Madawaska School Department | Serving Madawaska, St. David and Grand Isle

Workshop Day / Parent Conference Day- Monday November 10th, 2008

Monday November 10th will be a Workshop Day at Madawaska Elementary School and Parent/Teacher Conference Day at Madawaska Middle/High School. Students will not have classes on this day.
Madawaska Elementary School teachers will participate in a workshop by Dan Van Overbeke which will focus on the NWEA testing that our students have taken and how to maximize the results from these assessments.
Madawaska Middle/High School will have Parent/Teacher conferences for students from 6th to 12th grade. No appointments are necessary, but please note that 11:30-12:30 will be the teacher's lunch hour. Report cards will be available in the library.

Internet Access for Eligible 7th and 8th Graders

Free dial-up home internet access is available again this year for all of your 7th and 8th grade students (or high school students if you are a MLTI 1:1 high school) who are eligible for free or reduced price lunch. We have tried to make the application and set-up procedures as quick and easy as possible in order to maximize the number of students participating in the program.This offer also includes discounted broadband access for students eligible for the program. To apply, please download the following file: homeaccessenrollment.pdf

NWEA Testing Arrives at Madawaska Elementary School

Madawaska Elementary School has begun using the North West Educational Assessment (NWEA) tests in grades K-5. The NWEA's are an online formative assessment, which will be able to identify which specific skills a student has or has not mastered in the areas of Mathematics, Reading, and Language. Teachers will then be better able to adjust classroom instruction to meet the needs of our students. For more information on the NWEA tests, contact Ginette Albert at gin@madawaskaschools.org, or visit the NWEA website. http://www.nwea.org

School Budget Referendum Passes

The 2008-09 Madawaska School Department Budget passed it's voter referendum on 9/10/2009. The final vote was 170-129. Thanks to all of the voters who exercised their right to vote.

School Budget Referendum September 10, 2008

On 9/2/2008, the school budget for the 2008-09 school year was passed by voters at a special town meeting. The next step in the process is the school budget referendum. The voter referendum concerning the school department budget will be held on September 10, 2008 at the K of C Hall in Madawaska. As required by recent state laws, voters of Madawaska must go to the polls to vote on the school budget for the 2008-09 school year. If you are 18 or older and a citizen of Madawaska, please vote on this important issue.

Town Meeting

There will be a special town meeting on Tuesday, September 2, 2008 at 7pm in the Madawaska Middle/High School Cafeteria. The revised school budget is among the items to be discussed. The public is urged to attend this very important meeting.

School Lunch Price Changes for 2008-2009

The Madawaska School Committee has changed the school lunch prices for the 2008-2009 school year. Students at all schools will pay $2.00 for the full lunch price and $0.40 for the reduced lunch price. Breakfast prices are now $0.85 for full breakfast price and FREE for students qualifying for free or reduced meals.

Web Page Address Update and Other Changes to Web Site

The Madawaska School Department's web site has changed from http://www.madhs.mad.k12.me.us to the more easily remembered http://www.madawaskaschools.org after some upgrades in the summer of 2008. While the content is essentially the same, some changes to the look and feel of the templates should make for a cleaner, more organized look and feel. Most pages will now have navigation menus running horizontally across the top of the page instead of down the left hand side of the pages. The search results for the new web address will take some time to make their way through all the search engines, but eventually they will populate correctly. For feedback email web@madawaskaschools.org .

PowerSchool Offline for the Summer

PowerSchool is now offline so that we may do our end-of -year process , which will load next year's data into the system. We expect to have everything back online for the start of the 2008-09 school year. Thanks for your patience.

NCLB Review Completed

The Madawaska School Department recently completed their No Child Left Behind (NCLB) review of how it spends federal funds locally. The review was completed by a team of employees from the Maine Department of Education. While a formal report will be forthcoming, the committee left Madawaska with a few recommendations but many commendations for the excellent efforts put forth.

NEASC Accreditation Visitation Completed

The New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC) completed the accreditation review of Madawaska Middle/High School March 31st to April 2nd. Bob Souther, leader of the accreditation team, briefed members of the MMHS faculty and staff after school Wednesday at the conclusion of the day. He left with many commendations for the excellent programs being offered at MMHS, and had a couple of recommendations that will come out when the report is released later this spring. Members of the visitation team came from schools across the state, and they reviewed all aspects of the school. Accreditation is an important process, as it validates the quality of the school in the eyes of the association. Mrs. Gisele Faucher did a wonderful job leading the accreditation team's self study period, which began two years ago.

School Committee Meeting Changed

Due to inclement weather, the meeting scheduled for February 13, 2008 has been changed to Monday, February 25th. It will be held in the high school library.

Podcasts of "From the Owls Nest" Now Online

The Madawaska School Department now has a podcast, which is an audio program which will be published on a biweekly basis. The purpose of these short audio programs will be to explain some of the "behind the scenes" issues occurring in the schools. Episode 1 titled "The Introduction" has been posted at http://www.madhs.mad.k12.me.us/podcasts/podcast.cfm if you would like to take a few moments to listen.

School Libraries Now Online

The Madawaska Elementary School and the Madawaska Middle/High School had their library collections put online this fall using Follett's Destiny software. Now both libraries will be accessible using a web browser at http://64.45.76.34 Both school librarians benefitted from hours of hands on training with the new system. Please feel free to browse the collections!

PowerSchool Parent Back Online

PowerSchool's parent access portal is now back online after the summer months. Parents who have already attended the training sessions will be able to use the same usernames and passwords as previous years. There will be sessions for parents who have never had training on the use of the web portal in September. If you have any questions, please contact your son or daughter's guidance counselor for more information.

New Interim Superintendent Begins Work for Madawaska School Department

The Madawaska School Department welcomes Mr. Paul Malinski to the Interim Superintendent of Schools position for the 2007-2008 school year. Mr. Malinski comes to us with a very wide array of experiences as a school superintendent in Maine and Washington. Mr. Malinski has agreed to take us through the upcoming school year through June of 2008 when school consolidation effects begin to take place. If you see Mr. Malinski in your travels, please welcome him to our community!