MEEA Mini-Grants Available for Outdoor Learning – 9/27 Deadline

Maine Environmental Education Association (MEEA) recently opened a new grant application for the 2021-2022 school year for their Mini-Grants for Outdoor Learning Program.

Applications from all public schools Pre-K – 12 are accepted for up to $1,500 to support their outdoor learning projects. Last year the Maine Environmental Education Association funded over 150 schools with an impact of over 10,000 students across the state.

Funding can be used for any type of project that advances outdoor learning in your classroom or school in the 2021-2022 school year. Most commonly this funding is used to buy gear and/or supplies needed to support outdoor learning activities, but this funding can also be used for professional learning to advance your outdoor learning teaching skills, to support a collaboration with a community partner organization on a nature-based project or experience, and/or adaptive gear that supports ALL kids having access to outdoor learning in your school.

Application closes on September 27th at 11:59 PM.

For more information and to apply visit the Maine Environmental Education Association Website.

For further questions contact MEEA at (207) 619-1609 or info@meeassociation.org

WEBINAR: Addressing and Preventing Adult Sexual Misconduct in the School Setting

The following course is being provided by U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Safe and Supportive Schools Readiness and Emergency Management for Schools (REMS) Technical Assistance (TA) Center.

ADDRESSING AND PREVENTING ADULT SEXUAL MISCONDUCT IN THE SCHOOL SETTING

Duration: 30 to 45 min.

Objective: This course has been designed to help you learn about preventing and addressing adult sexual misconduct (ASM) in the school setting to protect students. When you are finished with this course, you will be able to define ASM; recognize ASM in a school setting, including identification of gray areas; identify when reporting potential ASM in a school setting may be required; and describe the federally recommended six-step planning process for addressing and preventing ASM.

Module 1–Understanding Adult Sexual Misconduct (ASM) in Schools
Module 2–Recognizing and Reporting ASM
Module 3–Integrating ASM Into School Emergency Operations Plans
Module 4–Try It! Choose What to Do

Note: Please note that modules may take a while to load depending on your connection speed and signal. Modules must be completed in the order they appear. Once each module has been completed, you can flip through the previous modules and your accompanying notes. You will be able to print a certificate only after all modules are completed.

Take the Course

RESOURCES: Emergency Preparedness for Extracurricular Activities and Planning for Natural Hazards at School

The following resources are provided by U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Safe and Supportive Schools Readiness and Emergency Management for Schools (REMS) Technical Assistance (TA) Center.

Planning for Natural Hazards that May Impact Students, Staff, and Visitors

The REMS TA Center offers a variety of Federal agency partner resources related to planning for natural hazards that may affect school districts, schools, institutions of higher education (IHEs), community partners, and parents | More

Emergency Preparedness for K-12 Extracurricular Activities

The primary feature of emergency incidents is that when and where they happen is not predictable. An emergency can occur during any time of the school day and in any school or campus setting. Emergency management teams within schools, school districts, and institutions of higher education (IHE) have to account for a variety of settings and times when creating emergency operations plans (EOPs) to support their prevention, protection, mitigation, response, and recovery efforts. It is recommended that incident response and emergency planning teams within schools and IHEs and their community partners take steps to ensure that they consider the various settings and times unique to their school and campus communities when conducting scenario-based planning, drills, and tabletop exercises designed to help test EOPs and to enhance overall emergency management planning. | More

See More News & Updates from the REMS TA Center

Maine School of Science and Mathematics Welcomes New Director

Maine School of Science and Mathematics (MSSM) began classes in its 27th school year with Sam Critchlow, an alumnus of MSSM, as the school’s new interim Executive Director. After graduating from MSSM in 2001, Critchlow attended Amherst College and the University of New Hampshire.

He returns to the state following 14 years as a mathematics teacher and school leader at schools in the Rocky Mountains and northern New England, serving most recently as the founding Head of School at Bozeman Field School in Montana, and teaching at Montana State University.

Critchlow, who grew up on Peaks Island, said the following of his return: “It’s wonderful being back in Maine, and returning to a school that made an incredible impact on my life. The students, faculty, and staff represent some of the strongest talent in the state, and it’s a pleasure to serve them.”

This story was submitted as part of the Maine Schools Sharing Success Campaign. To submit a story or share good news, email Rachel at rachel.paling@maine.gov.

