I may not be perfect, but at least I'm not fake.

I may not be perfect, but at least I'm not fake.
This page is copyrighted by Deborah Dorey Wilson, The Lebanon Truth Seekers. All rights reserved.

Thursday, June 4, 2015

SAD60 Students to Take Standardized Testing or Risk Graduation

 

 
Re-Posted from the Truth in American Education Webiste.
You can find more HERE:
 
http://truthinamericaneducation.com/

 

Maine Students Warned Assessment Opt-Out May Cost Graduation

As debate over standardized testing ramped up in the Legislature, the Maine Department of Education again cautioned parents and school administrators this week about the possible fallout from opting out of statewide assessments. Among the potential repercussions — a school could withhold a student’s diploma.
“No one is going to force a child to sit and take the test,” Acting Commissioner Tom Desjardin said in a written statement released Wednesday. “[Parents and students] do not, however, have a right to be shielded from the consequences of that act, which could range from action by the school district or loss of federal funding for the school.”
The article notes several school districts who make taking the standardized test a graduation requirement.  This is mainly done to make sure a school district achieves the 95% participation benchmark required under No Child Left Behind.
In SAD 60, if parents want to opt their children out of the Maine Educational Assessment, they must sign a form stating that they understand that all schools in Maine are required by federal law to have 95 percent of their students tested or the school could face financial penalties.
It’s unclear how many other districts in the state have similar graduation requirements. Neither Desjardin nor the Maine School Management Association could name others off hand, and no reliable record exists on the varied graduation requirements in districts across the state.
However, student handbooks available on school websites indicate that Old Town High School and Lake Region High School in Naples also require students to take the state assessment in their junior year in order to graduate.
Lake Region Principal Ted Finn said Friday that in his five years at the school, which has had the requirement since the 1990s, no student has failed to graduate because they didn’t take the test. Students have failed to graduate, but never solely because they didn’t take the state test, he said. As of Friday, no juniors at Lake Region had opted out of this year’s exam.
The Maine Legislature is considering a bill, LD 1276, that would end the state’s participation with Smarter Balanced.  A bill, LD 695, that would codify and clarify a parent’s right to opt their student out from standardized assessments will be considered by the full House and Senate even though it was not recommended by legislative education committee.

The Lebanon Voice Shares Information on Bumping Up Hours for Town Employees to Receive Benefits.

Policy change ends transfer station boss' vacay pay

Former selectman and transfer station boss Ronal Patch (Lebanon Voice file photo)
LEBANON - A policy change approved by selectmen in 2010 that allowed full-time benefits for town workers who put in just 25 hours a week has been reversed unanimously by the current board.
The decision was made on Thursday and changes the number of hours needed to trigger full-time benefits to 35.
The change in 2010 was instituted after transfer station manager and then-selectman Ronal Patch asked to have the policy changed so he could work fewer hours and maintain town benefits.
In a March 23 article, Patch told The Lebanon Voice, "I wrote to selectmen and wanted them to cut it down and they said OK."
When asked if he remembered signing the document back in 2010, Patch said no and added he couldn't remember if he was selectman at the time of the change, either.
In fact, Patch, along with former selectmen Robert Frizzell and Jason Cole signed the document, which became effective on May 4, 2010.
Patch doesn't put in for health or dental benefits from the town, but does get annual leave, or vacation pay. He is also entitled to 12 paid holidays yearly.
In fiscal year 2013-14 he pocketed roughly 167 hours of vacation pay for almost $2,700.
Patch has defended his request to reduce the full-time benefits hourly threshold, and declared he didn't see it as any conflict of interest.
Current Selectmen Chairman Ben Thompson said there were no minutes that indicated selectmen in 2010 had discussed and voted on the change, just a personnel policy file that indicated the change and was signed by all three.
Patch, who as transfer station manager oversees a handful of employees, including his wife, a brother and occasionally a grandson, gets $16 an hour. The other workers get $13.28
Thursday's policy change actually increases the threshold three hours from the 32 hours required prior to the 2010 decrease.
A phone message left Patch at the transfer station today by The Lebanon Voice was not immediately returned. Patch normally works about 29 hours a week.

Thank you to Harrison Thorp for allowing us to share his work. The Lebanon Voice can be followed on Facebook at:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Lebanon-Voice/325841647482468?fref=ts
June 20th New Hampshire Dairy Day Saturday 10 am- 4 pm
Barn tours, cows, goats, NH cheese tasting, butter making demonstrations, horse-drawn wagon rides, haymaking and historic farm house tours. Free ice cream donated by Lone Oak Ice Cream served at 12 noon until it runs out.
Admission: $7 adult, $4 child 4-17 yrs/ members free