HOWLAND – Changes to academic programs may have given Penobscot Valley High School another shot at receiving state construction funds for a new building.

Education Commissioner Susan Gendron said Monday night during a meeting at the Hichborn Middle School in Howland that she would return to SAD 31 Thursday from noon to 6:30 p.m. to review modifications the high school has made to its curriculum and professional development, among other things.

“If evidence is there that the high school program has made changes and is meeting [academic] standards, I’ll give a favorable recommendation to the State Board [of Education],” she told approximately 200 residents who gathered to discuss the future of the high school.

Gendron said she also would take another look at a plan that was presented to the State Board of Education a couple of weeks ago developed by the Penobscot Regional Education Task Force – a subcommittee of the SAD 31 board of directors. It calls for the district to consolidate internally by merging the administrations of PVHS and the Hichborn Middle School, which are connected.

Last year the State Board of Education, which apportions construction funds, refused to pay $9.6 million for a new high school because of a report concluding, among other things, that its academic programs were lacking.

State law mandates that before a high school construction project can be approved for fewer than 300 pupils, the State Board of Education must determine whether the school is going to have an adequate educational program.

The state board previously told SAD 31 to examine the feasibility of merging with SAD 67 in Lincoln. Those talks went nowhere. The issue has caused a great deal of turmoil in the community.

Gendron said Monday that the picture looks rosier for the state to reconsider providing SAD 31 with money for a new school since she has learned from curriculum coordinator Catherine Menard that “a tremendous amount of work has been done on the curriculum.”

Menard told the group that the high school’s curriculum is aligned with Maine’s Learning Results, and that a local assessment system to measure the academic standards is in place. She said there is no tracking – or funneling students into courses based on their perceived ability – and that all courses are available to any student.

Also, there is “high quality” professional development in curriculum instruction and assessment, and discussions about lesson plans are held districtwide and aren’t developed in isolation, she said.

Menard said the report that was previously issued contained inaccuracies that were never corrected and that it neglected to mention that the district already was working to make changes.

Board members voted to attend the October meeting of the State Board of Education to plead their case.

In addition, the district will continue to explore the idea of repairing a roof over a portion of the high school. The roof has been declared unsafe by engineers. Repairs could cost $160,000, according to one estimate.

“We’re not going to put all our eggs in one basket,” said Nancy Burgoyne, a teacher at PVHS who has worked to keep the school open despite the state’s preference that it merge with SAD 67.

School board member Glenn Faloon said either fixing the roof or building a new facility would work because they both “keep the school here.” He said he hoped the state board would make a decision one way or another at next month’s meeting “so we know exactly what we have to do.”

The entire $9.6 million may not be needed because some renovations have been made to the middle school, he said.