Any parent of a child enrolled at Morse Street School, the K-2 Freeport school, has probably felt that morale among staff has been steadily declining since Freeport consolidated with Durham and Pownal into RSU 5 five years ago. This year, though, the dismay is palpable. If you are wondering why, here is your answer: The education technicians (ed techs), those assistants that keep a teacher’s daily life sane, are gone. And the literacy strategists, who help students who need personalized attention to learn to read and write, have been reduced by 75 percent – to a half-time person – this year.

Today, if you’re a teacher at Morse Street School and you need help with a kindergarten student who has an accident on the first day of school, you are on your own: Your only choice is to hand him/her a set of dry clothes, send him/her to the restroom and hope for the best. And if you need help taking assessments, helping a child sounding out words or giving the one-on-one attention that young learners often need you are, again, on your own. For teachers who have 20 children under their care, the situation is not easy. As one teacher put it, “You can’t tell these young children to not interrupt while you assess another student. They are young. They need lots of help and attention.”

Pre-consolidation, teachers at Morse Street School could rely on 90 minutes of daily help from ed techs to address students’ individual needs. This gave teachers another adult in the classroom while they focused on the all-important work of assessing students’ progress and tailoring instruction accordingly. This year, teachers have no in-classroom help (the two general instruction ed techs that voters approved in last year’s budget referendum have been re-assigned to special education).

To make matters worse, Morse Street School has also lost 1.5 of its two literacy strategists this year. Literacy strategists are expert at helping students learn to read and write and they provide much-needed personalized attention to those who fall behind. It is widely known that students learn at different rates, especially in the early stages. For K-2 students, learning to read and write is essential for keeping up with regular instruction. Study upon study proves that if a child falls behind in the early stages of learning, that child never catches up. In fact, the academic chasm widens exponentially as the child grows. Children who lag in reading and writing at the early stages have a much higher drop-out rate and flunk considerably more classes (than the average student) when they get to middle and high school. Why are we, then, neglecting our responsibility to give our young children the solid start that they’ll need to succeed later in life?

When asked why the cuts, a reliable source cited that Durham Community School and Pownal Elementary had fewer ed techs and literacy strategists than Morse Street School. If Pownal and Durham schools don’t have ed techs, the RSU 5 logic goes, then neither should Morse Street School. Wouldn’t the right approach be to increase the level of professional help for Pownal Elementary and Durham Consolidated schools rather than level down at Morse Street School?

Our children deserve better. And our teachers deserve better. RSU5 teacher salaries have not followed the increases that our surrounding communities have seen: We still lag behind Yarmouth, Falmouth, and many other towns. This is understandable since teacher salaries in Durham and Pownal pre-consolidation were lower than at Freeport schools and the RSU board has focused on bringing those salaries up to the same level as Freeport’s. However, we are squeezing our local teachers from both ends. We are not giving them the raises they deserve, and at the same time we are steadily taking away their help, which makes their jobs that much harder. My concern is that sooner rather than later our best teachers will decide to go work somewhere else – where they can get more support and higher pay.

Leveling down has never been the answer. It hurts our students, it hurts our teachers and it hurts our communities. Ever since we started trying to fund our schools together, the differences between our towns, rather than the similarities, have come to the fore. Unfortunately, these difficult conversations have not resulted in common ground. Rather, they have created resentment and tension. To their credit, the RSU board and Superintendent Welsh have struggled mightily to forge a partnership among our three towns – but the resentment grows daily.

It is time to recognize that the RSU system is not working. It is time to move to a post-RSU model that gives local control back to the voters of each town – a model that doesn’t force some to pay up or others to level down. Only then will the sense of mutual respect and cooperation among the three towns be restored.

Eric Horne

Freeport

Any parent of a child enrolled at Morse Street School, the K-2 Freeport school, has probably felt that morale among staff has been steadily declining since Freeport consolidated with Durham and Pownal into RSU 5 five years ago. This year, though, the dismay is palpable. If you are wondering why, here is your answer: The education technicians (ed techs), those assistants that keep a teacher’s daily life sane, are gone. And the literacy strategists, who help students who need personalized attention to learn to read and write, have been reduced by 75 percent – to a half-time person – this year.

Today, if you’re a teacher at Morse Street School and you need help with a kindergarten student who has an accident on the first day of school, you are on your own: Your only choice is to hand him/her a set of dry clothes, send him/her to the restroom and hope for the best. And if you need help taking assessments, helping a child sounding out words or giving the one-on-one attention that young learners often need you are, again, on your own. For teachers who have 20 children under their care, the situation is not easy. As one teacher put it, “You can’t tell these young children to not interrupt while you assess another student. They are young. They need lots of help and attention.”

Pre-consolidation, teachers at Morse Street School could rely on 90 minutes of daily help from ed techs to address students’ individual needs. This gave teachers another adult in the classroom while they focused on the all-important work of assessing students’ progress and tailoring instruction accordingly. This year, teachers have no in-classroom help (the two general instruction ed techs that voters approved in last year’s budget referendum have been re-assigned to special education).

To make matters worse, Morse Street School has also lost 1.5 of its two literacy strategists this year. Literacy strategists are expert at helping students learn to read and write and they provide much-needed personalized attention to those who fall behind. It is widely known that students learn at different rates, especially in the early stages. For K-2 students, learning to read and write is essential for keeping up with regular instruction. Study upon study proves that if a child falls behind in the early stages of learning, that child never catches up. In fact, the academic chasm widens exponentially as the child grows. Children who lag in reading and writing at the early stages have a much higher drop-out rate and flunk considerably more classes (than the average student) when they get to middle and high school. Why are we, then, neglecting our responsibility to give our young children the solid start that they’ll need to succeed later in life?

When asked why the cuts, a reliable source cited that Durham Community School and Pownal Elementary had fewer ed techs and literacy strategists than Morse Street School. If Pownal and Durham schools don’t have ed techs, the RSU 5 logic goes, then neither should Morse Street School. Wouldn’t the right approach be to increase the level of professional help for Pownal Elementary and Durham Consolidated schools rather than level down at Morse Street School?

Our children deserve better. And our teachers deserve better. RSU5 teacher salaries have not followed the increases that our surrounding communities have seen: We still lag behind Yarmouth, Falmouth, and many other towns. This is understandable since teacher salaries in Durham and Pownal pre-consolidation were lower than at Freeport schools and the RSU board has focused on bringing those salaries up to the same level as Freeport’s. However, we are squeezing our local teachers from both ends. We are not giving them the raises they deserve, and at the same time we are steadily taking away their help, which makes their jobs that much harder. My concern is that sooner rather than later our best teachers will decide to go work somewhere else – where they can get more support and higher pay.

Leveling down has never been the answer. It hurts our students, it hurts our teachers and it hurts our communities. Ever since we started trying to fund our schools together, the differences between our towns, rather than the similarities, have come to the fore. Unfortunately, these difficult conversations have not resulted in common ground. Rather, they have created resentment and tension. To their credit, the RSU board and Superintendent Welsh have struggled mightily to forge a partnership among our three towns – but the resentment grows daily.

It is time to recognize that the RSU system is not working. It is time to move to a post-RSU model that gives local control back to the voters of each town – a model that doesn’t force some to pay up or others to level down. Only then will the sense of mutual respect and cooperation among the three towns be restored.

Eric Horne

Freeport