NKHS principal fields islanders’ questions

After listening to a presentation at the Jan. 19 Jamestown School Committee meeting by North Kingstown High School Principal Gerry Foley and Director of Guidance Tim Chace, committee members were given an opportunity to ask questions.

And ask, they did, about everything from school starting times to student-teacher ratios and classes that were cut from the curriculum.

With perceived burgeoning classes in the near future due to a fast-growing surrounding community, committee members expressed concern over class sizes and eliminated elective courses that included advance placement chemistry, French, and physics.

Foley responded by assuring them that classes never exceed 28 students and that most classes with rosters of 25 students or more were freshman courses. He also said that core courses were not cut from the curriculum and that only elective courses were affected. He attributed the elimination of courses that included some advance placement classes to lack of interest. School policy requires a minimum of 18 students to run a course, and he said that the school ran all classes with a sign-up of 20 students or more. He noted that lack of enrollment was the reason for eliminating AP chemistry, physics, and French from the curriculum.

Foley agreed that the average teacher to student ratio per class was up from 18:1 to 22:1. He also said that despite the larger classes, 63 percent of 12th-graders were on the honor roll and 80 percent of the student body continued to further education upon graduation.

Both Foley and Chace emphasized that although the 1,555member student body was slightly larger this year than expected, the quality of education had not been compromised. “All kids are in class all day,” Foley noted. “I do not allow study halls so that students get the maximum benefit from their time at school,” he continued. He also mentioned that North Kingstown was number one in state SATs.

Foley also said that 15 minutes of every day after first period, all students and teachers have advisory class, which keeps the communication lines open between the faculty and the student body. Foley noted that even he has an advisory class, which gives him the opportunity to hear the voice of the students on a daily basis.

Concerning school starting time, Foley said he felt that 7:05 a.m. was too early, particularly for high school students. In the fall, he will recommend a later starting time. He said 8 a.m. would be good, and 9 a.m. would be ideal. Too early a starting time has a negative effect on both families and students, he said.

In new business, the School Commitee:

• Heard the first reading of the policy on family vacations during the school year, presented by Director of Pupil Services Beth Pinto. The draft will incorporate committee suggestions that advance requests for make-up work not be honored and that the policy contain a warning that missing school can negatively affect a student’s academic performance.

• Appointment of Colleen MacIntyre as a one-on-one teacher assistant in the second grade was also announced.

• Heard a report from Committee Chairwoman Kaiser on the initial meeting of the Narragansett and Jamestown school committees. She stressed that discussions are exploratory and do not constitute a plan of action. A subcommittee was formed to examine the feasibility of sharing services in targeted areas: administration, special education, support services, transportation and food services. Jim Filkins, Julia Held and Superintendent Kathy Sipala will represent Jamestown on the sub-committee, reporting back to the larger committee to allow ongoing discussion.

• Heard from Sipala that Diane Drown, founder and co-ordinator of the community-school mentoring program in Jamestown died Jan. 16. A moment of silence was held in her memory.