Committees forming for assessment system development

In the continuing process of developing a new assessment system, Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium has announced the next opportunity for Maine educators to participate.  As a governing member of SBAC, Maine is afforded the opportunity to invite educators to participate in the process of reviewing test items and performance tasks for the 2013 Pilot Test.

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Deering grad makes major league baseball

Deering High graduate Ryan Flaherty made the Baltimore Orioles' opening day roster this year.
Deering High graduate Ryan Flaherty made the Baltimore Orioles’ opening day roster this year. When Ryan attended Lyseth Elementary, one of his teachers, Ron Penney, encouraged his love of baseball.

Ryan Flaherty, a 2005 graduate and standout athlete of Deering High School in Portland, completed his journey to the major leagues this year when he made the Baltimore Orioles’ opening day roster.

Flaherty grew up in the North Deering neighborhood, attending Lyseth Elementary School and Lyman Moore Middle School. At Lyseth, he forged a special relationship with one of his teachers, Ron Penney. “He would always talk baseball with me,” Flaherty recalled. “I just related to him really well, and I respected the man a lot.”

In high school, Flaherty lettered in three sports – football, basketball and baseball – and he captained the 2005 football team. Flaherty was a member of one football team and two Deering baseball teams that won state championships, and he helped lead Nova Seafood to the 2004 American Legion World Series Championship.

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Virtual learning center a success for family literacy program

Commissioner Stephen Bowen meets Jack Wheeler, recent graduate of the SPICE Family Literacy Program.
Commissioner Stephen Bowen meets Jack Wheeler, recent graduate of the SPICE Family Literacy Program, which enabled Jack to work and spend time with his family while finishing his high school degree from home.

With the press of a button, members of more than a dozen families in RSU 3 can transport themselves to the halls of Mount View High School – the virtual halls, that is. Select families in 11 Waldo County towns can enroll in this virtual learning center, which opened in 2010 as part of the Students and Parents in Cooperative Education (SPICE) Family Literacy Program that aims to overcome issues of rural isolation.

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Online bomb threat reporting form available

UPDATED: Pat Hinckley is the new Maine DOE contact for all issues related to bomb threats. Please see her contact information below.

In the instance of a bomb threat, public schools and private schools in which at least 60 percent of students are enrolled at public expense are required by law to notify the Commissioner of the threat within two business days.

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Sanford students nationally recognized for plastic bag recycling project

Sanford Junior High eighth graders competed nationally in the Siemen's We Can Change the World Challenge with their project aimed to decrease plastic bag use.
Sanford Junior High eighth graders competed nationally in the Siemen’s We Can Change the World Challenge with their project aimed to decrease plastic bag use.

Four eighth graders at Sanford Junior High School in Sanford were selected as national finalists in the Siemen’s We Can Change the World Challenge for their campaign to reduce the use of disposable plastic bags.

The students – Brianna Doyal, Alexandra Kruscek, Mariah Anderson and Seth Sprague – call themselves the “Plastiks.” Their service learning project took off last year in seventh and eighth grade teacher Barbara Perry’s social studies class. These four students were chosen to continue their work with Perry and Deb Rosa, Sanford technology integrator, this year. The Plastiks were named state champions for Maine.

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Kindergartners perform original song at Celebration of Arts Education

AUGUSTA – Governor LePage recognized students from Bangor Elementary and Middle Schools for their artwork during the Celebration of Arts Education at the Blaine House on June 6. Education Commissioner Stephen Bowen, Maine’s First Lady Ann LePage and Chair of the State Board of Education James Banks joined the ceremony.

Three kindergarten students from the Fruit Street School – Callie Tennett, Alexander Montano-Smith and Oscar Croce – performed a song they created with the guidance of their music teacher, Anne Chamberlain-Small, at the ceremony.

Thirty-nine pieces of student artwork from Bangor have been on public display since April. The student artwork is viewable online or can be seen in person during office hours at the Maine Department of Education, fifth floor of the Cross Building, in Augusta.

Resources and more information

MUSER procedural safeguards now in translation

The Department has translated the Maine Unified Special Education Regulations Procedural Safeguards into seven languages: Arabic, French, Khmer, Mandarin Chinese, Somali, Spanish and Vietnamese. The translations are available at www.maine.gov/doe/specialed/laws/proceduralsafeguards/.

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