SAD 24 board holds meeting

VAN BUREN — Honesty might not be the best policy when it comes to low-income adults who qualify for Pell Grants but need food stamps to survive.

At a meeting of the SAD 24 board of directors Wednesday, adult education Director Joseph Corbin reported a drop in enrollment for Northern Maine Technical College courses offered in Van Buren.

He said he felt one reason for the drop might be stringent requirements for Pell Grant recipients.

Corbin said “two honest students” for whom he had obtained Pell Grants reported the grants to the state as required by law. In exchange, they received notices that the money they were getting for college classes made them ineligible for food stamps. They withdrew from the college.

The Pell Grants would have covered their entire tuition and book costs, and left up to $50 to spare. “They’re not making money on this,” Corbin said.

“I’m upset. I’m going to write to the governor,” he said. Telephone calls and a visit to the Department of Human Services brought no solution.

Had the two been dishonest they might have continued to get food stamps. Corbin said he believes the Pell Grant problem might have prevented others from attending college.

Also at the meeting, the School Board approved a three-way split for work once handled by the full-time director of special services. The post was left vacant by Bronwyn Franck’s resignation two weeks ago.

Superintendent Wayne Mowatt recommended Franck’s duties be taken over by a part-time, certified coordinator, who will be brought on board soon, and a faculty member each at the elementary and high school levels. The faculty would direct special education at their schools on a half-time basis.

The administration of grants Franck had handled will be shared by Mowatt, Elementary Principal Clayton Belanger and Van Buren District Secondary School Principal Richard Cote.

Mowatt said having a certified coordinator met state regulations for special education and reflected a growing trend among small, cash-poor school systems.

The coordinator will familiarize the administrators and the staff directors with special education issues and regulations. The job likely will involve working one day a week in SAD 24 and being on call at other times.

In other business, directors learned that what originally was to be a trial run involving a few classes this year turned into the schoolwide implementation of block scheduling at VBDSS. Cote said the decision to that end was made after all teachers agreed to try it.

Under block scheduling, the school day involves both longer periods of 85 minutes and sessions of about half that length. The idea is to allow pupils to get into more in-depth work than they could in the amount of time previously set for each class.

Cote said he had received no complaints so far, and said that longer periods also meant less movement from class to class and fewer bells. An unexpected spinoff was that pupils were choosing to take more courses rather than sit through 85-minute study halls.

Directors asked for quarterly reports so they could compare student progress under the new and old scheduling systems.

Cote also discussed a new computer-based discipline program which is tougher on repeat violators of school rules.

He said a new computer program tracks who has broken which rules and how often. It then spits out a suggested punishment, such as detention, loss of privileges or suspension.

“It gets progressively worse,” Cote said. For example, a pupil caught chewing gum might be given an hour detention the first time but a two-hour detention the second time. He said positive reinforcement also was being developed.

Directors indicated they felt the measure should be reviewed by the policy committee. They also asked that parents be informed.

Directors also approved the resignation of high school French teacher Cheryl Meally, but later decided to retain her until a suitable replacement is found or as long as her employment agreement allowed. Her job will be advertised immediately.