LIVERMORE FALLS — RSU 73 residents will have a chance to learn about and comment on a tentative proposal to restructure the district’s two elementary schools at a public forum set for 6 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 21, at Spruce Mountain Middle School.
Superintendent Robert Wall will lead the discussion with a PowerPoint presentation. Jay Elementary School Principal Chris Hollingsworth and Livermore Elementary School Principal Robert Kahler will be available to answer questions.
The forum is the third in a series of public sessions being held to gather information on how to best improve student achievement throughout the district.
During the next few months, the community, teachers and administrators will develop a new educational program if the community believes such action should be taken. Forums are planned to end prior to a March board meeting when the board will make recommendations that hopefully will improve student success.
Wall believes if student education continues as it has in the two elementary schools, results will remain the same.
“We are working on the premise that students aren’t achieving as well as they could,” he said.
When the Department of Education assigned a letter grade to each school in the state earlier this year, Jay Elementary received a C and Livermore Elementary received a D. Grades assigned to the other schools in the district were: Spruce Mountain High School, south campus, now closed, D; Spruce Mountain High School north campus, which now houses all secondary students in RSU 73, D; and Spruce Mountain Middle School, C. A significant AmeriCorps project is underway at the high school to assist in improved student achievement.
Wall has said that the creation of similar-aged groupings of students at the elementary level could result in higher achievement.
The tentative plan is to assign all kindergarten through grade two pupils to one elementary school and to send students in grades three through five to the other.
Some in the district want to retain the current structure of the two elementary schools, largely because most children attend the school closest to their homes.
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