Graduation Reporting Webinar

The Maine Department of Education Data Team is holding a Graduation Reporting webinar Tuesday August 24^th at 1pm. We will be discussing the graduation certification report and related procedures for validating and clearing up any issues on the report. This certification is due by August 30^th, so attendance is strongly encouraged for those charged with validating this report. 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 at MEDMS.Helpdesk@Maine.gov or (207) 624-6896.

Updated Cultural and Religious Observances Calendar Available

As SAUs are scheduling important school events, it is important to know and understand the religious and cultural observances that may not be recognized as part of the school calendar. The timing, traditions, and possible impacts of various cultural and religious holidays and observances are important to consider when planning events such as open house, awards nights, testing windows, or other events. The Maine Department of Education has updated a calendar of Cultural and Religious Observances that occur during the school year.

We hope this resource will assist schools across Maine in helping their students navigate religious and cultural observances around expectations at school, including attendance and participation, which may conflict with some students’ traditions and observances that are outside the holidays that are typically observed by American schools throughout the school year.

The calendar has been updated for the 2021-2022 and 2022-2023 school years and can be viewed on our website: Cultural and Religious Observances by School Year.

Michelle Strattard Named 2021 Maine History Teacher of the Year

Michelle Strattard, a teacher at Gray-New Gloucester High School has been named the 2021 Maine History Teacher of the Year, an award presented annually by the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, the nation’s leading organization dedicated to K-12 American history education. The selection of the award winner in Maine is facilitated by the Maine Department of Education (DOE) by Joe Schmidt, Social Studies Specialist for the Maine DOE.

In 2021, parents, students, teachers, and administrators nationwide nominated a record 8,510 teachers for the History Teacher of the Year Award. Amidst a very competitive field, Michelle rose to the top in Maine.

In 2012, Michelle earned a Master’s of Teaching and Learning from the University of Southern Maine after completing the Extended Teacher Education Program (ETEP). She previously earned a BA in History from the same institution. As an alumna of Gray-New Gloucester High school, she was proud to join their faculty in 2015, eventually coming to teach the very class that inspired her love of local history as a student, Shaker Studies. She brings this love of local history to the classroom so students can see where they fit into the larger picture. Students engage in historical research, exploration, and inquiry in the classroom to build academic skills and become engaged citizens. Michelle also serves as a board member of the Maine Council for the Social Studies, helping to support social studies educators around the state.

In addition to a $1,000 honorarium, Michelle’s school will receive a core archive of American history books and Gilder Lehrman educational materials and recognition at a ceremony in Maine.

Inaugurated in 2004, the History Teacher of the Year Award highlights the crucial importance of history education by honoring exceptional American history teachers from elementary school through high school. The award honors one K-12 teacher from each state, the District of Columbia, Department of Defense schools and US Territories. In fall 2021, the National History Teacher of the Year will be selected from the pool of state winners.

The 10 finalists for the National History Teacher of the Year Award will be announced on Thursday, September 9, with the national winner announced later that month. An in-person ceremony for the winner will be held in late fall 2021, health and safety protocols permitting. Support for the National History Teacher of the Year Award ceremony is provided by HISTORY®

Nominations for the 2022 History Teacher of the Year awards are now open. Students, parents, colleagues, and supervisors may nominate K-12 teachers for the award by visiting gilderlehrman.org/nhtoy. The deadline for 2022 nominations is March 31, 2022.

PRIORITY NOTICE: Toolkit of Resources Available to Promote the Meal Benefit Application

As schools across Maine prepare for the 2021/2022 school year with many changes, including the implementation of free school meals and the challenges of COVID-19, we are aware of the increasing difficulty you face with asking families to fill out the Meal Benefit Application.

Families, schools, communities, and our state can greatly benefit from the data that is gathered from the application, which includes key funding for school resources and additional resources for families in need.

The Maine Department of Education (DOE) has created a Meal Benefit Application Toolkit for schools/districts to help inform and promote the application within your school community:

Meal Benefit Application Toolkit for Schools

We hope that having these resources laid out in this toolkit can ease some of the burden to create your own promotional and informational materials. Here are some of the resources you will find in the toolkit:

Social Media Graphics – short informational graphics that can be shared on your district/school social media platforms.
Translated Informational Materials – a one-page info sheet that can be printed and distributed to families (translated versions available), info for teachers and school staff, and a letter to families expressing the importance of the Meal Benefit Application.
Meal Benefit Application Form Options – links to the original printable application, an online option, and an alternative sample form that can be used to help inform state subsidy calculations.

