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-------------------------------------
"The high number of Spring Creek students in the test skewed the high school's scores"
In other words WWASP education is crap.
