Consolidation? How About An Alternative?

Unlike the numerous pages devoted to reports of other administrators, the minutes of the April 24, 2007 meeting of the MSAD #46 Board of Directors, item IV, the Superintendent’s Report simply stated “Consolidation”; and at the May 2nd meeting Superintendent Jordan suggested that it's time to start discussing regionalization locally. It's hard to tell from the minutes in which direction he's headed. In case he’s reading this I suggest that he take an immediate look at regionalizing the Options high school alternative program.

At the time that it was first piloted, then high school principal Rob Liebow recognized that an alternative to conventional high school education was needed. Since that beginning, the Options program has been genuinely successful in increasing the graduation rates at DRHS while providing an opportunity for students to achieve high school success.

Unfortunately there have been few administrators who are truly supportive of the program, or the students who attend school there. As previously reported in fact , the current MSAD #46 leadership has cut instructional staff in the Options program while increasing the cost of administration elsewhere in the district. The usefulness of the Options program might be better appreciated and supported elsewhere.

Maybe a better idea is for a group of student advocates to begin the process of establishing a regional alternative high school. Maybe a charter alternative high school, which would be free to operate using individualized programming. A story in the Portland Press Herald on April 13, 2007, reported that a proposal, that would allow up to 20 charter school programs at existing schools in the next decade, recently went before the Legislature's Education and Cultural Affairs Committee.

Sponsored by Rep. Boyd Marley, D-Portland, the measure was one of five bills heard in Augusta that would create options for public school students. Other bills include proposals to expand alternative education programs.

Marley‘s plan grew out of his concern for students who aren't thriving in conventional programs. Too bad our administration doesn’t have that same concern.

One proposal would encourage programs based on experiential, or hands-on, learning. "These programs would be educational incubators that will spark some of the best practices that will help small groups of students," Marley said. "If the programs are set up as charter schools within existing schools", he said, "they could qualify for $300,000 in federal grants". Other bills include proposals to expand alternative education programs.

Judith Jones, head of the charter school association, said the bill would help bring more school choice to Maine students. "It is reasonable to start creating alternatives to the existing system," Jones said. Maine is one of 12 states that do not allow charter schools, which grew out of the public education reform movement of the 1980s.

Students who are unchallenged or bored by an uninspired system, as well as those who are struggling to achieve the average, can benefit from an individualized plan. Alternatives like the Options program should be utilized to the highest and best use, and not treated like a dumping ground for salvaging student tuition.

The Options program has been one of the District’s long-standing best kept secrets. If you are truly putting “students first”, staff the program and refer the students to it early on, so that they can achieve average at least, and then they can succeed at the high school.

Otherwise let’s set up a true alternative regional high school, give the parents and their students the choice, and see where they choose to attend.