The Maine Department of Education is eager to support school administrative districts (SAUs) as they plan for summer programming, especially in response to the pandemic. The engagement of community organizations thatshare ourdesire to support youth will be critical in creating meaningful and engaging summer opportunities for students. Collectively, we recognize that students may have acute academic, social/emotional, and engagement needs in the coming months and into the next school year. The Department is interested in a conversation to learn more about the possibilities for partnerships between SAUs and community organizations to support students.
The Department invites local, non-profit organizations that have an interest in supporting SAUs in their planning, and possible programming, to join a conversation with Department representatives to:
Understand the Department’s perspective on “learning recovery”
Share ideas of successful community partnerships to generate ideas going forward
Understand how the American Recovery Plan Act – Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund III resources can be utilized
The Maine Compass Career Collaborative virtual experience will open to all of Maine’s middle and high school students, free of charge, on April 26, 2021.
GEAR UP Maine and JMG are partnering to create the Maine Compass Career Collaborative, an on-demand career and post-secondary resource for Maine’s students in grades 7 through 12. The site will be universally accessible to all middle school and high school students in Maine.
“This is not a one-time event. The site will always be ‘open’ with on-demand resources to help students develop real-world skills and explore all of the post-secondary and career pathway opportunities that exist in Maine,” explains Debbie Gilmer, President of Syntiro, the non-profit organization that leads Maine’s GEAR UP grant. GEAR UP Maine is a statewide initiative, in collaboration with the University of Maine at Farmington, to support students on pathways to high school graduation and post-secondary education.
The site will include information about Maine’s public university and community college systems, private colleges such as Thomas College, and other programs that support post-secondary education such as the Bridge Academy and the Alfond Scholarship Foundation. It will also provide an on-going resource for students to learn the wide variety and increasing number of post-secondary credentials offered directly by Maine’s employers such as the E.J. Prescott UP training program.
“We wanted to include the word “Collaborative” in the title of the Maine Compass Career Collaborative because we are actively seeking partners to join us in this effort. It will launch as soon as students return from spring break, but we will continue to add content in the coming months and it will be free to students,” says Craig Larrabee, CEO and President of JMG. “In addition to being informational, it’s also going to be a lot of fun for students. We look forward to welcoming more partners as we continue to build this platform.”
The Maine Compass Career Collaborative will include a post-secondary exploration hall, an employer engagement experience, financial literacy education, information about how to write a resume and apply for college and jobs, digital literacy resources, including how students can be their own brand ambassadors, and additional support such as public speaking and professional dress guides.
Registration for the platform will open on April 26, 2021 and links to the Maine Career Compass Collaborative will be posted on the JMG web site (www.jmg.org) and the GEAR UP Maine web site (www.gearupme.org). The site is free of charge to all middle and high school students in Maine, and any educators who are supporting them.
Carmon Parker, a special education teacher at Harriet Beecher Stowe (HBS) Elementary School in Brunswick has always wanted families to feel connected and supported through her Social Emotional Behavioral program. Whenclassroom-based learning was paused in March of 2019 at the onset of COVID-19, shereally felt these values intensify.
Pre-pandemic photos from the HBS Social Emotional Behavioral program:
Lisa Bryant (a.k.a. “The Goat”), co-teacher and right-hand woman working closely with Ms. Parker in the HBS Social Emotional Behavioral program.
Carmen Parker with one of her students.
Lisa Bryant with one of her students.
Not being able to see her students gave her a sense of helplessness becauseit meant that it would be that much harder to able to maintain those critically important connections with her students. Like many teachers and school administrators, Ms. Parker quickly shifted gears to helptake the pressure of “keeping up” off her students’ plates and the fear of regression off theirfamily’sminds. She focused on staying connected in creative ways since they couldn’t physically be together.
She did this at first by scheduling zoom meetings where she worked with students on mindfulness practices, emotional regulation, and social skills. “These meetings were also a time for students and families to ask questions, to help ease anxieties, and constantly reassure and remind students that one day we would all be together again,” said Ms. Parker.
Along with classroom zoom meetings, they also made scheduled times to include other school community members that students had meaningful relationships with including teachers, administrators, and staff members that students saw on a regular basis around school. She even helped organize a birthday car parade for one of the students.“I believe this helped us all feel that we were still together, even when apart,” recalls Ms. Parker.
