LISBON — Lisbon Community School’s parent teacher organization received national recognition for its support of enrichment activities last year, Principal Rob Kahler told the School Committee on Monday night.

The school entered the PTO into a nationwide contest held by PTO Magazine, a national publication. The PTO received an honorable mention in that publication, Kahler said.

“I can’t thank them enough,” Kahler said of the PTO’s support in raising $29,000 from the community for enrichment activities last year.

“Our PTO is so generous and incredibly organized,” he said.

Principals from Lisbon’s three schools spoke about changes in their schools this year.  

Lisbon High School Principal Nick Gannon said there are 355 students enrolled.

A change to four-period class schedules will be beneficial to students and will work better with vocational program scheduling, he said.

The high school will implement academic support and eliminate study halls, Gannon said, to get students to focus on academics in downtime, and to give individual attention to students.

He said students like being held accountable for their work.

Principal Darren Akerman of the Philip W. Sugg Middle School said there are 259 students enrolled there. He thanked his maintenance staff for getting rid of a lot of old furniture, making the school more appealing.

Akerman said that in the three years he has been principal, this year had the smoothest opening.

Similar to the high school, time is built-in Wednesdays for students to meet with teachers and get individualized attention, he said.

Consistency with the high school is good, committee member Traci Austin said. “I don’t mind that at all,” she said.

Staff will use Google Classroom so students go paperless, Akerman said. 

“They can upload what they need,” he said. “There will be no more ‘my dog ate my homework,’ type of excuses.” 

“It’s been an exciting start,” to the school year, Akerman said.

A grant awarded to Lisbon Community School will pay for a second literacy coach, Kahler said.

A leadership team meeting this summer identified the need to focus on writing, Kahler said. Thirty-one teachers attended training during the summer, he said.

Kahler said his administration was able to increase instructional time by 20 minutes per day, he said.

Kahler and Assistant Principal Cory Munsey worked on updating a faculty handbook and worked on a draft for a teacher evaluation handbook, Kahler said.

Superintendent Richard Green responded to a comment made at a workshop with the Town Council last week when one councilor asked why the School Committee didn’t cut the Adult Education budget, rather than always saying it will cut student programs . Green said the Adult Education budget is not covered by the Essential Programs and Services and would not affect the regular school budget if cut.

Green also told the School Committee that he canceled the order for a handicapped-accessible bus because of the reduced school budget.

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