HARPSWELL

A bigger-than-expected gallery of about 50 residents and charter school proponents from adjacent towns packed Cundy’s Harbor Community Center on Friday to voice enthusiasm for the proposed Harpswell Coastal Academy.

Heidi Sampson, chairwoman of the Maine Charter School Commission’s review subcommittee, said she was “impressed and encouraged” by the public’s turnout, as well as the “articulate” arguments she heard in favor of the school.

Of five applications submitted, Harpswell Coastal Academy’s was the only one the state’s volunteer charter commission allowed to advance.

School organizers said they will not pursue the former West Harpswell School as the academy’s physical location. Instead, they are working out an agreement for the school’s first year with the Merriconeag Grange near Routes 123 and Mountain Road.

Each of the people who offered testimony Friday lauded the charter school’s “place-based” curriculum, which emphasized less inclass sitting and more experiential learning.

“My daughter has trouble in conventional classrooms,” said Ellen Benson, of Harpswell, “and I’m worried that she’ll lose her curiosity and ambition for learning.”

“(The school) would fill a void that has existed for a long time in schools,” said Sam Alexander, of Harpswell, whose forebears established the original Harpswell Academy in the 1870s. “I learned far more on the farm than I ever did in school, things what would prove invaluable to me later in life.”

All but one of 22 speakers strongly endorsed the proposed school during the 90- minute hearing.

The only ambivalence came from School Administrative District 75 Superintendent Brad Smith, who did not oppose the school’s presence but offered statistics to counter the belief that Harpswell students are ill-served by public schools.

“There’s no question about the commitment, dedication and passion of the people in this room,” he said. “But for the perception that students from Harpswell don’t do well in our school system, that just is not true.”

Harpswell has the lowest rate of underachieving students — 4 percent — in the district, which also serves Topsham, Bowdoin and Bowdoinham, Smith said, and only 1.7 percent of Harpswell students drop out, while 28 percent are enrolled in advanced placement classes and 61 percent have a grade-point average of 3.1 or better.

Smith also offered advice to organizers. “Transportation will be an issue,” he said. And he cautioned that charter schools “have to be very aware of students’ rights and due process,” particularly with regard to punishment, expulsion and other forms of discipline.

The commission’s next step will be to convene a full board meeting “within the next couple of weeks,” said Sampson. Among the issues to be discussed will be the physical layout of the school and “tweaks” to the proposal.

jtleonard@timesrecord.com