LEWISTON
They told horror stories about stressed out students.

They talked about cookie-cutter education, harsh penalties for failing schools and the demoralization of teachers.

They begged for relief from the No Child Left Behind Act. They pleaded for help.

And at the end of the two-hour meeting Thursday night, Republican U.S. Sen. Olympia Snowe offered at least some assistance, vowing to take the educators’ concerns to Education Secretary Rod Paige.

“I hear you. I’ve listened. I understand,” she said.

Snowe met with about 70 teachers, area education officials and state legislators at Montello Elementary School Thursday night to learn about the problems they were having with the No Child Left Behind Act, a controversial federal law that forces sweeping education reforms and holds schools accountable for student performance on state tests.

The Lewiston School Committee had invited Maine’s congressional delegation to talk about No Child Left Behind nearly a year ago. Snowe was the last of the state’s congressional delegation to come.

But the school officials from Lewiston, Auburn, Union 44 and Union 29 who met her at the door Thursday didn’t seem to mind. They were happy to have a lawmaker listen.

“Just to have you hear the concerns of some of us in the trenches is useful,” said Union 44 Superintendent Paul Malinski, who oversees schools in Litchfield, Sabattus and Wales.

For nearly two hours, Malinski and other school officials took turns speaking about the effects of No Child Left Behind. Some talked about current problems, such as poor teacher morale and growing student stress over new standards and increasing testing. Many complained that schools don’t have enough money to do everything that the No Child Left Behind Act wants them to do. They complained that schools are being called failures for not immediately getting every child to meet standards, even though some students enter school working below grade level, some have family issues that make schooling difficult and others don’t know English or have learning disabilities.

“I look around at our staffs and see people working as hard as hard as they can and being identified and failing,” said Auburn Superintendent Barbara Eretzian.

Others, including officials from the Union 29 towns of Mechanic Falls, Poland and Minot, talked about the problems they saw coming.

In an impassioned speech, Malinksi called the No Child Left Behind Act “deplorable,” saying it will force schools to ignore individualized education in order to make all students meet all standards at the same time.

“It seems that what we’ve done is ask Michelangelo to paint the Sistine Chapel with a roller instead of a brush. We ought to be using a brush,” he said.

Snowe said she understood educators’ concerns.

“I stand ready to support the state and support you in what you need to do your jobs,” she said.

Snowe said she didn’t realize the problems implementing the law would cause when it went to vote two years ago. She promised to bring the community’s concerns to the U.S. Education Secretary.

“We should examine these issues. They are real issues,” she said.

ltice@sunjournal.com

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