New school admissions policy draws fire from Union 90

December 21, 2006

The Old Town school board’s proposed new admission police for non-resident tuition students drew strong criticism from some Union 90 parents and school board members last week. About 45 parents, educators and school board members from Union 90 turned out for a presentational meeting held in the gym at the Helen Dunn School in Greenbush Wednesday night. Old Town school superintendent David Walker addressed the audience on behalf of the Old Town school board, two of whose members, David Wollstadt and Ron Saget, were also in attendance.

“There are a lot of other schools out recruiting students right now,” Walker said. “There’s greater competition now for tuition dollars. The challenge of the city of Old Town is to find out what the percentage (of tuition students) will be.”

Walker said that one of the factors behind the Old Town school board’s proposed new policy is the “vintage” structural system inside the city’s high and middle schools.

“(If there are) 300 resident students, that’s what the state says we will count for rebuilding,” he said. “They won’t count tuition students. We need something on paper if the tuition students are going to count (toward state money).”

The proposed new policy, which is still in draft form, requires non-resident students to engage in an application process that includes submitting an essay in the student’s own handwriting stating his or her reasons for wanting to attend Old Town High School. The students’ grades, attendance records, and conduct reports for the previous three years will also be required information, as will a recommendation from the students’ principal or sending district superintendent. The recommendation must also include a statement about whether the student has made an “overall contribution or detracted from their educational environment during the previous school year.”

According to the proposal, the Old Town principal will then make a decision whether to accept or not to accept a non-resident student into the school. The decision will take into account consideration of class size, applicable state of local mandates, demands of teachers’ time from the students currently enrolled, and a reasonable estimate of new resident students who may join the program/class during the year.

“Planning needs to be done,” Walker said. “When it comes to making annual budget decisions, we can’t over-project, or we end up with a shortfall of revenues. If we under-project, (Union 90) has a shortfall. To be somewhat accurate is necessary. All of these challenges leave us at a point of what do we do?”

Walker referenced the recent change in Brewer’s non-resident student policy, which is almost identical to the one being proposed for Old Town, saying that the “adversarial tone” that characterized the process between the Brewer school board and the non-resident student community doesn’t exist between Old Town and Union 90.

“Old Town isn’t looking at an admissions policy in order to limit enrollment,” he said. “(Our schools) are being downsized just by the things we’ve already discussed.”

            But some of the parents and school board members at the meeting voiced concern that the policy would give the Old Town school department the ability to choose students based on subjective criteria. One woman said that the policy “makes it look like you want to pick and choose if the kids have lower academic scores or behavioral problems.”

            Others at the meeting wanted clarification regarding line ten of the two-page policy, which states that “the application process shall be waived for students residing in a town that has entered into an exclusive tuition agreement with the Old Town School Department.”

            “So, if we signed an agreement, you’d take them all?” one woman asked. “If that’s what you’re saying, it seems hypocritical to me.”

            One woman wanted to know whether it was legal for a public school like Old Town High School to reject students. Walker replied that it was, prompting a question about what would happen to the rejected students.

            “That’s Union 90’s problem,” Walker said,

            The one-page essay required by the new policy also sparked some debate, with one school board member stating his belief that most eighth graders would find it difficult to write an essay stating their reasons for wanting to attend Old Town High School.

“I think it would be hard for the average 13 or 14-year old to put down on paper the reasons they wanted to go to Old Town High School,” he said. “I think that they would be too lazy to fill out the application and would just end up going to Orono.”

“Well, that would tell us something about the student, then,” Walker said.

But Union 90 middle-school teacher Kay Voyer disagreed with the contention that most middle-school students would not be capable of writing the required essay.

“They can do it,” she said. “They already do it for the MEAs. That’s what we teach them. I think there’s a lot of value in having them organize their thoughts about why they want to go to Old Town.”

Walker’s assertion that the real purpose of the essay was to help applicants think of Old Town High School as an actual choice instead of a “default school” raised more questions about the reason for the policy itself.

“What’s the sense of having an essay if it’s not going to be factored in?” one audience member asked.

School board member --- summed up her views more succinctly, saying, “I feel more confused about the policy now than before I came. But my mother always said, ‘You can catch a lot more flies with honey than you can with vinegar. And this has been a lot of vinegar.”

Union 90 school superintendent Alan Smith expressed his own concerns over the proposed new policy.

“I’m unclear as to this policy,” he said. “If it is being used as a weeding-out process, then some of what has been said tonight is not true. I’m not sure why you are doing this or of its value. Even if good intentions lie beneath it, I hope it can least be set on the shelf for the remainder of the school year to have a chance to start a conversation.”

Smith added that the policy had the potential to “divide communities” and that the reasons for implementing it could be “misconstrued.”

“I have a good head and a good ethic to try and make something else work before this happens,” he said. “I understand the reason for Old Town wanting to have a policy, but to have it dumped on my lap on day one of my job was not a pleasant thing. I sympathize, but this is not the time to do this.”

Smith went on to say that he had known ultimately successful students who, if required to go through the application process mandated by the policy, could not have done it during that stage of their academic career.

“I know one student who became a valedictorian, who would at that time in his life have filled out the thing,” he said. “You can’t judge what a student will ultimately become based on something like this. There’s that piece of it to consider.”

Smith closed his remarks by saying asking once more that the Old Town school board allow himself, Walker, and other players a chance to discuss the situation before taking any further steps.

Walker also touched on the possibility of regionalization of area schools in the future, saying that a community school would give a “sense of ownership across the board.” The consolidation would be a partnership of UMaine, Orono, Old Town, and Union 90, he said, giving the schools access to the university while, in return, the schools would serve as a lab for UMaine.