School district superintendents in the Lakes Region delivered mixed reactions to the recently released Maine Department of Education’s second annual report card, which ascribed letter grades to schools across the state.

Like most Maine schools, the vast majority of schools in the area received a C. The only exceptions were Lake Region High School and Hollis Elementary School, which both received Ds.

Launched by Gov. Paul LePage’s administration in 2013, the Maine School Performance Grading System assesses schools on a bell curve, using measurements of student proficiency and growth in reading and math, as well as other factors, from the previous school year. The grades have no impact on state funding to school districts.

While one local superintendent said he accepted the legitimacy of the mediocre grades, others questioned the validity of the assessment.

“I just think it’s a gross oversimplification of a complex academic process,” said Sandy Prince, the superintendent of Windham-Raymond Regional School Unit 14. “And boiling it down into a formula, into a grade, implies a false level of certainty and validity.”

But to Bruce Beasley, the superintendent of School Administrative District 15 in Gray-New Gloucester, the report card is useful.

“Whether I accept it or not, it gets published and we have to accept it,” Beasley said. “The report card provides us with information to improve, to really look at our practices. There are a lot of things to be very proud of in the report card. And there are certain things we need to look at in order to improve. Our goal would be to become a B school or an A school.”

Last year, Kathy Beecher, the superintendent of School Administrative District 61, which covers Naples, Bridgton, Sebago and Casco, appealed the state’s grade for Lake Region High School and won. The appeal related to the state’s rules regarding testing participation rates at high schools. If between 90 to 95 percent of a high school’s juniors take the SAT, the school receives a one-letter grade reduction, according to the state report card methodology. If less than 90 percent of juniors take the test, the school receives an automatic F.

When the department determined less than 95 percent of Lake Region High School juniors had taken the SAT in 2012 and gave the high school a D, Beecher appealed the grade, claiming the SAT participation rate was actually above the 95 percent threshold. The appeal was successful, and the grade was increased to a C.

This year, Beecher acknowledges that Lake Region High School’s SAT participation rate did fall below the 95 percent threshold in 2013, with about 93.5 percent of juniors taking the test, which is held on a Saturday. Beecher has no plans to appeal the D grade. But that doesn’t mean she thinks the test participation criteria is valid. Many high school students are unable to take a Saturday test, due to obligations and responsibilities, she said.

“I just feel when the students have to come in on a Saturday to take it, that’s very hard to control,” Beecher said. “I just think that’s not the way to do it for the high schools when they have to come in on Saturdays to take the SAT, but unfortunately that’s the way they do it across the board.”

Frank Sherburne, the superintendent of School Administrative District 6, could not be reached for comment. The Hollis school, which also received a D, is a member of SAD 6. Each of the other schools in the district, which covers Standish, Frye Island, Buxton, Hollis and Limington, earned C grades.

To Prince, the problem is not grades per se, but the limited scope of the state’s criteria.

“I would like to think they can make it more comprehensive,” Prince said. “I really have no problem with accountability, school districts showing results. But this is limited. This is just a small piece of the pie.”

“This work is messy,” Prince added. “I just think we’ve got to be really thoughtful and get beyond the grades of schools. The heart and soul of school is for students to aspire and be creative and be innovative, to get along with each other and have good questions and be good thinkers. Those are the citizens, the children that we want to get from our schools.”