Category: Health and Safety

Expanded suicide prevention training helps us better support students

All of us share a commitment to ensuring our schools are physically and emotionally safe and supportive places for students to learn and thrive.

That’s why I was so troubled to read in the findings of our latest Maine Integrated Youth Health Survey that 16.8 percent of our middle school students and 14.6 percent of high school students have seriously considered attempting suicide.

As a parent and grandparent, the reality that youth with such incredible potential feel so overwhelmed and helpless deeply saddens me. And as your Commissioner of Education, I want you to know our Department is collaborating with others to take serious steps to help students before they harm themselves. Continue reading “Expanded suicide prevention training helps us better support students” →

Governor LePage proclaims February Teen Dating Violence Awareness and Prevention Month

Members of the Maine Coalition to End Domestic Violence, Family Violence Project and other violence awareness advocates joined the Governor as he signed the proclamation earlier this month.

AUGUSTA – Governor Paul R. LePage has proclaimed the month of February to be Teen Dating Violence Awareness and Prevention Month. He recently joined domestic violence awareness advocates in his office to sign the proclamation and praised them for their work.

Continue reading “Governor LePage proclaims February Teen Dating Violence Awareness and Prevention Month” →

Updates on student, school health surveys

Principals whose school participated in the 2013 Maine Integrated Youth Health Survey (MIYHS) should have already received login information including passwords to the MIYHS website. If you are a principal of a participating school who did not receive a password, please contact Stephen Corral at stephen.corral@maine.gov or 287-2964. Please note passwords are required to access your school’s data. Continue reading “Updates on student, school health surveys” →

Youth health survey reveals gender differences

Last week the Departments of Education and Health and Human Services released the results of the 2013 Maine Integrated Youth Health Survey (MIYHS). The survey is administered by the two State agencies every other year at public schools to students in grades five through 12, with more than 63,000 respondents in 2013. Continue reading “Youth health survey reveals gender differences” →

Maine youth report healthier habits, struggles with depression

The biannual survey of the state’s grade 5-12 students is an effort of the Maine Departments of Education and Health and Human Services and informs prevention and program planning

AUGUSTA – Maine youth are making healthier choices, including smoking and drinking less, but are increasingly struggling with their emotional wellbeing.

Those findings and other insights directly from tens of thousands of Maine students about their health and habits are detailed in the newly released results of the 2013 Maine Integrated Youth Health Survey (MIYHS).

Continue reading “Maine youth report healthier habits, struggles with depression” →

DOE introduces new Student Assistance Coordinator

Stephanie Galeucia has been named the Maine DOE’s new Student Assistance Coordinator. Among her primary responsibilities in this role are providing indirect support to students being bullied in Maine schools and helping parents and administrators better understand the Restraint and Seclusion of Students rule. Continue reading “DOE introduces new Student Assistance Coordinator” →

School security strengthened since Sandy Hook

On Saturday, many of us paused to remember the courage of so many in the face of the evil of one on the anniversary of the senseless school shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary.  Just one day before, a  17-year-old senior was critically injured by a classmate, who later shot himself, in a shooting at Arapahoe High School in Centennial, Colorado, just 10 miles away from Columbine, another tragic reminder of our need to always be prepared even for the most unthinkable.

Here in Maine, schools have always taken the safety and security of their students and staff seriously, but even more so since Newtown.  Continue reading “School security strengthened since Sandy Hook” →

Maine Youth Health Survey data now available

The results of the 2013 Maine Integrated Youth Health Survey (MIYHS) are now available.

State, public health district and county level data on public school students in grades 5 through 12 are now online on the survey website at https://data.mainepublichealth.gov/miyhs/. Data for kindergarten through grade 3 survey data are not available because of a low response rate. Continue reading “Maine Youth Health Survey data now available” →

Maine CDC offers teachers tobacco training

Teachers who want to learn how to better talk to youth tobacco users may benefit from free trainings offered throughout the state in December and January by the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Comprehensive Cancer Control Program. Continue reading “Maine CDC offers teachers tobacco training” →