Shocked, crushed, saddened, disturbed. These are the some of the words staff and students are using to describe their reaction to the state’s designation of Lake Region High School as one of Maine’s lowest performing schools.

Principal Roger Lowell, who could lose his job as a result of the designation, calls the “swift, harsh action” by the state “insane.”

The news has hit the towns the high school serves hard. Hundreds of Naples, Casco, Sebago and Bridgton residents attended a public hearing in the school’s gym on Monday night to voice their frustrations with the school system, saying more needs to be done to avoid such embarrassment in the future.

The designation as one of Maine’s 10 lowest performing schools has also met stiff resistance, with many saying the state has used one test, the SAT, which was designed for college-bound students, to condemn a high school that locals believe turns out exceptional students, some of whom are interested in non-college career paths.

But for those who accept the results, the designation has also prompted a rallying cry for improvement, a chance for the school department to look inward in an attempt to fix what’s wrong.

In an attempt to figure out what ails the system, a committee has been formed with members from various segments of the community, from parents and students to school board members and education consultants. The group meets Tuesday, March 23 from 5-8 p.m. to begin the process of figuring out what went wrong and potential fixes.

WHAT HAPPENED?

As explained to the public Monday night by Superintendent Patrick Phillips, Lake Region High School has been listed by the Maine Department of Education as one of the state’s 10 “persistently lowest performing schools.” The designation was based on SAT results through the last three years in which juniors at the school scored well below the state average on the critical reading and math portions of the SAT.

The federal No Child Left Behind Act, in addition to President Obama’s Racing to the Top legislation, offers federal money to poorly performing school districts in an effort to boost performance in math and reading. The states had to choose a method of determining which schools are “lowest performing,” and in Maine the SAT college entrance exam was chosen three years ago by Susan Gendron, commissioner of the Department of Education.

Through the last three years, Lake Region consistently scored poorly on the math and reading sections, with only 34 percent of juniors meeting proficiency on both sections of the SAT. On a scale of 800, proficiency was defined as 460 on each section of the test, said Rachelle Tome, director of Title 1 for the state education department and overseer of federal funding and accountability.

While nine other schools in Maine had similarly dismal results, other schools such as Portland High School, which also showed similar math and reading results, avoided making the list because the students also showed improvement through the three-year period. Lake Region students did not.

As a result, the school district is now faced with a major decision, one that the School Board will need to make before a state-imposed April 1 deadline. The idea behind the federal legislation is to funnel federal money to those districts that truly need it. So, while the designation has damaged the reputation of the high school, Lake Region can now qualify for up to $6 million in federal aid for three years. But there are significant strings attached if the district accepts the money.

As Phillips explained to the hundreds of assembled parents, teachers and students Monday night, Lake Region can do one of three things. First, it can decline the federal money and work from within to solve its apparent problems.

Or, it can choose from one of two improvement models as stipulated by the No Child Left behind law: the “Transformational” model, which calls for removal of the high school principal followed by stiff guidelines including extended learning time and staff performance requirements; or the “Turnaround” model, which calls for the removal of the principal as well as half the teaching staff.

(There are two other models, one of which would include closing the school and allowing students to attend charter schools, which are banned in Maine. The fourth “Closure” model would close the school and bus students to the nearest high school. With vast distances, this model would be unfit for School Administrative District 61, the superintendent said.)

WHAT’S NEXT?

The ball is solely in the court of the 15-member SAD 61 School Board. The board needs to decide by April 1 whether it intends to file an application for the federal money. It doesn’t have to determine which model, if any, it plans to follow, however. Those specifics, including which model would be used, which staff members would be cut and which performance steps would be taken, would need to be filed no later than May 7.

On Wednesday afternoon, Phillips said the school board had already agreed to file the non-binding intention to submit an application, and Phillips said he spoke with state education officials confirming that doing so would simply buy the district time.

“They understand this is nothing more than a placeholder. There is no way in the world we could thoughtfully meet the April 1 deadline and they understand that,” Phillips said.

PRINCIPAL REACTS

Roger Lowell has led Lake Region High School for 16 years. Lowell, who is respected by students, staff and community members as evidenced by a standing ovation and a general show of support Monday night, described the state’s method of determining the lowest performing schools, and particularly Lake Region’s spot on the list, as an “educational lynching.”

“This came suddenly without any warning. There were no interim steps, just a bomb that was dropped on our school district,” Lowell said in an interview last week.

There are a lot of questions within the school community concerning the formula by which the state determined the low-performing schools, Lowell added.

“They’ve taken swift, harsh action based on a relatively small piece of information, two portions of the SAT test. By doing so, they’ve passed judgment on the entire school curriculum, much of which wasn’t part of the testing,” Lowell said.

Lowell also argues that many students at Lake Region didn’t try their hardest on the SAT exams in question, a test that is held at 8 a.m. on a Saturday morning in May. He and other school staff say that while college-bound juniors may put in their best effort, kids who don’t plan to go on to college resent the forced testing and purposefully do little to achieve a good score.

“There’s a real difficulty using the SAT as a form of evaluation. A high portion of our students are not interested in college. These students are made to come in on a Saturday,” Lowell said. “There are a lot of reasons for the poor scores, and I really don’t want to go there. But, suffice it to say, my job is now on the line because of these poor scores.”

Another factor Lowell points to is the number of economically disadvantaged youth in the towns making up SAD 61. While the state average is 40 percent, a full 55 percent of students attending Lake Region High School are receiving free or reduced lunch, an economic indicator the state uses to determine subsidy.

“I consider this school to be a good one. It’s an educational lynching if ever I’ve seen one. To go in and take a school which is performing well by many measures and tip it right upside down because of a test that many students do not take seriously is just insane,” Lowell said.

