EPS High-Cost Out-of-District Report (EF-S-214) Open for Reporting on March 1, 2020

The EF-S-214, also known as the EPS High-Cost Out-of-District Report, will be open for reporting by Maine public schools on March 1 in the Department’s NEO Portal. This report is Due April 15, 2020.

We strongly encourage users to sign into the report as early as possible to allow time for data entry and completion of the two-step submission process. To provide state subsidy support in the current fiscal year using information provided on the report, Department staff needs time to review and approve the information by April 15.

Adjustments to the Special Education High-Cost Out-of-District allocation, which impacts state subsidy, will be based on costs which exceed the following:

$18,076 for placements in Regional Special Education Programs,
$27,114 for placements in other school administrative units, and
$36,152 for placements in private schools.

Below are a few important things to note about the EF-S-214 report:

School units will need to project the tuition cost for the full fiscal year.
This report is required for all publicly funded school units, including units that do not meet the High-Cost Out-of-District (HCOOD) tuition threshold. If your SAU does meet the HCOOD threshold, please submit as “no students to report”

The report can be located by logging into NEO at: https://neo.maine.gov/DOE/NEO/Accounts/Account/Login

Navigate to→ Special Education → Forms → EFS-214

Questions about the report should be direct to Stephanie Clark, Fiscal Compliance Specialist for the Maine Department of Education, at 207-624-6807 or Stephanie.clark@maine.gov.

Calling All Teachers of Social Studies Content PK-12!

With the emphasis on teaching about Maine Native Americans as part of the revised Maine Learning Results for Social Studies, Joe Schmidt, Social Studies Specialist at Maine Department of Education, continues to gather data from educators in the field in order to best support their efforts.

If you are a teacher of social studies content in grades pk-12, please complete this brief, anonymous survey no later than the end of the day on Thursday, February 20. Please share with others in your school as necessary.

Take Survey!

Increase Efficiencies and Savings- Efficiency Maine Offering Financial Incentives to Maine Schools

Many Maine schools have partially upgraded to LED lighting, but many older, less efficient lighting fixtures remain. Efficiency Maine is hoping to retire those old fixtures once and for all through this program, available only to public schools (K-12) in Maine. By upgrading to LEDs you’ll enjoy years of better lighting quality, reduced maintenance costs, energy savings, and more.

For a limited time, Efficiency Maine has enhanced the financial incentives to convert old, inefficient school lighting to LEDs. Funding will be provided as an incentive of $0.30/kWh saved (first-year savings) capped at $100,000 per school district. Efficiency Maine will conduct three webinar presentations this month to inform interested parties on the specifics of this Funding Opportunity Notice.

To learn more about the Funding Opportunity Notice, and to register for an informational webinar, please click here.

NAMI-Maine offers Youth Mental Health First Aid Training to Schools at No Cost!

The Office of School and Student Supports in the Department of Education recognizes that our schools and their staff are working hard every day to respond to the varying academic, social, physical, and emotional needs of their students. The Opioid Prevention Task Force, created by Governor Mills’ Executive Order No. 2,identified the need to broadcast and advertise resources available through the Maine Chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) to schools as one way to support school personnel in their work to respond to the social and emotional needs of students.

In 2017, a law was passed that requires school administrative units to establish a youth mental health first aid training program for health educators in secondary schools. According to MRS Title 20-A, §6671, if funding is available, SAUs are required to have their secondary schools’ health education staff trained in Youth Mental Health First Aid (YMHFA). NAMI-Maine is excited to be able to offer the evidence-based YMHFA training to any school staff across the state. Through funding from the Maine Masonic Charitable Foundation, NAMI-Maine is able to provide these trainings at no cost to schools. Further, NAMI Maine is able to deliver a comprehensive offering of youth mental health programming to both staff and students. For more information, please visit the NAMI-Maine Educator Resources page, or contact the Youth Mental Health Programs Coordinator at ymhfa@namimaine.org or 622-5767 ext. 2320.

NAMI Online Resource Library

FREE Trauma Informed Readiness and Response Workshop – 2nd Location Added

The Maine Department of Education (MDOE), in partnership with event sponsor University of New England (UNE), is holding a repeat event due to the great response and success of our January Trauma Informed Readiness and Response Workshop.

Interested schools who are ready to pull together their schools’ Response and Readiness Plan, and who have not already participated in this workshop, are encouraged to apply for this FREE event, scheduled for Thursday, March 19th, 2020 at UNE, Innovation Hall located at 772 Stevens Ave Portland.

