LEWISTON – After hearing teachers and freshmen talk about the virtues of a new student military club at Lewiston High School, the School Committee voted 7-1 Monday to approve it.

Committee Chairman James Handy objected on the grounds that another military group isn’t needed. Most committee members offered abundant praise for the Lewiston Cadet Corps.

The corps will not receive money from taxpayers, Superintendent Leon Levesque said. To join, students will pay annual fees of $110 or $150 to cover costs. Activities won’t be done during school hours, only nights and weekends, said high school Principal Gus LeBlanc.

LeBlanc said major components will include teaching students career and college planning, leadership, service to others, character and fitness education, military customs including drilling and color guard, and high adventure, including search and rescue and marksmanship.

The Lewiston Cadet Corps will be affiliated with the Maine Army National Guard, the American Cadet Alliance, the Civilian Marksmanship Program, the Maine Appalachian Mountain Club and the Maine Association for Search and Rescue, and will adopt and help a Lewiston food pantry.

Ten students are training to become cadets. When their training is done Oct. 1, they’ll train new recruits, LeBlanc explained.

Four high school freshmen spoke to committee members explaining why they joined, including the feeling of achieving something they didn’t think they could, having fun and doing better academically.

Several, including Martin Ford and Nathaniel Cote, said they “always played Army” growing up and were interested in the military. Lindsay Profenno said she was not interested in the military, and joined for the physical challenges and to get help preparing for college.

Like several others, School Committee member Tom Shannon said he was impressed with what he heard. Member Norm Provost offered help teaching marksmanship.

Handy said he’s uncomfortable because the new group has a military “agenda” and is pushing a military presence at school. The school already has the Air Force Jr. ROTC, he said, questioning the need for another.

LeBlanc said it’s his job to support students interested in joining the military as well as those who aren’t, and that the group isn’t pushing the military.

“That doesn’t pass the straight-face test,” Handy said. “You’re putting marksmanship together with preparation with the military.” In his view it is pushing the military, he said. “I hope this group gets exposed to the other side: peace,” and hears from peace groups.

Special education

In other business the committee heard a report on Lewiston’s special education and how in the last three years schools have worked harder to mainstream more special need students in classrooms, said special education director Mel Curtis.

Lewiston has 860 special education students whose needs range from mild to severe. With laws mandating special ed students learn the same content and take the same tests as regular students, efforts to mainstream have intensified, Curtis said.

The effort has taken a lot of work from classroom teachers, who for instance have had to figure out how to teach a sixth-grade science lesson to a student who may only have a two-minute attention span.

With the changes, special ed students are achieving more than they, their teachers and parents thought they could, Montello special education teacher Deb Davis said. “And the kids feel like they belong.” Regular classroom and special ed teachers are working together. “We’ve demystified what’s going on with special ed,” Davis said.

Handy said his son was the recipient of special ed services. He thanked the staff. “You’ve made a success story out of my son. He started college a few weeks ago.”

On another matter, committee member John Butler said since the city began offering free bus transportation to high school students on Aug. 28, preliminary numbers show 500 are riding a day.

“That’s amazing,” Butler said. To all those naysayers who said it wouldn’t work, “it’s working. We’re getting kids to school.” The school committee will be receiving a formal report on the number of students taking the bus, he said.

Lewiston’s Adult Education Director Betty Gundersdorf, 60, who has worked in Lewiston adult education for 24 years, will retire in October. Replacing her will be Rob Callahan.