SAD 1 officials in China to finalize agreement
PRESQUE ISLE — SAD 1 Superintendent Gehrig Johnson and Business Manager Charles Anderson are in Beijing, China this week meeting with officials at the Niulanshan High School to “iron out final arrangements” to establish a Presque Isle International School in Beijing.
“Twice their school officials have visited here, but this will be the first time we’ve visited their facilities,” said Johnson following last Wednesday night’s SAD 1 board meeting. “The purpose of this trip is to meet Beijing school officials, finalize the arrangements for setting up our school over there, and continue to work on the arrangements for bringing their students here.
“I’ll be meeting with prospective instructors, parents and students to lay the final groundwork for the Presque Isle International School,” he said. “The students and their parents are very inquisitive and will have a lot of questions about Presque Isle High School. They know we have a highly rated high school but they know little else about us. We’ll be able to help answer their questions. We’ve also created a short PowerPoint presentation to explain who we are and what we’re about.”
Johnson and Anderson, who are accompanied by interpreter Dr. Zhu-qi Lu from the University of Maine at Presque Isle, flew to Boston last Thursday afternoon and began their 17.5-hour flight Friday morning. The trip is being financed by the host school in Beijing.
This unique agreement to allow up to 50 Chinese students per year to take PIHS courses at Niulanshan High School was signed in 2011.
“The students would be taking PIHS courses while they also participate in their own program,” said Johnson. “They will be working toward a dual high school degree — Chinese and American.
“We’ll be delivering a basic core curriculum that our own students would take. They will likely begin with English, health and world history,” he said. “Many of the classes that the Chinese students currently take like physical education, for example, we would accept for credit.”
According to the agreement, the joint experimental program’s goal is to learn from the philosophy, academic systems and management of an American high school, and prepare students for innovation, critical thinking and international communication.
“Chinese students in our program will all be planning on attending college in the United States, would have proficiency in English, and would have the opportunity to come to PIHS at some point during the three-year period in their PIHS program,” said Johnson. “They would spend either a semester or a year at PIHS where they would continue our curriculum and become more familiar with our American culture and language. This will help them as they apply to American universities.”
Johnson said last week he was looking forward to the trip.
“I’ve traveled abroad extensively but I have never been to China, so this provides a new learning curve for me,” he said, noting that China is 13 time zones ahead of the U.S. “We’ve been doing our research and I have conferred with several Maine superintendents that have been there recently.
“We’re continuing to move forward to make this arrangement work,” said Johnson. “We will know a lot more after this trip.”
The Presque Isle contingent will return from China Jan. 19.