About the Workshop

Selected school teams will participate in an interactive workshop with their team of three. The day will be focused on Trauma Informed Response and Readiness, with the outcome of each team developing their own plan, or Road Map, that will help guide their school in these areas. Selected teams are eligible for mileage reimbursement and stipends for any substitutes needed for this event.

Participation Details

This event pulls from our January wait list, so if you have previously applied, you need not apply again. In addition, there is still room for new applications! Based on demand for this event, MDOE may explore future locations to replicate this informative and collaborative event.

Please submit your application through the link below for consideration by Friday, February 28, 2020. A few things to note for this event:

Only school level teams will be accepted, districts are welcome to apply for more than one team, however all exercises are intended for school level preparedness. Schools will sit together at the event.
As this event is slated to reach capacity, unfortunately, teams should consist of a minimum and maximum of 3; please ensure one of the three is listed as the primary contact for the event.
All accepted applications will be placed in the order they are received, until event capacity is reached. MDOE requests that any changes in the applicant’s ability to participate be relayed as soon as possible to allow others to move up on the list.
Schools interested in applying should access their readiness for the intensive work planned during this workshop. A good resource for acquiring some initial understanding around this topic can be found at: http://www.cassieyackleypsyd.com/creating-trauma-sensitive-schools-a-primer.html
Selected teams should bring with them a school invoice for any mileage or substitute costs they would like reimbursed.

Trauma Informed Readiness and Response Workshop Agenda

8:00 – 8:30 am ~ Registration / Coffee
8:30 – 9:15 am ~ Welcome and Introduction, Expectations/ Overview
9:15 – 9:45 am ~ Trauma Informed Practices: Take Home Seminars
9:45 – 10:00 am ~ Break
10:00 – 11:15 am ~ Trauma Informed Perspective and School Culture
11:15 am – 12:00 pm ~ Trauma Informed Readiness and Preparation Road Map Intro
12:00 – 12:45 pm ~ Lunch
12:45 – 1:30 pm ~ Mental Health Systems: fmr. Chief Justice John Broderick
1:30 – 2:15 pm ~ Team Development of TIRR Road Map
2:15 – 2:30 pm ~ Break
2:30 – 3:00 pm ~ Team Planning Process for Continuing the Road Map at Your School
3:00 – 3:30 pm ~ Trauma Informed Practices: Take Home Seminars
3:30 – 4:00 pm ~ Resources and Next Steps

APPLY NOW! (https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/KFG77KJ)

For more information, please reach out to Bear Shea, LCSW with our Office of School and Student Supports at w.bear.shea@maine.gov.

James H. Bean School Gets Creative with “The Final Countdown Food Drive”

James H. Bean School (JBS) fifth graders organized the annual food drive for the Sidney Food Pantry centered around the Super Bowl this year.

Students were encouraged to bring in non-perishable food items to be be delivered to the food pantry. Items were placed in a grocery cart either labeled the Kansas City Chiefs or the San Francisco 49ers. Whichever cart had the most food items in it would be JHB’s prediction for the team that will win the Super Bowl on Sunday, Feb. 2.

The cans were counted and the results were:

Kansas City Chiefs – 201 items
San Francisco 49ers – 376 items.

JHB’s prediction was clear – San Francisco 49ers were predicted to be the Super Bowl LIV Champs!

Even though the prediction was not correct, JHB still collected 577 items for the Sidney Food Pantry. They extend a special thanks to everyone who participated.

This story was provided by Keith, Assistant Superintendent of Schools/Chief Academic Officer for Regional School Unit No. 18 as part of the Maine Schools Sharing Success campaign. To submit a story or idea, email it to Rachel Paling at rachel.paling@maine.gov,

State Collaboration Helps Improve Early Childhood Programs in Maine

Through an ongoing partnership between the Maine Department of Education (DOE) and the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), the Office of Child and Family Services (OCFS), a subset of DHHS has been working to proactively plan for an anticipated $550 million increase in federal funding for the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) program.

Through knowledge gleaned from the needs assessment and strategic plan of the Preschool Development Grant (PDG), a grant program administered by the Maine DOE in 2019. OCFS has been able to do advanced planning and implementation work to best meet the specific needs of Maine children and families. In addition to using information from the PDG program, OCFS also worked with other state level partners such as the Children’s Cabinet, and the Bipartisan Policy Center.

“I want to extend a well-deserved congratulations to our partners at DHHS for the amazing work they do,” said Maine Education Commissioner Pender Makin. “This is a testament to how vital our partnerships are with other state agencies and with our schools as we work to improve and expand Maine’s early childhood education programs.”

For more information about the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) program, including information about the implementation plan, visit the OCFS website.

