-90 minute suicide prevention awareness session for co-workers and/or community members. The awareness session is required by state law for all school personnel. By attending the Training of the Trainer (TOT) your school administrative unit will be equipped to provide these trainings as needed when new staff are brought in and when previously trained staff is in need of a refresher. Ready-to-use packaged materials will be provided.
The Maine Department of Education has updated its Pre-Screening Tool for School Attendance. Changes include only clarifying language and adding back the lists of common and less common symptoms of COVID-19 which are unchanged from when they were previously listed on the pre-screening tool.
In recognition of National School Lunch Week last week, US Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and US Department of Education Secretary Miguel Cardona extend their thanks to school nutrition professionals for their commitment to ensuring children are well-nourished and ready to succeed in school.
Share your thanks with school nutrition professionals at your school with free Stronger with School Meals digital thank you cards.
It is with special permission from renowned artists the Indigo Girls themselves that we present this beautiful nod to their song, “Least Complicated” by Mainers Bill, a music teacher, Aley, a school counselor, and Anna, a parent of a child in school.
This recently recorded, heartfelt song urges communities to get vaccinated against COVID-19 in order to keep children safe in schools and schools operational.
Maine DOE Newsroom 