MOUNT DESERT ISLAND, Maine — Some rumblings have begun about combining middle-schoolers from all five Mount Desert Island elementary schools.
It started when the five on-island principals were asked to think about how to offer sports to all the district’s middle-schoolers. Because the K-8 schools are so small — except Bar Harbor’s Conners-Emerson School — they have a hard time fielding full teams.
“As much as administrators and athletics directors liked the idea of islandwide sports, they kept looking at practical aspects. It wasn’t practical at all,” state the draft minutes from a recent Alternative School Organization 91 meeting.
Busing and scheduling would be a mess.
Which led to a bigger idea: Wouldn’t it be easy if they were all in the same building?
Mount Desert Elementary School principal Scott McFarland says maybe. He didn’t have enough students for a baseball team last year and it’s looking the same this year. His 170-student K-8 school used to have an A team and a B team for basketball and he has had to combine them into one — which isn’t necessarily good for the kids. It’s such a problem that he has thought about adding tennis — a sport the school hasn’t offered before — to the school’s sports offerings because it wouldn’t require many students. Other MDI principals are having similar dilemmas.
“We started talking about how boy, if we had an islandwide middle school that would solve those problems and it would also open up doors for kids academically. It spurred that conversation. Maybe we should investigate that more — not that it will be the solution, but it’s something to think about,” McFarland said.
Principals from Pemetic and Trenton schools both expressed tentative excitement about the possibility of a consolidated middle school. Tremont’s principal was not quoted in the meeting’s draft minutes and didn’t immediately return press calls.
The discussion isn’t just about sports, McFarland said. Several seventh-graders in the district have passed algebra, for instance. They should move on to geometry, but the little schools don’t offer it. To get around this, those students have been able to take geometry by videoconferencing with the larger Conners-Emerson School.
“One issue we have traditionally is having all students from all the schools being equally prepared for high school. I think one common middle school would prepare kids for high school in a more equitable way,” McFarland said.
One issue with doing this would be that it would make the four small elementary schools even smaller by taking out the sixth, seventh and eighth graders.
Barbara Neilly, the principal of Conners-Emerson School, said the talks were “very very premature.”
“It’s a conversation that’s been in the district for 20 years. It comes up every five years in looking at what’s best for the students for programming. I think its been about five years since the last discussion,” Neilly said.
The reason she thinks the conversation is so pervasive is when the district consolidated to only one high school, it worked well.
“I think there is a lot more to it than ‘should there be an island middle school or not?’” Neilly said. “There are so many pros and cons on each side. We have a lot to look at before we jump at anything.”
For one thing, most of the elementary schools still owe money on their buildings, according to AOS 91 superintendent Rob Liebow. And, while the conversation about one middle school sometimes pops up in the community, a similar conversation about having one big elementary school has never occurred. People want their towns to have their own elementary schools, he said — so the town elementary school would shrink by taking away the 6th, 7th and 8th graders.
One factor might be if two of the elementary schools do consolidate. Pemetic and Tremont schools will have votes soon to see if they should combine.
“If Southwest Harbor and Tremont start talking about it seriously, it might develop interest about talking this as a whole topic,” Liebow said. “I’m waiting to see what those two towns on the quiet side of the island are going to do. It’s a good indication of what the level of interest might be.”
On the other hand, the AOS voters did reject fully consolidating into a Regional School Union sort of formation and instead wanted each town to have its own schools and budgets — this might be an indicator that the community wouldn’t support one middle school, Liebow said.
Liebow said the entire discussion is in a very early stage and none of the talks have been official. If something does come of this “there is not serious comment from the committees, it’s from the school administrators. it sounds like a nugget.”
“I don’t know if the AOS will bring this back. There’s talk about it. You might see the discussion come back at the strategic plan talks in June — not agenda discussion or anything rushed,” he said.
There are many issues and things to consider here.
First, Mt. Desert(Northeast Harbor, Somesville, Otter Creek, Seal Harbor) has become a very expensive place for regular people to live. People with children, or who are going to have children are not moving in there in droves and they wont be either. Hence declining student counts.
I went to MDIHS as a student from Trenton. There were definately things that we had not been exposed to academically, and sports wise, that our classmates from islands schools had been. To create somewhat of a level playing ground where everyone goes to the same middle school and then high school makes sense to me.
