Bangor school panel raises math requirements

BANGOR – Starting with this year’s freshmen, Bangor High School students will need three mathematics credits to graduate instead of two, the school committee decided Tuesday.

The requirement increases the full-year courses to three and is simply “good education,” said Superintendent of Schools Sandy Ervin, who recommended the change.

“It makes no sense for kids to take only two years [of math] in high school,” he said after the meeting.

“We live in a mathematics age. Performance standards in colleges are going up and kids need to be prepared.”

About 80 percent of Bangor High School students already are taking three years of math, the superintendent said.

Ensuring that the rest of the students meet the new standard may require individualized attention and a change in course design, according to Ervin.

The movement toward stricter math standards grew out of the realization in the mid-1980s that American students were falling behind those from other countries, he said.

Other area schools also have jumped onto the bandwagon. While Brewer High School mandates three math credits, Hermon High School and John Bapst Memorial High School in Bangor each have instituted a four-credit graduation requirement.

Students at Orono and Old Town high schools and at Hampden Academy need two math credits to graduate.

Upping the science requirement from two to three credits may be next, Ervin said.

Opening day enrollment in Bangor schools showed an increase of 100 students over last year, Ervin told the school committee. The gain was mostly in kindergarten through grade eight, he said.

While that number isn’t particularly surprising, Ervin said he was floored when he noticed that 36 children who previously registered for the Downeast School never showed up.

“I find that inexplicable,” he said, noting that “no-shows” typically number a dozen or so.

Families could be taking an extended vacation or are simply not aware of the opening of school, said Ervin, who has asked Principal Dorothy Pratt to look into the absences.

Pointing out the “kinds of swings we can experience in terms of population,” Ervin said while the high school closed in June with 1,349 students, it opened Tuesday with 1,482 students, a jump over the summer of 140.

The high school has 185 nonresident, tuition-paying students, with five more in line to meet with guidance counselors and some on the waiting list. The ceiling for nonresident students is 190, Ervin said.

Meanwhile, the kindergarten population is bouncing back, Ervin said. Bangor’s youngest pupils numbered 279 last year. This year there are 310.

Another change occurred at the James F. Doughty School, where 524 students showed up the first day compared with 469 last year.

“That was very good to see,” Ervin said. “It wasn’t too long ago that the west side had low enrollment while the [William S.] Cohen School had high enrollment.”

The number of students overall likely will increase dramatically by the end of the week and “will help in terms of the funding issue,” Ervin said.

In other news, Ervin said a technology education position at the Cohen School has yet to be filled.

Until a teacher is hired, students are participating in career planning activities, he said.