Category: News & Views

Professional Learning Opportunity: #DigCit4ME Challenge and Workshops

The Maine Department of Education will be facilitating a series of opportunities for educators to participate in professional learning related to digital citizenship, as well as interacting in the digital world in healthy and safe ways.

  • Part one of the series is an online game, which is called the #DigCit4ME Challenge. Participants who register for part two of the series (the in-person workshop) will obtain access to play the game. Playing the game is a prerequisite to attending the workshop.
  • Part two of the series is a regional in-person workshop, which is open to all educators to attend. Educators are encouraged to attend in school teams. There are a number of opportunities to attend a workshop in January. More information is below.
  • Part three of the series is an opportunity for health education and physical education educators to engage in this learning at the spring Health/Physical Education Conference.

In-person workshops

In January, there will be in-person regional #DigCit4ME Workshops. Participants will develop a better understanding of the Cross-Curricular Framework for Digital Citizenship from Common Sense Media and its connection to the Maine Learning Results Health Education and Physical Education standards and content areas. Educators will be able to create relevant learning experiences for students to help them incorporate this knowledge and these skills into their daily lives.

Cost: Free to attend
Contact Hours: Earn 6.5 contact hours
Target Audience: Educators who interact with students in grades 5-12
Draft Agenda
9:00am – 3:30pm

  • Welcome and Introductions
  • Digital Citizenship Framework from Common Sense Media with Maine’s Health Education and Physical Education Standards
  • Resources to build educator knowledge, to share with families, and to use in classrooms
  • Lunch (provided)
  • Goals and expectations for afternoon
  • Planning time in small groups
  • Sharing time
  • Announcements and directions to continue with online game

Locations and Registration

Register Here

January 8th, South Portland High School
January 16th, Auburn Middle School
January 25th, University of Maine at Fort Kent
January 29th, Washington Academy (East Machias)
January 30th, Husson University (Bangor)

For more information or answers to questions, please contact: Amanda Nguyen, Digital Learning Specialist, Amanda.Nguyen@maine.gov

Maine DOE to Launch Maine Harvest of the Month Program in Schools

The Maine Department of Education’s Child Nutrition Program is excited to announce the launch of Maine’s Harvest of the Month Program. Currently in planning phases, the program is slated to launch in schools in the Spring of 2019. Jenn So has been hired by the Maine DOE as the Harvest of the Month Program Manager and will be leading the development, implementation, and trainings for the program statewide. This program is a collaboration between the Maine DOE Child Nutrition Program and the Maine Farm to School Network.

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 of New England will now have Harvest of the Month programs.

Maine Harvest of the Month Background 

In its pilot year, Maine’s HOM program will develop a unique Maine HOM crop calendar and create corresponding marketing materials and recipes for food service directors and schools to display and utilize. Regional trainings will be delivered to train food service staff and other interested stakeholders on how to best implement the program; support will be provided to schools as needed. The program’s goal is to increase the procurement and consumption of local Maine products in schools (K-12), and thus the total number of meals provided. To participate in the program, schools will sign a  pledge committing to: serve the local HOM product at least twice per month (local being defined as grown or caught in Maine); display HOM materials provided by the Child Nutrition office; and participate in pre-and post-evaluations. Schools are also encouraged to integrate the HOM into educational activities.

If your school or district is interested in participating, please contact Jenn So at jenn.so@maine.gov or 207-624-6639 for more information.

Upcoming Review of Local MACM Programs; SAUs to be Contacted

As a reminder, Maine’s Alternative Certification and Mentoring Program (MACM), in response to OSEPS’s requirements for qualified special educators, is in progress. The goal of MACM is to ensure that conditionally certified special educators earn Professional Certification by the end of a three year period.

As part of this work, the Department has contracted with Elaine Tomaszewski, a former special educator, special services director, and superintendent, to facilitate the development of structures in school administrative units (SAUs) to ensure strong systems of support. The intent is to strengthen existing district systems of mentoring or coaching whenever possible, or assist in developing systems as necessary.

As an early step in the process, SAU’s across the state will be contacted via email by December 21st requesting access to their existing support system information (manuals, plans). The intent is to review and compare them to national standards.

