By Scott Mitchell Johnson
Staff Writer
AUGUSTA — Roger Shaw, assistant superintendent of AOS 99 (SAD 20, SAD 42 and Bridgewater) in Mars Hill, has been appointed by Gov. Paul LePage to serve on a task force that will make recommendations on expanding early college and other post-secondary education opportunities for high school students.
“The members of this task force have agreed to take on important work,” LePage said. “Our students need more options in high school to get a head start on their post-secondary education and gain the skills they need to be successful in the workplace. Maine’s future economic prospects depend upon the state having qualified workers who can help our businesses, both old and new, grow and create jobs.”
Shaw represents the Maine School Superintendents Association.
“I’ve been active with the state superintendents association for the past several years, and last year served as president,” said Shaw. “In that position, I spent a fair amount of time in Augusta working with both the Legislature’s Education Committee and the Department of Education. When Commissioner Stephen Bowen came on board, he reached out to all of the groups — the teachers association, the principals association, the superintendents association in K-12 education, so we got to work a little bit with each other in that capacity.”
The governor appointed 15 of the 19 task force members. They include representatives from higher education, K-12 education, non-profit organizations focused on expanding educational opportunities, and associations representing teachers, principals, superintendents and school board members.
The president of the Maine Senate and the speaker of the Maine House selected two members each from their own chambers to serve on the task force, as well.
“The governor announced during his campaign that he was interested in expanding the secondary school experience to include something,” said Shaw, “and as of yet we still don’t know what that something is; that’s why this committee was put together.”
Shaw said he believes the governor feels “it can be more cost effective to implement some college or post-secondary coursework at the secondary level … even expanding that to a fifth year.”
“Students could graduate from high school with anything up to and including an associate’s degree if they fulfill all the requirements. What that looks like in reality none of us know yet. Some states have done things like this and it certainly is a bold step,” he said. “We’ve worked with the community college system and the university system for years. It’s been 15 years probably that we’ve had articulation agreements with Northern Maine Community College and the University of Maine at Presque Isle allowing students at our school to take classes at their schools. We’ve had numerous students every year do that and I think every school in Aroostook County has, but we’ve never moved beyond that.
“That’s the thing that really interested me about this task force — I think it is an opportunity to move beyond what we currently do and expand upon things that we possibly do and provide a better educational service to the kids, families and taxpayers that we service,” said Shaw. “It’s going to cost money; a child doesn’t go to school free of charge … somebody pays. If you add an extra year of schooling, obviously there’s going to be a price tag attached to that and that’s what needs to be reconciled some way. It could be very cost effective if you could get one year, or possibly one-and-a-half or two years worth of credit toward your college program over a five-year high school career. You’d save a bundle of money.”
Recognizing that vocational education isn’t emphasized at the secondary level as much as it once was, Shaw said he believes there may be “an added increased initiative to make those vocational choice opportunities available to students at an earlier age than we currently do.”
“Hopefully we’ll have some students that choose to go into those service careers whether it be plumbing or bricklaying or carpentry,” he said. “Any of us that hire those service workers individually know how difficult it is to find people to do that work. Those fields are wide open.”
LePage formed the 19-member Task Force on Expanding Early Postsecondary Access for High School Students in Maine by executive order. The task force is expected to submit a report to the governor and to the Legislature’s Education Committee by Dec. 1.
“It’s an ambitious time-table,” said Shaw. “Our first meeting is going to be Sept. 30 in Augusta and that will be basically an introductory meeting. At that meeting, we’ll set the agenda and the calendar for the work that we’ll be doing.
“It’s aggressive, but the quality of the interest of the people on the task force and their past experience is going to bode well for what we do,” he said. “It’s going to be challenging, but it’s also going to be exciting. My interest — primarily — in being on the committee is obviously selfish; I’m looking to help schools in Aroostook County. Most of the group will be from other areas of the state, but I will continue to be passionate to look out for the needs of our students in The County. What helps our students helps all students.”
Joining Shaw on the committee from Aroostook County is Scott Voisine, dean of community education at the University of Maine at Fort Kent, representing the chancellor of the University of Maine System.
