SABATTUS — Changes are coming to Wales, Litchfield and Sabattus schools and officials want parents and townspeople to know about them.

Public forums will be held from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Dec. 6 and Dec. 7 in Litchfield and Sabattus.

“We’re shaking up our whole school system, the way we teach kids,” Regional School Unit 4 Superintendent Jim Hodgkin said. “Our school system has been in place over 120 years. We’ve tried to make a lot of changes over the last 30 to 40 years. We’ve had some success, but it’s marginal. Putting them in the same classroom by age doesn’t make sense.”

RSU 4 schools have adopted a new teaching model that involves customized learning, a method that resembles how home-schooled students are taught, Hodgkin said.

Clear standards and expectations for students will be explained, he said.

“Students will be taught at the pace they need to learn,” he said. “We’re not going to put kids together in classes for a fix period of time.” Teachers will teach but also act as coaches to help students learn.

Before the initiative can be brought to life, teachers must be given time to be trained and standards must be developed. That will likely take several years, Hodgkin said.

Asked why the changes were being made, Hodgkin said Oak Hill High School — like most high schools in the country — is succeeding only in getting between 40 and 60 percent of students proficient in subjects such as reading and math.

“They’re scoring below (the standards),” he said. The way students are taught is the biggest problem and society can’t allow so many to lag behind, he said.

Oak Hill High School was cited in April as one of 10 Maine schools that need improvements because of poor test scores. The district could have received federal money if it replaced Principal Pat Doyle.

RSU 4 did not take the federal money and kept Doyle. Everyone recognized that it wasn’t Oak Hill, “that we need to make changes K-12,” Hodgkin said.

That jolt “gave us permission to start looking at the things we really need,” he said. “It gave me permission to start talking to the board at taking a look at doing something different.”

Two public forums have already been held, and two more are planned. One will be Tuesday, Dec. 6, at Carrier Ricker School in Litchfield, another from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 7, at Sabattus Primary School.

[email protected]

Go and do

What: Community forums on Wales, Sabattus and Litchfield schools

When: 6:30-8:30 p.m., Dec. 6

Where: Carrie Ricker School, Litchfield

When: 6:30-8:30 p.m., Dec. 7 

Where: Sabattus Primary School

For more information: Call the Regional School Unit 4 at 375-4273, or go to http://www.rsu4.org.