Middletown Faculty and Students Make Case for Little Compton

In a nearly two-hour pitch session Tuesday night, Middletown made its case to educate Little Compton's high school students again beginning in 2012, with school officials enthusiastically presenting slide after slide of glimpses into scholastic life at  that covered everything from AP classes to virtual high school classes, from discipline statistics to NECAP scores, from the championship football team to the award-winning robotics teams, and more.

Middletown School officials also offered the Little Compton School Committee a non-voting seat on the Middletown School Committee to help ensure Little Compton has a greater voice in Middletown.

Some of the most compelling insights came from the students themselves. Joining Superintendent Rosemarie Kraeger, high school principal Steven Ruscito and department heads were eight students from varying grades, backgrounds and interests who spoke about their active academic and extracurricular lives at Middletown High School, from taking part in sports, music, fine arts, student council, AP classes and more. Many of them spoke about progressive programs related to the Best Buddies Special Education program that partners students for peer support, anti-bullying workshops, and Rachel's Challenge, the "pay-it-forward" movement to encourage positive behaviors and acts of kindness.

Together, the delegation of administrators, faculty and students made its presentation at the Wilbur & McMahon School before the Little Compton School Committee and the dozen or so parents who also attended. Middletown's pitch was the second round of presentations in recent weeks. Little Compton heard from Tiverton in November and is scheduled to next hear from Portsmouth on Jan. 6. All sessions are being recorded and will air on Cox cable Channel 18. Additionally, Little Compton officials said they make available to the public on DVD discs copies of all the presentations to view or borrow.

As Little Compton nears the end of its 10-year contract with Portsmouth High School to educate the town's high school students, the district is meeting with the three neighboring school districts to consider alternatives. Prior to 's contract, educated Little Compton's high school students for 26 years.

Little Compton school officials have projected that about 125 Little Compton students will enter Grade 9 in 2012-13.

With a capacity to house 1,010 students and a current student population of 715, Middletown High School can comfortably accommodate Little Compton's 2012 freshman class, Kraeger said Tuesday night.

In their presentation Tuesday night, school officials also cited a number of such indicators. Among these were:

Facilities: MHS includes science labs, a library, up-to-date computer labs, a multimedia presentation room / small lecture hall, smart boards, a new piano studio, fitness center, athletic fields, and student activities room. MHS also boats the state's only greenhouse at a high school, a planetarium, and a $1 million football field as a result of a partnership with Salve Regina and "is the same kind of football field used by the New England Patriots."

Class size: With a state limit of 25 students per teacher, Middletown's largest average class size is in physical education with 25, followed by social studies with 23 and science with 22. On average there are 19 students per class in English classes, 20 per math class, 29 per visual arts, 18 taking career education classes, and 17 taking applied arts, world languages and computer technology classes.

Attendance and Graduation Rates: MHS had a 95-percent attendance rate in 2008-2009, and a 90.1-percent graduation rate from 2008-2009 based on the new state formula tracking five years.

College Placement: Of 137 students in 2008-2009, 92 went on to a four-year college, 7 attended a two-year college, and 3 went on to serve in the Armed Forces. Last year, MHS students went on to attend college at Brown University, Georgetown, the University of Chicago, the University of Rhode Island, Providence College, Johnson & Wales, and more.

SAT Test Scores: In SATs, students scored an average 519 in Critical Reading, 502 in Writing, and 527 in Math.

NECAP Testing: From 2007-2009, MHS consistently showed higher than state averages in all NECAP testing areas of writing, reading, and math. (In Math 47 vs. 28, in reading, 75 vs. 73, in writing 60 vs. 57) School officials noted that students are assessed three times per year and an after-school early intervention program is in place to identify students falling behind to provide extra help.

School Discipline: In the 2009-2010 school year, MHS recorded two suspensions related to weapons, 19 related to fights or assaults, and 16 related to drugs or alcohol. A total of 556 suspensions were recorded, with the remainder largely comprised of tardiness-related disciplines, noted principal Ruscito. Programs in place to provide additional oversight and support include anti-bullying workshops, a SITE Council, student council, safety advisory committee, student resource officer, truancy court, a chemical health policy, a student assistance counselor, and participation in Rachel's Challenge, an extracurricular activity to promote non-violence and acts of kindness.

