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News Feature

Deer Isle
Originally published in Island Ad-Vantages, April 12, 2012
Odyssey of the Mind DIS champs perform for school board

by Jessica Brophy

During its regular meeting on Tuesday, April 3, the CSD school board deviated from its typical meeting agenda by watching a performance by the newly minted Odyssey of the Mind state champion teams.

The team, coached by Max Mattes, includes Philomena Mattes, Oskar Mattes, Jadyn LaDeau, Cameron Wendell, Amy Friedell, Ali Eaton and Alyssa Chesney. They took first place at the state competition in Wells on March 24 with their solution to the problem of how to restructure Shakespeare’s tragedy Hamlet into a song-and-dance comedy.

The eight-minute performance, complete with costume and set changes, brought laughter and applause from all present.

In other business, high school Principal Todd West shared an overview of the high school leadership team’s New England Secondary Schools Consortium conference presentation, which was on the use of data to drive school improvement. West and the leadership team were invited to present by the consortium. Some of the key elements of the presentation included focusing on learning outcomes and effectiveness, the role of professional learning communities and ways data can be gathered to shape interventions for struggling students.

Adult Education director Mike Wood discussed the adult education budget, which is voted for by the town separately from the school’s overall budget. Heather Wren, who currently assists Wood and has been working with pre-GED students, will step up as director next year. The total requested from local taxpayers will be $10,100. Wood and Wren hope to up the number of vocational and general courses offered next year.

West presented an overview of the “student assessment team” at the high school level, which checks in to make sure students are on track in their courses. “There’s no excuses in a school this small for someone to fall through the cracks,” said West. The SAT identifies students who are struggling. Many students who struggle attend the Learning Center, staffed by Amanda Poyant, who helps them learn organizational and time management skills and test preparation.

The board also discussed a three-year lease agreement for the central office, to be relocated in one of the CSD schools. Other Union 76 board members—Brooklin and Sedgwick—will discuss the proposed lease at their own school board meetings over the course of the month.

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