Commission on Educational Opportunity for Military Children Meeting

The next meeting of the Commission on Educational Opportunity for Military Children will be held virtually on Wednesday October 27th at 9:00am. Interested parties may email Tyler Backus at tyler.backus@maine.gov to receive the agenda, meeting materials, and instructions on how to attend the meeting.

All 50 states, plus the District of Columbia, belong to the Military Interstate Children’s Compact Commission (MIC3). Each state appoints a council to oversee the implementation of the Compact at the state level.

States that sign on to the Compact commit to doing what it takes to:

Enroll children of military families at their new schools as quickly and seamlessly as possible, even in the absence of normally required official records and immunizations; and
Ensure that students with parents in the Armed Forces stay on track to graduate on time, even when such students’ academic records don’t comply perfectly with local graduation requirements.

More information about MIC3 is available at http://www.mic3.net/ or https://www.maine.gov/doe/military

Virtual Training Session on Submitting English Learner Data on Oct. 5

The Maine Department of Education (DOE) Data team will be holding a training session on October 5th at 1pm to discuss how School Administrative Units (SAUs) and private schools should be submitting English Learner data to the state.

The target audience for this training includes both data coordinators and English Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) educators. We will have April Perkins, Maine DOE’s World Languages & ESOL/Bilingual Programs Specialist on hand to answer any specific questions about students who are learning English. We will also be joined by Jodi Bossio-Smith, the Maine DOE’s Alternate & WIDA Assessment Coordinator and Dan Weeks, the ESEA Title III & Title V Coordinator.

Concussion Resources and Reporting

As directed by Title 20-A §254, sub-§17, the Maine Department of Education (DOE) has been working in collaboration with the Maine Principals’ Association (MPA), Maine Association of School Nurses (MASN), and the Maine Concussion Management Initiative (MCMI) to create a process for concussion incidence reporting. During the first year of implementation, the concussion workgroup is providing support to schools that are currently utilizing the Head Injury Tracker (HIT). HIT was developed by MCMI 2013 with the goal of providing schools with an ability to identify high-risk activities for brain injuries by tracking patterns of concussions within their school systems. The HIT platform is available at no cost and provides schools with an easy, confidential, and secure method of collecting concussion data for their students.

This resource is available to all Maine schools to aid in the early recognition and management of concussion. Since the creation of the model concussion policy in 2012, schools across Maine have been instrumental in increasing concussion awareness among students, parents, and staff. Implementation of the concussion policy should improve the management and care a student receives following an injury. Injuries can happen during any activity throughout the school day or outside of school. The location of the injury should not affect the attention and accommodation a student receives. The model policy reflects current best practices in concussion management in schools. Over the years there has been a shift in the focus of how a concussion affects a student, specifically with the recognition that children are students first. Therefore, the model policy outlines a graduated school re-entry plan that is individualized and flexible, with input from medical providers, parents, and the school multidisciplinary team.

For more information on concussion management in Maine schools please visit: https://www.maine.gov/doe/schools/safeschools/healthed/concussion

If you have questions about these efforts, please email Emily.Poland@maine.gov. For questions related to the HIT platform, contact MCMI at contactmcmi@gmail.com.

Celebrating National Farm to School Month in October

October is National Farm to School Month! Celebrate in Maine by filling your school kitchens and lunch trays with local food. Now is the perfect time of year to connect with a local farmer or grower and support their work. Celebrate food and nutrition education, school gardens and orchards, and the bounty that fall in Maine provides us!

[Download a PDF of the calendar here (includes links!)]

For more information and resources visit our Local Foods in Local Schools Webpage or contact Robin Kerber, Maine Department of Education Farm and Sea to School Coordinator at Robin.Kerber@maine.gov.

Free Statewide Meet & Greet for New School Library Staff

New to a school library and/or changed libraries? Join the Maine Association of School Libraries (MASL) and its members members in small groups to chat about your questions and ideas.

This is a free, virtual event that will take place on Thursday, September 30th from 4pm to 5pm.

During the event you will have the opportunity to connect with other new library staff new to a school or the profession while also gaining perspective from MASL members. The session will cover the benefits of MASL membership including professional development, networking, and scholarship opportunities.

For more information or to register, please visit the event page on the MASL website.

Priority Notice: Grant Funds Available to Support the Expansion of Public Pre-K

Currently, public Pre-K in Maine is not universally available for all 4-year-olds. While the cognitive and social-emotional benefits of high-quality Pre-K are well documented, there are a variety of factors that contribute to the ability of School Administrative Units (SAUs) to offer public Pre-K and the extent to which they are able to enroll all eligible and interested 4-year-olds.

As part of the Maine Jobs and Recovery Plan, Governor Mills allocated $10 million of the federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds appropriated for Maine for public pre-k infrastructure to increase the number of 4-year-olds enrolled in public pre-k across the state.

Maine SAUs interested in starting or expanding public pre-k are encouraged to apply for funding to support expansion through the Pre-K Expansion Request for Applications (RFA). SAUs will be able to use the funding, in combination with Essential Programs and Services allocations, to start new pre-k programs and/or expand existing programs from part-day/part-week to full-day/full-week programs.

