Claremont
It was the first time in many years the condition of the high school building was not an issue.
“They commended us for our physical plant,” said Stevens Principal Patricia Barry, who arrived at the high school in the middle of a $12.6 million renovation. “They highlighted it in their commendations.”
While Stevens never lost its accreditation in recent years, the school was placed on probationary status two years after voters defeated a $23 million renovation project in 2010.
Prior to that, the district had been on “warning” from NEASC for 10 years, and it very well could have lost its accreditation in this latest review were it not for the renovation.
“The facility upgrades that reflect strong community support; the high school site and plant support the delivery of high-quality school programs and services,” the NEASC report states in the commendation section.
On the list of recommendations, the only reference to the physical plant is for the development of a long-range plan for equipment replacement and the hiring of additional maintenance personnel to keep the building in proper shape.
Superintendent Middleton McGoodwin said on Monday that when a school either loses accreditation or is close to it, that becomes the issue that gets all the attention.
“It is like a dark cloud over the school district,” McGoodwin said. “You can have all the great things going on in the building but the cloud is still there.”
After the failed bond vote in 2010, voters approved a smaller bond in 2013 — even though state aid was not available — to renovate the school. That work was completed in early 2015 and in April that year, NEASC unanimously voted to lift the school’s probationary status. The letter from NEASC noted the improvements that now assure “students have multiple opportunities to achieve 21st-century learning expectations.”
Barry said Monday the NEASC concerns that led to probationary status were not about curriculum or instruction as much as they were about the school’s poor condition that prevented Stevens from working to meet its curriculum goals.
Before 2013, Stevens had not had a major renovation for 50 years and a small portion of the building dates to 1868.
“Now we are free and clear from that,” Barry said.
The 90-page report issued last week is a culmination of work that began with a self-assessment followed by a NEASC visit last October.
Overall, Barry said the report, which is available at the SAU web site — www.sau6.org under the link to Stevens High School — had no real surprises for the administration or staff.
“It reaffirmed what we were doing well and what we needed to work on,” Barry said. “We were all very happy.”
David Putnam, who previously served 16 years on the board and also on the school renovation committee, said on Monday that receiving the 10-year accreditation is the result of many years of work by a lot of people.
“Without everyone’s work, we would not be here,” Putnam said. “It was the dedication of so many people to make this happen.”
McGoodwin said what has always stayed with him is how Claremont residents passed the bond with no state aid while the country was still mired in the Great Recession. “It told the state what a great community Claremont is,” he said.
School Board Chairman Brian Rapp, who joined the board just before the first bond vote was defeated, is pleased the district can keep its focus on academics.
“We couldn’t get past that,” Rapp said about the high school’s condition. “No matter what we did educationally, we couldn’t get to where we needed to go because the building was so inadequate.”
Patrick O’Grady can be reached at pogclmt@gmail.com.
