Staff Writer
Limestone Community School and the Maine School of Math and Science will remain in Class D after an Interscholastic Committee within the Maine Principal’s Association put it to a vote March 19, thanks to Limestone’s Athletic Director Larry Worcester. Limestone had been on course to move to Class C due to the combined enrollment of both LCS and MSSM, but Worcester knew details were being overlooked. In January, he headed to Augusta to meet with the MPA and present his case. The committee thought he had a good enough case to take it to the Interscholastic Management Committee, but Worcester would have to wait two months before making another trip down to Augusta and repeating his presentation. But, the wait and trip proved worth the time and effort.
When Worcester presented his case in March, he started back in 1996 and led the committee to the present, highlighting how many MSSM athletes had participated in soccer, basketball, softball and baseball during the 13-year span.
“I tried to show that ours was a unique situation,” said Worcester. “It’s the only situation that I’ve found in the nation where a magnet and public school are within the same building.” So, because Worcester had no other examples on which to build his case, he had to take proof directly from within the school.
“Most magnet schools are large enough in other states that they are able to provide their own facilities and teams. Because of our situation, the classification formula doesn’t work and it didn’t seem fair,” he said. Worcester went on to explain the uniqueness of MSSM and how academically motivated their program is, making it hard if not impossible for MSSM students to join team sports. And, while Worcester sees the necessity and benefit of such a rigorous schedule for MSSM students, he didn’t see how their absence on the teams but presence in enrollment was justifiable enough to moving LCS up an entire class. And neither did the committee.
“They listened to the presentation,” he explained, “discussed it and asked me some questions. They voted with us in the room and made a motion to grant a two-year waiver to the classification rule. It was a unanimous vote.”
In 2011 LCS/MSSM will be re-evaluated for class selection. The committee discussed granting a permanent waiver, but some members wanted to see how or if the school’s athletic involvement changed over the next two years. “They will re-evaluate in two years and see if it’s working. If nothing has changed, they might grant us another two-year waiver or make it permanent, but I don’t know for sure,” said Worcester, who remains confident that there’s not a big possibility for change.
“MSSM is ranked no. 3 in the country for academics, so that’s their focus. They do a good job with academics, so I don’t see our athletics program changing too much.”
If this past winter season serves as an example, Worcester is exactly right. While one boy and one girl came out for soccer this year, neither basketball team had any MSSM representatives, though a few girls started out. In the end, they weren’t able to juggle all of their academic obligations while participating in basketball and had to step off the team. Worcester also noted that individual sports like track, cross-country and golf see more involvement from MSSM students.
