Maine ASCD Weblog

Small Schools

Part of the fear expressed over the past year regarding school district consolidation has been concerns about small towns losing their small schools. Throughout the process the Governor and Commissioner repeated reassured constituents that the consolidation plans were not masked attempts at closing small schools. But it is clear Maine is going to have to do something about small schools soon as the student population steadily declines.

The Maine Sunday Telegram provides a sobering picture of the realities facing many small towns. Young families are simply not moving into small-town Maine, and those there can't find the work they need to survive there.

It comes down to simple arithmetic, "from 197,772 in 2006, statewide enrollment is projected to drop to about 175,000 by 2012," the Telegram reports in the article.

Read the whole article and feel free to comment.

~John Brandt

Put a Little Music in Your Heart

The Bangor Symphony Orchestra announced today that the final judging of the 27^th annual Bangor Symphony Orchestra Maine High School Concerto Competition will take place Saturday, February 23 beginning at 1:00 PM in the Minsky Recital Hall of the University of Maine, Orono Campus.

From their news release:

Open to all Maine high school students, the Bangor Symphony Orchestra Maine High School Concerto Competition offers each year's winners the chance of a lifetime - to perform with the full Bangor Symphony Orchestra for thousands of students and teachers at the Youth Concerts in May. David Whitehill, Executive Director of the Bangor Symphony Orchestra said, “this concerto competition provides a wonderful opportunity to showcase and celebrate Maine’s young talent.”

So, on this Valentine's Day, how about putting a little music in your heart and support the program! FMI see the Bangor Symphony's website.

~John Brandt

Image from Creative Commons - by David Drexler

What Works in Maine Schools

One of the features of this weekend's What Works in Schools winter retreat was an opportunity for schools to host poster sessions showcasing some of the "good works" they are doing. Below are some images from those poster sessions.

~John Brandt

 

District Reorganization Back in the News

It has been several months since there was anything substantive to report in the School District Reorganization debate. Yes, there was a repeal attempt to collect signatures to put the issue out on a citizen's referendum. That apparently has not succeeded. Yes, there has been consternation as districts have gone through the process of who they want to "play with." But this week there was finally a bill presented by the Education Committee which speaks to some of the financial issues that have been raised in the debate.

According to a press release from the DOE:

A bill that removes financial and other barriers to school districts trying to reorganize administrative functions is poised for action in the Senate, perhaps as early as tomorrow. The legislation had received a favorable vote from the committee last month but was brought back last week for additional discussion and revisions.

Committee members agreed on all of the key elements of the bill but one.

The bill allows granting a waiver to some proposed RSUs of less than 1,200 students, gives school systems the choice of going to the new budget validation referendum process this year or next, and clarifies the responsibilities of RSU boards that cannot be turned over to local school committees.

To be continued...

~John Brandt