Here are some tools to help you secure permission to film your PINE teaching. None of this language is required, but it may help you discuss the project with the administration or families.

Cover Letter

IYNB PINE Filming Cover Letter

Sample Copy

Your child’s teacher is part of a teacher training called the PINE Project, sponsored by the Maine Department of Education and administered by the Maine nonprofit I’m Your Neighbor Books. The PINE Project uses picture books and discussions about Immigrant and New Generation families to teach social-emotional skills like self-awareness and self-management.

For the PINE Project, your child’s teacher will film her classroom discussion of picture books on two occasions. The purpose of this filming is to capture the ways that teachers use these books in the classroom as tools for Social Emotional Learning. The filming process is not intended to feature individual students. Children’s faces will be left out of the frame as much as possible. The full footage will only be seen by the course’s faculty and select Department of Education staff. It will not be made public in any way.

This project is a pilot for a national video training to be produced later in 2024. If a piece of footage from the classroom discussion seems invaluable for that future production, you would be contacted and asked to review and approve it before it is used in any way. The use of any footage would not move forward without all parents in the classroom consenting. Additionally, any footage used would block student’s faces, remove any affiliation with the school or geographic location, and in all ways protect your child’s privacy and safety.

If you have any questions, please reach out to Kirsten Cappy at I’m Your Neighbor Books at kcappy@imyourneighborbooks.org or call the office at 207-613-1619.

Thank you for all you do to support not only your child’s education but the broader education of our community.