Maranacook & Bangor Adult Ed. Programs Partner to Offer FREE School Bus Driver Training

Regional School Unit (RSU) 38 and Bangor Adult Education Programs are offering commercial driver license (CDL) classes this September, November, and January free of charge for eligible students. The project aims to help fill a critical workforce need across Maine for school bus drivers. While there are 10 free spots available per month, September is almost full and they are actively recruiting for November 2021 and January 2022.

The project was initiated by Bangor Adult Education director Greg Leavitt and grew into a partnership with RSU 38 Adult Education Program Director Steve Vose. They are able to offer the free classes using funds from a workforce innovation grant through the Maine Department of Education’s Adult Education Team.

“This is an ‘innovative’ workforce grant so let’s innovate,” said Vose who has spent a lot of time over the past couple months recruiting, getting participants ready to start the class this month, while also planning and recruiting for November and January, and adapting the program to be responsive to the needs of prospective participants. He is setting up reading tutors, if needed, to help students have success both during and after course completion. They are also exploring ways to pay students a working wage while they take the class – this would enable students to sign on without worrying about taking a month off work.

“If we continue to do the same old things, we are going to continue to get the same old results,” added Vose.

The CDL (Class B) class prepares students to meet the Maine BMV Class B school bus driving requirements and consists of 42 hours of classroom instruction to prepare students for the state written and skills exam and 30 hours of driving instruction to prepare students for the state road test.

The classes will take place at 75 North Road in Readfield, with driving time arranged individually with students. Tentative November class dates are, Nov. 4 – Dec. 18 on Thursdays from 6:00pm – 9:00pm and Saturdays 8:00am – 2:30pm. January dates are yet to be determined.

For more information or if students are interested, contact Steve Vose at steve_vose@maranacook.com or call 207-242-8795.

This story is part of the Maine Schools Sharing Success Campaign. To submit a story or share good news, email Rachel at rachel.paling@maine.gov.

Get to Know the Maine DOE Team: Meet Valerie Seaman

Maine DOE team member Valerie Seaman is being highlighted this week as part of the Get to Know the Maine DOE Team Campaign. Learn a little more about Valerie in the question and answer below.

What are your roles with DOE?

I am an Office Associate II with the Office of Higher Education and Educator Support Services team. I handle postsecondary closed school transcript requests and initial and renewal licensure applications for proprietary schools.

What do you like best about your job?

The people I work with in my group. They are awesome! They make me want to do the very best at my job.

How or why did you decide on this career?

After almost seven years working at the BMV registering vehicles, issuing driving licenses, etc., I was ready for something new and different. The DOE seemed like the perfect fit since I still have the public interaction piece which I really do enjoy.

What do you like to do outside of work for fun?

Anything that involves the outdoors!

Special Education Staff Report (EF-S-05 Part 2) Now Open

The EF-S-05 Part 2 Special Education Staff FTE Certification Report is open for verification and certification from September 1, 2021 through November 15, 2021.

The report is used to verify the full-time equivalency (FTE) and qualification status of special education teachers, paraprofessionals (educational technicians), and related services personnel who were employed or contracted to provide special education services to students with disabilities ages 3 through 21.

The verification and certification process for the EF-S-05 Part 2 has changed. Modifications will no longer be made to the aggregate numbers of staff FTEs within the report. All modifications will need to be made to individual staff member records within NEO Staff. These modifications in NEO staff will automatically update the aggregate counts within the report and update the detail reports.

The EF-S-05 Part 2 Special Education Staff Report will need to be certified by the Special Education Director prior to the Superintendent’s certification of NEO staff.

The Maine Department of Education’s Special Services and Data teams will be holding a webinar regarding the EF-S-05 Part 2 on Tuesday, September 7^th at 11AM. No registration is required for this webinar, simply follow the Join Live link at the time of the webinar to join. Instructions for completing the report can be found at https://www.maine.gov/doe/data-reporting/collection/helpdesk/resources/data-reporting-instructions .

If you have trouble logging into NEO or have other technical issues, contact the help desk at 207-624-6896 or MEDMS.Helpdesk@maine.gov .

For questions about the EF-S-05 Part 2, contact Brandi Giguere at 207-446-6526 or brandi.a.giguere@maine.gov.

FREE Behavioral Threat Assessment Training

WHAT IS SCHOOL-BASED BEHAVIORAL THREAT ASSESSMENT?

