By Joseph Cyr
Staff Writer
HOULTON — An estimated group of 60 residents and school administrators are expected to come together Friday and Saturday at Houlton Southside School to participate in a focused discussion about the vision and future of RSU 29.
“I’m excited about these sessions,” RSU 29 Superintendent Mike Hammer said. “This is a crucial piece for our district. These sessions will be the piece that helps us to be more successful.”
The two-day workshops will focus on topics such as looking back at the past, examining the present and exploring the future of education in the state. Participants were invited by school officials and include parents, law enforcement, business owners, clergy, civic group members and municipal leaders.
Judy Enright, a moderator and former public school administrator, will serve as the facilitator for the meeting. The round-table discussion will focus on the question “Given the preferred characteristics, abilities and knowledge we have identified today for students graduating from RSU 29, what must education look like in our community as we move forward?”
Rae Bates, RSU 29 curriculum coordinator, said she hopes the sessions will result in the district having a new mission statement.
“We’re hoping that when we come out of these two days, we will have plenty of community input into the direction our schools are going,” Bates said.
Similar conferences have been held in Caribou and Limestone, with Enright serving as the moderator. Numerous other school districts across the state have also undergone similar workshops, Bates said.
Hammer noted the bulk of the participants in the two-day workshops would be people from the general public, and not educators or school officials.
“We want to hear the voice of the public,” he said. “And it will also be an opportunity to get our expectations out to people. We have a consistent set of expectations for our students, but they are changing for the 21st century.”
“The goal is to minimize the school’s involvement in these sessions and focus more on the community,” Bates added.
This past summer, the district crafted a list of about 80 individuals from the business sector and general public and began contacting those people to see if they would assist in this effort. Bates said, aside from technological advances, the education system has remained relatively unchanged over the past four decades. But a change is coming.
“This is a paradigm shift in education,” Bates said. “We haven’t seen a shift like this since 1892 when the committee of 10 decided everyone had to go to high school. That was the last major shift in education. The reality is, there aren’t jobs for students when they leave high school. We have to educate to a higher standard.”
Bates added the push across the country is for students to be college or career ready by the time they exit high school.
For more information on the conference, contact Bates at 532-6555.
