Many had hoped that this fall would be a return to normal for Maine's students — but COVID-19 and changing health and safety protocols have made the year more confusing than ever. In our ongoing series, "Making School Work," Maine Public will be sorting through all of those changes and sharing what you and your family need to know. Along the way, we'll bring you the voices of administrators, teachers, parents and students across the state.
Maine Public wants to hear from you. Are you a parent? Teacher? Student? Administrator? How are you feeling? Click here to share your pandemic education experiences.
-
Maine schools that require all students and staff to wear face masks will no longer have to conduct contact tracing of COVID-19 cases under a policy change announced Wednesday. -
The current surge of Covid-19 in Maine is not only taking a toll on hospitals — school nurses say they're also overwhelmed. -
While families and schools in Maine are receiving their standardized test results, the state says the results won't be shared with the public at large. -
Last year, the school didn't have its first COVID-19 case until March, which allowed kids to mostly stay in the classroom. But with the additional cases this fall, more students are quarantining at home for days or weeks. -
Teachers in Winthrop are calling for the district to move to remote learning for an extended period as it deals with a wave of COVID-19 cases. -
This week, the U.S. Department of Education released a new report, declaring that the mental health crisis for kids “has reached a critical point,” and called for schools to use extra pandemic funding to hire more school support staff like social workers and counselors, and do away with punitive punishments like suspensions. -
In Maine, local school board meetings have traditionally been the place to discuss budgets, class schedules and new teacher assignments. But as districts have been faced with tough decisions around mask mandates and vaccination policies, those meetings have, in some instances, become much more hostile. -
The agency is also reporting more than 2,900 COVID-19 cases within schools over the past 30 days. Schools in Brewer, Sanford and Lawrence have reported some of the highest case counts in the time period.
-
The state is reporting more than 2,500 cases within Maine's schools over the past 30 days, with some of the highest case counts in Hermon, Brewer, and Paris.
-
Pandemic interruptions have impacted schools in nearly every way – and music classes are no exception. But after a year hiatus, Maine students are now singing in school again. And educators say it may be critical to healing.
