RSU 34 Taps Retired Teacher to Train and Mentor New Educators

Submitted by Jeanna Tuell, Principal of Old Town Elementary School.

Retired teachers are a wealth of professional knowledge and wisdom. Although the days of retirement are exciting for our teachers, we have found a way to tap into our retired teachers and have them support the next generation of teachers.

In RSU 34, we are committed to our new teachers and their development by matching them with an experienced, outstanding retired teacher named Mary Bagley. Mary was a teacher in the district for 40 years and throughout her career was always on the cutting edge of instruction, curriculum, and assessment. When Mary thought it was time for her to step away from the classroom, we were not convinced and talked her into the position of professional support and coaching for our new teachers in our K-12 district.

It has been a match of support, professionalism, and chance for our new teachers to learn from a master teacher without the intensity of evaluation. We believe this model is an incredible connection between mentor and classroom teachers not experienced in many districts. The results have been phenomenal. Teachers feel supported in every aspect of their first years in the profession and have noted the tremendous support they have received with Mary coaching them through various instructional tangles.

Accomplished Bangor High School Alum Provides Interdiciplinary Art Lesson to Students

Submitted by Kathy Harris-Smedberg, Assistant Superintendent of Schools at Bangor School Department.

Bangor High School Teachers Emilie Throckmorton and Eva Wagner recently collaborated on a unit to connect students with nature. Both visual art and creative writing share a long history of artists being inspired by nature. Wagner and Throckmorton are nature enthusiasts and have a connection with artist eco-artist Mariah Reading, a Bangor High School and Bowdoin College graduate. Their unit culminated with an adventure to Schoodic Point where Reading is the Artist in Residence. Wagner brought her Sculpture class and Throckmorton brought her Creative Writing class.

When Wagner and Throckmorton realized that Reading was chosen to be an artist in residence in Maine, they both thought about what a wonderful opportunity it would be for their students to learn from her. Mariah is positive and energetic and her mere presence would be good for students to absorb. With help from grant writer, Cathleen Neslusan and the Friends of Acadia, the trip became possible.

The day started with a talk with the artist who discussed the reason behind her eco-centered art making. Reading finds trash found in national parks and other protected places and paints bold, colorful realistic landscapes onto them. She then photographs them in front of the landscape so they blend in seamlessly with the environment. Reading has always been inspired by nature but she realized when she was in college that her work was often creating more waste which led to more degradation of the environment. She decided to do something about it and then collected trash and used it as a substrate for her work. Her artwork was so striking and unique that it commanded more and more attention as she shared it on social media. Eventually with 7000 plus followers the art world started paying attention and Mariah got sponsorships.

After Reading’s inspiring and informative talk, the students headed out with their paints, and writing prompts in hand and found a beach to create on. Some students painted, some wrote and others collaborated on an Andy Goldsworthy inspired sculpture. The students seemed awestruck by the thunderous waves and rocky shores. Many had never been to Schoodic Point and some students had never visited the ocean before.

The students responded to the environment, worked together and learned from a contemporary artist that art can make a difference. What was especially important for these students was that Reading had also been a student at Bangor High School, it made her successes seem that much more attainable. A great day was had by all and Throckmorton and Wagner are convinced that students will remember this day for a long time.

Webinar to Assist with Annual Dropout Data Submission

To assist those who are responsible for the important task of reporting annual dropout data to the Department of Education, the DOE Data Team will be holding a webinar on Wednesday October 23^rd from 10am to 11am.

This webinar will focus on how to complete, validate and certify the Annual Dropout Report. If you are tasked with editing, validating or certifying the annual Dropout Report for your district or school, you are encouraged to attend. If you have any questions, comments or concerns in regards to this webinar, please do not hesitate to contact us at the MEDMS helpdesk at MEDMS.Helpdesk@Maine.gov or (207) 624-6896.

Please use the Registration URL and the Webinar ID: 785-724-819.

October is National Bullying Prevention Month

We know that Maine schools are actively working to ensure they are providing a safe and inclusive community in which all educators and students feel supported and can thrive. Bullying prevention takes a team effort, adult modeling and a commitment from the whole community. Educators, families, students and community members can work together to build safe, supportive learning environments for all Maine students.

National Bullying Prevention Month is the perfect time to talk about kindness, encourage and model inclusiveness, and review bullying prevention strategies. It is also a great time to ensure that any student experiencing bullying has a safe, effective way to access support from peers and trusted adults.

Here are some resources that may be of help in understanding, preventing, and addressing bullying in your community.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control’s comprehensive technical package on the prevention of violence and associated risk behaviors outlines effective prevention practices in 5 strategic areas:

Promoting family environments that support healthy development
Quality early childhood learning experiences with family engagement
Universal school based social emotional learning programs that strengthen youths’ skills
Programs and activities that connect youth to caring adults
Creating protective community environments

This resource also includes a section on interventions to lessen harm and prevent future risk.

The Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL)’s publication on social emotional learning and bullying prevention provides a detailed framework for addressing bullying as part of a school’s social emotional learning program.

Stomp Out Bullying is a comprehensive kid, teacher, and parent-friendly web resource offering:

A live Help Chat Line for youth seeking help with bullying situations
Resource pages for parents and educators
An upcoming resource section devoted to dealing with online cyberbullying.

Looking for homegrown Maine resources?

Crossroads Youth Center’s United Against Bullying Maine offers a bullying prevention school visitor program.

Visit the Creating Safe Maine Schools Coalition for an online guide to bullying prevention and safe schools programs and resources across the state.

For free, online professional development and model policy resources on preventing and responding to bullying, visit the DOE’s bullying prevention page.

Resources for Celebrating Indigenous Peoples’ Day in Schools

In recognition of Indigenous Peoples’ Day, Maine Department of Education would like to share resources and information that educators and schools can use to teach about Native American history and culture, as part of their classroom and school activities that commemorate this important holiday.

Indigenous Peoples’ Day is celebrated across the United States on the second Monday in October, this year the holiday will be celebrated on October 14th.

The Maine DOE has expanded its Maine Native American Resources webpage section to include robust historical and cultural information that honors Maine Native Americans, as well as resources that will help guide discussions about Indigenous Peoples’ Day, both in and outside of the classroom.

Get to know the DOE Team: Meet Paula Gravelle

Maine DOE Team member Paula Gravelle is being highlighted this week as the part of a Get to know the DOE Team campaign! Learn a little more about Paula in the brief question and answer below.

What are your roles with DOE?

I am the School Finance Manager on the School Finance and Operations Team. My role is primarily to facilitate the calculation of the Essential Programs and Services (EPS) School Funding model, which determines how much State funding each of the 266 School Administrative Units (SAUs) in Maine will receive each year. I am also tasked with processing the monthly payments for subsidy and construction aid for SAUs and Centers for Technology Education (CTEs), managing the DOE Vendor Codes for SAUs, assisting SAUs with school closures, withdrawals, school board apportionment, and assisting with the Education Service Centers and other efficiency initiatives.

What do you like best about your job?

I may be biased, but I believe I work on the best team at the DOE. School finance may seem boring to some, and we do take our jobs very seriously; after all, we are calculating over 2 billion dollars of State and local resources; but we also have fun and support each other every day. The best part of my job is being part of a dedicated, caring and supportive team within the DOE.

How or why did you decide on this career?

I believe God was grooming me for this career before I even knew it existed. I began working at the University of Southern Maine shortly after graduating from there with a Bachelor’s degree in Communication and a Minor in Business Administration. I worked for USM for 15 years, the last 8 of those years was with Dr. David Silvernail at the Center for Education Policy, Applied Research, and Evaluation (CEPARE), during the research and creation phase of the EPS funding formula. During this time, I was living in West Gardiner and traveling to Gorham every day; which got to be too much of a commute for me, so I started looking for something closer to home. After a brief time as the human resource manager for a small company in Augusta, I applied for the job here at the department. I was already familiar with the EPS funding formula from the work I had done at CEPARE, and I had worked with some of the people at the department during that time as well; so it seemed like a perfect fit. I have been in this position for over 9 years now, and I joke that it took me 6 years to finally understand the EPS formula; but honestly, I love my job, even if it can drive me crazy at times. And, I want to do it to the best of my ability, because I know it directly impacts tax payers, which includes me.

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

I care for my disabled mom, and share a home with her, two of my nephews, and my brother; which makes for a very busy home life. I am very involved with my church where I have been a member for over 16 years. I teach Sunday school to an amazing group of young ladies, I assist in the nursery, and they allow me to sing in the choir and ladies ensemble, although sometimes my alto voice sounds more like a bass. I am a big Patriots football fan, and enjoy watching games with friends when time allows.

Seeking Public Comment on Career and Technical Education Performance Indicators

In an effort to increase high quality CTE programs, Maine needs your input. The Maine Department of Education-Career and Technical Education Team has posted the proposed performance indicators for public comment as part of the Strengthening Career and Technical Education for the 21st Century Act(Perkins V). The performance indicators, referenced as Perkins V Accountability Measures, can be found on the DOE-CTE web site as well as a survey to allow for feedback. These will be posted for 60 days to allow for public comment, after which recommendations will be reviewed by the CTE Team. For more information, contact Dwight Littlefield at dwight.littlefield@maine.gov.

Opportunities to Lead and Participate In the 17th Annual MLTI Student Conference

Each year, the Department of Education’s Maine Learning Technology Initiative (MLTI) hosts the MLTI Student Conference. Over 1000 students and their teachers gather to engage in a day of learning and creating with technology. This year the event will be held at the University of Maine in Orono on Thursday, May 21^st, 2020 from 8:30am – 3pm. Details about opportunities to lead and participate in the day are below.