When I did go to MDI I spent a fair amount of time on the bus going back and forth to school. That is a consideration for younger students.
It was easy for my parents to come get me after school coming home from Ellsworth when I was at Trenton Elementary. A middle school in the middle of the Island might create issues for people who live a bit further out. Off Island students like ones from Trenton and those from Tremont, Bass Harbor, and Pretty Marsh.
Thoughtful comments. I went to school in SWH and wasn’t ready for the rigor of the travel, I am sure of that. Also, maturing late, I wouldn’t have qualified for any teams except as ball carrier.
“Regular people”?
What do you mean, Regular People?
If this school gets built its not going to be in the middle of the island, like the High School is. That means it will be a short ride for some to school and a long ride for others.
Mount Desert’s numbers are going up over the last couple of years.
Didn’t see your post when I wrote mine above. I thought that was the case.
Not sure the student counts are declining in Mt. Desert. Pretty sure they have 2 kindergarten classes this year at the Elementary school and I believe they have a rather large class projected for next year. That would indicate young people with families are in fact taking up residence in that town. SWH is the opposite however, if I have my facts right.
Is that two seperate kindergarten classes in the morning with two teachers? Or is it one in the morning and one in the afternoon with the same teacher for both?
Kids go full time these days.
If there are two full time kidergarten classes at Mt. Desert Right now then that tells me that sometime in the future there will be large 6th, 7th and 8th grade classes most likely. Class sizes dont remain constant. When I went to MDIHS there were less than 400 kids there in my Senior Year. My senior class had 90 kids in it or so. Now there are 575 kids there. So maybe this idea that the schools have to create one middle school is not really a pressing issue at all.
But if was considered seriously then I could see some benefits and some detriments to any potential central middle school.
What years did you go to MDI ? I thought that the numbers were dropping. I never heared of it being as low as 400.
I started in 1989 and finished in 1993.
Would of thought that they would be a class C school if the numbers were that low. They were up to over 700 not long ago.
We played Class C football if I remember correctly in the LTC. Everything else we were class B. My graduating class had something like 87 kids in it. By contrast I think the freshman class that year had nearly 130 in it. So it was up and down.
MDIHS was created for this very reason when the island High Schools began facing these issues in the mid 1960s. There are issues with local hometown control here but overall I think the idea of a consolidated middle school may make sense.
middle schools have no place on this island!
A high school makes more sense. Many kids transport themselves. A middle school which WOULD be put in Bar Harbor could be tough for lower income people who live on the backside with limited transportation. What about activities, games, practice? An hour in the car EVERY day to get your kid home from practice? Come on? You want to do that for 7 years while on state aid?
It doesn’t take 30 minutes (one way) to drive from any two spots on the island. Even during the height of summer. Your hour in the car point holds no water.
bet your life on it that it will take an half hour one way! goggle map it
I bet my life on nothing. Also, I trust my experiences of living on the island for 30 years far more than google, mapquest or any other travel program.
I’ve lived here too for far longer and you can’t get from Tremont to Bar Harbor in much less than 30 minutes. SWH to Bar Harbor is over 20 minutes so ……………..
Not sure what means you use to travel but it can easily take a half hour to get from one point of MDI to another. You should probably get out more.
They estimate 37 minutes from Bar Harbor to Ellsworth. That isn’t far off. I don’t think the Bernard-Bar Harbor example is either. I can usually get there faster than the estimates but its not like you are doing Bar Harbor to Bernard or Bar Harbor to Ellsworth in 20 minutes.
39 minutes is the estimated time from Bernard to Bar Harbor, one way, no traffic.
Mapquest. It’s free!
I have found mapquest to be highly inaccurate in the estimated travel times. I lived there for 30 years. I trust my experiences far more than mapquest.
It is one of the cons, what you mention.
I cannot believe that sports in middle school is driving this as the prime issue. I cannot imagine having to travel like that, for some of the kids, every day for 6 years or so. This is not sensible. Drop the push for sports, their bodies can’t handle the stress of the school year and sports for a few kids. What happens to all the other 80% of them who don’t make the teams, they will be labeled losers. What a shame. Get the focus back on education.
