Six school choice slots will be offered at the high school for the next school year, now that the Old Rochester Regional School Committee concluded its ongoing discussion March 11 and voted unanimously to maintain the status quo of 72 school choice students at ORR.
Superintendent Doug White urged the committee to continue to offer new school choice slots for their revenue and the diversity they offer, but to also factor in rising student population and limited resources.
With class sizes already high at the junior high, the committee opted not to offer any new school choice slots at the seventh and eighth grade level.
“We’ve seen an increase in our own enrollment at the junior and high school,” White reiterated. The high school is presently hovering at about 780 students, with the junior high at 467.
White said it’s a give and take when it comes to looking at the high school population, with some class sizes rising and others falling, and the potential revenue school choice students bring to the district.
Last year, the committee voted to rein in school choice numbers to keep class sizes lower, and passed on offering junior high back in 2014.
“We’re starting to get to a place where we are stretching our resources,” said White. “We need to take that into consideration.”
ORR High School Principal Michael Devoll said mostly, with school choice, ORR attracts “the best and the brightest,” contributing to a positive impact for the school as a whole.
“It’s a collection of different kids,” said Devoll. “We’ve had valedictorians that were school choice kids.” However, he added that now, “We’re pretty full.” If Devoll had known that his incoming freshman class for this school year would be 40 more students than projected, he said he would have made a different decision regarding school choice.
The committee and White focused on maintaining 72 as the magic number for school choice. Devoll said he was willing to “roll the dice” for six more slots, as well.
Also during the meeting, after a short presentation from representatives from Unibank, the committee voted in favor of refinancing its $13.7 million bond issued in 2005, resulting in a 7.3 percent savings and a bond refund of $565,000 over the remaining life of the bond.
“It seems like a no-brainer,” said School Committee member Robin Rounseville. She asked if there was any downside to approving the refund.
“The only downside is not taking the opportunity before the market changes,” said Business Administrator Patrick Spencer. “The vote gets us in the door. If we don’t like what we see, we can continue to do it again.”
The next meeting of the Old Rochester Regional School Committee is scheduled for April 8 at 6:00 pm in the junior high school media room.
By Jean Perry