As zooms became the norm and hybrid class schedules started to take shape in schools across Maine, Ms. Parker continued to adapt to the situation too, by making in-person time as productive and positive as possible while also taking advantage of time outside of the classroom to maintain relationships and add an extra layer of learning with her students.
Thinking ahead during the initial building closures in the spring, Ms. Parkerwrote and received a Brunswick Community Education Foundation Grant that allowed her to order calming sensory items for her classrooms (humidifiers, essential oils, sound machines, etc.) which she hasused to improve in-class experiences for students in her program.
Pumpkin Shadow Boxes
Music
Jessica Pelletier (Speech & Language Pathologist) during the Harry Potter Halloween party.
Matt McGreevy and Jelly, a therapy dog that helps out at HBS.
Harry Potter Halloween Party
Cake Pop Universe
In addition, with the support and help from the families of her students, she wasable to create safe outdoor learning experiences that helped bolster relationship building, among so many other positive learning and experiential opportunities for her students (and her). Ms. Parker spent many weekends connecting with her students and their families around activities that they could all enjoy together like surfing and skiing. “Her commitment and care for her students during an exceptionally challenging time has helped them to be resilient. They feel safe and supported and Ms. Parker has gone above and beyond to make sure they feel the love,” a parent said.
surfing
skiing
skiing
Kevin Fisher building a tiny town for Godzilla to crush (SEB special education teacher)
skiing
surfing
Cross country skiing for the Outdoor Excursion Program for the Brunswick Rec. Department
In reflecting back on the many changes that came along with the COVID-19 pandemic, Ms. Parker writes that, “the silver linings that have come from this are having more time to connect and build relationships with families, further strengthening relationships with students, and channeling my energies into what and who brings me joy.”
“Being apart from my students and team (my best friends) was the hardest thing I’ve ever gone through. It forced me to explore other passions such outdoor activities and photography. Our first day back at school, after 186 days of being apart, I shared pictures with my students of all the adventures I had. With the main message being, they would always be my greatest one.”
Family Engagement Activity – Capture Your Beauty:
Information for this article was provided by Carmon Parker and a parent of one of her students as part of the Maine Schools Sharing Success Campaign. The Maine Schools Sharing Success Campaign is an avenue for Maine schools to celebrate successes and share innovative ideas, practices, and models that can be adapted and easily implemented by other Maine schools. Stories are not an endorsement of specific materials, services, or practices and are not intended to promote learning programs that are of cost to students, families, or schools. To submit a story or an idea, email it to Rachel at rachel.paling@maine.gov.
Have you ever wondered what Job Corps was all about? Well, here’s your chance to find out!
Job Corps is a free Career Technical Training program that is federally funded through the Department of Labor for 16-24 year-olds (the upper age limit may be waived for a student with a verifiable disability). Some of the Career Technical Trainings available are welding, carpentry, culinary arts, CNA, and many more. Eligible students can also earn their HS diploma and stay on center, free of charge, while they work towards completion of their trade. The two centers in Maine are in Bangor (Penobscot Job Corps) and Limestone (Loring Job Corps).
Information sessions hosted by Maine’s Job Corps office will be held on April 13th at 1pm or April 29th at 3:00PM on Google Meets. Registration is required at which time link and logon information for the session will be sent via email.
The Maine Department of Education is excited to share that registration for the 18th Annual MLTI student conference is open!
The conference will be held on May 20th, in virtual format, and it is FREE to Maine students in grades 4-12! The virtual student conference will be online on Thursday, May 20th from 9:00 AM – 2:00 PM. The morning will be filled with interactive workshop sessions where students will be able to explore, engage, and create with exciting educational technology. The afternoon UBER session will be a collaborative design experience.
Since this is during a school day student registration must be coordinated by a teacher. Teachers are encouraged to organize student groups to attend the conference. Registration forms must include a teacher’s contact information, school, and student names.
For more information or to register please visit: https://www.maine.gov/doe/learning/ltt/conference
Registrations completed by Friday, May 7th will receive an early registration conference gift.
The Maine Department of Education is seeking educators to create learning modules for MOOSE, Maine’s Online Opportunities for Sustained Education. MOOSE is an initiative that is grounded in innovation and made possible by technology. Learn with MOOSE is committed to creating learning experiences for students that are accessible and inclusive of all learners, and serves to provide anytime, anywhere learning options and resources for educators, students and their families. Integrated across subject areas and project-based, these asynchronous modules ensure that learning is active, engaging, and continuous.
