Tech school works with Mattanawcook changes

LINCOLN – Northern Penobscot Tech Region III is working to accommodate Mattanawcook Academy’s attempt to change its daily schedule, the technical school’s director said Wednesday.

Penobscot Tech Director Alan Dickey met Tuesday with academy principal Jim Boothby and officials from both Lincoln schools before meeting on Tuesday night with the cooperative board of directors.

“Region III is committed to trying to serve students in any way we can,” Dickey said Wednesday, “and this is an idea that we have discussed with them for some time.”

The academy wants to change its modified block course setup to increase student-teacher interaction. That would require changing its current class times of periods of 42 minutes for classes that meet daily and 80- and 89-minute classes that meet every other day to one class time of 55 minutes, Boothby said. Those 55-minute classes would occur daily.

Changing the alternate day schedule’s 80- and 89-minute periods to daily classes of 55 minutes would increase student-teacher contact in those alternate periods from 87 days a year to 127 days, Boothby said.

This would help teachers refine lessons with students, particularly in math and foreign language classes, he said. It also would give teachers more time to fill out student assessments.

The school day’s overall length will not change, Boothby said. Classes at the academy will still run from 7:45 a.m. to 2:08 p.m., he said.

The idea presents a few knots for Northern Penobscot Tech officials to unravel, Dickey said.

The tech school instructs students from Lee Academy, Penobscot Valley High School, Mattanawcook and Schenck and Stearns high schools. The proposed class period would require buses to take students to or from Mattanawcook to Northern Penobscot when the buses are still collecting students at Lee or the other schools, Dickey said.

“I am sure we can handle that, though,” Dickey said. “They are only a few miles from us.”

Northern Penobscot Tech also might have to hire a teacher’s assistant to ensure that students from the four schools are taught at the same pace, he said. About 265 students from Howland to Millinocket attend Northern Penobscot.

One virtue of the schedule change talks is that they have helped officials from both schools increase their abilities to work together, Dickey said.

Dickey and SAD 67 Superintendent Lawrence Coughlin will meet within the next month to discuss the schedules. The Region III cooperative board also might discuss the idea at its April 27 meeting.