Category: Newsroom Articles

Input Sought Related to Bus Routing Software Needs

The Maine Department of Education (Maine DOE) is in the process of drafting an RFP to seek proposals to provide interested SAUs with comprehensive school bus routing and transportation management systems, including system implementation, software licensing, hosting, maintenance, support, and training.

Maine DOE is seeking SAU input on features and functionality that are needed in this system to make it most usable and productive for SAUs. Thank you for providing us with input, through this brief survey. Responses requested by January 30, 2022.

For questions regarding this survey, please contact Charlotte Ellis charlotte.ellis@maine.gov

MLTI Virtual Student Conference Slated for May 26th

The Maine Learning Technology Initiative (MLTI) team is excited to announce that the 19th annual MLTI Student Conference will take place virtually on Thursday, May 26, 2022. Though this is our third year holding the MLTI Student Conference virtually, we are dedicated to making this year an innovative virtual conference experience like never before! The conference will be open to all MLTI 7th and 8th grade students and their teachers and will include interactive and hands on workshops where participants will be engaging and creating both digitally and in-person with provided materials.

This year the MLTI team is partnering with the University of Maine System and their Maine College of Engineering, Computing, and Information Science (MCECIS). By the time today’s middle schoolers are ready to enter college, they will have access through the University of Maine system to expanded educational opportunities and state of the art classrooms and labs for engineering, computing, and information science.

Please save the date for the 2022 MLTI Student Conference and check our website for more announcements coming soon, including a call for proposals, t-shirt design contest, a surprise guest announcement, presenters, and session information.

We look forward to seeing all of you on Thursday, May 26, 2022 and sharing an exciting and innovative day with you and MLTI students!

Download the Flyer

For more information reach out to Brandi Cota, Maine DOE MLTI Project Manager at Brandi.M.Cota@Maine.Gov

Maine DOE Child Nutrition’s First VISTA Member Paves the Way for Future Work

Caroline Bennett, a Volunteer In Service to America (VISTA) member of AmeriCorps joined the Maine Department of Education (DOE) Child Nutrition team in January 2021 to build capacity and resources related to alleviating food insecurity among Maine students, with a focus on school meal programs.

As Caroline’s one-year stay with the Maine DOE comes to a conclusion this month, we are celebrating the impact she has made as one of the first VISTA members to join our team. She is the first of a cohort that is focused on ending hunger in Maine by 2030.

Caroline’s projects supported the overall goal of improving access to healthy food, through the federal school meals programs. Her projects focused on three main areas:

  1. Determining barriers and best practices of increasing student participation in federal school meal programs by surveying both food service directors and parents. As a result of her work, a toolkit of information, tips, and social media templates has been created for school nutrition programs across the State to use. The toolkit can be found on the Maine DOE Student Eligibility & Applications webpage under the “Free and Reduced Applications” tab, then Resource Materials.
  2. Developing a foundation of resources to move towards all meals at no charge for Maine students. As a result of LD 1679, “An Act to Address Student Hunger through Expanding Access to Free School Meals,” she assisted with the cost analysis of the bill and collaborating with other partners such as Full Plates Full Potential.
  3. Creating a positive media campaign for completing the student meal benefit application. A toolkit was created to educate families on the importance of completing the confidential meal benefit application, including translated materials to help reach all Maine communities. Find the toolkit here.

Other focus areas included promoting the meal benefit application for families who are eligible for pandemic EBT benefits, and building resources for cultural diversity in school menus that can be used by school nutrition professionals. As a result of her work, 218 school districts that participate in the school meals programs have access to these resources, and 91,413 new pandemic EBT issuances were made.

Caroline’s work laid a great foundation for the Department’s future work to continue providing meals at no charge for public schools in School Year 2023. School districts are urged to educate families on the importance of completing the confidential meal benefit application as it informs key funding for schools, as well as connects families to important resources and benefits.

This important work will continue in future years as Child Nutrition looks to host another VISTA member in SY 2023.

Caroline’s future plans include attending the University of New England Master of Science in Applied Nutrition. We wish her the best in her future endeavors!

For further information contact the Maine DOE Child Nutrition Team.

WEBINAR: Resources to Address the Mental Health Impact on Students, Families, and Staff

Please join the Federal School Safety Clearinghouse on January 20 at 3:00 PM EST for an informational webinar on the latest resources to address the mental health impact on students, parents, teachers, and school personnel during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The session will feature guest speakers from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Mental Health Technology Transfer Center Network, which is funded by the Department of Health and Human Services Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. Presenters will provide an overview of national COVID-19 guidance for K-12 schools and share resources to address the mental health impact on students, parents, teachers, and school personnel.

The discussion will feature additional school safety-related resources available through SchoolSafety.gov, as well as a Q&A session.

