By Lisa Wilcox
Staff Writer
CARIBOU, Maine — Mark Jones, principal of Caribou High School, delivered some good CHS student performance news to the Eastern Aroostook RSU 39 School Board during their Oct. 2 meeting.
Jones received statistics from the University of Maine at Orono regarding CHS graduates who attend colleges in the university system. Every high school in Maine receives the results from the university for their individual school, along with the overall average statewide results. According to the report, 55 percent of CHS students come to the university well prepared for the coursework and 22 percent very well prepared as compared to state results of 56 percent and 16 percent respectively. The report also determined that 57 percent of CHS students maintain a 3.0 or higher grade point average as compared to the state level of 40 percent. According to the report, 93 percent of CHS students remain enrolled with the university one year after matriculation while only 78 percent remain statewide.
“We are very proud of these results,” Jones commented.
The board also heard from Caribou Tech Center Director Ralph Conroy regarding the course articulation agreements the center has with colleges throughout the state. As part of the agreements, students will receive three college credit hours for taking courses at the Tech Center and will be able to avoid having to take introductory courses in their chosen field once they attend college.
Conroy explained the three types of agreements offered.
• The straight articulation agreement is specific to a certain college that the student must attend to receive the credits.
• The enhanced articulation agreement is good for all colleges that offer a particular program. No matter where the student goes, as long as courses are offered in the trade the student has chosen to study, they will receive the credits.
• The dual enrollment agreement provides the student with a college transcript and allows them to attend any school they would like.
During the meeting, the board members also reviewed surveys that were sent out in 2009 to farmers, parents, students and faculty to get opinions on what the RSU’s best option was for a harvest break at that time. The school union is preparing to again address the issue of possibly reducing harvest break, eliminating it altogether, or going back to a common calendar to include a break for elementary and middle school students as well as high school students. The board members discussed what they felt were the best questions to ask to get the most useful feedback.
Superintendent Frank McElwain reported that renovations have begun on the new superintendent’s space at the Caribou Learning Center, which will be used to replace the current office. McElwain also advised the board that in light of the recent MaineCare reimbursement problems that resulted in a penalty for numerous school districts across the state, the RSU has decided to take on the billing in-house instead of using an outside agency. According to McElwain, everything is going well with the process and they are confident that the more they learn and develop their procedures, the less chance there is for penalty exposure in the future.
Staffing changes, according to McElwain, include the resignations of Ken Hixon and Nadine Ouellette at Caribou High School; the hiring of Dan Fishman as CHS’ world languages curriculum leader, Twyla Learnard as a certification representative at Caribou Middle School, Kim Kiehn as a one-on-one learning aid at the Learning Center and Darris Allen as a one-on-one learning aid at CHS.
The board unanimously approved the nomination of Katelyn Robertson as a pre-K and Title I instructor at Limestone Community School. Robertson is a graduate of CHS and the University of Maine at Presque Isle in elementary education. She worked as an education technician at the Learning Center previously.
The next regularly scheduled meeting for the RSU School Board is on Wednesday, Nov. 6, at 7 p.m. at the Superintendent’s Office.
