Maine schools may apply for school security funds

A grant from the State Homeland Security Grant Program is now open, and school districts and independent schools are eligible to apply. The grant application is due April 12, 2013, at 5 p.m. Funds are available for school emergency preparedness facility security projects.

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Calling cultural and arts professionals for Maine Humanities Summit

The University of Maine Humanities Initiative will host a daylong Maine Humanities Summit at the Governor Hill Mansion in Augusta on Friday, May 17, 2013, from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. The summit convenes humanities, arts, and cultural professionals with academic administrators, legislators, and policymakers from across the state.

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Communities invited to annual Literacy for ME conference

The Maine Department of Education’s Literacy for ME initiative is partnering with the Barbara Bush Foundation as a co-sponsor of its annual Literacy Connections Conference, open to anyone with an interest in the initiative. This conference will allow attendees to learn more about a variety of aspects of the Literacy for ME initiative, community literacy planning, and general literacy topics across the birth-adult span.

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Lewiston a model for early college program

LHS students (from left to right) Paige Clabby, Amal Mohamed and Faith Ide describe their early college experiences to Commissioner Stephen Bowen.
LHS students (from left to right) Paige Clabby, Amal Mohamed and Faith Ide describe their early college experiences to Commissioner Stephen Bowen.
View more photos from this event.

I had the chance last week to talk with five students at Lewiston High School who are taking advantage of an early college opportunity that will save them money, expose them to the college experience, and could lead them to future careers. I picked LHS for the second stop on my Promising Practices tour because the kids I talked to are among 68 juniors and seniors who are taking college classes for credit at institutions like the University of Southern Maine and Central Maine Community College. It’s encouraging to see students taking initiative when it comes to their futures, and it’s great to meet teachers and administrators who are making that happen.

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Next gen MLTI: tablets or laptops?

Tablets or laptops? For at least two years now we’ve been getting that question, similar to the way in which the focus once was: Mac or PC? As with the last time, Jeff Mao, our Director of Learning Technology, and I try to remind people that we don’t choose a device – we choose a learning solution that will enhance learning in the ways we demand in our request for proposals. It’s up to vendors to show us how their solution will do that, whether it’s a laptop, tablet, smartphone or something else.

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Hermon’s Bridge Year Program keeps earning praise

The Bangor Daily News recently featured Hermon High School’s innovative Bridge Year Program as it nears the end of its successful pilot year. By June, 14 juniors will have earned up to 13.5 college credits and will be on their way to completing associate’s degrees in the year after high school graduation. Governor Paul R. LePage’s two-year budget plan calls for $1 million annually to replicate this five-year high school program in other areas of the state.

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Innovative Maine Schools selected to present at conference

The schools will share successful strategies with colleagues from across New England

AUGUSTA – Three Maine secondary schools—Falmouth High School, Sanford High School, and United Technologies Center (Bangor)—have been invited to represent the state at a regional conference on effective strategies for improving teaching and learning in the 21st century.

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Classroom resources available to celebrate Maine Statehood Day

Title 1, Chapter 5 §116, designates March 15 of each year as Statehood Day to “commemorate the admission of Maine as a state into the United States of America and the ideals and wisdom of those men and women who have formed Maine’s history and traditions.”

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