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Winslow vying for students
China, Vassalboro are focus of recruiting
By Morning Sentinel Staff Kennebec Journal & Morning Sentinel 01/17/2008

WINSLOW -- Interim Superintendent Hugh Riordan lives in China but his two children both attend Winslow High School.

Riordan would like to see more teenagers from school-choice communities -- China and Vassalboro primarily -- make Winslow their choice, and he is working on a plan to accomplish that goal, which includes promoting the $9 million renovation of the high school.

And that plan is motivated by an important financial reason.

"I think we have to (step up our recruitment efforts)," Riordan said. "In China and Vassalboro, classes out of eighth grade now tend to be smaller every year. With smaller classes, those tuition dollars are very important."

Riordan is confident that Winslow has the right stuff to get a larger share of that smaller student pool and not just because of the high school improvements.

The key, he said, is being more aggressive at marketing the high school's long-standing strengths.

"We have not been as good as we should have been," he said, "at informing families about what Winslow High School offers as far as programs, academics and extracurricular activities. We want to do a better job of that."

Doing a better job of recruiting tuition students is critical given the extent of that student population decline.

That decline is particularly pronounced in China. Consider the number of 12th-graders compared to kindergarten students in the community: 84 to 44.

Assistant Superintendent Gary Smith, who also is business director for the school system, said Winslow High School collected slightly more than $1 million from tuition students in the current school year, or about 7 percent of the $14.1 million K-12 budget.

Smith, like Riordan, is a strong advocate for putting more efforts into student recruitment at the high school level.

Erskine Academy, a private high school located in South China, gets 403 students from China and Vassalboro. Winslow is home to 104 students from those communities, about a quarter of the Erskine total.

"I would say Erskine does a great job in trying to attract students to Erskine," Smith said. "I think it goes without saying that Winslow could certainly improve upon what it has done in the past."

Waterville Senior High School, which has 37 students from Vassalboro and China, also is a player in the competition for tuition students, but in a more subdued way.

"We do what we can do," Waterville Superintendent Eric Haley said of recruitment, "but as far as forcing ourselves upon somebody ... if they don't want us to contact them, then I feel we shouldn't do it. But if they invite us, I'm more than willing to do it."

For Erskine Academy, though, recruitment is way of life.

"We have no contractual relationship with any town," Erskine Headmaster Donald Poulin said, "so (tuition students) have been valuable to us all along. We don't take tuition students for granted."

Erskine Academy also is well aware of the smaller enrollment numbers in the lower grades.

"I joke with my board," Poulin said, "that they pay me to be paranoid. I give them good service on that."

But there's a serious side to the joke.

Poulin said a declining student population to draw from is a great concern. He realizes this means the competition for students is likely to grow more intense.

Erskine's approach to the situation, he said, is to remain responsive to what people want in a high school.

"It's fair to say our population, our entire population, comes here through school choice, and we are fully cognizant that if we do not offer programs parents want and that meet the needs of kids, then we will lose those kids."

Riordan, meanwhile, has high hopes that the nearly completed $9 million renovation of Winslow High School, which includes significant technological improvements, will serve as a major attraction.

Beyond that, he said, Winslow has to be better at marketing in general.

He said this might include doing more to encourage children from Vassalboro and China to visit the high school, as well as connecting them with current Winslow High School students.

Riordan said an electronic slide show depicting life at Winslow High School also is in the works. "If you can spark that curiosity kids have, so that they at least check out (the high school)," he said, "then you are headed in the right direction."

Colin Hickey -- 861-9205

chickey@centralmaine.com

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Reader comments

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Richard Hertz of Vassalboro, ME
Jan 21, 2008 3:00 PM
I find it interesting that even though Cony was brand new more kids decided to go to Erskine. Kids don't necessarily want new schools, they want a safe environment to learn, they want teachers who listen and they want an administration that has the authority and power to eject trouble makers! Long live private institutions!report abuse
sunny of Liberty, ME
Jan 17, 2008 4:51 PM
ONE MORE COMMENT FROM ME...WATERVILLE AND WINSLOW HIGH SCHOOLS SHOULD HAVE COMBINED THEIR SCHOOLS AS IT WAS SUGGESTED IN PRIOR YEARS.
PLEASE LEAVE CHINA AND VASSALBORO AREA ALONE-ERSKINE ACADEMY PROVIDES THE EDUCATION AND DOES NOT HAVE TO PUT UP WITH STUDENTS THAT DO NOT MIND...A CHILD CAN GET A GOOD EDUCATION THERE.report abuse
LJB of Belgrade, ME
Jan 17, 2008 7:46 AM
Erskine Academy has buses. That's a huge deciding factor when you live in China and need to choose a high school. Furthermore, fixing the outside of the building isn't going to fix the problems within the walls of Winslow High School. Less emphasis on sports and more emphasis on academics will likely attract more students from China.report abuse

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