SALEM – A representative from Sen. Susan Collins’ office got an earful about the No Child Left Behind Act Tuesday night at a SAD 58 board meeting.

Chuck Mahaleris, who works in Collins’ Lewiston office, was in northern Franklin County to listen to people’s concerns and make them aware of resources available through the senator’s office.

Talk at the school board meeting quickly turned to the No Child Left Behind Act. Many schools in Maine aren’t making adequate progress to meet the standards, according to a recently released list.

While SAD 58 was cited for consistent high performance, Superintendent Quenten Clark, has been outspoken about his negative feelings toward the act.

At the meeting, he continued to speak out.

“It looks to me like a system designed to do away with public education,” Clark told Mahaleris. “It isn’t an issue of leaving children behind, it’s an issue of throwing them overboard. It’s discoursing kids from education.”

Mahaleris admitted there were flaws in the act but said good could come of it. “It’s still a work in progress, just like educating our students in a work in progress.”

The act, he said, will be tweaked and changed over time as glitches are found. But he said, it’s “probably not” likely that 100 percent of students nationwide will reach proficiency by 2013.

“I don’t know if you could amend that law enough to make it work,” Clark said.

Lorrie Arruda, principal at the Stratton Elementary School, echoed Clark’s sentiment via a video-conferencing system linking people in Stratton to the Salem board meeting.

“This system is one of the most progressive in the state. Just look at the technology,” Arruda said. But, she said of No Child Left Behind, it’s not about students as it should be. “It’s about punishment, not building better schools,” she said.

SAD 58’s board chairman, Mike Pond of Strong, said the act shouldn’t have been put in place without lawmakers being certain of the consequences. “It’s ludicrous,” he said.

Other issues discussed were escalating ambulance costs and school and special education funding.

Mahaleris said he would take the concerns voiced at the meeting and relay them back to Collins.

On Thursday, Clark said he was appreciative of Mahaleris’ visit to the district and said the vocalization of problems with the act were nothing against Mahaleris. “They give you a hard time in Maine because they like you,” he joked.

At the meeting, board members unanimously approved field trip requests from eighth grade classes at each of the district’s four elementary schools. Students from Strong will go to Portland. Kingfield and Stratton eighth-graders will go to New York City. Phillips’ eighth graders will go to Quebec.

Clark, who is also principal at the Phillips Elementary School, said progress on an addition to house primary school students is going well despite adverse construction conditions.

“It’s beginning to be impressive,” he said, adding that students are in awe of the construction equipment, like the cranes, being used in the building process.

The board also adopted a policy making it mandatory for parents to send in written permission, via fax or mail, if they want their children to be dropped off by school buses at locations other than usual.

“We are afraid kids will get lost,” he said of the policy.

Board member John Witherspoon of Kingfield suggested parents be allowed to send in e-mails alerting schools of drop-off changes, however, that idea was shot down because secretaries might not check their e-mail in time.

“Parents have got to be part of the game of keeping their kids safe,” Clark said. “It shouldn’t always fall on the school.”

sdepoy@sunjournal.com

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