Williams Elementary School Uses Let’s Go! Mini Grant to Create Sensory Path

Williams Elementary School (WES) has been awarded a $416 Let’s Go! Mini-Grant from Northern Light Inland Hospital to support their Let’s Go! Work. Let’s Go! 5-2-1-0 is a state-wide obesity prevention initiative working with communities to create environments that support healthy choices.

WES will be using the grant to create a sensory path with decals in their school hallways for all grade levels. This sensory path will give students an opportunity to release energy and tension by travelling through a series of physical movements like hopping, skipping, balancing, jumping and stretching while improving their ability to learn.

Staff at the Burchard A. Dunn School in MSAD 15 Team Up to Improve Student Inclusion in Pre-K

Beginning last September, a team of twelve dedicated staff members from MSAD 15 in Gray – New Gloucester and Child Development Services in Cumberland County joined forces with the Maine Department of Education, Child Development Services (CDS), The University of Maine Center for Community Inclusion and Disability Studies (CCIDS) and Maine Roads to Quality Professional Development Network (MRTQ PDN) to learn ways to improve their current inclusion practices within their three public Pre-K classrooms. “We’re doing this for the kids, everything we do is with their best interest in mind,” one preschool teacher noted when asked why they originally signed up for this professional learning opportunity.

Team members included district administration, special education staff, classroom teachers and their education technicians as well as an itinerant special education teacher from Child Development Services (CDS) Reach. The initiative included a continuum of professional development strategies from knowledge and skill building through individual and group training to guided reflective practice and application opportunities. School district team members started by completing a self-paced on-line training entitled Inclusive Environments in Public Pre-K. Next, the whole team participated in a one-day kick-off event hosted at Educare Central Maine in Waterville. This orientation session provided participants with a chance to meet the trainer and consultants, learn more about the education and support components and discuss the key indicators of high- quality indoor and outdoor classroom environments covered during the on-line training. After the orientation session, team members participated in the MRTQ PDN 30-hour Creating Inclusive Early Childhood Settings on-line training while also receiving onsite consultation visits and participating in a Professional Learning Community (PLC) lead by two CCIDS consultants.

In January, all partners convened at the school to discuss the process, tour the classrooms and present their learning. External evaluators from Early Childhood Associates in Massachusetts conducted focus groups to gain more specific feedback about the professional learning and its impact. Participants noted:

“Working together with a specific early childhood focus strengthened our team and our work.”

“Having administrators involved was REALLY valuable!”

The teams were awarded $1,500 mini-grants for each pre-k classroom to enhance inclusivity. The funding came from a federally awarded Pre-K grant Maine received in 2019. The mini-grants were used to purchase sensory materials, equipment, furniture and other enhancements such as lighting, flooring and sinks! Comments from participants demonstrate the impact of the professional learning:

“I am internally motivated to attend IEP meetings and say, yes, Dunn School has everything we need to service your child.”

“My students seem happier, they’re excited, I feel comfortable meeting them where they’re at.”

“We didn’t know what we didn’t know!”

The Maine Department of Education in partnership with CDS, CCIDS and MRTQ PDN is considering ways to continue this project with other interested districts throughout Maine. As opportunities become available, notification will be provided to the field!

MASL Webinars Begin for Maine’s School Librarians

MASL Webinars Begin for Maine’s School Librarians

The Maine Association of School Libraries (MASL) is pleased to announce it will be providing a webinar series for school librarians over the coming months. Jon Graham, Maine DOE’s Elementary Digital Learning Specialist, will be assisting with the development of the series. The webinars will include topics like Overdrive e-books and audiobooks, classroom management in the school library, and their first topic, Makerspaces in the Elementary School Library. This webinar will be available live on Monday March 2 from 7pm to 8pm.

After the success of the 2019 Spring Symposium, and after receiving feedback from many librarians supporting a webinar format, the Board for the Maine Association of Libraries (MASL) has decided to take a one-year hiatus from hosting conferences to instead focus on providing high quality professional development for their members via technology. They also intend to resume their annual Spring Symposium conference beginning in 2021, which will be their only annual conference moving forward.

Makerspaces: In the Elementary School Library

The maker movement hit libraries in a big way. But how can an elementary library with little hands, limited budgets, and tight schedules embrace it? MASL Webinars is tackling that topic in a panel discussion with a group of educators taking different paths to the common goal of helping our learners become the creators and innovators of the next century. One contact hour will be awarded to participants.

This free webinar will be recorded and made available to MASL Members. Membership is $25/year. Registration for the webinar is available at: http://maslibraries.org/event-3713260

Facilitators: