A state board unanimously signed off on Gov. Paul LePage’s nominee to keep leading the Department of Education. The Board of Education’s effusive letter supporting the governor’s nomination of Acting Education Commissioner Robert Hasson to that permanent position led LePage to announce the nomination on Thursday. The governor announced his intent to nominate Hasson last month. His appointment is […]
education
Posted inUncategorized
Lewiston High School seeking alternatives to detention
LEWISTON — His head was on the desk, his arms around his head. The high-schooler was sleeping out a detention at Lewiston High School. “I was tardy,” he said when asked why he was there. If students are late too many times in a quarter “you get detention,” he said. About 12 other students in […]
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Posted inMaine, sj-web, Uncategorized
Lewiston leads the way in push to opt out of school testing
AUGUSTA — With a strong push from Lewiston parents and educators, a growing rebellion against the test-taking rules adopted at both the state and federal levels aims to make it easier for students to sit out the exams. They’re prodding lawmakers to do more to let parents know they’re free to opt out from having […]
Posted inMaine, sj-web
Higher education leaders to address Legislature
AUGUSTA (AP) — The leaders of Maine’s higher education institutions are set to address the Legislature. Maine Maritime Academy President William Brennan is scheduled to speak first during a joint session of the Legislature on Thursday. The heads of the University of Maine System and the state’s community college system will speak afterward. The University […]
Posted inMaine, sj-web
Governor to nominate Robert Hasson for Education Commissioner
Gov. Paul LePage’s office said Tuesday said he has notified a state board that he intends to nominate Acting Education Commissioner Robert Hasson for that permanent position. That starts a process that could give Maine its first commissioner since 2014, when longtime education official Jim Rier left the post. Since then, the governor has shifted […]
Posted inOp-Eds, sj-web
DeVos has a new direction for education
American public school students fall well behind students around the world in math and science proficiency. This is not debatable. According to the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study and the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study, both cited in The New York Times in 2012, “Fourth- and eighth-grade students in the United States […]
Posted inOp-Eds, sj-web
Lamenting those who don’t value information
“I love the poorly educated!” — Donald Trump “Think! It ain’t illegal yet.” — Funkadelic It’s time we talked about the most consequential political divide in this country. That divide is not between liberals and conservatives. Rather, it is between the ignorant and the informed, between those who have information and can extrapolate from it […]
Posted inLewiston-Auburn, Oxford Hills
Education reform panel issues first report
PARIS — A 15-member commission on education reform issued its first report last week, calling for exploring statewide or regional contracts to better compensate and retain effective teachers. It was one of 17 strategies listed by the Blue Ribbon Commission to Reform Public Education Funding and Improve Student Performance in Maine. The panel was created by […]
Posted inMaine, sj-web
Portland teachers turn to crowdfunding for classroom materials
Tracy McGhie, a teacher at Ocean Avenue Elementary School in Portland, is seeking $558 from Donors Choose for new classroom furniture, such as these yoga balls, that are becoming popular in schools across the country. PORTLAND — Tight budgets often mean teachers turn to alternative sources to get the educational materials their students need. With crowdfunding […]
Posted inMaine, sj-web
School choice not a good choice for rural school districts
EAST MILLINOCKET — The small parking lot outside of Schenck High School was crammed with cars, all there for the basketball game, the town’s featured event that night. The cold winter air whipped around white mounds of snow lining the town’s few residential streets and past the school to the vast blackness of Interstate 95. […]