Registration

Last year, the Department received a significant amount of positive feedback regarding the new registration process. Educators said that knowing which sessions their students were going to ahead of time reduced uncertainty related to whether sessions would fill, the shuffling of chaperones, and how to prepare student devices for full participation in the session. They also really appreciated having name tags printed with all the session choices for each student. However, there was some feedback that the pressure to sort out student choices before registration filled created some frustration. We have worked to space out the registration process a bit more this year and hope you will mark the following dates on your calendar!

January 27^th, 2020: Session descriptions posted
(Time to check in with students)
March 2^nd, 2020: Registration open (up to 40 students per school)
March 30^th, 2020: Registration open for schools that want to add additional students (beyond the 40).
- Larger schools typically have developed a process to select the 40 students who are able to be registered in the first round (student leadership, fundraising, etc.). We encourage you to think about this now!
April 10^th, 2020: Last day to register
April 14^th, 2020: Final lists sent to schools for review
April 17^th, 2020: Last day to make changes to registration
April 20^th, 2020: File with T-shirt order and nametags sent to UMaine.
- While you can substitute students after this date, we will ask that they take the nametag and t-shirt of the student they are replacing. Late registration may be possible if there is space, though we can’t guarantee a personalized name tag and t-shirt.

Teacher Leaders

Applications Due Tuesday, October 22^nd, 2019

Link to Application: http://bit.ly/MLTI-sc-2020-teacher-app

Teacher Leaders will:

select the conference theme,
develop/lead UBER Session,
select session proposals, a -shirt winner, and student band(s)
setup before the conference, lead/facilitate during the day, and clean up after the event

Teacher Leaders will meet virtually ten (10) times and will need to have four (4) days outside of the classroom. Dates are below. Teacher leaders will receive travel reimbursement (mileage and hotel) and meals when they gather in person. They will also be eligible to earn up to 45 contact hours for their participation throughout the year.

Virtual Meetings on Wednesdays 3-4:30pm: 10/30, 12/18, 1/8, 1/22, 2/5, 2/26, 3/25, 4/8, 4/29, 5/13
All Day Meetings: Friday, December 6^th, 2019 and Friday, March 13^th, 2020 (location TBD)
Conference Setup: Wednesday, May 20^th, 2019 (University of Maine in Orono)
Conference Leadership: Thursday, May 21^st, 2020 (University of Maine in Orono)

Call for Proposals

Sessions will be one-hour long, must involve some form of creating, making, and doing, and should leave participants excited about what they learned and eager to share their experiences with others. Presentations that incorporate students as leaders or co-leaders with educators will be given priority!

Important Dates

Monday, November 4^th, 2019 – Call for Proposals open and theme announced
Tuesday, January 7^th, 2020 – Proposals due
Monday, January 13^th, 2020 – Sessions selected
Friday, January 17^th, 2020 – Sessions confirmed by presenters
Monday, January 27^th, 2020 – Sessions posted

Spread the word – if you know of someone doing fantastic work involving technology with making, doing, or storytelling please encourage them to submit a proposal or send an email with suggestions to MLTI.Project@maine.gov!

MLTI T-Shirt Design Competition

We encourage all students to submit designs to the MLTI T-shirt Design Competition. A panel of teacher leaders will narrow the list to five possible options and then will encourage other students to vote to pick the winner. Up to twenty (20) student artists will also win free registration to the conference.

Eligibility requirements, submission guidelines, and judging criteria will be posted on the DOE website in November.

Important Dates

Monday, November 4th, 2019 – Competition begins
Monday, February 24th, 2020 – T-shirt designs due
Monday, March 2nd, 2020 – T-shirt voting begins (with registration)
Friday, April 10th, 2020 – T-shirt winner announced

Musical Performance Opportunities

We will be looking for students to perform the National Anthem as well as music during other parts of the day—such as the UBER Session. More information will be available in November!

Important Dates

Monday, November 4^th, 2019 – Call open and theme announced.
Monday, February 24^th, 2020 – Applications due
Friday, April 10^th, 2020—Schools notified of application status.

Transportation

We encourage you to start planning for conference transportation soon and to consider sharing buses with other attending schools. If you need assistance with this, please contact MLTI.Project@maine.gov

For more information or answers to questions, please contact MLTI.Project@maine.gov or visit the MLTI Student Conference website.

Maine Officially Launches Harvest of the Month Program

The Maine Department of Education’s Child Nutrition Program is excited to announce the official launch of Maine’s Harvest of the Month (HOM) Program. The program was piloted in schools in Spring 2019 with participation from over 165 schools state-wide. The full roll out of the program begins this fall for School Year 2020.

