BETHEL – One special education student: That’s why SAD 44’s Telstar High School made the state’s list of failing schools, said Superintendent David Murphy on Tuesday.
“Why doesn’t the government say this is a school with one subsection that didn’t make it, rather than place the whole school on the list of failing schools?” he asked.
The Bethel secondary school was identified Thursday by the Maine Department of Education as being one of 148 schools that did not meet the “adequate yearly progress” required by the federal No Child Left Behind Act. It had failed in math.
“The whole school was classified as failing, but it was only one subsection of our student population. That’s the problem with the law,” Murphy said.
“If one more of our students with disabilities had achieved a higher score, we would have made it,” he added.
That doesn’t mean the district won’t address the issue. Schools that fail for the first year are monitored and must develop a plan to improve.
“We want to have it corrected, but the state doesn’t provide funding,” because the high school does not receive Title I services, Murphy said.
Telstar Middle School, which failed in reading and math in the past two years, worked its way off the list this year, thanks to almost $40,000 from the state that funded proactive curriculum and teaching changes, he said.
“All of our elementary schools made AYP and the middle school showed improvement. We developed plans to address the problems and teachers came in during the summer,” Murphy said.
To get the high school off the list, Murphy said staff would meet with the district’s special education director, determine the common areas of weakness, then improve curriculum.
While not happy with the controversial federal law, Murphy said Maine Educational Assessment testing provides greater long-term benefit than the standards of No Child Left Behind.
“It shows us where to make corrections by identifying our strengths and weaknesses,” he said.
Comments are no longer available on this story