Education Requirements: Core requirements include English, Math, Science, social Studies, Physical Education, and Art or Music. Graduation requirements include a PBGR system certified by the state Commissioner of Education.

AP classes: Advanced Placement classes are available in English, Social Studies, foreign languages, math, and science. Additional AP classes are available through the Virtual High School system of online distance learning with instructors working remotely with students across the United States.

Additional Programs of Study, including VHS opportunities: More areas of study include world languages, applied arts, computer technology (which includes the school's robotics program), music, art and career education. Students may also choose independent study to earn college credit for some coursework, or attend the Newport Area Career and Technical Center for other programs of study. Also available are optional Virtual High School (VHS) classes, with more than 150 courses to choose from, ranging from more AP offerings, statistics, foreign policy, psychology, criminology, Latin, the Holocaust, nuclear medicine, and more.

Sports: MHS boasts the state's largest number of athletic teams and the active program includes a 2010 Division III Super Bowl Championship football team, baseball, boys and girls soccer, boys and girls swimming, volleyball, softball, cross country, track, lacrosse, tennis, wrestling, gymnastics, cheerleading, hockey and golf.

Extracurricular Activities: National Honor Society, Best Buddies, Robotics team, math league, drama club, student council, band, chorus, mock trial, Mode UN, Rachel's Challenge, and more.

Special Education / Best Buddies: MHS is a member of the Newport County Regional Special Education collaborative. A co-teaching approach comprised of a content teacher and specialty teacher provides the student's education and coursework. Other programs include: Best Buddies, where Special Education students are teamed up with other students who offer peer support, participation in the school store, positive behavior interventions, full staff intervention and support, East Bay Works (Bradley), One Team, Special Olympics, and continued support through the transition process.

Toward the end of the program, the students spoke about those areas of student life directly.

Among the student ambassadors was Division III Superbowl MVP Rico McCray, who discussed the school's numerous athletic opportunities as well as the culture surrounding athletics, noting for example, the school's "chemical health policy" adopted last year that prohibits athletes from drug or alcohol use or being around others using it.

Others like Zoe Simanski, who serves as president of the sophomore student council, spoke about the camaraderie, school pride and mutual respect that students found at school, whether it was through fun extracurricular activities such as Powder Puff Football—in which the boys' football team players coaches the girls' teams—or the school's Best Buddies program, which pairs up students with special needs with other students for academic and social support and is among the largest programs of its kind in the state.

Jessica Piazza described how the school's advisory sessions that take place every three days for 66-minute sessions and are designed for students to be able catch up on missed work or tests, tutor each other, get extra help or meet with an advisor.

Baley Rochefort, a junior who hopes to one day work "in medicine," spoke highly of the numerous school programs and activities and other school features, especially "Room 212," the high-tech amphitheater style lecture hall used for a variety of presentations and multi-media events.

Much of the students' comments reinforced key areas within school officials' presentations.

Following the presentation, Little Compton residents were invited to ask follow-up questions. Class size, AP classes and Aquidneck Island's ongoing talks about regionalizing schools came up as concerns. Some of the students offered to answer questions related to AP and Honors classes directly.

Kraeger and Ruscito, along with School Committee Chairman Michael F. Crowley Jr. addressed the issue of regionalizing schools on Aquidneck Island. Without mincing words and speaking on behalf of the school board, Crowley said Middletown will not pursue regionalization for the sake of saving money alone but would need to see a greater education benefit to consider a regionalized high school.

"I've been on the regionalization committee from the beginning," said Crowley. "The RIPEC study looked at fiscal and enrollment data. You don't want to push regionalization just to save dollars. There has to be some education benefit."

Kraeger agreed, noting that the school district has prided itself on finding efficiencies and cost savings in other areas, in part due to a positive working relationship between administrators and the teachers' union, which reportedly agreed to voluntary stipend concessions last summer in order to save sports programs and other after school activities. Additionally, the district has implemented such programs as the Virtual High School (VHS) to provide more course offerings and developed partnerships with area businesses and companies to provide additional education opportunities, she noted.

What do MHS students think about their own school? A copy of Baley Rochefort's presentation, which summed up many key points about student life, is available here to view and print at upper right.