MRHS accreditation warning: The NEASC letter that started it all

Ten years after the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC) placed Monadnock Regional Junior/Senior High School on warning status, the district still hasn’t resolved its facilities-related problems that threaten the accreditation status of the school. This fall the NEASC team returns for a full accreditation review. This time around, the district must meet a new set of Standards for Accreditation.

Why hasn’t the district lost its accreditation or been put on probation, the next step toward losing accreditation? At key junctures the school was able to report that plans had been made to address the problem. That included a plan for a new high school and a plan for a 22-classroom addition in 2004. Both were rejected by voters. Last year the district hired a consulting engineering firm to determine whether innovative scheduling could overcome a decade-long overcrowding problem. The report showed that to meet state and NEASC standards the district needed to come up with 22 more classrooms.

Below is a verbatim list of concerns that prompted the NEASC to put the Monadnock Regional High School/Middle School on warning status.

• The 100% room utilization in the school that includes four modular classrooms.
• The lack of specific classrooms for 95% of the teaching staff.
• The limited size of most classrooms to support the school’s mission
• The substandard science laboratories
• The use of classrooms that were formally workrooms or closets and which lack windows and appropriate ventilation.
• The over-crowded drafting classes in which the teacher at times teaches two classes simultaneously.
• The lack of available time for junior high school students to use the computer room.
• The lack of auditorium space to hold more than one third of the student population.
• The high level of auditorium use which does not allow time for junior high school productions or performances.
• The significant overcrowding of the music room with as many as 200 students during one period.
• The lack of appropriate equipment for students enrolled in the tech ed class.
• The lack of confidential areas to work with special education students.
• The inadequate size of the locker rooms.
• The sharing of locker rooms amongst junior high school and high school students.
• The lack of available time for junior high school students to receive more than nine weeks a year or physical education.
• The lack of space in the nurse’s office.
• The use of closets as offices by the guidance specialist, the athletic director, and the special education supervisor.
• The inability of guidance counselors to hold meetings with parents and students in their offices due to space limitations.

Concord Alert: House votes to use your tax dollars to help und private schools; Low-income child care assistance passed; Dropout law fails

E-mail news alert is a service of 38kids, an online initiative dedicated to building public support for the educational needs of children in New Hampshire School Administrative Unit 38 (The Monadnock Regional School District). Help build our list. Please forward this e-mail to others concerned about education. Send your comments to 38kids@gilsumnh.org. A copy of this information and other stories can be found in the 38kids blog.

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April 12: The New Hampshire House of Representatives today passed Senate Bill 131 by a vote of 183 to 167. The legislation, promoted under the banner of a “school choice certification program,” effectively takes money away from public schools to fund private institutions, says Rep. Barbara Hull Richardson, (D) Richmond.

“It would [support] religious schools or other private schools and would provide $500,000 in tax credits to businesses and people who donated to them,” she says. “But that takes it away from the general fund, which takes it away from general education.” SB131 has already passed in the Senate and now goes to the governor for a signature.

In a small state like New Hampshire even a small number of voter comments can make a difference. Make your voice heard. Contact the governor at this link.



Child care assistance bill passes

On a more positive note, the House did pass Senate Bill 306, which provides $500,000 to help low-income parents who can’t afford the services of a licensed, quality child care program. The program is available on a “first-served basis to families whose income is between 190 percent and 250 percent of the federal poverty guidelines.” If signed by Governor Lynch, the legislation would take effect on July 1. The official 2006 federal poverty level for a family of four is $20,000 a year in annual income. That would extend aid to such families with income up to $50,000. For a full description of poverty guidelines for various types of families, see THE 2006 HHS POVERTY GUIDELINES.

House deals blow to Governor’s bill raising legal dropout age to 18
Senate Bill 268, a bill would have raised the legal dropout age and forced children to remain in school until the age of 18, was voted down in the House today. The bill, “An Act raising the age of required attendance of children in school and establishing a 2-year pilot program for increasing vocational education opportunities in the Manchester and Nashua school districts and making an appropriation therefore,” failed 134 to 219 (See the Concord Monitor story, Dropout Proposal Flunks Out of House.)