PROGRAM BACKGROUND

Harvest of the Month (HOM) is a nationwide marketing campaign promoting the use of seasonally available, local products in schools, institutions, and communities. Each month, a different local product is highlighted and participating entities pledge to serve the product and promote it through educational materials and activities. The program launched in California and has been replicated by dozens of other states across the country. With Maine’s participation, all New England states now have Harvest of the Month programs.

FARMERS AND LOCAL PRODUCERS

One of the major goals of the Maine HOM program is to support Maine farmers and producers, and therefore Maine’s local economy. To help School Food Service Directors successfully source each month’s product, a list of participating producers has been created to help them connect with local farmers, providers, and distributors. Farmers and producers who provide HOM products to schools have the chance to be highlighted on the DOE website, HOM social media, etc. We would like to add more producers to the list for School Year 2020!

SCHOOL FOOD SERVICE

Participating School Food Service Directors are asked to take a pledge to serve the monthly HOM product at least two times per month in their cafeterias. In addition to this, they pledge to display HOM promotional materials, such as posters, fun facts, and stickers for students who have tried the HOM product. Featured recipes are also provided each month. They also agree to participate in evaluations so that local produce procurement can be tracked and to analyze the success of the program. Local products may be sourced directly from farms, farmer cooperatives, and distributors. When buying produce directly from a farm or farmer cooperative, School Food Service Directors may take advantage of the Local Produce Fund, which reimburses $1 for every $3 spent on local produce.

Agriculture and Education in Partnership

The Maine Department of Education and Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry have been exploring more ways to connect farmers and food producers with their local school districts. “School food service programs and local farms can go hand and hand, which is why the Maine Bureau of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry is pleased to collaborate with DOE’s Harvest of the Month program,” according to Nancy McBrady, Director of the Bureau of Agriculture, Food, and Rural Resources. “This program allows participating schools to purchase local, nutritious foods which helps boost farm incomes while educating students about local agriculture. The program directly links School Food Service Directors with participating farmers and producers in their community and the Bureau is thrilled that the Local Produce Fund can assist School Food Service Directors in ordering even more local produce. The Bureau encourages local producers to sign up to be a Harvest of the Month source for schools today!”

IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN BEING A HOM SOURCE FOR SCHOOLS,

CONTACT:

Robin Kerber
Farm and Sea to School Coordinator
robin.kerber@maine.gov

OR SIGN UP HERE ( www.maine.gov/doe/harvestofthemonth/producers)

Maine Schools Join Others Around The Nation to Recognize National School Bus Safety Week October 21-25

National School Bus Safety Week, scheduled October 21-25 this year, is a public education program that promotes school bus safety.

Nationally, each day about 480,000 school buses travel the nation’s roads transporting about 25,000,000 students to and from schools and school-related activities. This makes school buses the largest mass transportation program in the nation.

2019 National School Bus Safety Week theme: “My School Bus, The Safest Form of Student Transportation!”  The theme is derived from the Poster contest the year before.  The 2018 winning poster, depicted above, was drawn by Shivangi Ojha, an 8th Grader at Belton ISD in Temple, Texas.

In Maine, there are about 3,000 school buses traveling about 30,000,000 miles per year and delivering about 140,000 students. While national ridership of school buses is about fifty percent, about eighty percent of Maine students ride the school bus. Local school transportation teams throughout Maine will educate the public about school bus safety and local transportation safety training during National School Bus Safety Week.

Transportation is a great equalizer in education, providing students from all economic backgrounds with the opportunity to learn and succeed. Additionally, as pointed out by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration U.S. Department of Transportation, “School buses are by far the safest way for children to get to and from school.”

School buses are specifically designed and engineered for safety in order to protect occupants against crashes and incidents on the road. Nearly every part of a school bus has higher standards of safety when compared to ordinary cars. The following school bus safety features are not found on any other passenger vehicle:

School bus seats are above the crash line so that the impact of a vehicle colliding with a school bus hits beneath the seated passengers
Passenger seating and crash protection are required for school bus seating systems
A steel cage around the fuel tank that provides bus fuel system integrity
Emergency exits are provided by way of doors, windows and roof hatches
Bus body joint strength that specifies the minimum strength of the joints between panels of the bus body and the body structure
Rollover protection that specifies the minimum structural strength of buses in rollover-type crashes

More information about National School Bus Safety Week can be found here: https://www.napt.org/nsbsw

For information about school transportation policy, contact Transportation and Facilities Administrator Pat Hinckley at pat.hinckley@maine.gov

The National School Bus Safety Week public education program is sponsored by the National Association of State Directors of Pupil Transportation Services (NASDPTS), National School Transportation Association (NSTA), National Association for Pupil Transportation (NAPT), Pupil Transportation Safety Institute (PTSI) and school bus manufacturers and suppliers.