FARMINGTON — Dr. Nichole Goodspeed, principal of Cascade Brook School, reported a 20% decrease in behavior referrals among fourth grade students on Tuesday, Dec. 12, at the RSU 9 board of director’s meeting. Goodspeed correlated the data with the BARR program, which stands for “Building Assets and Reducing Risk”.
BARR is a program that was implemented in 2019 to help incoming freshmen adapt and succeed within the high school framework, thus reducing the number of dropouts. Former Mt. Blue High School Principal Monique Poulin reported on the success of the program in January of this year, reporting that ninth graders had the lowest course failure rate at MBHS, reducing their failure rate by 15% percent from 2021 to 2022.
Furthermore, MBHS saw a significant increase in school attendance with a drop in chronic absenteeism.
Goodspeed said her school implemented BARR with fourth graders and saw a significant improvement in both behavior referrals and student attendance, with attendance numbers fluctuating after Thanksgiving, she said.
“Up until Thanksgiving, they had a much higher attendance than any of the other grades,” Goodspeed stated. “After Thanksgiving, it’s been a little crazy, but since the first few months of school, our fourth grade had a much higher attendance than all the other grades.”
Director Richard Ruhlin expressed his admiration over the data, calling it “phenomenal”.
Goodspeed also reported on a school-wide book read of The Wildlife Tree by Maine authors Peter and Deborah Emery. The husband-and-wife duo visited the school on Wednesday, Oct. 25, to talk to the kids about their book.
“During the book read, our students had the opportunity to guess which animals live in these trees through clues and illustrations,” Goodspeed shared in her report. “They were able to explore facts about the fascinating lives of these animals. It was a great way to encourage their curiosity and love for nature.”
She added, “We would like to express our gratitude to Peter and Deborah Emery for taking the time to visit our school and share their knowledge and passion with our students.”
Goodspeed also shared the goal of promoting outdoor education, which resulted in a family nature night in late October that featured a scavenger hunt and engaging recycling activities.
“This year we decided to do a fall family night instead of a spring one and focus on nature,” Goodspeed said. “It was really well attended and we’re hoping to do something in the spring as well.”
CBS has also been working with the Franklin County office of UMaine Cooperative Extension, with 4-H Youth Development Professional Tara Marble bringing a large model town to a class of fifth graders.
“Students were then asked to add certain things to the environment,” Goodspeed shared. “Some of these things were fertilizers for the golf course’s grass and also cow waste from the cows. These were in the form of various spices that we could see, but students were reminded that some things interact with our environment that we cannot see.”
Community Education Assistant Bella Russo of Cooperative Extension also swung by with Nick Russo of the Good Crust, who showed students how to make pizza with pizza dough made with 100% Maine grains.
In her report, Goodspeed also shared multiple clubs that the students participate in, including a creative club, a math/science club, a cooking club and a civil rights team. Director Janice David asked how the subject of civil rights is approached at a young age.
“That is one of our Tuesday afternoon sessions,” Goodspeed responded. “Basically they just work and talk about different kinds of awareness of different nationalities and different religions and they promote inclusion and getting along with everyone.”
Goodspeed added that the civil rights team from the high school has made an appearance as well as someone from The Holocaust and Human Rights Center of Maine.
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