BREWER – Some nonresident students who have applied for admission to Brewer High School under a new policy that screens them for behavior, academics and attendance have been turned away, Superintendent Daniel Lee said this week.

However, all incoming freshmen have been accepted, so far, and most applicants have had few problems getting approved, he said.

“There have been a few upperclassmen that we haven’t enrolled,” Lee said. “I can’t tell you why because that’s confidential.”

At least two, maybe three out-of-town students have been turned away since the policy was enacted last fall, he said during an interview.

School leaders are working with freshmen who are borderline when it comes to qualifying factors, Lee said.

“We have accepted some freshmen on conditions,” Lee said. “We’ve been giving them a chance.”

The Brewer School Committee approved the policy on Aug. 7, 2006, and it took effect a month later. This year’s incoming freshmen are the first to be screened. Those students enrolled before the policy was enacted did not have to apply, but any new out-of-town students are required to do so.

Lee described the process as going “great,” and said the number of students applying to Brewer High School was equal to last year’s figures and “consistent with what we had anticipated.”

The admission policy requires nonresident students to fill out an application, submit two years of academic, attendance and discipline records, and provide a recommendation from their principal or superintendent.

The process actually has improved how enrollment operations run at the high school, Lee said.

“We get to know the children, the incoming students, better and [can] help plan their program better,” he said.

The admission policy drew criticism from school officials in area towns that pay for students to attend Brewer High School, but few problems with it have been raised recently and “sending districts are very cooperative and helpful,” Lee said.

The biggest concern voiced centered around students who don’t make it through Brewer’s screening process. Brewer accepts students from 20-plus communities, and about half of the 850-plus high school students are nonresidents.

The admissions policy is the first step in a long-range plan that will cap the number of students at Brewer High School in an effort to control costs, which fluctuate yearly based on the number of sending students, Lee has said.

“It’s really proved helpful with upperclassmen who transfer in the middle of the year,” he said. “With students who move in and out throughout the year, we’ve been able to look at them more carefully.”