If your Special Services or Curriculum Director is contacted please encourage them to participate in this early phase of the work. If your district is not contacted but would like to have their information shared please contact Elaine Tomaszewski directly at elaine.tomaszewski@gmail.com

 

Certification of Superintendent Election or Re-election

The Maine DOE is reminding administrators and school board members of the approaching deadline for annual certification to the Maine DOE of employment of Superintendent of Schools.

A school board must meet by December 31 to elect a superintendent if its superintendent’s contract expires in 2019 and then must submit a certification of employment report with all required documentation to the Maine DOE by March.

The instructions and forms and can be found at the Maine Department of Education, Data & Reporting, Helpdesk, Data Reporting Instructions. Please click on Superintendent/Agent Certification Form & Instructions (found at the bottom of the list).

If you have any questions, contact Danielle McKay at danielle.mckay@maine.gov or 207-624-6663.

Online Bullying Reporting Program Available to Maine’s Schools Through Optania

Optania has created an online bullying reporting program that is aligned with Maine DOE’s model bullying policy and procedures.  Click here to check out the demonstration.

This online program allows students, parents and others to report allegations of bullying 24/7, with the allegation report (JICK-E1) being sent to pre-determined school staff (ie. principal, assistant principal, school guidance counselor, social worker, superintendent) who will then initiate the investigation procedure using an electronic form (JICK-E2).  The program also includes the remediation form (JICK-E3).  In addition, using artificial intelligence, students can create their own Safety Plan in the moments after reporting an allegation of bullying so they don’t have to wait until the next school day when they can meet with a school staff member.

To learn more about Optania, attend a free, live informational webinar this week.

Sessions are 1 hour in length and will give an in-depth overview of Optania and allow time for questions and comments.

Click on the Zoom link on a day and time that works for your schedule.  There is no need to sign-up or RSVP to this email to attend.

Bullying reporting made easy with Optania (pdf)

Further questions or information about future webinars can be sent to Sarah Adkins, Student Assistance Coordinator at sarah.adkins@maine.gov or by calling her at 207-624-6685

Report of Adult Education (EF-M-39B) – opened December 1st, due by January 15, 2019

Starting on December 1, the EF-M-39 Report of Adult Education opened for submissions through the NEO Student Data Module. The report is a resident-based aggregate count of students aged 16 to 20 who live within the boundaries of a school administrative unit (SAU), are no longer enrolled in regular education classes, and are taking academic courses through a Maine Adult Education program, but not necessarily through the SAU in which they reside.

School Administrative Units are asked to report the number of students, the number of courses and credits taken.

Who Needs to Report:

All public SAUs, excluding public charter schools, must complete the report, even if there are no pupils to report. Please note that the individual SAU member entities of AOSs and school unions must report separately. SAUs whose students attend a regional Adult Education programs must report the number of resident students who attend the regional Adult Education program.

  • EF-M-39B: Opened on December 1, 2018
  • Due by January 15, 2019

To Complete the Form: Go to:
https://neo.maine.gov/DOE/NEO/studentdata

Once logged in to the NEO system navigate to Student Data, if you do not have NEO credentials please have your Superintendent submit a NEO Access Request Form to the Maine DOE Data HelpDesk.

  1. Enter the total number of students (between the ages of 16-20) enrolled in adult education
  2. Enter the total number of courses
  3. Enter the total number of credits

The Data Collection and Reporting (DC&R) Calendar lists all reports due to Maine DOE.

The accuracy, completeness, and timeliness of the data sent for this report has a direct correlation to the subsidy that your SAU may receive.

Questions: Contact the MEDMS Helpdesk at (207) 624-6896 or medms.helpdesk@maine.gov or Trevor Burns at (207) 624-6678 or trevor.r.burns@maine.gov

Reminder to Complete Dropout Certification

This is a general reminder that dropout reporting is due on Friday, December 14th. All public schools that contain any grades 7 through 12 are required to complete this report. Please start working on these reports as soon as possible in order to give the DOE and yourselves time to make any corrections/changes to the dropout reports before it is too late. Below you can find a link to the directions.

Dropout Reporting Directions (PDF)

Please note the following: Once you have finished completing your reports by clicking the ‘Completed’ button on each report, you will need to hit the “Submit to DOE” button in order for us to know your report is ready for approval. Otherwise, it will be seen as not finished.

