2013 US News & world report Maine High School Rankings (Bangor: middle-class, houses)

[cebdark]

Originally Posted by Coaster

Glad to see Maine School of Science and Mathematics in Limestone is number one again. Excellent school.

It's nice to have a school for Math and Science kids. Not all kids excel at sports. I've heard great things about that school.

Is it a private school?

[cebdark]

Originally Posted by flycessna

The list IS bogus in the sense that the list does not consider that some schools are selective and students have to apply and get accepted.. And it does not consider how some communities are overwhelmed with students with special needs, language problems, and student from broken homes.. My wife and her family hail from Lewiston, all of them have graduated from College and some are actually teachers... They are well educated but I would hardly think Lewiston could hold a candle to most other schools in Maine when it comes to test scores... For me its the students who make the school.

I find it interesting that even though you acknowledge that wealthier communities have better rated schools you then make the correlation that it must be because they spend more money in the schools system??

Maybe they do spend more money but wealthier communities have a better class of people living in those communities (there! I said it.) kids coming from strong households who's parents are law abiding citizens stand to do much better in school then the welfare children in crime ridden communities.... kids from broken homes, poor value system, drug abused ect.. And the schools are going to be better prepared to educate those students..

Its a sad fact that if you really want to find a statistic that is almost always true, compare school test results and correlate it to its free lunch program...

The one anomaly for me is Bangor who always figures well into these rankings not only state wide but even nationally.. Bangor is a city and I would it expect to have similar problems to those that I mentioned but I just do not know enough about that City to say one way or another.. Bangor also excels in sports.

Bangor has a school board and administration comprised of "Stepford Wives" (as in the movie theme). They run a tight ship and anyone wishing to rock the boat usually ends up out of the boat. IMO of course. Believe you me, they have every bit as many similar problems as does every other area.

There. I said it.

[Coaster]

Originally Posted by reloop

It's nice to have a school for Math and Science kids. Not all kids excel at sports. I've heard great things about that school.

Is it a private school?

It's a public charter school, sort of a unique beast in the Maine school system. Students have to apply and be accepted to attend. It's located in Limestone. Classes are held in half of the high school -- Limestone Schools occupy the other half -- and students live in a converted elementary school next door. Both schools were built just before Loring Air Force Base closed. When the base closed, the schools lost so many students that all of the Limestone students, k-12, could fit in just half of the new high school. MSSM was thought up as a way of creating a new school for high-achieving math and science students and a way to utilize the new schools. John Martin was a strong supporter and helped secure funding for the conversion through the federal and state governments.

My older daughter graduated from MSSM back in 2001.

[cebdark]

Originally Posted by Coaster

It's a public charter school, sort of a unique beast in the Maine school system. Students have to apply and be accepted to attend. It's located in Limestone. Classes are held in half of the high school -- Limestone Schools occupy the other half -- and students live in a converted elementary school next door. Both schools were built just before Loring Air Force Base closed. When the base closed, the schools lost so many students that all of the Limestone students, k-12, could fit in just half of the new high school. MSSM was thought up as a way of creating a new school for high-achieving math and science students and a way to utilize the new schools. John Martin was a strong supporter and helped secure funding for the conversion through the federal and state governments.

My older daughter graduated from MSSM back in 2001.

I wish we had more "unique beasts" in the Maine school system. What's the student/teacher ratio?

[Radio Flyer]

Originally Posted by reloop

Bangor has a school board and administration comprised of "Stepford Wives" (as in the movie theme). They run a tight ship and anyone wishing to rock the boat usually ends up out of the boat.

I'm visualizing stunned Bangor residents floating down the Penobscot.

[Coaster]

Originally Posted by reloop

I wish we had more "unique beasts" in the Maine school system. What's the student/teacher ratio?

According to the US News and World Report article, 10-1.

The new charter school trend is, I think, an effort to develop more "unique beasts," but the start-up seems to be plagued with problems, not least because the Maine Education Association hates charter schools with a passion.

[maineguy8888]

Coaster, I would be interested to know what your daughter has done since MSSM, if you don't mind sharing.

I've been around and in public schools my whole life, in all kinds of capacities. It boils down to the culture, not the money. MSSM has been so successful because they "jumped ship", so to speak: they started over with a clean slate and built their school culture from afresh, and could make it whatever they wanted it to be. They did it right, and the culture there now is simply one of learning. To know that the best high school in New England is way up in little, old northern Maine is truly astounding.
The school culture in almost all of our public schools today has become just lousy.

[Coaster]

Originally Posted by maineguy8888

Coaster, I would be interested to know what your daughter has done since MSSM, if you don't mind sharing.

She was accepted at every college she applied to, graduated with a BA and MA from the leading university for her interests, psychology and public administration, and now lives and works in New York City for a major international insurance company. She travels all over the world on a regular basis -- just got back from London and Brussels last month, has had temporary assignments in Jakarta and Melbourne, and is currently vacationing in Dominica. She is doing exactly what she wanted to do, knows the best restaurants in Paris and the location of every Starbucks in central London, and yes I live vicariously through my daughters.

I've been around and in public schools my whole life, in all kinds of capacities. It boils down to the culture, not the money. MSSM has been so successful because they "jumped ship", so to speak: they started over with a clean slate and built their school culture from afresh, and could make it whatever they wanted it to be. They did it right, and the culture there now is simply one of learning. To know that the best high school in New England is way up in little, old northern Maine is truly astounding.
The school culture in almost all of our public schools today has become just lousy.

I would agree on every point you made.

[cebdark]

Originally Posted by Radio Flyer

I'm visualizing stunned Bangor residents floating down the Penobscot.

Glug, glug, glug...

Here you go. This isn't just "sour grapes" according to a number of people I've talked to who are "in the know" so-to-speak.

Is the Bangor School Committee ‘all in favor’ after 300 unanimous votes? — Politics — Bangor Daily News — BDN Maine

When a certain bedroom community tried to push to be consolidated with Bangor, it was made perfectly clear that they were not welcomed. Bangor had the numbers to remain free-standing and they would do so regardless. If was made clear that if the push continued, the requesting town would end up losing...in court. Go figure.

[cebdark]

Originally Posted by Coaster

According to the US News and World Report article, 10-1.

The new charter school trend is, I think, an effort to develop more "unique beasts," but the start-up seems to be plagued with problems, not least because the Maine Education Association hates charter schools with a passion.

Yes, I could definitely agree with that statement. Less kids, less moolah.