  • When: January 20, 2022, 3:00 PM to 4:00 PM EST
  • Where: Adobe Connect (access link to be provided one day in advance of the event)
  • For: K-12 School Superintendents and Principals; School and District Administrators; Teachers and School Staff; School Counselors and School Psychologists; Emergency Management; Parents and Guardians; and Students
  • Registration: https://schoolsafetycovidandmentalhealthwebinar.eventbrite.com

If you have any questions, please contact the Federal School Safety Clearinghouse School Safety team at SchoolSafety@hq.dhs.gov.

Regional School Calendars Due June 1, 2022

This is a reminder that Regional School Calendars are due by June 1, 2022 for school administrative units (SAU) and private schools approved for tuition purposes, in coordination with their local secondary career and technical education (CTE) school. This requirement is part of Public Law 2011, Chapter 686 to promote collaboration among local school administrative units that may benefit from inter-administrative unit collaboration beyond CTE.

For school year 2022-23, both regional school calendars and individual calendars for each school administrative unit must be submitted by the director of the local CTE Center/Region to the Department of Education (DOE) no later than June 1, 2021 for a decision on approval by July 12, 2022. Guidance and templates can be accessed electronically at www.maine.gov/doe/regionalcalendar/.

Given the coordination required for fulfillment of this law, the Maine DOE recommends that SAUs initiate discussions as soon as feasible, including representatives from all affected secondary schools and their associated career and technical education center or region.

For more information, including guidance, instructions, templates, a waiver process, and a link to the complete law, please visit www.maine.gov/doe/regionalcalendar/.  Further questions should be directed to Doug Robertson doug.robertson@maine.gov / 624-6744 or Dwight Littlefield dwight.a.littlefield@maine.gov / 624-6721.

Bath Middle School Takes Hands-on Approach to Learning About Ocean Sustainability

Inspired by the Expeditionary Learning model, Bath Middle School has taken a hands-on approach to examining the issue of ocean sustainability.  As part of this project, as citizen scientists, the 7th-grade students took to the local waterfront to collect data on the invasive green crab species and graphed their results.

Students also visited the Maine Maritime Museum in downtown Bath to learn about the history of Maine’s fishing and shipping industry.  Working with Museum educators, they generated timelines through the examination of the museum’s artifacts.

The culminating activity was for students to design and build a product that would address an issue that threatens the sustainability of our oceans such as pollution, climate change, or invasive species.  On Thursday, December 16th, parents, and the community were invited to attend an event that displayed the students’ work.

parents at event

In a “Shark Tank” format, the top five projects were pitched to a panel of judges to determine a winning product.  Students created videos, websites, and prototypes to convince the judges of their product’s ability to impact and help solve an issue that puts the sustainability of our oceans at risk.

After much deliberation, the judges determined that the winning product was Compostable Condiments designed by Sadie C. and Laura K.  This product proposed using an invasive seaweed to make a biodegradable substitute for the plastic used in takeout packets like ketchup.

Congratulations to all the 7th graders for their innovative ideas that could help to preserve one of Maine’s most essential natural resources.

This story was written and coordinated by MLTI Ambassador Holly Graffam as part of the Maine Schools Sharing the Success Campaign. To learn more, or to submit a story or an idea for a story, email rachel.paling@maine.gov. 

Integrating Podcasting at Caribou Community School 

Creation and innovation are core elements to middle school learning, thanks to Kim Barnes and Heather Anderson, who both teach 8th grade English language arts (ELA) and social studies at Caribou Community School. In a recent unit of study about resiliency, Mrs. Barnes and Mrs. Anderson had the creative idea that podcasting would be a great way for students to demonstrate their knowledge on the topic. 

Mrs. Barnes said the idea was conceptualized from the work she did with the revised ELA Standards and thought that podcasting was a truly “authentic way to braid [the] standards into the work [they] were already doing.” 

Though they knew they wanted to use podcasting in their unit, Mrs. Barnes and Mrs. Anderson also felt they needed some support with teaching their students the more technical aspects. They reached out to the Department of Education’s Maine Learning Technology Initiative (MLTI) Ambassadors who were able to create and present lessons to the Caribou 8th grade students. This all-day event focused on supporting the work Mrs. Barnes and Mrs. Anderson were doing in the classroom, as well as leading the students through the process of podcasting on their Chromebooks. The Ambassadors explained the value and possibilities of podcasting and then demonstrated how to create and edit podcasts using WeVideo. Students then practiced the process of podcasting in pairs or small groups by choosing a topic of their own, or just discussing a predetermined prompt. One group took the opportunity to begin a sports podcast, where they discussed recent events in sports and even planned out how often they should record the podcast in order to continue with it. 

From this experience, Mrs. Barnes noticed that the engagement of the students skyrocketed. Students reported that they really enjoyed the creative part of making podcasts and, immediately, many of them began listening to other podcasts outside of class for fun. Some students were also motivated to begin a school podcast.  