If there is an error you cannot correct with an edit to the students last exit status, please contact either the helpdesk (medms.helpdesk@maine.gov 207-624-6896) or Trevor Burns (Trevor.R.Burns@maine.gov 207-624-6678) instead of leaving comments on the student. These comments can be missed and won’t be seen unless the report has already been submitted to the DOE, where we will assume all has checked out on your end.

Administrative Letter: Clarification About Determining the Existence of a Specific Learning Disability for a Child

Administrative Letter: #21
Policy Code: BGE
To: Public School Administrators, Special Ed. Directors
From: Robert G. Hasson, Jr., Ed.D Commissioner
Date: December 12, 2018
Subject: Clarification About Determining the Existence of a Specific Learning Disability for a Child

The 128th Legislature passed L.D. 127 which adopted portions of Rule Chapter 101 and added the requirement that when an Individual Education Plan (IEP) team is deciding whether or not a child has a specific learning disability, then (1) general education interventions must be included in the data selected by the IEP team when it uses a process based on the child’s response to scientific research-based interventions, and (2) psychological processing data from standardized measures to identify contributing factors must be considered by the IEP team.

Subsequently, on August 30, 2017 the Department posted a notice that the passage of L.D. 127 eliminated the requirement that psychological processing data from standardized measures to identify contributing factors must be considered only as available and as determined to be relevant by the child’s IEP team.

To further clarify this, the legislature determined that psychological processing data must be considered when a child is evaluated for a specific learning disability. The legislation is not explicit on whether or not psychological data must point to a specific learning disability. Therefore, after consulting with counsel, the Department affirms the requirement that psychological processing data must always be part of the consideration of a pattern of strengths and weaknesses in the determination of the presence of a specific learning disability.  Psychological processing data may not, however, be a stand-alone threshold that precludes consideration that a child has a specific learning disability.

For further information please contact the Maine Department of Education’s Office of Special Services at 624-6676.

Join Maine DOE for the 2019 Read to ME Campaign

For the past 3 years, Mainers have strongly engaged in the Maine Department of Education’s Read to ME Challenge.  We are pleased to announce that Read to ME will launch for its 4th year.  This simple but powerful campaign challenges adults to read to children for 15 minutes, to capture that reading episode via a photo and then post it on social media to challenge others to do the same.  Hundreds of Maine schools, community literacy teams and other literacy related organizations have partnered in the annual campaigns and the Maine DOE is hoping that even more organizations will partner in the 2019 campaign scheduled to kick off the first week of February.

Reading aloud to children is one of the most cost effective and highly beneficial methods of building children’s literate abilities. The simple act of reading aloud to a child 15 minutes a day for five years results in 27,375 minutes of language exposure which can put children on the path to high literacy achievement.  Reading aloud exposes children to the world around them, helps them see reading as an enjoyable and valuable activity and often strengthens bonds with trusted adults.

We invite your school or organization to join the challenge and to encourage community members to do the same. The collective voice of many key partners, leaders and those in respected positions will send a clear message about the vital importance reading to children plays in the social and economic well-being of Maine.   Maine DOE also encourages partners to be creative and to use this opportunity to enhance ongoing literacy education outreach efforts.

If your organization is willing and able to promote the Read to ME Challenge, please follow this link to provide us with your contact information: Read to ME Challenge Partner 2019. Read to ME Challenge resources, including a guidance document, public service announcements, fliers and a list of engaging ways to incorporate the challenge are available on the Read to ME webpage.

Thanks for your consideration of this opportunity, and don’t hesitate to contact danielle.m.saucier@maine.gov  (624-6702) with any questions.

New District Human Resource Role Available in Online Certification System

The Maine Department of Education is excited to announce the availability of a new district human resource role in the state’s online educator certification system. The new role in MEIS (Maine Educator Information System) can be requested for district human resource staff by the superintendent.

This new role will provide the user the ability to view the districts certification (violations) report as well as any district employees up for a credential. Prior to granting this role, the staff member will need to create an account for themselves (if they do not already have one) in MEIS.

Once a staff member has created an account and has been granted the district human resource role, instructions on navigating to the certification report will be sent to the user via email.

Contact the Maine DOE Helpdesk for additional help.