ROCKLAND, Maine — The Class of 2015 at Oceanside High School started with 203 freshmen in the fall of 2011, but by this year only 158 seniors remain, a decline of nearly 25 percent.
The Class of 2015 is not unique for Rockland-area schools in terms of dramatic losses in student enrollment. The Class of 2014, for example, saw its numbers plummet from 185 freshmen to 120 graduating seniors, a whopping 35 percent loss over four years.
Oceanside’s graduation numbers and that of its predecessor, Rockland District High School, consistently have been worse than the statewide average. In 2013, the dropout rate at Oceanside was 6.15 percent, more than twice the statewide average of 2.65 percent.
In the final year of RDHS before its merger with Georges Valley High School, the Class of 2011 lost 40 percent of its students over four years. At that time, Principal Tom Forti said he had no answers to why this was the case but pointed out that Rockland was a service center, where many families move in and out of the community. He also predicted the merger of the schools and the creation of Oceanside West, for eighth and ninth grades, and East, for sophomores through seniors, would turn around the dropout problem.
Fast-forward to the present, and first-year Oceanside Principal Renee Thompson believes she knows one reason and has developed a proposal to face the challenge head on.
The Oceanside principal is proposing the school offer a fishermen academy to keep young fishermen in the classroom instead of dropping out without a high school diploma. The program will allow the young people to pursue the commercial fishing life while providing them an education that will help them in that vocation or other marine-related industries.
Thompson made a presentation Feb. 26 to the Regional School Unit 13 Board about the fishermen’s academy. She has held a series of meeting with various groups in the community about the program. The groups that are working with Thompson include the Maine Lobstermen’s Association, Island Institute, Maine Maritime Academy, Penobscot East Resource Center, Maine Marine Patrol, Maine Department of Marine Resources, Mid Coast School of Technology, Herring Gut Learning Center, Rural Aspirations Project, the Apprenticeshop and the Steel House.
“There is more momentum and excitement,” Thompson said.
David Cousens, longtime president of the Maine Lobstermen’s Association and a resident within RSU 13, said he strongly supports the effort to establish a fishermen’s academy.
“There are a lot of young people who don’t like the traditional classes and they just want to go fishing,” Cousens said. “This could keep them in school.”
He said offering students courses that would be of direct use in the fishing industry would attract those young people who might otherwise skip completing their formal education. By offering these courses, they can get a well-rounded education, he maintained.
The principal said she is confident a program could be ready for the fall.
Courses being considered for the program include geometry, to focus on computer navigation; personal finance and business math; swimming and first aid; and marine studies and diesel engines.
She said there are 15 to 16 students who have expressed an interest in taking the courses. The program would not impact the budget, she said, because the classes can be taught by current staff members.
“There are a lot of students at risk (of dropping out),” she said. “This is one pathway to start reversing the process.”
Deer Isle-Stonington High School in Deer Isle began a similar program in the fall of 2013, called the Marine Studies Pathway. Thompson has consulted with its school leader.
Principal Todd West said he wanted to take the strengths of the community and use it as a platform for academic courses. West said the program developed at the island high school is designed to answer the age-old question: “Why do I have to learn this?”
West said because the fishing industry has been successful for many people in the community, it has pulled some students from school.
Marine pathways is designed to better prepare them for a life in the fishing industry or shipping industry, he said. As is being done in the Rockland area, Deer Isle-Stonington turned to the community to develop its program.
Deer Isle freshman Elliott Nevells said this week that his father’s side of the family has fished for generations. Nevells started going out on the water when he was 4 years old. Now he has his own 20-foot lobster boat, which he takes out lobstering during the summer and “whenever I can.”
Nevells said the maritime pathway program interests him more than a regular academic set of classes.
“This relates more to things I like. This gives me an added drive,” Nevells said.
Freshman Ben Burrin agreed. He has been working as a sternman for the past two to three summers. He said he plans to go fishing after school but also to graduate from high school.
The students were trained, for example, in cold water survival at Maine Maritime Academy in Castine.
The two freshman took a one-week program at the end of last summer as part of the marine pathways, in which they needed to come up with an individual project. Both decided to work on a new design for a lobster trap that could be more effective in catching crustaceans and be produced for a lower cost.
West said students who take the marine pathways also will be attractive candidates for schools, such as Maine Maritime Academy.
West said it was too early to say whether it has reduced the number of students who leave but said he believes students are not only staying in school but are more engaged in their education.
Deer Isle’s graduation rate already had risen from 79 percent in 2011 to 91 percent in 2013 before the program began.
Statewide, the graduation rate for public high schools in 2013 was slightly more than 86 percent.
The RSU 13 Board will hold a meeting 6:30 p.m. Thursday to discuss enrollment and dropout prevention.