The Morning Sentinel

March 11

Two schools hope to rise

BY ERIN RHODA AND Staff Writers

BY ERIN RHODA AND

MATTHEW STONE

Staff Writers

Carrabec High School in North Anson and Madison Area High School will be eligible for a piece of $12 million in federal school-improvement funds after making a list of Maine's 10 "persistently lowest-achieving" schools.

The schools posted among the lowest combined scores in the state over the past three years on the SAT reading and math portions, the state Department of Education announced Tuesday. Maine high school juniors take the tests as their standardized exam under the federal No Child Left Behind law.

Carrabec High School, in School Administrative District 74, has about 300 students from Anson, Embden, Solon and New Portland. Madison Area High School, in SAD 59, has about 300 students from Madison, Athens, Starks and Brighton Plantation.

"People shouldn't overreact to something like this," said Kenneth Smith, SAD 74's superintendent. Instead, the district needs to "review where we are and what the options are."

In order to accept the federal money, the 10 schools on the list need to develop plans for boosting student achievement, choosing from four options laid out by the Obama administration:

* replacing the principal, dismissing the teachers and rehiring no more than half of them;

* converting a traditional public school to an independently-run charter school;

* closing a school and sending its students to other district schools; or

* replacing the principal and taking steps to change the way material is taught and increase the amount of time students spend in class.

Education Commissioner Susan Gendron said most of Maine's low-performing schools will likely opt for the last option: replacing the principal, if he or she has been at the school more than two years, and making structural changes.

The charter-school option would not be allowed in Maine, since state law prohibits charter schools. And the school-closure option would be impractical in many rural districts, where students might have no other nearby schools to attend.

The option that involves dismissing most staff members might also risk violating collective-bargaining agreements and labor laws, Gendron said.

"I think what you would find is if a school system attempted to use this model without using the appropriate procedures as defined in their collective-bargaining agreements, we'd have some hefty lawsuits underway," she told members of the Legislature's Education Committee.

When replacing principals, schools would also be bound to districts' individual contracts with the administrators. That could result in the district reassigning a principal to another job in the school district.

The school-improvement action "doesn't trump the legal contract they have with the principal," said David Connerty-Marin, a state education department spokesman.

By April 2, schools on the low-performer list have to submit notices to the state education department saying they plan to file school-improvement plans. The school districts have to submit their full plans, which would take effect during the 2010-11 school year, by May 2.

Smith, who said SAD 74 "definitely will consider" applying for the funds, will meet with board members at 6 p.m. today at Carrabec High School to discuss the district's options. He will meet with faculty on Thursday.

"What's critical in this case is to accept the fact that we must turn things around and not to point fingers at people," he said.

The two school-improvement options available to the North Anson and Madison districts if they want to receive the federal funds involve replacing their high schools' principals.

Ken Coville, who is in his sixth year as principal of Carrabec High School, said it is more important for people to focus on improving students' learning than on losing personnel.

"The determination of whether and how to go forward in pursuing this option needs to be based on the best interests of the students and the community as a whole regardless of the impact on any individual or employee," he said.

U.S. News & World Report identified Carrabec High School in 2007 as one of the 13 best schools in the state for having "college ready" students.

Despite doubling the rate of students enrolled in post-secondary programs between 2004 and 2008, "Carrabec has continued to struggle with low SAT scores," Coville said.

Efforts to reach Madison Area High School Principal Colin Campbell were unsuccessful.

SAD 59 Superintendent Lyford Beverage said late Tuesday afternoon he hadn't yet reviewed the information from the state and couldn't comment.

"It isn't going to make anybody feel very happy," Smith said.

"It's always better to be able to announce something like you've won a championship; you've won a grant or something like that. But it's part of life. It's one of those things where you've got to find out more about it and change things. There's no sense being defensive about it."