NEW ENGLAND ASSOCIATION OF SCHOOLS & COLLEGES, INC.

November 13, 2006

The Commission on Public Secondary Schools, at its October 1-2, 2006 meeting, reviewed the Special Progress Report of Triton Regional High School and continued the school’s accreditation, but placed the school on warning for concerns regarding its adherence to the Commission’s Standards for Accreditation on Curriculum and Community Resources for Learning.

The concerns prompting the warning status include:

Curriculum

• increases in class size with approximately forty-eight courses having between 26-29 students and seven with an enrollment over twenty-nine which challenge the ability of the school to meet its academic expectations

• the school’s inability to maintain the staffing ratios recommended in the School Improvement Plan

• the elimination of a number of co-curricular activities, including Jazz Choir, Select Choir, Musical Play, Marching Band, American Field Services, Business Professionals of America, Math Team, SADD, Science Team, Triton Youth Alliance, and Destination Imagination *(these activities were not eliminated; they were not funded out of the local budget)

• the use of the media center to house directed-study students which negatively impacts the delivery of a full-range of programs and services to students and faculty who wish to use the center for its designated purpose

• the continued practice of combining levels of courses in the world language department

• the elimination of all interscholastic athletic teams also considered co-curricular activities by the Commission*(interscholastic athletic teams were not eliminated; they were not funded out of the local budget)

• the institution of user fees to support co-curricular activities *(user fees were not newly instituted; user fees were increased)

• the elimination of the athletic director’s position *(the athletic director’s position was not eliminated; the job responsibilities were incorporated into the position of an assistant principal)

Community Resources

• the lack of adequate revenue to provide and maintain appropriate programs, personnel and services as evidenced by the elimination of funding for all athletic teams, loss of three full-time teaching positions, the athletic director’s position, the elimination of significant financial support for co-curricular activities, the elimination of funding to support a three-year plan to address resources in the media center, and the school’s inability to purchase three locked fire-proof files.

Although the Commission has concerns about some aspects of the school, it acknowledged the following:

• the positive progress in the school’s initiative related to student respect among their peers and for the professional and support staffs

• the inclusion of the media specialist in formal curricular processes

• the addition of several computers in the media center which have been relocated from other areas of the facility

The school’s warning status will be reviewed when the Commission considers the Two-Year Progress Report.

* edits

Please see the High School website for a full copy of the NEAS&C review letter.