POLAND – Poland Regional High School’s first major alumni survey shows new graduates feel well-prepared for the outside world, especially when it comes to writing, problem-solving and teamwork.
But they believe that drinking and drug use are an increasing problem at the young school and that the math education could be better.
Futuristics Research, a Pennsylvania-based company hired by the high school, sent the detailed questionnaire last year to all 301 members of the classes of 2000, 2001, 2002 and 2003. The survey asked them to rate Poland Regional, gauging how well the school prepared them for the world and evaluating their relationship with faculty and classmates.
Twenty-nine questionnaires were undeliverable because graduates had moved. More than 115 people – or nearly 40 percent of alumni – answered and were included in the survey.
Although the school has taken flak for being too unconventional, alumni said Poland Regional taught them to think creatively, to collaborate and to solve problems. They gave high marks to the school’s unique daily mentoring program and unusual humanities program, which combines English and social studies. Most also said the school’s advisers and guidance counselors were “good” or “excellent,” the highest ratings they could give.
Alumni said the school didn’t give them enough study skills, however. They also didn’t like the school’s math and foreign language classes, rating them the lowest of all subjects. Thirty percent said they had to take remedial math courses in college.
An increasing number of students also said drugs and alcohol were a problem in the school. For example, no one in the Class of 2000 thought the school had an alcohol issue. Nearly a third of the Class of 2003 said it did.
Last fall, the school received a 195-page report on the results. Officials have shared the results with School Committee members and have summarized the results for parents in a newsletter.
Several current students said they agree with the results, both good and bad.
“I think the school is on the right track. They’re improving every year,” said 17-year-old Erica Belanger, a senior.
Like the alumni, she and her friends said they like the school’s unusual mentoring program, which requires students to meet with a specific faculty member and group of classmates every day. They also like Poland Regional’s English classes, but thought math could be improved.
“If everyone was required to take a higher level math, I think it would be better,” said 17-year-old Stevie Ray, a senior.
Several said they, like the alumni in the survey, see substance abuse becoming a problem at the 570-student high school.
“More and more students are getting into drugs and alcohol a lot,” said senior Derick Jordan, 17.
Principal Derek Pierce said the school had already hired a substance-abuse counselor and had started working on other issues before it got the survey results. He said the school isn’t going to make changes solely based on alumni’s comments, but it would take their comments into consideration.
“It’s another piece of the puzzle to tell us how we’re doing,” Pierce said.
Poland Regional, which serves students from Poland, Minot and Mechanic Falls, opened in 1999. It paid for the survey with a grant.
Comments are no longer available on this story