The “I Will” service project initiative calls on each citizen to pay tribute to 9/11 victims and first responders by performing a “good deed,” meaning a personal act of service or an act of “neighboring,” on the 9/11 Day of Service and Remembrance. “I Will” is organized nationally by My Good Deed, a foundation started by family members of those lost on 9/11.
Continue reading “Make pledge, observe 9/11 Day of Service and Remembrance”
The Department has posted a Question and Answer document relating to Rule Chapter 33, “Rule Governing Physical Restraint and Seclusion.” Continue reading “Rule Chapter 33 Q & A now available”
Call it a hunch.
Julia Bluhm, an eighth grader from Waterville Junior High, had a sneaking suspicion that not all young women were beautiful, thin and fit.
Yet, as Bluhm flipped through the pages of last May’s Seventeen magazine, there they were, in glorious color, one perfect teen after another.
Of course, it wasn’t just May’s issue. And it wasn’t just Seventeen magazine. These smiling stick-figures in minimalist fashions were everywhere, she discovered, seemingly taunting her.
“All fake,” Bluhm concluded.
Riding a mantra of “if you don’t like something, change it,” Bluhm and her Waterville Junior High partner Izzy Labbe set out on a campaign to shake up the good folks who, for starters, publish Seventeen. The magazine’s current circulation is 20 million worldwide.
“When girls read magazines like Seventeen, they shouldn’t have to be subjected to Photoshopped images and subliminal messages about the way they are supposed to look,” Labbe said.
Continue reading “Waterville teens “spark” change at Seventeen magazine”
Education Commissioner Stephen Bowen and Lee Anne Larsen, literacy specialist for the Maine DOE, will be joined by school and community participants for the launch of Literacy for ME, the Maine Department of Education’s birth-to-adult literacy initiative, next week.
Continue reading “Literacy initiative launch in Lewiston next week”
The following is a news release from the Maine Charter School Commission.
AUGUSTA – The Maine Charter School Commission announced last week it will accept applications from potential charter school operators who hope to open schools for the 2013-14 school year.
Continue reading “Commission issues request for charter school proposals”
The Governor’s Office has issued the following notice:
AUGUSTA – In accordance with a Presidential proclamation, the United States flag and the State of Maine flag shall be flown at half-staff from sunrise to sunset Friday, August 31, 2012, to honor the passing of astronaut Neil Armstrong.
Continue reading “Flags to be flown half-staff Friday, August 31”
It’s time for a new school year, and here at the Maine DOE we’re continuing the work of our strategic plan.In a few weeks, the Department will launch its birth-to-adult literacy initiative, Literacy for ME, and we’re hoping to get the whole state involved.
In late September, the Department will be offering six one-day regional meetings to explain how to implement and develop comprehensive literacy plans in local communities, and we hope that you will consider helping to create a local team to participate in one of these sessions and set your community on the road to a local plan for action. Well-represented planning teams made up of members that span the birth to adult continuum are encouraged to sign-up. To view the full meeting schedule and register your team by the September 17 deadline, please visit the project’s website.
Maine educators will have the chance to learn more about the framework for K-12 Science Education Vision at two workshops held on September 20 and October 25, 2012.
Continue reading “Science workshops focus on Framework, standards”
It is with great, great sadness that I report the passing this week of two long-time members of the Maine DOE family – Deb Hannigan, who served as the director of Child Development Services, and Buzz Kastuck, who managed the school approval process, superintendent agreements and home schooling. Continue reading “Passing of Deb Hannigan and Buzz Kastuck”
It’s time for a new school year, and here at the Maine DOE we’re continuing the work of our strategic plan.
In a few weeks, the Department will launch its birth-to-adult literacy initiative, Literacy for ME, and we’re hoping to get the whole state involved.
Maine DOE Newsroom 