The busy day proved to be quite fruitful. Mrs. Anderson and Mrs. Barnes felt that the event not only helped the students, but it also really energized them, as teachers. One student shared that the work with podcasting “is changing [his] perspective about reading and writing to a more positive one as ELA has always been a struggle for [him].” 

This story was written and coordinated by MLTI Ambassador Rob Dominick as part of the Maine Schools Sharing the Success Campaign. To learn more, or to submit a story or an idea for a story, email rachel.paling@maine.gov. 

Maine School Safety Center to Offer School Emergency Planning Virtual Office Hours

Melissa Condon, the Emergency Operations Planning Officer for the Maine Department of Education’s Maine School Safety Center will be offering virtual office hours for anyone working in Maine’s education workforce who is interested in talking about School Emergency Planning.

Sessions will be offered Weekly on Mondays & Wednesdays from 8:00am – 10:00am starting on Monday, January 19th and ending on Monday, February 28th

If you are interested in registering to attend any of the Office Hours, email Melissa.A.Condon@maine.gov for a link to join the virtual meeting.

Description: 

Available for personalized discussions for School Administrative Units (SAUs) related to various areas of emergency management and planning to include mitigating against, preparing for, responding to, and recovering from various threats and hazards that exist both to the school and surrounding community.

This is an opportunity to ask questions and/or seek technical assistance for topics such as:

  • The development of a Comprehensive Health and Safety and Emergency Management Plan
  • Identifying and planning for all hazards and potential hazards that could reasonably be expected to affect a SAU
  • Forming a collaborative, multi-disciplinary planning team
  • Developing and enhancing MOUs/MOAs with community partners
  • Physical site assessments
  • Emergency management training and education opportunities
  • Emergency exercises/drills
  • Continuity of Operations

For further information or questions, contact Melissa Condon at Melissa.A.Condon@maine.gov.

MEDIA RELEASE: Maine CDC and Maine Department of Education Revise COVID-19 Guidance for Schools to Support In-Person Learning During Omicron Surge

AUGUSTA – The Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention (Maine CDC) and the Maine Department of Education (DOE) announced today further revisions to the Maine CDC’s Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for responding to COVID-19 in schools.

Following discussions with school superintendents, the Maine CDC has revised the SOP to state that schools enforcing a universal masking policy may choose to suspend contract tracing in light of the transmissibility of the Omicron variant and its impact on the effectiveness of contact tracing.

The Maine CDC has determined that, because the Omicron variant is far more contagious than prior variants, has a shorter incubation period, and tends to spread in the early part of an infection, it is contributing to higher levels of community transmission, making community exposures more frequent and, consequently, reducing the effectiveness of contact tracing in schools. While the goal of contact tracing is to provide a timely notification to all individuals who may have been exposed to COVID-19, school superintendents have reported that conducting contact tracing in a timely and thorough manner is becoming increasingly difficult, if not impossible, for school personnel given the fast spread of the Omicron variant.

The revised SOP permits schools with universal masking policies to suspend contact tracing if they are not able to conduct it effectively, in order to rededicate limited and tired staff to focus on other COVID-19 mitigation strategies, like detecting and preventing infected people from being in schools via pooled testing, to help keep kids in the classroom. Schools that have the resources to contact trace effectively are encouraged to continue doing so.

“Keeping kids safely in the classroom is crucial to their education and minimizes disruption to the lives of their parents, who often have to stay home from work or are put in a child care crunch when their kids can’t be in school,” said Governor Mills. “Of course, the best way to protect the health of students and to keep them in the classroom is to get vaccinated, which will help slow the spread of COVID.”

“The rapid spread of the Omicron variant has further burdened Maine’s schools during an already challenging school year in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Education Commissioner Pender Makin and Maine CDC Director Nirav D. Shah. “These recommendations allow teachers and school staff to focus their limited resources on educating students in the classroom as safely as possible. Getting vaccinated remains the most important step to protecting our school communities.”

“We are grateful for the ongoing efforts of Maine CDC as they continue to provide schools with the guidance and protocols that will protect the physical and emotional health of staff and students, and preserve the critically important opportunity for in-person learning,” said Maine School Board Association Executive Director Steve Bailey.  “As the governance team of their local education systems, including the safety, time and resources of their schools, our school boards have the responsibility to ensure they have a universal masking policy in place that will both keep students and staff safe and permit school staff to suspend contact tracing for cases of COVID-19 in schools. We stand ready to help them in these efforts.”

“On behalf of school and district leaders across Maine, we welcome today’s guidance, which provides some relief to school staff, especially our nurses, who have continued to exceed safety protocols with extensive and labor intensive contract tracing and notification efforts,” said Maine School Superintendents Association Executive Director Eileen King.  “Schools with universal masking policies in place for all indoor school sponsored activities will be able to shift their time and attention to other strategies that ensure the physical and emotional health and safety of staff and students. We thank Dr. Shah and his team for engaging superintendents in discussions about the implementation logistics and implications of Maine’s school prevention and response strategies for COVID-19, and for providing insight and balance to the science that informs community health decisions.”

