SAD 1 gets proficiency-based diploma extension

    PRESQUE ISLE, Maine — SAD 1 now has until 2020 to meet the proficiency-based graduation requirements.
At the Jan. 21 meeting, Terry Wood, curriculum director, shared with board members a letter from the Maine Department of Education dated Dec. 19, 2014 notifying the district that it had been granted the extension.
“The information and evidence presented in SAD 1’s request for Extension Option 5 gives the Department reasonable confidence that the benchmarks established for the 2014-15 school year will be met and will inform the development of benchmarks for the 2015-16 school year,” wrote Rachelle Tome, acting commissioner for the Maine DOE. “Meeting these benchmarks will support Presque Isle High School’s progress toward the awarding of a proficiency-based diploma based on secondary school standards after July 1, 2020.
“There are no penalties if you discover your school administrative unit is prepared sooner to award a proficiency-based diploma representing readiness for career and college experience without the need for remediation in all content areas,” Tome wrote. “I grant a waiver of the requirement to award proficiency-based diplomas after Jan. 1, 2018 and extend the time to transition to proficiency-based graduation requirements to after July 1, 2020.”
According to the Maine DOE’s website, the general goal of proficiency-based education is “to ensure that students acquire the knowledge and skills that are deemed to be essential to success in school, higher education, careers and adult life. If students struggle to meet minimum expected standards, they receive additional instruction, practice time and academic support to help them achieve proficiency, but they do not progress in their education until expected standards are met.”
Also at the January meeting, directors were given a brief update on the 2015 budget.
“The governor is proposing ‘flat funding’ for education. That doesn’t mean that each system gets the same amount of money. It goes through the funding formula; however, for us, when that cranks out, we think we should get a little bit more money,” said Superintendent Gehrig Johnson, noting that four out of the last five years SAD 1 has received less. “We won’t know how much we’ll receive until April or May, but we know our student count is up slightly and that’s bucking a trend from the last 20 years. The valuation of properties in Presque Isle is slightly down, and those things are factored into how much a school district will receive.”
Clint Deschene, assistant superintendent for business, said staff and administrators are currently working on their proposed budgets.
“Once we get their budgets, we’ll start formulating the 2015 budget,” he said, “which will probably begin in the middle of February.”
In other meeting news, Deschene shared with the board that he has applied for a Stephen and Tabitha King Foundation grant.
As he’s been getting acclimated to the district, Deschene has toured schools and noticed a common concern at the elementary level regarding the schools’ libraries.
“Some of the furniture is getting old, and it was noted that better displays would be helpful,” he said. “I knew that the Stephen and Tabitha King Foundation offers grants every year on a rolling basis, so I went on the website and saw that they had an application due at the end of the year.
“I spoke to all three of the elementary school principals and talked about their needs, and I also talked to the I-T department and realized that we have been trying to upgrade some software so all the elementary schools would be using the same software. They also hoped to get a few computers so each elementary school would have a designated computer in the library for the kids to use, as well as to maintain the inventory,” said Deschene. “The thoughts were to tie this up into a computer software upgrade that would work for the middle and high schools, as well, so all five schools would be on a common software inventory for library books. Shelving has also been included in the grant application.”
Deschene said he asked for 100-percent funding for the $16,000 request.
“The catch to getting 100 percent was to show them something we’d do if we did get 100 percent,” he said. “I indicated that we had a small amount of our budget that was going to go toward some software upgrades, and if awarded 100 percent, we would buy $5,000 worth of additional books for all our schools instead. That would be our investment.”
Deschene said the district has “a good chance” at getting some grant funding.
“It’s never a guarantee,” he said, “but we’re hopeful.”
The next regular board meeting will be held tonight — Wednesday, Feb. 11 — at 5:30 p.m. at Presque Isle Middle School.