As a content creator of the Learn with MOOSE initiative, you will embark on an innovative instructional design journey that will push the bounds of your professional skillset. Grounded in inclusive design, MOOSE modules are created to meet Universal Design for Learning and to be accessible for all learners, regardless of ability.
Participants must be Maine educators, including but not limited to teachers, curriculum leaders and Maine educational community organizations such as museums, libraries, and educational centers. The module creation work begins April 19th and concludes on July 2nd. Each participant will be trained in a-synchronous instructional design by Maine DOE digital learning specialists, as well as supported in their content by Maine DOE content specialists. Stipends of $1000 will be provided for successful completion of the project.
The Maine Department of Education(DOE) is asking that School Administrative Units (SAUs) who anticipate changes to school configurations for school year 2021-2022 to notify us by May 1, 2021, or within 3 days of the school board’s final approval of the change. The superintendent of the SAU that is effected by the change must send an email to MEDMS.Helpdesk@maine.gov to notify the Maine Department of Education of the circumstances that may warrant a new school ID.
Reasons requiring notification include, but are not limited to:
Lack of need school closure
Change in grade configuration
Split of school
Merging of schools
The email should include the school(s) that displaced students will attend in the next school year, if applicable. The Data Reporting Coordinator and the Education Data Manager will analyze the data and documentation, and coordinate with the superintendent of the SAU to make a final decision as to whether or not new school ID(s) will need to be created due to the changes in configuration.
If you have any questions, comments or concerns in regards to this communication, please feel free to contact us at the MEDMS Helpdesk at MEDMS.Helpdesk@Maine.gov or (207) 624-6896.
Please share this information from DHHS Office of Child and Family Services’ (OCFS) with your school communities.
Are you a family in need of support for the cost of child care? The Office of Child and Family Services’ (OCFS), based in Maine’s Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), administers the Child Care Subsidy Program (CCSP) which helps eligible families to pay for child care so they can work, go to school or participate in a job training program.
Eligible families must meet the income guidelines and at least one of the following activities: work, school, and/or job training program. The CCSP is available for children ages 6 weeks to 13 years, as well as for children with identified special needs or under court supervision up to age 19. For more information on CCSP please visit: https://www.maine.gov/dhhs/ocfs/ec/occhs/step.htm
Through the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriation Act (CRRSA) Child Care Development Block Grant (CCDBG), CCSP will be waiving copayments from 03/27/21 through 03/25/22 or until funding is no longer available. CCSP will be reimbursing providers for the full amount of care based on individual award letters. For more information on OCFS’s CRRSA strategies please read the following: https://www.maine.gov/dhhs/ocfs/documents/covid-19/CRRSA%20Funding%20Strategies.pdf
Each year the Maine Curriculum Leader’s Association (MCLA) recognizes and celebrates passionate, dedicated leaders who have championed learner centered practices in their learning communities as well as in the larger Maine education community. The Curriculum Leader of the Year (CLOY) and Instructional Coach of the Year (ICOY) selection committees are welcoming nominations between now and April 30th.
Selection Timeline:
April 1, 2021: Nominations open
April 30, 2021: Nominations close
May 2021: Selection Committees review nominations
June 1, 2021: CLOY and ICOY announced
July 1, 2021: CLOY and ICOY begin 1yr term on MCLA Board
The selection committees include previous CLOYs and ICOYs, MCLA Board members, and Instructional Coaching CoOp members.
For information about nomination requirements and process please visit the MCLA Website.
The Maine DOE Child Nutrition team has been working on creating resource materials to advocate for and promote participation in school meal programs. The project is aimed to support the DOE’s goal to combat childhood food insecurity by ensuing all Maine children have access to healthy school meals. The child nutrition team has released a new resource to be used by classroom teachers as a tool to support these goals as well.
The resource contains information on the benefits of school meal programs and specific ways teachers can promote these programs. It includes comprehensive information, tips, and nutrition talking points that teachers can incorporate in their classrooms. We hope this can serve as a tool to spread a positive message about nutrition programs, and end the lunchtime stigma many students face.
The link can be downloaded and printed, or distributed to teachers digitally.
This link can be distributed to classroom teachers to spread a positive message about our child nutrition programs and increase student participation! School meals are a vital learning tool for our students’ success, and we are looking forward to further spreading this message across our state’s classrooms and cafeterias! Additional meal participation promotional materials is forthcoming and will be made available on the Child Nutrition website.
Maine DOE Newsroom 