TEACHERS REACT

If the school had reputation problems before the test results were made known, it now has many more. Teachers report distressed students who are being taunted by friends in other districts because of the dubious distinction, and they worry what the designation might do to the high school’s reputation as their students apply for college.

“Kids are getting teased on Facebook. Kids are getting teased face to face, which is awful. It’s awful,” said library media specialist Debbie Gahm.

“Commissioner Gendron, I don’t think that she understands how this impacts individuals and the whole community. I mean, the whole community is affected,” said French teacher Linda Freese.

Gahm said recent budget cuts have affected curriculum.

“We’ve had to make do or do without, and that’s really affected an awful lot of instructional events in the classrooms,” she said.

Despite the cutbacks, Lake Region managed to recently regain accreditation from the New England Association of Schools and Colleges. And voters last fall approved a $13 million high school reconstruction bond. All of this, Freese said, has come under Lowell’s leadership.

“We made these strides and improvements under the leadership of Roger Lowell, and we’ve all improved our practice under him,” Freese said, “He’s awesome.”

To demonstrate the improvements, they point to a 2006 commendation by the regional accrediting association, which praised the school for such things as “a wide variety of instructional methods teachers employ to spur learning,” “the variety of co-curricular activities that extend learning beyond the school day,” and availability of “many opportunities for students to receive needed support to meet academic standards.”

Representing the teaching staff at Monday’s public meeting was Don Weafer, head of the English Department.

“We as a staff reject the use of (the SAT) score as a fair indication of the effort and professionalism of our teachers and leaders and the learning of our students,” he said.

He cited a well-timed statement released last weekend by the Obama administration that called into question the use of a single test score to assess school effectiveness.

However, while Weafer said SAT scores shouldn’t be used as a barometer of student achievement, “no one would claim that persistently low SAT scores don’t matter. We believe that those scores accurately indicate a generally below-average level of literacy in our schools, a level of literacy that we have not, despite years of work, managed to increase sufficiently.”

Weafer went on to say, “We have not succeeded in raising levels of motivation, aspiration and outcomes in our school to the degree we all have wished.”

To that end, Weafer said, the faculty “wishes to work with the board and the community in developing a comprehensive, rigorous, and data-driven plan for improving student outcomes. We do not, however, wish to apply for federal funds in this undertaking. While those funds must look like an oasis in a desert of state funding cuts to those of you who struggle every day with budget issues, they come with significant strings attached.”

Weafer also said he worries that the money won’t be used to lower local tax rates or go to worthy programming but instead “disappear into the pockets of outside educational consultants or be used to fund expensive programs that the district will be left alone to pay for in three years when the federal money runs out.”

He and fellow staff also worry that the federal money will take power away from local school leaders.

STUDENTS REACT

Quite a few students were on hand to react to the news Monday night. Some students acknowledged their role in not taking seriously the SATs or their education in general, while other students extolled their pride in being a Laker.

Samuel Martin submitted to the School Board a petition that included the signatures of 378 fellow students showing their support of Lowell. He said he was “greatly offended by the judgment placed upon our school by people and boards that don’t even know us, that have never even seen Lake Region as a community function. We are effective, hard-working individuals that form a productive and progressive next generation of workers, laborers and scholars alike, from those who aspire to greatness and some for normality.”

Martin criticized the state’s designation saying, “Yes, we are a small school, and this is an advantage as well as a disadvantage. We are held to the same federal standards as those schools in a higher socio-economic class.”

Another student, Jess Johnson, acknowledged the existence of student apathy, which she said contributed to the low test scores.

“As a student, I see apathy in my peers and even myself at times. This has an enormous impact on our scores on the SATs, which are clearly what we need to improve upon. As an honor student, I think that curriculum needs to be boosted way up,” Johnson said.

She went to describe a less-than-challenging curriculum that she said both discourages students’ motivation and results in low test scores on standardized testing.

“I maintain a 100.24 grade point average, and I haven’t worked for it, I’m not going to lie,” Johnson said. “I feel a need for more challenging curriculum that would actually force me to really take an interest in my learning and become more involved in my education.”

Some of the students said the student body itself shared in the blame for the low ranking.

Near the end of the meeting, junior Leona Kluge-Edward said the proposed models being discussed, including the possible $6 million from the federal government as well the required retooling of the staff and curriculum, will do little to improve student test scores if students themselves aren’t willing to buy into the changes.

“All the solutions that seem to be offered up right now are seeming to me to be all short-term solutions,” she said. “And no matter what you choose, the problems that we face right now will just keep coming up over and over and over again. The problem doesn’t reside with the administration, or the principal or the teachers. The teachers can only teach us what we’re willing to learn. The problem resides with the students and how much effort they’re willing to put into their work.

“Once this whole thing blows over and we come up with a solution that will work for now, I think as a district and as a community we really need to take a step back and look at how our students are viewing their educations and how that’s really having an impact on every school in this district,” she said.

Lake Region High School Principal Roger Lowell speaks to students after school on Tuesday, a day after hundreds of parents and students attended a public meeting regarding the school’s designation by the state as one of Maine’s lowest performing schools. The popular principal could lose his job, depending on what action the school board takes regarding available federal money. (Staff photo by Brandon McKenney)Stuck to the door of Lake Region High School Principal Roger Lowell’s office are dozens of notes from students showing their support for the 16-year veteran principal. Lowell could lose his job, as could half the teachers at the high school depending on whether the SAD 61 School Board accepts federal money made available to underperforming school districts through No Child Left Behind legislation. SAD 61 could receive up to $2 million, but the money comes with many strings, officials say. (Staff photo by John Balentine)