The office of the Maine Department of Education will be closed the following days as part of the State of Maine’s administrative holiday closure:
· Friday, December 22, 2017
· Monday, December 25, 2017
· Tuesday, December 26, 2017
The office will reopen at 8:00am on Wednesday, December 27, 2017. For questions or concerns call (207) 624-6600.
The Department of Education has extended the due date for the graduation and dropout report to January 19, 2018. The updated NEO module is ready and districts can begin entering data on December 20, 2017.
All public, charter, and 60% publicly funded districts (even those districts without schools) will gain access to the graduation module in NEO on December 20, 2017 and will have access to complete the graduation and dropout report through January 19, 2018.
Please note that along with the “attending district” reporting requirements there are now “responsible district” reporting requirements as well. This is because there are new federal reporting requirements that prompted a change to the Maine DOE’s Graduation and Dropout report. Because of this change, there will be multiple districts that are required to submit these reports for the first time. If your district has never completed this report, be sure to check DC & R to see if it is now required.
Instructions and assistance for completing this report:
For other questions about NEO or the Graduation module contact Maine DOE Help Desk at MEDMS.Helpdesk@maine.gov or 207-624-6896.
Following two years of strong statewide participation, the Maine Department of Education’s Literacy for ME initiative will once again be promoting the Read to ME Challenge. 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. Over 100 Maine schools, community literacy teams and other literacy related organizations partnered in the 2016 and 2017 campaigns and the Maine DOE is hoping that even more organizations will partner in the 2018 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 2018. 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 leeann.larsen@maine.gov (624-6628) with any questions.
The Maine Department of Education today released guidance concerning the establishment of regional service centers (School Management and Leadership Centers), informed by the 23 applicants who submitted part I conceptual proposals by the November 30, 2017 deadline.
In the letter sent to applicants, Commissioner Hasson reflects on the collaborative efforts involved in reaching this important milestone:
“While this marks only a first step in a multi-year journey to establish robust regional service centers, it is an important step, and represents many hours of hard work and local leadership,” wrote Commissioner Hasson. “Neither I nor my colleagues at the Maine Department of Education take this for granted, and we acknowledge the many emotions that accompany an undertaking of this nature. The emotions that I wish to convey today are gratitude, encouragement, and hope.”
Among the guidance issued by the Department were:
A copy of the general guidance is available at: Regional Service Center Part I Letter and Guidance.
The individual letters that include the specific feedback and determination in section VI will be posted to the EMBRACE Regionalization Information Center on Wednesday, December 20, 2017 in order to give applicants time to review and share with their proposed members the individual feedback and determination before posting by the Department.
For further questions about the EMBRACE Regionalization initiative contact Jennifer Pooler at Jennifer.G.Pooler@maine.gov.
Administrative Letter: #10
Policy Code: JCA
TO: Public School Administrators
FROM: Robert G. Hasson, Jr., Ed. D. Commissioner
DATE: December 14, 2017
SUBJECT: Guidance for residency determination for split residence students
This guidance is offered by the Maine Department of Education (Department) to clarify the determination of residence and enrollment in the case where a student has parents or guardians who reside in two different school administrative units (SAUs).
In accordance with 20-A, MRSA, §5202(2), “A person is eligible to attend schools in the school administrative unit where the person’s parent resides.”
The Department interprets this section to mean that the student is eligible to attend school in the SAU where the student normally sleeps at night in a parent’s or guardian’s home during the time that school is in session. The statute does not recognize any other definition of residency, such as “primary residence.”
When there are two parents/guardians who do not live together but both have educational decision-making rights for a student, they may agree on a residency for the child that regularly includes some time in both residences during the school year and school week. In these cases, the parents must choose which SAU the student will attend.
Please contact Pamela Ford-Taylor, Maine DOE School Enrollment Specialist at 207-624-6617 or Pamela.Ford-Taylor@maine.gov with questions or comments about the guidance.
In an effort to learn more about what health services are available in School Based Health Centers (SBHC) around the State of Maine, the Department of Education requests any school unit that has one to complete a short survey.
The survey consists of 5 questions that ask about partnered agencies, services provided, clientele served, as well as some basic financial information. The purpose is only to gather information that may inform future Department guidance and resources.
Your participation is voluntary, but we hope that you will take a few minutes to help gather data. Please be sure that this request gets passed along to the appropriate person in your school unit so that it can be completed by December 21, 2017.
School Based Health Centers (SBHC) Survey
For more information contact Emily Poland, Maine DOE School Nurse Consultant at 207-624-6688.