We recognize and appreciate all your hard work as you prepare for the start of the school year. Please contact Maine DOE for questions and/or additional resources:

If there is a specific additional resource you’d like to see in this toolkit, please contact Caroline Bennett (caroline.bennett@maine.gov) and Rachel Paling (rachel.paling@maine.gov).
For questions regarding application collection and SSO (Seamless Summer Option), please contact David Hartley (david.hartley@maine.gov).
To add your district to the web-based application via Nutrilink (we HIGHLY recommend this to increase accessibility of application), please contact Sarah Platt (sarah.d.platt@maine.gov).

Maine Department of Education Received Over $2.6 Million in American Rescue Plan Funds to Support Students Experiencing Homelessness  

The Maine Department of Education received over $2.6 million in funding under the American Rescue Plan Act’s Homeless Children and Youth (ARP-HCY) program to support students experiencing homelessness.

“Even before the coronavirus pandemic highlighted and exacerbated inequities in America’s education system, students experiencing homelessness faced numerous challenges as they strove to learn and achieve in school each day. Amid COVID-19 and the transition to remote and hybrid learning, for so many students, these challenges intensified. As a nation, we must do everything we can to ensure that all students—including students experiencing homelessness and housing insecurity—are able to access an excellent education,” said U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona. “I am thrilled that all states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico now will be able to use these funds from the American Rescue Plan to support students’ success in the new school year and ensure they are connected to vital services and supports.”

The additional ARP-HCY funding will be used by states and school administrative units (SAUs) to identify children and youth experiencing homelessness. States can provide wraparound services in light of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic to enable children and youth experiencing homelessness participate fully in school activities, consistent with the McKinney-Vento Act, which is the primary piece of federal legislation related to the education of children and youth experiencing homelessness.

The Maine Department of Education will award 75 percent of the state’s funding to SAUs through formula subgrants, determined in part by a SAU’s population of children and youth experiencing homelessness and a district’s Title I-A allocation. Accordingly, SAUs will not have to compete for these funds, so these funds will reach SAUs that may not have accessed previous federal funding designated for students experiencing homelessness. This will make it possible for states and SAUs to access funding more quickly and reach more students experiencing homelessness.

SAUs that do not meet the minimum threshold of $5,000 for an award, based on the formula, should consider creating a consortium with other SAUs to receive a joint award. The Department’s initial estimates for ARP-HCY II disbursements can be found here.

For more information about this funding, register here to join the Maine Department of Education Staff for a webinar on August 17, 2021 from 1:00 – 2:00 PM. Or contract Amelia Lyons, McKinney-Vento Homeless Education Specialist, amelia.lyons@maine.gov or (207) 557-1787.

For assistance with the Emergency Rental Assistance Program with MaineHousing, connect with your local Housing Stability Coordinator at each Community Action Agency here.

Student Opportunity: NASA Day Event

This event is being hosted by Fiber Materials Inc.

AUGUST 24, 2021* | 9:45am – 1:30pm

Are you a high school junior or senior involved in STEM? Are you thinking about a career in manufacturing? Ever dreamed of becoming an Engineer or working in the Aerospace industry? If you answered yes to any of these questions, we’d like to invite you to be a guest at our NASA Day event.

The day will include a chance to hear from Spirit AeroSystems executives, spend time with some of our Engineers, hear a presentation from Lori Glaze, Director of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate’s Science Division, and enjoy a great lunch!

Fill out the registration form and submit to kwhitney@fibermaterialsinc.com by August 6th. We will pick 10 students to join us for the big event. Selections will be made by August 13th.

Registration Form (PDF)

For more information, contact kwhitney@fibermaterialsinc.com.

*Please note that participants must commit to the entire event.

Maine’s 3rd Annual Opioid Response Summit Highlights Maine DOE’s Commitment to SEL in Schools

Governor Janet T. Mills’ 3rd Annual Opioid Response Summit was on held on July 15th this year and reminded the public of the importance of social emotional learning and trauma informed approaches in Maine schools, highlighting the work of the Maine Department of Education’s development of SEL4ME, a social emotional learning (SEL) platform for Maine educators and learners.

The summit featured numerous speakers and keynote addresses including those of Dr. Larry McCullough and Mark Lefebvre from the Pine Tree Institute who led a seminar called, “Preventing Substance Use Disorders by Mitigating Adverse Childhood Experiences.” This discussion showed the strong link between adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and opioid addiction.

Dr. McCullough highlighted the importance of positive childhood experiences to combat the correlation between ACEs and opioid addiction. Further explaining that positive childhood experiences can be created for at-risk youth through feeling a sense of belonging in high school, having nonparent adults as role models for students, and community traditions. The seminar dug into the essential parts of community support, including a key component as social emotional and trauma informed learning, which has been shown to strongly correlate with less youth involvement in drugs.

