Middle schools in partnership with Champion> Aim is to change attitudes, behaviors

BUCKSPORT — Some American middle schools function like mills — processing large numbers of pupils without regard to individual differences that become marked by the time children reach adolescence.

The Champion Middle School Partnership program sponsored by Champion International Corp., the Connecticut-based paper company with the local mill, seeks to help change all that with an initiative involving 43 schools in six states, including seven schools in Maine.

The partnership’s philosophy is based on “Turning Points,” a seminal report issued by the Carnegie Council on Adolescent Development in 1989. Defining adolescence as a unique phase of life setting the stage for adulthood, the report called for sweeping changes in middle schools, such as greater recognition of individual learning styles, and more emphasis on interdisciplinary education to show kids the connections among different subjects.

Already operating in Champion mill communities elsewhere in the nation for the past several years, the five-year partnership program was initiated in seven area schools in towns surrounding the company’s Bucksport mill 18 months ago.

They include the Walter Gardner Middle School and G. Herbert Jewett School in Bucksport, Orland Consolidated School, Penobscot Elementary School, Searsport District Middle School, Troy Howard Middle School in Belfast and Center Drive Middle School in Orrington.

Champion spent $1.7 million on the program nationwide last year. “Our attitude is that Champion makes paper, but schools are the experts in education, so let’s go in and assist them,” said Jim Hoffman, a 25-year middle school educator who serves as executive director of the partnership program from the company’s Stamford, Conn., headquarters.

To empower sixth- to eighth-grade educators to deal with pupils more effectively, the partnership focuses on staff development rather than on more tangible items such as supplies for pupils.

“Everyone’s hope initially is to buy 50 computers, or hire more staff,” said Bucksport Superintendent Marc Curtis, whose district has two schools in the program. “But it’s not really about that. We’re looking at changing attitudes and behaviors.”

The partnership pays for teachers to attend professional development events such as the New England League of Middle Schools conference held in Rhode Island each March, and for principals to go to the National Middle School Administrators Conference in Florida each July.

“It’s just been a fantastic experience so far,” said Joyce Sanborn, an eighth-grade teacher at Gardner Middle School in Bucksport who, along with 11 colleagues, had her choice of 200 sessions at the Rhode Island conference.

Champion also provides services through its national team of 75 consultants. Each school is assigned a consultant, who meets with them monthly, and responds whenever other help is needed.

The program pays, too, for costs incurred closer to home, such as visiting nearby schools to observe their methods. In addition, it pays for substitute teachers to fill in.

As is standard procedure for program partners, Bucksport began by developing a “leadership team” including staff members from the Jewett and Gardner schools, said Terry Kenniston, principal at both schools. Once a growth plan identifying major goals is developed for each school, and approved by the consultant, funding support is provided.

“Our role is only to enable and assist the schools in meeting their goals, not to tell them what to do,” Champion’s Hoffman said. “It’s their program. They own it and drive it.”

Recognizing that pupils may need something other than a standard class period to absorb certain concepts, the Gardner Middle School will focus on developing more flexible scheduling, among other goals, Kenniston said.

A middle-level teacher for 23 years, Sanborn said her school’s partnership with a consultant already has helped her personally and professionally. “Having that person behind you saying you can get more information, and you can go to seminars — you don’t feel so alone,” she said.

Since each school is in the early stages of the five-year program, it’s too soon to tell what impact the initiative ultimately will have on pupils.

“This type of redesign takes a very long period of time,” Hoffman said. “You probably won’t see many of the changes for three to four years down the road.”

Other program partners’ activities include:

Orrington: curriculum, professional development.

Searsport: study of group dynamics, learning styles, scheduling.

Penobscot: preventive guidance, parent and community involvement, teacher training.

Orland: interdisciplinary learning, team teaching, teachers as advisers.

Belfast: teachers as advisers, team building, shared vision with community.