Your editorial (Aug. 23) on the Common Core standards ignores two fundamental problems and one process issue. You suggested Maine had adopted the proposal after due thought, but the standards hadn’t been established when Maine’s Legislature voted unanimously and Maine’s current governor signed the bill as a way off the No-Child-Left-Behind hook. The fallacy of […]
education
Posted inMaine, sj-web
Petition drive begins to pull Maine out of 45-state Common Core education collaborative
AUGUSTA — The Maine Equal Rights Center announced Wednesday that it will launch a citizens’ petition campaign to repeal Maine’s reliance on a set of education standards used in 45 states. The ballot question, which would go to a November 2014 referendum if petitioners gather enough valid signatures, is the first of its kind in […]
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Posted inLewiston-Auburn
Expert: Start back-to-school sleep training now
LEWISTON — Ahh summer, when kids can stay up late and sleep in. But that routine is about to end. School starts Aug. 28 in Lewiston and Auburn and other districts. Now’s the time, experts say, for parents to get their children ready to go back, starting with a stricter bedtime schedule; sleep training if […]
Posted inMaine, sj-web
Groups announce referendum campaign to repeal Common Core in schools
AUGUSTA — A group opposed to new educational standards is launching a campaign to repeal the standards through a statewide vote. No Common Core Maine and the Maine Equal Rights Center say they will soon submit a proposal to the state for a ballot measure to repeal the Common Core Standards. They would need to […]
Posted inOp-Eds
David Sirota: A lesson from America’s education debate
Paradoxes come in all different forms, but here’s one that perfectly fits this Gilded Age: The most significant lesson from the ongoing debate about American education has little to do with schools and everything to do with money. This lesson comes from a series of recent scandals that expose the financial motives of the leaders […]
Posted inOur View
Bowen made positive contribution in Maine
Maine Education Commissioner Stephen Bowen was a constructive advocate for better education in Maine and he will be missed. Bowen announced Friday he will resign Sept. 12 to work for the national Council of Chief State School Officers. When Bowen was appointed in March of 2011 by Gov. Paul LePage, many feared we were in […]
Posted inMaine, sj-web
Maine gets 2-year waiver on No Child Left Behind
AUGUSTA — The U.S. Department of Education announced Monday that Maine’s application for a waiver under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act has been granted, allowing the state to implement another school accountability measure separate from the A-through-F grading system unveiled earlier this year. The two-year waiver means that Maine is exempt from the strict […]
Posted inOp-Eds
Auburn School Committee
AUBURN — In a package that ran on the Perspective page on Sunday, Aug. 4, one of the Auburn School Committee members should have been listed as Francois Bussiere.
Posted inMaine
Schools face new debt for MaineCare payments
AUBURN — Nearly 20 public school systems in Maine are being asked to repay often sizable MaineCare funding from the Maine Department of Health and Human Services. Robert Nadeau, a lawyer representing 12 of the school systems, including the Auburn School Department, said he’s aware of more than $2 million the department is trying to […]
Posted inOp-Eds
Keeping up will mean cutting back; some suggestions
Since the second school budget referendum defeat on July 23, the Auburn School Committee members and Superintendent Katy Grondin have been acting — to borrow a phrase Abe Lincoln once used to describe a defeated Union general — “confused and stunned, like a duck hit on the head.” They’ve complained peevishly that voters have based […]