Mount Desert Elementary honored with Maine’s first top health excellence award

Maine Education Commissioner Stephen Bowen and USDA’s Under Secretary for Food, Nutrition, and Consumer Services Kevin Concannon presented the award at a school assembly Friday and recognized the state as a national leader in creating healthy school environments

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Mount Desert Elementary to be honored with Maine’s first top health excellence award

USDA’s Under Secretary for Food, Nutrition, and Consumer Services Kevin Concannon and Maine Education Commissioner Stephen Bowen will present the award at a school assembly Friday

NORTHEAST HARBOR – The Mount Desert Elementary School will become the first in Maine honored with a Gold Medal of Distinction from the HealthierUS School Challenge.

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Governor signs suicide prevention education bill, pledges money to train school staff

AUGUSTA – Governor Paul R. LePage today performed a Ceremonial Signing of a bill that will ensure the staff of all Maine schools is trained in suicide education and awareness and additionally pledged $44,000 from his contingency fund to support that effort.

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Commissioner Bowen to visit Belfast school Thursday on Promising Practices Tour

BELFAST – Maine Department of Education Commissioner Stephen Bowen will visit Troy Howard Middle School in RSU 20 this Thursday to see student-centered education in action.

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Education Commissioner invites teachers to online forum on A-F grading opportunities

The conversation with teachers about using their school’s report card to improve student achievement is part of the Maine Department of Education’s larger plan to better support schools in meeting the needs of all students

AUGUSTA – The Maine Department of Education will continue the conversation on using its new A-F grades to improve schools with an online teacher forum this Thursday.

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Bowen praises improvement efforts at Indian Township and Caravel Middle Schools

CARMEL – Department of Education Commissioner Stephen Bowen commended regional sharing of resources as well as professional development efforts at Indian Township School in Princeton and Caravel Middle School (RSU 87/MSAD 23) in Carmel, which he visited Thursday and Friday as part of his Promising Practices Tour.

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Maine Charter Commission approves contracts with three new public charter schools

The following is a news release from the Maine Charter School Commission.

AUGUSTA — The Maine Charter School Commission in a public meeting held Tuesday in Augusta discussed, voted and signed three public charter school contracts – culminating months of work on the part of the schools and the commission. The Maine Charter School Commission has the responsibility to approve up to 10 public charter schools in the State in 10 years. The three schools are the Baxter Academy for Technology and Sciences to be located in Portland; the Fiddlehead School of Arts and Science in Gray; and the Harpswell Coastal Academy in Harpswell. These three schools will open September 2013.

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