Commissioner’s Update – August 9, 2012

Commissioner's Update - August 9, 2012
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At the Department this summer we’ve been implementing elements of the five core priorities in our strategic plan.

Our Center for Best Practices web pages went live this week, providing a platform for sharing best practices for learner-centered instruction from three districts and some of the lessons they learned along the way. We invite other schools in Maine to review these case studies, videos, and resources and explore innovative ideas they may wish to adopt and adapt. And we’ll be adding more case studies in the future.

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Youth Health Survey dates announced for 2013

The Maine Department of Education, in collaboration with the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention and the Office of Substance Abuse in the Department of Health and Human Services, announces the third administration of the Maine Integrated Youth Health Survey (MIYHS) with a survey administration period of between February 4 and 15, 2013.

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School bus refurbishment: shorter subsidy turnaround in August

Fiscal Year 2012-13 subsidy is available when districts contract school bus refurbishment by August 31, 2012.

Typically, districts receive subsidy during the fiscal year following the contract. However, contracts signed during August 2012 will receive subsidy in the current fiscal year. Continue reading “School bus refurbishment: shorter subsidy turnaround in August” →

Student-produced video a finalist in film festival

Still image from The Domino Effect, an anti-bullying video created by Nancy Nickerson's fourth grade class at South School Elementary.
Still image from The Domino Effect, an anti-bullying video created by Nancy Nickerson’s fourth grade class at South School Elementary.

Nancy Nickerson’s fourth grade students at South Elementary School in Rockland were recently recognized as finalists for their short film at the 35th annual Maine Student Film and Video Festival in Waterville.

Her students created an anti-bullying video titled The Domino Effect, for which they acted, directed, edited, and wrote the script. When the film aired as part of the Maine International Film Festival on July 21, Nickerson’s students traveled to the Waterville Opera House for the premiere.

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Minimum teacher salary supplement repealed

Effective with the 2012-13 school year, Public Law 2011 Chapter 477 Part D (LD 1816) has repealed the Minimum Teacher Salary Supplement (20-A MRSA §15689 sub-§7 and sub-§8 have been repealed).  This action by the legislature repealed the law that had required the State to provide the funding to school administrative units to pay the difference between the locally established salary and the statutory minimum amount of $30,000.

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