School administrative units will no longer file the EF-S-03 report for the purpose of notifying the Maine Department of Education about the status of certification and/or licenses and criminal history record checks for contracted service providers for students with disabilities. Much of the information will be entered in the NEO data system, including professional license and certificate numbers.
Continue reading “SAUs to stop annually filing EF-S-03 for certification, background check status”
The Maine Department of Education in collaboration with the Maine Department of Health and Human Services, is pleased to announce the fifth administration of the Maine Integrated Youth Health Survey (MIYHS) will be conducted in February.
Continue reading “Youth health survey to be delivered next February”
At the beginning of the month, higher education representatives gathered with Maine Department of Education staff to learn about, talk with, and come up with plans for educator preparation programs throughout Maine colleges and universities with educator career tracks.
Continue reading “Educator prep programs focus at higher education workshop”
Earlier this month seven Maine educators showcased their educational philosophy, passion, teaching methods, leadership style and more for the State review panel as part of the 2017 Maine Teacher of the Year selection process.
Continue reading “An inside look at Maine’s 2016 County Teachers of the Year”
An estimated 8,100 students in Maine are enrolled in career and technical education (CTE) programs. Of those students, approximately 70 are enrolled in a course of study designed for future careers in commercial trucking.
Continue reading “Maine’s CTE professional trucking program captures national attention”
The Maine Department of Education will sponsor a mentoring workshop for new and experienced gifted and talented educators at the Augusta Armory on September 7.
Continue reading “Mentoring workshop for educators of gifted and talented program”
The Maine Department of Education’s English language arts/literacy team worked with educator groups across the K-2, 3-5, 6-8 and 9-12 grade spans this month as they continue to develop proficiency systems in their schools. Educators explored high impact instructional routines and strategies that support students’ literacy learning and discussed methods of integrating these into their everyday teaching practices.
Continue reading “Summer Literacy Institute draws nearly 400 educators”
The following information was shared in the last Maine DOE Update. Please note this is a proposed rule.
The Maine Department of Education sponsored the forty-fifth annual Maine School Transportation Safety Conference in collaboration with the Maine State Police and Maine Association for Pupil Transportation last month.
The following priority notice was sent on Tuesday, August 16
Dear Superintendents,
As a result of recently received requests for review of denied superintendent agreements, I am clarifying the Commissioner’s role regarding superintendent agreement transfers pursuant to 20-A MRS §5205(6)(B). The Commissioner’s role is to review the superintendents’ determinations. As a result, it is crucial for the Commissioner to have the superintendent’s written description of the basis for the determination for the student.
6. Transfer Students. The following provisions apply to transfers of students from one school administrative unit to another.
A. Two superintendents may approve the transfer of a student from one school administrative unit to another if:
(1) They find that a transfer is in the student’s best interest; and
(2) The student’s parent approves.
The superintendents shall notify the commissioner of any transfer approved under this paragraph. If either of the superintendents decides not to approve the transfer, that superintendent shall provide to the parent of the student requesting transfer under this paragraph a written description of the basis of that superintendent’s determination.B. On the request of the parent of a student requesting transfer under paragraph A, the commissioner shall review the transfer. The commissioner shall review the superintendents’ determinations and communicate with the superintendents and with the parent of the student prior to making a decision. The commissioner may approve or disapprove the transfer and shall provide to the parent of the student and to the superintendents a written decision describing the basis of the commissioner’s determination.
Current statute, 20-A MRS §5205(6)(A), requires that superintendents provide the basis of their determination in their communication to the parent(s). If a denial, a superintendent must inform parents of the rationale denying a transfer request on the grounds of the student’s “best interest.”
At this time, the Department has received a large number of requests from parent(s) for the Commissioner to review superintendent agreements that have been denied and we have found that many of the letters or forms that superintendents have provided to parent(s) are either:
As a result of this lack of information, I am unable to review many of these determinations as required by 20-A MRS §5205(6)(B) or I must make a determination of what’s in “the student’s best interest” based largely on the parents position.
For the recently received requests for review that are either missing the superintendent’s determination or the determination is not specific to the student and the student’s situation, Department staff may be contacting you to indicate that you must provide to the parent (and the Department) the detailed written description of the basis of your determination that is specific to their child and their child’s situation. This written description should address any concerns or issues that the parent(s) raised in the request to you for the transfer.
In these communications with parents, please remind them that these transfers must be requested annually and that the annual request to you should provide detailed information each year as to their reason to why it is in the best interest of their child to transfer to another school administrative unit.
In regards to parent(s)’ requests to the Commissioner for review, included here are instructions for parents on how to request that review.
Finally, above all else, the law and this process are focused on what is in the child’s best interest.
Sincerely,
Bill Beardsley, Deputy Commissioner
Maine Department of Education
Maine DOE Newsroom 