Central Maine schools take precautions after gas leak
After an early-morning natural gas leak at a Hallowell school this month, local officials say safety protocols are in place to deal with leaks in sensitive locations. Nobody was in the building at the...
View ArticleMini-grants fund big learning enrichment on Cape Cod
WEST BARNSTABLE, Mass. — When Falmouth High School art teacher Jane Baker was looking for a meaningful project for her students, she turned to Antarctica. Baker invited Rebecca Gast, associate...
View ArticleTests based on Common Core starting up
STOCKPORT, Ohio — Sixth-grader Kayla Hunter considers herself pretty tech savvy. She has a computer at home, unlike about half her classmates at her elementary school. And it matches up well with the...
View ArticleSkowhegan cancels meeting over mascot, disappointing tribe
SKOWHEGAN — Penobscot Indian Nation organizers who want Skowhegan schools to stop using the Indian image as a sports mascot said Tuesday they want a small planning session with school officials before...
View ArticleUMaine warns of potential data breach after theft of professor’s laptop
ORONO – The sensitive personal data of more than 600 current and former University of Maine students, including their names and Social Security numbers, were compromised after the theft of a faculty...
View ArticleUMaine professor whose laptop was stolen violated university’s data policy
A University of Maine physics professor who compromised the personal information of more than 600 current and former students when his laptop was stolen violated a university policy that prohibits...
View ArticleBill calls for notices on right to opt out of school testing
A Maine lawmaker is proposing a bill that would require school districts to notify parents that they have the right to opt out of the state’s standardized tests, mirroring a broader movement in other...
View ArticleMaine won’t issue A-F grades to schools this year
AUGUSTA — The Maine Department of Education will suspend the A-F school grading system this year because students are taking a new assessment test and the state will not have enough data to measure...
View ArticleGray-New Gloucester High School cancels Tuesday classes after bomb threat
Gray-New Gloucester High School will be closed Tuesday after it was evacuated Monday in response to a handwritten note in a girls’ restroom describing a bomb threat. Bruce Beasley, superintendent of...
View ArticleUSM names former dean to lead Metropolitan University initiative
Associate professor and former dean Lynn Kuzma has been chosen to lead the University of Southern Maine’s Metropolitan University initiative, overseeing USM’s focus on creating new partnerships with...
View ArticlePanel votes to shift Maine teachers’ retirement costs back to state
AUGUSTA — The Legislature’s Education and Cultural Affairs Committee voted 8-5 Monday to recommend a bill that would shift the full cost of paying for teacher retirements back to the state, just two...
View ArticleSchools’ suspension rates drop, but problems persist
WASHINGTON — Suspension rates dropped for many of the nation’s school districts, but U.S. students still lost about 18 million days of instruction to out-of-school punishments in the 2011-2012 school...
View ArticleFreedom of speech, backlash of anger over four words at South Portland High...
SOUTH PORTLAND — It’s a story about three top students at South Portland High School, four little words added to the daily invitation to say the Pledge of Allegiance, and a provocative Facebook post...
View ArticleIn Portland, earlier start considered for high school
Portland High’s school day would start 15 minutes earlier and end five minutes later under one of several proposals to be considered Tuesday by the School Board to give students more instructional...
View ArticleS&P downgrades UMaine System outlook to negative
Standard & Poor’s downgraded its long-term outlook for the University of Maine System from stable to negative on Tuesday, citing declining enrollment and high turnover among leadership at the seven...
View ArticlePortland School Board considering inverting start times
Portland School Board members considering how to add 20 minutes to the school day say they want to explore a new option: making elementary schools start earlier and allowing high schools to start...
View ArticleTo make up for snow days, bill calls for longer school days
AUGUSTA — With snowbanks still growing around the state, a bill allowing schools to add an hour to their regular school days to make up for days lost to snow cancellations got support from several...
View ArticleBill would have Maine fund charter schools
Charter school budgets would receive money directly from the state, rather than from districts that send students to those schools, under a bill endorsed unanimously Wednesday by lawmakers on the state...
View ArticleWhite House: Veto ahead for bill changing No-Child law
The House is debating changes that would give states and communities more control. WASHINGTON — The White House threatened Wednesday to veto a Republican bill to overhaul the widely criticized No Child...
View ArticleSchool research spending up slightly
University spending on research and development rose by less than half a percent nationally in fiscal year 2013, according to data released recently by the National Science Foundation. Such R&D...
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