Staff Writer
The Caribou School Board met in the library at Caribou High School on Wednesday, Nov. 7 to discuss the results of the re-accreditation process and also to receive an update on the PowerSchool Data Management System, an online resource for parents. Caribou High School Principal, Mark Jones presented new initiatives going on at the high school to the board, which included the new Power School program. Power School is an online resource, which allows parents to go online to see real time grading results as well as attendance. This program should greatly increase parental involvement in the education of their children, and should improve the overall success of students through accountability.
“We hope that we’ll have better achievement as a result of this program,” said Jones.
According to Jones approximately 85 percent of Caribou students, have access to the internet at home, which means the same percentage of parents should be able to benefit from the program. The Caribou School Department is currently looking into options to help make the program available for the other 15 percent.
Necessary codes for the use of the Power School program will be given to parents at the upcoming parent teacher conferences, according to Jones. Parent teacher conferences will be held on Nov. 19 at each of the Caribou schools. For information regarding times for conferences parents should contact the building administrator at their child’s respective school.
Jones also discussed the recently received report from the visiting committee from the New England Association of Schools and Colleges. The visiting committee which came to Caribou Schools during the past school year looked into every aspect of the school, from facilities to student and parent understanding of the school’s mission statement. Their results determine the district’s re-accreditation.
The report 54 page which was received by the school included information about Caribou, its economy and the overall social climate. The report discussed current initiatives to improve student scores on MEA tests. The report also discussed teaching and learning standards, discussing curriculum, instruction and assessment of student learning. Lastly the report covered support of teaching and learning standards including leadership and organization, school resources of learning and community resources for learning.
Under each heading the committee gave recommendations for the school to make improvements. Recommendations included items such as: Ensure that the acceptable levels of performance and the criteria for meeting academic expectations are consistent across all of the school-wide rubrics. Work to ensure that the mission statement has become an integral part of the school culture. Continue curricular coordination and articulation efforts. Examine the current teacher evaluation process and make revisions that will better meet the goals of improving instruction and enhancing student learning. Develop and implement a process to assess school-wide student progress in achieving academic expectations as stated in the mission statement. Create and expand upon organizational structures that provide a more personalized learning experience and support for students in all grade levels. Develop a plan to improve services to special education students to improve equity and rigor. Verify the installation of additional storage.
According to Jones, as well as members of the board the visiting committee focused heavily on the school’s mission statement, which reads: “Caribou High School is committed to creating a safe learning environment where students can pursue a rigorous, personalized and equitable course of studies. The atmosphere at Caribou High School fosters self esteem, values diversity, and promotes life-long learning. Guided by the Maine Learning Results the staff holds high expectations for the students and encourages them to reach their full potential.
Student familiarity with the mission statement was one point of contention with the visiting committee, as the committee found students were not as familiar with the statement as they would have liked.
“I was told by the visiting committee that although our students are not able to recite our mission statement, they live it, which to me is much more important,” said Jones.
“I was told that the perfect school, the school to beat all schools would have received the same number of recommendations that we did,” said Jones.
“Luckily, fortunately, or deservingly I suppose would be the best way to say it, they notified us that we have received the best outcome possible. The best outcome possible is that we have continued accreditation,” said Jones.
“I want to publicly thank the faculty and staff of Caribou High School and the students for their work in this process. It’s an awesome task to take on. I also want to specially thank Denise Levesque and Ron Willey for their extensive efforts, and I would also like to thank Susan Lamoreau for her work.