Finalization of the 1% identification of students to participate in alternate assessments must be complete December 15th. The Department will apply to the US Department of Education for a waiver on December 19th.
Registration for the PAAP and MSAA can only be completed with identification of students from each district in Synergy.
Please make sure district data personal have an updated list of alternate students to complete this task by Friday, December 15th.
Questions and/or comments may be directed to Charlene Tucker, Director of Assessment, at charlene.tucker@maine.gov.
Section 1118(c) of Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA)/Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), requires that school administrative units (SAUs) with multiple attendance areas maintain comparability of local/state resources between the Title I schools and the non-Title I schools; or if all the schools at a grade span are Title I schools, comparability of local resources must be maintained among the Title I schools. The list of SAUs required to submit a Comparability Report is noted at the end of this announcement. If your SAU is not listed below, you can disregard this notice.
The ESEA Title I FY18 Comparability Report is ready to be completed and submitted to the Maine Department of Education by January 22, 2018. The FY18 Title IA Comparability Report in both Word and Excel formats; additional resources including a PowerPoint presentation and completed sample reports can be located on the ESEA web site at http://www.maine.gov/doe/title-IA/forms/index.html. The NEO DC & R module has been updated for those SAUs required to complete the Comparability report.
Questions regarding ESEA Title I Comparability Report can be directed to Jackie Godbout, Title IA Consultant, at 624-6712, jackie.godbout@maine.gov or Janette Kirk, Title IA Director, at 624-6707, janette.kirk@maine.gov.
FY18 School Administrative Units Required To Complete a Comparability Report
Those SAUs with an asterisk (*) must attach their teacher count and student enrollment source documents used to complete the FY18 Title IA Comparability Report.
Auburn *
Augusta
Bangor *
Gorham *
Lewiston
Portland *
Sanford
Scarborough *
South Portland
Westbrook *
RSU 1
RSU 2 *
RSU 3/MSAD 3
RSU 4 *
RSU 5
RSU 6/MSAD 6 *
RSU 9
RSU 10 *
RSU 11/MSAD 11
RSU 12 *
RSU 13
RSU 14 *
RSU 15/MSAD 15
RSU 16 *
RSU 17/MSAD 17
RSU 18 *
RSU 19
RSU 21
RSU 22/MSAD 22 *
RSU 24 *
RSU 34
RSU 35/MSAD 35 *
RSU 37/MSAD 37
RSU 38 *
RSU 39
RSU 40/MSAD 40 *
RSU 41/MSAD 41
RSU 49/MSAD 49 *
RSU 50
RSU 52/MSAD 52 *
RSU 54/MSAD 54
RSU 57/MSAD 57
RSU 58/MSAD 58 *
RSU 60/MSAD 60 *
RSU 61/MSAD 61
RSU 72/MSAD 72 *
RSU 71 *
RSU 75/MSAD 75 *
RSU 79/MSAD 1
The Department received Part I Applications from 23 proposed regional service centers by the November 30 deadline. The proposals include 102 discrete school administrative units from across the state, with all but one with an operational date of July 1, 2018.
The Department will be reviewing applications through the month of December and further guidance will be forthcoming.
Department supported facilitators are still available for those working on a regionalization project with a later start date and can be requested through the EMBRACE Regionalization Information Center.
As a reminder, proposals for the Fund for the Efficient Delivery of Educational Services (FEDES) grant are due by December 19. More information about the FEDES grant can be found on the State of Maine Request for Proposals (RFPs) webpage.
For more information about regionalization opportunities including Regional Service Centers visit the EMBRACE Regionalization Information Center or contact Jennifer Pooler at Jennifer.G.Pooler@maine.gov.
**This Dispatch was posted in a previous Priority Notice, found here: https://mainedoenews.wordpress.com/2017/12/01/prioirty-notice-two-important-updates-reporting-delay-and-urgent-title-v-eligibility-verification/
On November 20th the Department issued a notice announcing that the due date for Graduation and Dropout Reporting was extended to December 21st. The Department has just learned that the data needed prior to launching the updated Graduation and Dropout reporting module in NEO is not yet available. The NEO module went through an update to fulfill federal reporting regulations and the Department is not willing to launch the updated module before running test scenarios to ensure product quality.
The Department hopes to learn early next week when the data will be available. The Department has notified the federal government of this delay and will issue a new reporting timeline when information is confirmed.
The Department is aware of the angst that this second delay may cause. We assure you our teams are doing everything in our power to get efficient and accurate data systems operative and available for district reporting.
For further questions contact the Maine DOE Helpdesk. Further updates will be forthcoming through the Maine DOE Newsroom.
Maine DOE Newsroom 