The Department is happy to announce that the Licensure Call Center will offer an additional five hours per week of service to educators and prospective educators. Effective Monday, January 6, 2020 the Licensure Call Center (781-338-6600) will be open each business day from 9:00 a.m.-1:00 p.m. and from 2:00 p.m.-5:00 p.m. Almost 50 percent of the responses from a recent survey favored these new hours over other options.
2. Pictures of the Week:
The Governor’s Annual Holiday Tree Lighting and Open House this year also included a gingerbread house building competition for schools with culinary programs. The top photo shows students from Pathfinder Vocational Technical High School in Palmer, who won the Most Creative award for their replica of the Stone House Museum in Belchertown. The house on the bottom left is a replica of Abigail Adams’s birthplace in Weymouth and was created by students at Weymouth High School. The house won the Most Commonwealth Spirit award. In the photo on the bottom right, students from Taconic High School in Pittsfield stand with UMass President Marty Meehan, First Lady Lauren Baker, and Lt. Governor Polito. Taconic's house won the award for Most Holiday Spirit. Congratulations to all!
3. Winter 2020 Perkins Implementation Sessions:
In July 2018, the "Strengthening Career and Technical Education in the 21st Century Act", also known as Perkins V, was signed into federal law. This year is a transition year. The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education is offering daylong workshops in February to help districts understand new Perkins V resources and incorporate them into career, vocational, and technical education program improvement efforts. Participants will have an opportunity to explore and use Perkins V resources, such as core indicator reports, a comprehensive local needs assessment, and more. Registration is open online. Anyone with questions about Perkins V should email CCTE@doe.mass.edu.
4. Board Meetings Canceled:
The regular meeting of the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education and the joint meeting of the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education and Board of Higher Education, both scheduled to take place at Mount Wachusett Community College in Gardner on December 17, were canceled due to inclement weather. The items on the BESE agenda will be rescheduled for a future meeting, and the joint meeting will be rescheduled at a later date.
5. Happy Holidays!
This is the last Commissioner’s Weekly Update for 2019. The next edition will be January 3, 2020. All of us at DESE wish you a peaceful holiday season!
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