March 28, 2024
BANGOR DAILY NEWS (BANGOR, MAINE

Bangor physical education teacher named to national standards board

A prominent Bangor teacher has been named to the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards, one of only two Maine teachers to sit on the 63-member board.

Vine Street School physical education teacher Barbara Kelley, 40, was named to the board late this fall as one of only two physical education teachers on the board. Both were named this year. She is also only the second Maine teacher to be selected.

Kelley will join other teachers, administrators and higher education representatives in developing a voluntary certification process for elementary and secondary school teachers.

Maine’s other teacher on the board is Charleyne A. Gilbert of Westbrook, who is completing her second and final three-year term on the board.

Kelley sees her selection to the board as a reflection of the school system as a whole.

“I think it says a lot about where you are teaching, about the kind of people employed in the school district,” she said.

What first attracted Kelley’s interest in the board two years ago was her concern that physical education was being put on the back burner of discussions because it had no representation on the board. She said that as it stands now, physical education is one of the last fields scheduled to be developed.

The Bangor teacher has served as the chief negotiator for the Bangor Education Association and sits on the board of directors for the Maine Teachers Association and for the National Education Association.

She has taught 18 years in Bangor, including the last eight years at Vine Street. Kelley was named this year to the gubernatorial panel reviewing the state’s funding formula, and in 1990 she was named Maine Elementary School Physical Education Teacher of the Year.

The standards developed by the board will differ from recent efforts in Maine to develop its own standards board, she said.

The national effort, Kelley explained, would develop ideals and assessments for determining and promoting good teaching.

A state board would serve as a licensing board for teachers, although its objective also would be to assure good teaching practices. In early October, Gov. John R. McKernan vetoed the standards board bill.


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