Representatives Gabe O’Brien and Nina Misra from the Maine Youth Action Network corroborated Dr. McCullough’s presentation with their own, entitled: “Promoting Health Equity and Prevention through Youth Engagement Best Practices.” O’Brien and Misra focused on community and environmental conditions. Community conditions Misra defined as, “conditions in which people are born, grow, work, live, and age.” Educational environments in which social emotional learning occurs within the classroom were encouraged as a best practice. Misra and O’Brien described a classroom that utilizes SEL as, “creating a space where young people feel seen and heard.”

Social emotional learning has been a priority for the Maine Department of Education, championed through the SEL4ME curriculum. SEL4ME strives for students to learn, “skills for self-confidence, perseverance and academic success as well as [become] positive members in their communities.”

The Annual Opioid Response Summit confirmed the importance of Maine DOE’s commitment to SEL as a critical role in mitigating the crisis. Dr. Jessica Pollard, Director of the Maine Office of Behavioral Health stated at the summit that newly approved funds entering into the DOE for opioid crisis work (much of it heading towards SEL professional development and training) will mean “fewer Maine youth will ever start misusing substances.”

To watch the entirety of the Summit, please click here. For more information about the Maine DOE SEL4ME platform visit: www.maine.gov/doe/sel/sel4me or contact Kellie Bailey, Social Emotional Learning/ Restorative Practice Specialist at kellie.bailey@maine.gov

Maine DOE Office of Special Services Awarded a State Personnel Development Grant

Maine Department of Education (DOE) Office of Special Services has been awarded a State Personnel Development Grant (SPDG) by the U.S. Department of Education Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP). State Personnel Development Grants are awarded to state run agencies with the aim of improving and increasing professional development for “individuals providing early intervention, educational, and transition services to improve results for children with disabilities.”*

The Maine DOE has been awarded $3.39 million over five years for special educator, educational technician and administrator professional development. The funds will be directed to two key areas of special education work- math interventions (Math4ME) and Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS).

“The grant provides the resources to support the development of intensive remote math professional development for special educators in rural areas in Maine,” said Maine DOE Special Projects Coordinator Tracy Whitlock. “The funds will also be used to build state-wide capacity for PBIS training, coaching and the development of external coaches training. This grant will help the Office of Special Services continue to meet the diverse needs of Maine students.”

*U.S. Department of Education

Water Treatment Provides Opportunity for Adult Education Program

Maine Adult Education Hub 9 staff, Biddeford Adult Education students and some of their college aged children attended a professional Water Treatment forum at Southern Maine Community College recently.

Across the county, a growing need is present for trained water treatment professionals. As such, Southern Maine Community College has partnered with Northern Maine Community College to create a training program for the profession at the South Portland campus. Their lectures can be accessed remotely, however, hands-on laboratory exercises guided by trained faculty members are taking place on campus.

The Hub 9 group learned about scholarship and apprenticeship opportunities, and toured the learning lab. Industry professionals were available to discuss the great need for new water professionals and how dynamic and exciting this important work is, an exciting experience that the group intends to bring back to their learning community in Biddeford.

Visit Maine Rural Water Association and Maine Water to see current job postings. Anyone interested in discussing this as a potential pathway into the field, can contact their local adult education student advisor.

This article was written by Marci Dionne, student advisor at Biddeford Adult Education, in collaboration with Maine DOE Intern Clio Bersani as part of the Maine Schools Sharing Success Campaign. To submit a story or an idea email it to Rachel at rachel.paling@maine.gov.

Maine Agriculture Education PK-12 Grants Available – Deadline Approaching!

Maine Agriculture in the Classroom (MAITC) has earmarked $60K for education agriculture grants in 5 categories in 2021! This support of Maine agriculture education in grades Pre-Kindergarten through 12 is a direct result of the Maine Agricultural Specialty License Plate.

Grants are available in a number of categories such as Agriculture Awareness, School Garden & Greenhouse, Statewide Agricultural Education Organization, and Agriculture Leadership. Grants are up to $2,000 and the deadline to apply is 4:00pm on August 23rd.

To see the grants, get more information, and apply visit: https://me.agclassroom.org/programs/grants/

Maine Agriculture in the Classroom (MAITC) is a grassroots program coordinated by the United States Department of Agriculture, and housed at the Maine Department of Agriculture. Our goal is to help students gain a greater awareness of the role of agriculture in the economy and society so that they will become citizens who support wise agricultural policies and local agriculture endeavors.

If you have questions please email maitc@maine.gov