Lewiston board says no to more in-person schooling sunjournal.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from sunjournal.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
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LEWISTON An effort to increase the per-diem pay rate for substitutes to help fill those positions was derailed by the School Committee on Monday night.
Teacher vacancies in December ranged from 42% at Montello Elementary to 5% at Connors, with no vacancies at the Lewiston Regional Technical Center, according to information provided to the School Committee.
Educational technician vacancies ranged from 73% at Lewiston High School to 4% at Geiger Elementary.
Committee member Kiernan Majerus-Collins made a motion to increase the rate from $100 per day for teacher substitutes and $90 a day for education technician substitutes to $105 for each.
“We’re talking about people with no job stability, no guaranteed raises, no contract,” Majerus-Collins said. “I don’t think our district should say, ‘Sorry, but we want you to do this crucially important job for what is less than minimum wage in some places.’”
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LEWISTON Students in Lewiston Public Schools will be allowed access to YouTube videos on district-owned devices, the School Committee decided Monday night.
Superintendent Jake Langlais made the recommendation Jan. 4, but the committee wanted to know what other districts were doing.
“I’ve heard from colleagues and peers around the state and got heavy input from other Western Maine superintendents,” Langlais said Monday. “Almost everyone uses YouTube.”
The internet platform offers educational material that would greatly enrich remote instruction, he said earlier this month.
He repeated Monday night that there is a risk of students watching inappropriate or even harmful videos that get past the district’s internet filters.
LEWISTON Administrators are looking into a way to offer filtered YouTube access to students on school devices.
Superintendent Jake Langlais introduced the idea at a School Committee meeting Monday night.
“I believe the benefits outweigh the risks,” he said. “I think there is massive benefit to YouTube’s educational platform.”
The online video platform offers educational material that would greatly enrich remote instruction, he said. Teachers have full access, and students had it until a few years ago.
“The media that is added to YouTube on a daily basis is incredible,” Langlais wrote in a memo to the committee. “Much of the content is educationally purposeful.”