Violence prevention strategy recommended by the U.S. Department of Education, U.S. Secret Service, and FBI.
Multidisciplinary team approach to identify behaviors of concern, assess the level of risk, and provide appropriate interventions.

COMPREHENSIVE SCHOOL THREAT ASSESSMENT GUIDELINES (CSTAG TRAINING)

Consists of 2 levels of training.
Level 1: 8 eLearning modules, taking approximately 6 hours, to be completed at your convenience asynchronously online. Training window opens on September 13, 2021.
Level 2: 4-hour Synchronous training to work through practice cases applying the methodology learned in the Level 1 training. September 29^th via Zoom from 9:00-1:00.

WHO SHOULD ATTEND?

School Resource Officers
School Administrators
Law Enforcement Responding to Schools
School Mental Health Providers/Social Workers/Psychologists
School Safety Teams
Juvenile Community Corrections Officers

HOW TO REGISTER?

Contact Karen Barnes, Threat Assessment/Mental Health Officer at the Maine School Safety Center karen.a.barnes@maine.gov for more information or to be added to the training roster.
Additional training dates TBA.

Seeking Maine Educators to Create Content for MOOSE

After a successful first year, MOOSE, Maine’s Online Opportunities for Sustained Education, platform continues to grow as the Maine Department of Education (DOE) looks to hire educators to create new content during the upcoming school year. Nearly 300 teacher-created, student-driven modules were created showcasing an interdisciplinary, project-based model of education. MOOSE provides students, families, and educators with learning experiences that are accessible, inclusive, and available free online.

While maintaining an interdisciplinary and project-based approach, this year the content created on MOOSE will focus on creating PreK-12 learning progressions of specific topics. The year will be broken into two, six-month creation sessions. The learning progression topics for the first six-month session will be STEAM, Career Development, Climate Education, History of Genocide and the Holocaust, and Computer Science.

We are looking for Maine educators, including but not limited to teachers, curriculum leaders and representatives from Maine educational community organizations such as museums, libraries, and educational centers, interested in creating content for one of the topic areas mentioned above. The module creation work begins September 20th and concludes on March 18th. Each topic will have a full-time team leader who will support participants in the creation of these learning progressions. Topic are content specialists will work with content creators to curate and create resources for the learning progressions. Finally, Maine DOE digital learning specialists will support content creators in developing their skills in digital lesson design and tools. Content creators will earn a stipend of $3000 for successful completion of the work.

You can access the application here.

If you are interested in applying but still have questions, the MOOSE team will be holding Q&A sessions via zoom on Wednesday, 9/1 and 9/9, from 3-4pm. Please select the date you are interested in attending to register.

To learn about the work completed in MOOSE’s first year, view our video here.

For more information about MOOSE please contact Beth Lambert, beth.lambert@maine.gov or Page Nichols, page.nichols@maine.gov.

United States Senate Youth Program Seeking Nominations from High School Principals

The United States Senate Youth Program (USSYP) is pleased to announce that the state departments of education nationwide have begun their annual selection processes. Two Maine students will be selected to attend the Washington Week program March 5-12, 2022 and each will receive a $10,000 undergraduate college scholarship. Each high school principal can nominate one student from their high school to be considered.

Students in Maine must submit their application and signed nomination via email to Joe Schmidt (joe.schmidt@maine.gov) no later than 11:59pm on October 15, 2021. All form, requirements, and additional information can be found at on the Maine Social Studies DOE Website. More about the program can be found on the National USSYP website.

The USSYP was created by Senate Resolution 324 in 1962 as stated in supporting Senate testimony from that year, “to increase young Americans’ understanding of the interrelationship of the three branches of government, the caliber and responsibilities of federally elected and appointed officials, and the vital importance of democratic decision making not only for America but for people around the world.”

Each year, this extremely competitive merit-based program brings 104 of America’s brightest high school juniors and seniors from every state, the District of Columbia, and the Department of Defense Education Activity, to Washington, D.C. for an intensive week-long study of the federal government and its leaders. The state departments of education throughout the country select the students through a rigorous nomination and selection process. Each of the 104 student delegates will also receive a $10,000 undergraduate college scholarship, with encouragement to continue coursework in history, government and public affairs. The Hearst Foundations have fully funded and administered the program since inception; as stipulated in S. Res. 324, no government funds are utilized.