State officials accuse the school of misleading students.
LEWISTON – Most of North Atlantic Regional High School’s 2,200 students have never set foot inside the building.
Most have never attended a traditional class with one of the school’s certified teachers. Most have never even met their classmates.
But with $255 a year and proof that they have somehow earned 17.5 credits, all of North Atlantic’s students get a diploma.
The school is legal, but it may be misleading students when it promises them a real Maine diploma, state officials say.
Established in 1989 with 17 students, North Atlantic caters to home-schoolers from the United States, Canada and other countries. About 400 of the students are from Maine.
Most are home-schoolers who want help converting their home course work into traditional high school credits, said North Atlantic spokesman Steve Moitozo.
The school also offers tutors, provides 11 certified teachers to students who want a custom-made class and helps families find lessons to use on their own.
Students who show they have earned 17.5 credits, including four in English and two in science, get a diploma from North Atlantic.
The school charges $255 for every year a student wants to transfer credits. There is a $360 fee for their senior year, which includes the diploma.
Just under 450 students received diplomas in 2003, according to North Atlantic’s Web site.
The school has been free of controversy for 15 years, Moitozo said.
“We’re legal. We’re within our rights to do what we do,” he said.
But some Florida lawmakers cried foul this week when they learned that at least 77 Miami students have used the school to bypass their state’s graduation exam.
The students went through a traditional high school but failed to pass the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Exam, a test required for graduation. The students transferred their credits to North Atlantic, paid their fees and received diplomas a few weeks later.
Moitozo said there’s nothing wrong with that.
“Yeah, it’s a loophole. But I own my credits. I can do with them what I want. This is a parent choice, a student choice,” said Moitozo.
He called the Miami students bright, accomplished people who had high grade-point averages but couldn’t pass one section of the state’s standardized test.
“We felt we could help,” he said.
‘Sour grapes’
State officials in Maine and Florida say North Atlantic isn’t doing anything illegal.
But they believe school officials may be misleading students when they say they have earned a real Maine diploma.
“We do not recognize their grades, credits, transcripts, letters of course completion or diplomas,” said Department of Education spokesman Edwin “Buzz” Kastuck.
On its Web site, North Atlantic says it is a “state-recognized private school” that can give students a “real high school diploma.”
But Maine only recognizes that the school exists and that students who enroll are not truant from their local public school, Kastuck said.
There are 201 similar schools in Maine. The state does not ensure that those schools have teachers, use the Maine Learning Results or meet the other requirements that an accepted public or private school must meet.
A court ruling in the 1980s forced the state to recognize such private schools.
“There’s nothing that would prohibit a consumer from purchasing a diploma from this business,” Kastuck said.
Moitozo called Maine and Florida’s position “sour grapes.”
“If we don’t do a good job, we go out of business,” he said. “If a public school doesn’t do a good job, nothing happens.”
North Atlantic graduates have gone on to some of America’s most prestigious colleges, according to Moitozo.
Privacy laws prevented the school from revealing the names of current or former students, Moitozo said. He refused to offer the names of any teachers or other employees at the school.
The school’s Web site listed dozens of colleges attended by North Atlantic graduates, including Julliard, Harvard University and Penn State.
Officials from Harvard and Penn State could not confirm that any North Atlantic students had enrolled. A spokeswoman from Julliard said a current student was from North Atlantic.
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