My grandparents were very outspoken in the 1960s against the closure of Pemetic H.S. I, too, take a position against school closures – especially in the elementary setting – in most cases.
Based on many studies, school closure leads to, most importantly, longer bus rides and a reduced sense of community. Additionally, it creates a lower parent participation in education and, in general, creates an environment of lower rates of student participation.
I taught in a public K-12 school out west with a total enrollment of about 50. This school had sports teams in fall, winter, and spring (at three levels), and boasted a long-term graduation rate of 100%, with excellent test scores. The community was also intensely involved in high student performance in academics, music, sports, and social skills.
There’s nothing wrong with small-town schools. Enough consolidation. Communities should defend and embrace their hometown schools and the students within. Without its school, a community becomes susceptible to its own eventual death.
love to see k-12 back in souhwest harbor again
Every time I make that ride over the high school in the middle of the night, especially during a snow storm I think the same thing about Northeast Harbor, with the grade schools throughout Mount Desert. Good bye busing, the smaller student numbers would decrease the student to teacher ratio, and therefore require fewer teachers, with one floating superintendent / principal in each town. Many voters years ago had a major problem with that high school being placed in the middle of nowhere in a swamp. Its not like we have two or three thousand students here.
While the ability to “even out” the grades from different smaller schools can be beneficial, it can also have some disastrous effects. Many young teens in the 6th through 8th grades, are not always prepared for the cruelty that is middle school. The larger the school, the more likely some children are left behind. As a teacher in a very small school that serves K – 8, many more children benefit from the close attention and supervision in small settings than the increased access to some classes. As to the math issue, geometry can be taught to one or two students just as well as 30. There is a move in education to more individualize the education for each student to better meet his or her needs and learning style. This is far more attainable in a small school. Large schools are less personal due to physical size. As to costs, the usual driver to consolidate, one needs to look at the real costs and achievement of the students, not just a per head cost. These are children, not widgets!
The denominator is money. The numerator is number of students.
MDI is a model school district that the rest of this state should be looking to for direction. I am not from there but I am very well educated as to how they have their district set up, including their consolidation into an AOS. They are making smart decisions/choices and they are producing some wonderfully educated and well rounded young adults. Everyone always says they have more money and that may be the case, but you all are making the right decisions, using your funding to provide for your students, and cutting your losses when needed, which may hurt the feelings of the adults that had different experiences when they grew up there, but will strengthen the children of those same adults. Kudos to you, your board of trustees, board of directors, and your local boards, as well as, all the AOS 91 employees who have made an impact in this school system. Your middle school is overdue but perfectly timed after your administrative consolidation. Keep up the good work!
lame
??? Sounds like if you had an mdi education, there is a lot of room for improvement!
sorry only an ellswoth middle school education here in this head
Do we want to peel away 3 grades from schools that have low enrollment? I think sports should be the last thing on our list when making these decisions. Having a well attended school is better for diversity, morale, and the plain old hustle bustle of walking into the building on a rainy March day.
The curriculum coordinator should be able to work with the 6th, 7th, and 8th grade teachers to ensure that the different grade school children come to the high school with a workable academic symmetry.
At least get the Pemetic/Tremont issue worked out and give it a few more years.
So we’re to believe that middle school sports are driving educational decisions on MDI? Oh…right…that’s just the smoke screen being used to shut down some schools. I forgot how the system works. Silly me. So much for consolidation meaning consolidation at the superintendent level.
Dumb. Right now 20 kids get to be starters for their respective “A” basketball teams on the island. One middle school takes that number down to 5. That is lowering participation by 75%. One middle school would mean 30+ kids who participated in basketball normally would not be able to with only one school. They aren’t going to have a 40 person basketball team.
The reason they want to do this is because some kids can’t play sports because there aren’t enough other kids to play with them. So their answer to that is to make sports unavailable to a much wider array of kids? Lame, lame, lame.
That is the answer?
And what about Trenton and Swans Island? Do they send their middle schoolers to this school too or do those kids wait so they can be even more outcast when they get to High School? Send Trenton too and there are even more kids who will have less activities to choose from. Just stupid.
Couldn’t care less about the sports, but if it offers kids more opportunity (like the Geometry example), then it makes good sense. When schools are too small, they can’t offer enough options.
Lets not pretend these schools are one room schoolhouses with nothing to offer.