Maine DOE Team member Matt Vaughan is being highlighted this week as part of the Get to Know the Maine DOE Team Campaign. Learn a little more about Matt in the question and answer below.

What are your roles with DOE?

As the Resource Administrator for the Department, I am responsible for supporting the Department with human resource needs for our team. I help with hiring and onboarding processes, maintain the organizational chart, assist with keeping performance evaluations timely. I am also a part of the employee recognition planning team. I also prepare the weekly Tuesday Tidbits email, an internal newsletter.

What do you like best about your job?

I truly enjoy supporting our team by helping guide people through processes, as well as working to better the processes to make all of our lives easier in the future.

How or why did you decide on this career?

I have always taken great pride in helping to analyze and build processes to incorporate efficiencies to our everyday responsibilities. I also enjoy the processes relating to employee management like hiring and performance evaluations.

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

My family is very fast paced and is constantly on the move! I enjoy just about anything sports related – coaching youth sports, bowling, softball, football. I also take advantage of our great State’s four season with camping in the summer, hiking in the fall, and of course ice fishing in the winter, and baseball in the spring.

Maine DOE Team member Kathy Bertini is being highlighted this week as part of the Get to Know the Maine DOE Team Campaign. Learn a little more about Kathy in the question and answer below.

What are your role or roles with the Maine DOE?

I am the Interdisciplinary Instruction Team Coordinator for the Maine Department of Education. My main job is to work with a team of Interdisciplinary Instruction specialists to support educators in empowering students with the tools to see the wondrous interconnectedness of instruction.

What do you like best about your job?

I appreciate that I am part of the Interdisciplinary Instruction team that shares a common vision regarding the importance of connecting student centered learning experiences across all disciplines. Also, I am thrilled to be able to work with educators and administrators statewide to provide innovative practices to help support Interdisciplinary Instruction.

Why did you decide on this career?

I am excited to be a part of the Innovation team at the Maine DOE and have the opportunities to promote the positive impact of student centered learning which is crucial for today’s evolving world. I have been in public education for more than 30 years and see how meaningful Interdisciplinary Instruction can be for all systems involved. I look forward to working with the education field to help support innovative teaching practices.

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

I live on a rural farm in the western part of our beautiful state of Maine. This area allows me to connect deeply with nature. I enjoy spending time outdoors with my family and animals. Recently I have taken up the hobby of scientific drawings and I find this interest to be both relaxing and challenging at the same time.

Maine DOE Team member Sarah DeCato is being highlighted this week as part of the Get to Know the Maine DOE Team Campaign. Learn a little more about Sarah in the question and answer below.

What are your roles with DOE?

The role of School Nurse Specialist, works directly with the Statewide School Nurse Consultant, to provide school nursing leadership, consultation, and direction across the State of Maine. The School Nurse Specialist works as a team within Coordinated School Health to assist in synthesizing and disseminating information as it relates to trends in health care, school nursing practice, and health related policy changes. The School Nurse Specialist plans and provides educational offerings as they relate to special projects.

Sample focus areas include:

1) Establishing regional Communities of Practice (CoP) for school nurses statewide
2) Establishing communication interdepartmentally and externally with partners around the creation of a Child Care Health Consulting (CCHC) network as it relates to the role of the school nurse

What do you like best about your job?

I love working with the people I work with and having the opportunity to impact student health statewide working alongside school nurses. I enjoy collaborating with other departments within state government to best meet the needs of the populations we serve. Having a job where my expertise can be put to good use, where there is also the opportunity work/life balance is important and I am fortunate to find that here at the DOE.

How or why did you decide on this career?

The bulk of my professional nursing career has been working with or for children. Having worked in the non-profit world a number of years both running one of our former Healthy Maine Partnerships and while managing a 21st Century Afterschool Program grant, I realized I needed to become a nurse to make a larger impact on public health. I received my undergrad in nursing from the University of Southern Maine, and my graduate degree, with a focus in community/population health nursing, from New Mexico State University. I’ve worked with children as both a Public Health Nurse for the MeCDC and as a former Director of Health/School Nurse for a private high school. In my free time, I have served as adjunct faculty in the population health nursing program at the University of New England, helping shape the next generation of nurses.

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

I enjoy being a chicken farmer, gardening, kayaking, hiking, biking, skiing, and going on camping adventures with my family. I also enjoy listening to live music and reading (but not at the same time).

Maine DOE Team member Courtney Belolan is being highlighted this week as part of the Get to Know the Maine DOE Campaign. Learn a little more about Courtney in the question and answer below.

What are your roles with DOE?

As the Director of Policy and Government Affairs, I am a part of the team that works to bring our vision for education in the State of Maine to life.  My focus is on legislation and policy, collaborating with people from across the department to understand, respond to, and influence the different laws, rules, and guidance related to education here in Maine.

What do you like best about your job?

I value the opportunities I have to see the interconnectedness of all the different aspects of education.  Before coming to the DOE, my background was mostly in instruction, assessment, and curriculum.  Every day I learn something from one of the incredible people here or get to hear about an issue from a different perspective.  The philosophical and theoretical discussions I get to be involved in never fail to make my day. I have long said that argument and statistics are two of the most important areas of skills and understandings for anybody to learn and practice. I get to use them every day!

How or why did you decide on this career?

Honestly, I avoided a career in education for a little bit!  It wasn’t until a teacher approached me after I finished a whole-school assembly presenting the wildlife of Long Island (I used to work for NY Audubon, and was the person who brought the animals from a sanctuary into schools) and told me I needed to be in public schools that I took it seriously as an option.  Once I was teaching, I quickly discovered a passion for teaching and learning and student-centered practices.  As far as ending up in policy, I didn’t see that coming! I was fortunate to be able to get involved with policy work through the Maine Curriculum Leaders Association, and the more I did it, the more comfortable I became, the more I liked it, and the better at it I got.  Policy is a way to have an impact on all the learners in Maine, not just the ones in my classroom or school, or district.  It is important work and I am honored to be a part of it.

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

I have the most fun when I am moving my body in some way or enjoying silliness with my son.  Roller skating, tap dancing (any dancing really), hiking, yoga, even boxing!  If it involves coordinated movement, I’m in. Nothing brings me more joy than having laughing fits with my son, though.  He loves all the silly comedy shows I love and has a sense of humor that gets me every time.  I am also a musician beginning to get back into the music-making groove.  I love to sing in choirs and bands, I picked cello back up after about 20 years, and still play my piano and guitars now and then.  My gardens also are a source of joy in my life, they help me stay connected to the earth and its beauty.

Maine DOE Team member Alexandra (Allee) Cookson is being highlighted this week as part of the Get to Know the Maine DOE Team Campaign. Learn a little more about Alexandra in the question and answer below.

What are your roles with DOE?

I am the Data Quality Trainer with the MEDMS Helpdesk, and my main job is to ensure that school data is reported in an accurate, complete, and timely manner.

What do you like best about your job?

I appreciate that I am able to work with both the districts and various teams in the DOE so that we can ensure consistency in all of our reporting and data use across the state.

How or why did you decide on this career?

I am very excited about the opportunity to help districts and DOE teams, and this was my main reason for choosing this new adventure in my career as an educator after 5 years as a classroom teacher. I look forward to meeting and working with the incredible educators across this great state!

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

My hobbies outside of the DOE/Education world include group fitness instructing, 5k obstacle course races, spending time with my family, and enjoying the wonderful adventures and experiences that Maine has to offer.  I am also a certified life coach.