The change is consistent with those adopted recently by other New England states and builds on other revisions from the Maine CDC that, among other updates, reflect recently updated guidance from the U.S. CDC on quarantine and isolation periods. All of these revisions are designed to support in-person learning, thereby promoting the health and well-being of school students, staff, and their communities.

The change is also specifically targeted to schools that have implemented a universal masking policy. U.S. and Maine CDCs recommend universal indoor masking by all students, faculty, staff, and visitors in K–12 schools, regardless of vaccination status, across all school-based and school-sponsored activities. Wearing a mask has been proven to mitigate the spread of COVID-19. Local school boards are charged with the responsibility of implementing masking requirements for their school systems. Schools that do not have a universal masking policy should continue contact tracing.

Since the fall of 2020, all Maine pre-K-12 schools have been providing in-person instruction to students. Throughout the pandemic, the Mills Administration has promoted safe, in-person learning, dedicating $329 million in Coronavirus Relief Funding (CRF) to Maine schools to help them educate Maine students. The Administration has also provided 10,859,586 face coverings, gloves, and other types of personal protective equipment to Maine schools and has supported COVID-19 testing in schools, including launching a pooled testing program. The pooled testing guidance has also been streamlined in light of Omicron, and schools have received 242,500 rapid antigen BinaxNOW tests from the Maine Department of Health and Human Services. The Administration has helped organize vaccine clinics for school staff across Maine and supported more than 500 vaccine clinics for schools and students this past fall.

According to Maine’s Vaccination Dashboard, as of January 12, 2022, 51.5 percent of children ages 5 to 19 were fully vaccinated for COVID-19. Data from the U.S. CDC show that Maine ranks fourth best in the nation in the percent of 5 to 17 year olds fully vaccinated. As of the end of October, 83 percent of school staff were fully vaccinated.

The updated public health guidance for responding to a positive case of COVID-19 in schools can be viewed HERE.

 

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Indirect Cost Rate Approval Process

The Maine Department of Education would like to share updated information concerning our indirect cost rate approval process.

The Department issues an indirect cost rate for a specific fiscal year that is valid from July 1 to June 30 of the applicable fiscal year. The indirect cost rate is applied to the direct cost amount expended, not to the grant award. Indirect costs are recovered only to the extent of direct costs incurred.

To recover indirect costs, the LEA applies the indirect cost rate in affect for a given fiscal year or the term of the grant award to the direct expenditures less capital outlay during that fiscal year or the term of the grant award.

In order for districts to receive approval of their indirect cost rate, the audit reconciliation with MEFS must be completed. The Department also recommends completing the following training to all districts that apply: Indirect Cost Training Course FY 21 (ed.gov).

Development of Indirect Cost Rates:

  • The Department sources information from the LEA’s official annual upload to MEFS and the detail accounts that make up that report.
  • The Department will prepare a “preliminary indirect cost rate” for LEAs requesting an indirect cost rate and may be requested for certification.
  • Once preliminary indirect cost rates are provided to the LEA, the LEA shall provide information for subawards and subcontracts so to calculate an adjustment to the indirect cost rate prior to final certification.
  • Predetermined rates that are certified and the certifications will be published to: https://www.maine.gov/doe/funding/fiscalreview/compliance/indirectcostrate
  • Restricted indirect cost rates will be limited to 8%. Unrestricted indirect cost rates are limited to 15%. All preliminary calculated rates outside of the statistical norm are subject to review to ensure the proper classification of costs.

The following information has been added to the Indirect Cost Rate Agreement:

  • Distribution Base: MTDC Modified Total Direct Cost – Total direct costs excluding equipment, capital expenditures, participant support costs, pass-through funds, and the portion of each subaward (subcontract or subgrant) above $25,000 (each award; each year).
  • Applicable To: Restricted- Restricted rates apply to programs that require a restricted rate per 34 CFR 75.563 and 34 CFR 76.563.
  • Treatment of Fringe Benefits: Fringe benefits applicable to direct salaries and wages are treated as direct costs. Pursuant to 2 CFR 200.431, (b), (3), Paragraph (i), unused leave costs for all employees are allowable in the year of payment. The treatment of unused leave costs should be allocated as an indirect cost except for those employee salaries designated as a direct cost for the restricted rate calculation.
  • Capitalization Policy: Items of equipment are capitalized and depreciated if the initial acquisition cost is equal to or greater than $5,000.

If you have any questions as you review these printouts, please contact our School Finance Team member Mary Randall, mary.randall@maine.gov, for assistance.