A timeline for the RFA process is provided below.

September 24, 2021–RFA released
October 7,2021–Informational session for interested parties, 3:00-5:00 p.m.
October 15, 2021-RFA question submittal deadline
October 21, 2021—RFA answers to questions posted publicly
November 4, 2021—RFA submission deadline
November 15-17, 2021—RFA scoring

An informational meeting has been scheduled for Thursday, October 7 from 3-5pm. Those wishing to learn more about the Pre-K Expansion RFA and ask questions can attend through this link. This meeting will be recorded and made available on our Early Childhood Professional Learning and Resources page.

All questions about the Pre-K Expansion RFA should be submitted to the Pre-K Expansion Grant Coordinator identified on the Grant RFPs and RFAs webpage.

Additional questions regarding this announcement should be directed to:

Early Childhood Specialist: nicole.madore@maine.gov

Get to know the Maine DOE Team: Meet Rob Susi

Maine DOE Team member Rob Susi is being highlighted this week as part of the Get to know the Maine DOE Team Campaign. Learn a little more about Rob in this brief question and answer.

What are your roles with DOE?

I am the School Safety and Security Coordinator for the Maine School Safety Center, a division within the Department of Education. I am responsible for supervising the Maine School Safety Center under Director Jonathan Shapiro. I am also responsible for the Grants to States for School Emergency Management Grant Program, and the School Resource Officer Liaison. I am the primary contact for the Department for safety and security issues, site assessments, and critical response planning. We are also entering into a new and exciting opportunity for online advancement and professional development of school safety and security with our partners at the Maine Community College System.

What do you like best about your job?

I love working with our team (Melissa Condon, Staci Warren, Cristina Stade and Dr. Karen Barnes are incredible!!!), our Office and School and Student Support team, and being a small part of the overall vision for the Maine DOE. I get to work with our Federal, State, County, and Local partners including the Maine Criminal Justice Academy, Maine Emergency Management Agency, Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Corrections, United States Secret Service, United States Attorney General’s Office, Department of Homeland Security, the Maine School Resource Officer’s Association, and the National Alliance on Mental Illness Maine to name a few. But mostly I love working with the local schools, helping with their emergency planning and overall safety so that each student in Maine is in the safest environment possible. Working with local partners to keep our local schools as safe as possible, providing free assistance, so that students can be safe.

How or why did you decide on this career?

I am a retired police officer who had the best job, I got to be an School Resource Officer (SRO) in a preK-12 setting. Those kids made such an impact on my life! I love working with kids and I see this job as an opportunity to impact way more than just my local school, and to be a resource to those schools who need it. Director Jonathan Shapiro has a focused and excellent plan for the future of the Maine School Safety Center and I am very excited to see the great work we have already done, and what is to come!

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

I look forward to time with my family. I love worshipping and serving my God. I love coaching and miss it very much. I also enjoy golf, my pool, outside games, board games, card games, and video games.

Quarter 1 Data Collections Webinar on September 30th

The Maine Department of Education Data Team is holding a Quarter 1 Data Collections Webinar Thursday September 30th at 10am.

We will be discussing how to locate, access and validate the quarter 1 reports. This year we will be foregoing quarter 1 attendance and truancy collections due to changes to attendance reporting. New for 2021-2022 we are collecting student daily attendance which effects how we report the data back to the end user. The new attendance and truancy quarterly reports should be ready for quarter 2 reporting. In the meantime, it is extremely important that users still record attendance and truancy locally so that the data is accurate when these reports become available. This webinar will therefore focus on the student behavior and bullying data collections for quarter 1.

Please follow the “Join Live” link at the time of the training to join us. Thank you.

Join Live

If you have any questions, comments or concerns regarding this webinar please contact the MEDMS Helpdesk.

MEDMS.Helpdesk@Maine.gov
(207) 624-6896

October EPS Student Reports Webinar on October 12th

The Maine Department of Education Data Team is holding an October EPS Student Reports Webinar Tuesday October 12 at 10am.

We will be discussing how to locate, access and validate the three October EPS student reports in NEO. These reports include the October 1st Student Enrollment Count, the CTE October Student Count report and the Special Education Child Count Detail Report (EF S 05 Part 1).

Please follow the “Join Live” link at the time of the training to join us. Thank you!

Join Live

If you have any questions, comments or concerns regarding this webinar please contact the MEDMS Helpdesk.

MEDMS.Helpdesk@Maine.gov
(207) 624-6896

Dropout Reporting Webinar on October 7th

The Maine Department of Education Data Team is holding a Dropout Reporting Webinar Thursday October 7th at 11am.

We will be discussing how to locate, access and validate the new dropout certification report. Please note that the dropout certification report has changed from previous years. Users will no longer have functionality to change exit codes of students. Instead we are only asking users to verify that the report is correct, and accurate. The webinar will address how to manage incorrect data. Please follow the “Join Live” link at the time of the training to join us. Thank you!