“One of the objections people had was the funding,” says Re. Barbara Hull Richardson, (D) Richmond, who voted for the bill. While the bill requires children to remain in school until the age of 18 it did little in the way of funding programs that could help these students graduate. Richardson notes that the bill would have used part of the $25 million in funding allocated to preventing dropouts and would have set up a $1.2 million vocational program in Nashua and Manchester, two areas with the highest dropout rates.

The bill isn’t dead, however. An amendment sent the bill back for “interim study.”

Richardson admits the bill doesn’t solve the problem of dropouts. “Kids don’t decide to drop out at age 16. They haven’t felt good about their education way prior to that.” She thinks that better preschool education and kindergarten opportunities are needed. And, she adds, “Some kids really need alternative ways of learning. The classroom isn’t necessarily what all kids need. [Some] need hands on or technical stuff or working with cars or learning to become electricians. I think they should have that opportunity.”

Richardson says Monadnock district kids are lucky to have Monadnock Community Connections School (MC2), an alternative high school that includes "experiential learning." “I think MC2 is great. I think it would help with the dropout issue. Some kids really need that type of education,” she says. The program is part of the MRPSOC school choice program, which is funded in part by a federal school choice grant.

It is not too late to let your governor and legislators know what you think about these bills.

Contact the governor at this link. Find and contact your legislators at this link.

Take the time to make a phone call or send an e-mail today. Legislators do pay attention.

You can make a difference.

A copy of this story is also posted on the 38kids blog site. For more stories visit us at http://38kids.blogspot.com.

Obesity and our kids: what you can do about it

Diabetes in children is rampant: will your child be next? One study released this week shows a dramatic increase in childhood obesity - the primary risk factor for this life-threatening disease - while another shows the consequences: The results of a study of prescription claims for millions of U.S. children ages 5 to 19 over the last four years showed a doubling in those taking medications used to treat or prevent Type 2 diabetes.

Some 25 million American children are now overweight.

The first study, the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, was published in the Journal of of the American Medical Association. It has tracked height and weight measurements of 3958 children ages 2 to 19 years over time.

Children were considered overweight if their body mass index (BMI) was in the top 5% as defined by standard age/growth charts. (To calculate the BMI for your child, visit the National Institutes of Health's BMI calculator.)

Overall, one third (33.6%) of children and teens, ages 2 to 19, were overweight or at risk of becoming so in 2004, up from 28.2% in 2000, according to a summary of the study published in USA Today.

Type 2 diabetes, in which the body is unable to use insulin efficiently, is at an all-time high in children. Obesity is the primary cause. The highest risk age group: 10- to 14-year-olds where the prevalence of treatment grew 106% between 2002 and 2005. Ironically, type 2 diabetes has been labeled "adult onset diabetes" because until recently it didn't show up until later in life.

The problem is very serious, health officials warn. According to a press release from the Express Scripts study, "This trend is fueled by more sedentary lifestyles among children and the increased availability and intake of junk food, among multiple factors" (Express Scripts, a pharmacy benefit management company, funded this study).

"The increase in Type 2 diabetes carries enormous health care risks," according Ed Weisbart, MD, Express Scripts chief medical officer. "Diabetes is known to shorten life expectancy by about a decade, on average. Diabetics are two to four times more likely to develop heart disease and stroke, 10 times more likely to require amputations, and are far more likely to suffer nervous system damage, blindness, kidney disease and complications with pregnancy."

What can you do about it? Visit your pediatrician. Cut down on junk food and television watching and get your child involved in sports or other extracurricular activities. You can ensure the continuation of those activities by supporting physical education and sports programs in the schools and volunteering to help out with programs like T-ball or soccer. You can make a difference.