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June 2, 2005
Shared Choir
Program Dropped
By JOHN STROMNES of
the Missoulian
THOMPSON FALLS - A
$400,000 choir-program partnership between Thompson Falls High
School and a private academy for troubled youths will not be renewed
next year, despite three years of benefits to both schools, Thompson
Falls School Superintendent Jerry Pauli said Tuesday.
"We dropped it for
several reasons. First, as a financial measure, it was no longer
profitable (for the school district) to do it," Pauli said.
A complex state
reimbursement formula that allowed Spring Creek Lodge Academy choir
students to be counted as part-time students in the Thompson Falls
district was changed by the 2005 Legislature, cutting in half the
amount the district received for 100 or so Spring Creek students.
Under the old
formula, the district received more than $100,000 a year from the
state to provide Spring Creek students the one-hour class each day.
The district hired
a one-third time, certified but retired music teacher and a piano
accompanist, who visited Spring Creek campus to teach the class.
Between 2002 - when
the program started - and this year, something else changed. The
federal No Child Left Behind Act required public schools to test
students regularly for academic performance, average the scores and
report them to the state.
Since the Spring
Creek students were counted as enrolled, they were also required to
take the achievement tests used to compile Thompson Falls High
School's scores.
The high number of
Spring Creek students in the test skewed the high school's scores,
even though the high school did not offer the Spring Creek students
any academic subjects, Pauli said.
'"They would count
in our (average) score, yet we were just teaching them choir, not
math or English," Pauli said.
It was also
difficult to arrange for the testing at Spring Creek Lodge Academy,
about 10 miles west of Thompson Falls on Blue Slide Road.
Spring Creek is a
private, year-round residential rehabilitation facility for troubled
teens. Enrollment is about 500, almost all of whom are from out of
state. Tuition is in the neighborhood of $40,000 a year, according
to published reports. The school is accredited, but is not
registered or regulated by the state of Montana because the state
has chosen not to assume jurisdiction over such "specialty boarding
schools."
Pauli said the
Thompson Falls High School received some $400,000 in revenue from
the state over the last three years due to the Spring Creek choir
program.
"With the money we
received, we put a new roof on the gym, built a new art room at the
high school campus and we're going to purchase nine acres east of
the high school (for future expansion)," Pauli said.
Pauli said the
program was a success for both schools - financially for Thompson
Falls, and academically and socially for the private school.
"For those Spring
Creek youngsters, those kids progressed faster, they had no
discipline problems and they presented performances all over the
place, including the Legislature," Pauli said.
Spring Creek
spokeswoman Jacqueline Rutzke also said Tuesday that the school's
students benefited enormously from the choir program.
"It was an
incredibly positive thing. The students in choir did far, far
better. We saw a measurable difference," she said.
Spring Creek
administration is evaluating the choir program's costs and benefits,
and may try to continue it without public school participation,
Rutzke said.
Reporter John
Stromnes can be reached at 1-800-366-7186 or
jstromnes@missoulian.com
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