School Bus Driver Appreciation Day in Maine acknowledges the importance of school bus drivers to a student’s education and will be held Monday, Oct. 26, as proclaimed by Governor Paul R. LePage.
Category: Health and Safety
Notice of proposed rule changes: Chapters 40 and 45
The Maine DOE is undertaking two rulemakings related to health.
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Be safe in sharing the road with school buses
In Maine, about 80 percent of students ride the school bus, and this ridership is high compared to 50 percent national student ridership. During the school year in Maine, about 140,000 children are transported on 3,000 school buses by 2,200 school bus drivers over 30 million miles of urban and rural roads. To add to this, Maine traditionally has one of the best safety records in the nation.
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Educator training on teaching suicide awareness and prevention
NAMI Maine, the Maine Suicide Prevention Program’s training contractor, is offering a Combination Lifelines and Middle School Lessons training session on Wednesday, Sept. 30 at the University of New England in Portland at 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. This full-day training is available at no cost and is designed for health educators and others who are qualified to implement suicide prevention lessons in the classroom as part of a comprehensive school health education curriculum.
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Suicide prevention trainings for school staff and administrators offered this fall
As the implementation of the Maine suicide prevention law requiring suicide awareness and prevention education for all school personnel moves forward, many schools are also considering what is being taught to students. As part of that implementation, each school is required to have at least two Gatekeeper trained staff and it is recommended each district have two Training of the Trainer (TOT) staff to offer these awareness trainings each year for new staff and as needed in order to maintain compliance.
Maine schools invited to host dangers of texting while driving program
Maine schools are invited to host the AT&T “It Can Wait” program, a national initiative designed to educate youth about the dangers of texting while driving.
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Reminder to districts: Suicide awareness and prevention training
The following priority notice was sent today to superintendents as a reminder all school personnel must complete suicide awareness and prevention training by the start of the 2015-16 school year.
Dear Superintendents,
Ensuring the safety of our students is a priority and a shared responsibility. Suicide awareness and prevention efforts are a part of safeguarding schools. To increase the potential of recognizing a student (or colleague) is in need of assistance, Maine passed the school-based suicide awareness and prevention law (LD 609, PL 53, DOE Rule Chapter 38) in April 2013.
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Celebrating 30 years of wellness
Teams representing 22 Maine school districts benefited in June from their experiences at the 30th Annual Maine Schoolsite Health Promotion Program & Wellness Conference, Back to the Future – Celebrating 30 Years of Wellness.
Free school-based emergency course for rural districts and law enforcement
A free course on school-based emergencies for rural Maine districts and law enforcement will be offered on Aug. 20 in Belfast at the Waldo County Public Safety Building (Emergency Operations Center).
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School Nurses aim to improve the health of our kids
Eight school nurses from Maine were among the more than 1,300 school nurses from around the country that met in Philadelphia last month at the National Association of School Nurses Annual Conference, aimed at improving the health of school-age children.
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Maine DOE Newsroom 