Administrators were concerned that students would be absent during
MEA testing.
FARMINGTON – SAD 9 administrators showed Tuesday night just how nervous they were about the upcoming Maine Educational Assessment tests by questioning a field trip that would make students absent for two days of the two-week window for testing.
The Franklin County Fiddlers were requesting permission from the SAD 9 board to travel to Boston to see a performance by the Blue Man Group and also to do three performances of their own.
The trip would be led by the group’s leader, Steven Muise
Students would miss school on Thursday, March 11, and Friday, March 12, if they went on the trip. Those two days are the last of a two-week period when the district will be administering the MEAs to the junior class at Mount Blue High School.
MEA testing dates are scheduled by the school, not the state.
Now that MEA results carry such weight because of the No Child Left Behind Act standards, the district was careful when approving the trip.
High school Principal Greg Potter explained that sections of the MEAs are given out over the course of next week. The following week is for make-up testing for those absent or sick during the regularly scheduled testing.
A school can be listed as a failing school on the act if less than 95 percent of students participate in the testing.
Assistant Superintendent Sue Pratt originally denied the request for the trip because seven students in the fiddlers group of juniors are scheduled to take the MEAs.
The concern was that several of those students would be missing the regularly scheduled MEAs because of another trip for the high school’s all-girls chorale group, Syncopations, to perform at Carnegie Hall.
With all the absenteeism, that would leave a very narrow window for the test to get taken.
Pratt eventually let the application for the trip go before the board with the stipulation that any student who had not completed their MEAs by the time the fiddlers were scheduled to leave would not be allowed to go.
Board member Susan Black said she was concerned about approving the trip because of the precedent it would set for taking trips at testing time.
But, Superintendent Michael Cormier said in the future, those planning field trips need to be more aware of the importance of the MEAs and not schedule field trips during that time.
“We are already observing the pressure of these tests,” Cormier said.
In the end, the board approved the trip, 8-2, with Greg Webber and Susan Black opposed.
Another trip was approved for the state champion Fellowship of the Legos FIRST Lego League team from Academy Hill School in Wilton to travel to Atlanta in April to compete in the International FIRST Lego League Tournament.
“We are very proud of you all. What you’ve accomplished is fantastic,” Webber told the team and their parents.
The board also accepted the retirements of Gordon Grisby, a district bus driver, and Dick Minear, a science teacher at Mount Blue Middle School.
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