North Andover High School Accreditation

Mr. Charles McCarthy of New England Association of Schools and Colleges has informed North Andover High School Principal Susan Nicholson that the request for postponement of the accreditation visit, scheduled for for the fall of 2007, has been denied.

Further, the school department has been informed that North Andover High School has been put on official warning status as of October 6, 2006.

• October 13, 2006 letter from NEASC (printable PDF)

New England Association Of Schools & Colleges, Inc.
Commission On Public Secondary Schools

October 13, 2006

Susan M. Nicholson
Principal
North Andover High School
430 Osgood Street
North Andover, MA 0 1845

Dear Mrs. Nicholson:

The Commission on Public Secondary Schools, at its October 1-2, 2006 meeting, reviewed the request of North Andover High School for a postponement of the decennial evaluation visit and also reviewed the school's Report of Substantive Change. Following a thorough discussion of the information submitted by school officials, the Commission voted to deny the request for postponement of the decennial visit, citing the lack of emergency conditions, as defined by Commission policy and past practice, that would preclude the school from having sufficient time to complete the self-study or the team from assessing the school's adherence to the Standards.

The Commission urges school officials and school personnel to continue efforts related to the self-study to ensure its completion in preparation for the scheduled 2007 decennial visit.

Based upon review of the data submitted as part of the school's Report of Substantive Change, the Commission expressed concern regarding the draconian cuts in budget and staffing absorbed by the school since spring 2006 and those carried forward to the start of the 2006-2007 school year. The Commission's specific concerns are as follow:

Instruction:

• the decrease in staff experienced over the past five years despite a 29% increase in enrollment
• the increase in daily teaching responsibilities for teachers due to the change in scheduling, impacting the ability of teachers to consistently meet curricular demands, employ effective instructional strategies, and meet individual student needs
• the assignment of professional staff to non- instructional duties that impact on their ability to meet their primary responsibilities as administrators, guidance counselors, and curriculum and personnel supervisors
• the loss of staff members in specific areas that has led to the elimination of courses in wellness and to the combination of courses in foreign language
• the expansion of the Community Involvement Program from five credits to ten credits, not as a well thought out improvement to the program, but simply to free teachers so as to be able to maintain other course offerings in social studies
• an increase in special education teacher case loads due to staff cuts
• significant and indefensible increases in class sizes both in terms of the size of individual sections but also in terms of overall student:teacher loads, resulting in numerous classes in English, foreign language, as well as in AP Statistics exceeding 30 in size and in numerous teachers in the areas of English, foreign languages (almost all), mathematics, science, and social studies having class loads exceeding 125 students
• the difficulty in enrolling new students because of the dearth of available seats in classes in some areas

Community Resources for Learning:

• the failure of the community and the district's governing body to ensure an adequate and dependable source of revenue to provide and maintain appropriate school programs, personnel, services, technological support, materials, and supplies for student learning the elimination of funding for numerous support personnel and/or reductions in levels of service, such as, the elimination of 6.0 para-professional positions, the reduction of the length of the work year for secretarial staff and the elimination of one secretarial position, the elimination of 4.5 professional positions, and the elimination of the director of technology position
• the cut of an additional $31,000 from the high school budget in September, virtually all of it earmarked for materials that support instruction
• the lack of formal departmental leadership in the areas of art, music, wellness, and business
• the elimination of the advisory program and the in-school suspension program that had already been reduced to an alternate day program due to previous cuts in staffing
• the imposition of higher user fees for athletic participation

The Commission therefore voted to place the school on warning for the Standards for Accreditation on Instruction and Community Resources for Learning and to request a Special Progress Report due June 1. 2007, providing detailed responses to the following highlighted recommendations:

• ensure that each teacher has a student load that enables the teacher to meet the learning needs of individual students and to engage in "best practices" in instruction
• provide detailed information regarding class sizes and overall student:teacher loads anticipated for 2007-2008 and an inventory of course offerings for 2007-2008 using comparable data from previous years
• ensure an adequate and dependable source of revenue to provide and maintain appropriate school programs. personnel, services, technological support, materials, and supplies for student learning
• provide a copy of the budget for the high school for 2007-2008 using comparative figures from the two preceding years
• describe any actions taken to mitigate the negative effects on curriculum development, personnel supervision, and the delivery of guidance services due to the reallocation of, and addition of responsibilities to, administrators, guidance counselors, and department chairs

The school's accreditation will be reviewed when the Commission considers the Special Progress Report. Consistent with the Commission's follow‑up procedures, the Special Progress Report should be signed by the principal and chair of the Follow‑Up Committee and sent to the Commission office in duplicate by certified mail, return receipt requested.

School officials are reminded of their responsibility to keep the Commission apprised of any substantive changes in the school prior to the decennial evaluation. For your convenience, we have enclosed a copy of the Substantive Change Policy. As well, please notify the Commission office immediately of any changes in the names of the principal and/or superintendent along with their corresponding e‑mail addresses by submitting this information electronically to This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Sincerely,

Pamela Gray-Bennett

Substantive Change Letter to New England Association of Schools and Colleges

September 8, 2006

Dr. Pamela Gray-Bennett, Director
New England Association of Schools and Colleges
209 Burlington Road
Bedford, MA 01730

Dear Director Gray-Bennett:

The purpose of this letter is twofold: First, to explain the substantive changes that have resulted because of a decrease in staff and second, to request a one-year extension of the accreditation visit from the fall of 2007 to the fall of 2008 based on the conditions that exist that make it impossible for us to undertake the self-study.

North Andover High School is scheduled to participate in the accreditation process in October of 2007. We have been working with Duffy Miller for the past several years and have generated and used rubrics, written and implemented curriculum, etc. However, I am requesting a one-year extension until October of 2008 because of an unprecedented set of circumstances that have challenged us to undertake the self-study.  

March

• Superintendent of Schools Harry K. Harutunian resigned following weeks of scandal and uncertainty

April

• High school assistant principal falls in building and fractures hip

May

• Budget shortfall of 3 million dollars

June

• Loss of 7.5 professional positions
• Loss of 6.0 para-professional positions
• 2 full-time office secretaries reduced to 10 months
• 1 full-time guidance secretary reduced to 10 months
• 1 full-time athletic secretary reduced to 10 months
• Resignation of Community Programs Director
• Resignation of Special Education Director

July

• Interim Superintendent Dr. Daniel O’Connor hired

July

• Trash fees vote intended to help finance the schools fails
• New budget needs to be generated resulting in more personnel changes
• Social studies department chair suffers a major heart attack

August

• High school assistant principal resigns
• Human Resources/Personnel Director resigns
• Restoration of 3 full-time teachers at North Andover High School

September

• Co-chair of the Steering Committee is a finalist in another school district and will most likely be offered a position on 9/11/06

High school staff had been assigned to the various standards committees. However, the loss of the staff as well as the number of resignations resulted in the following losses:

Mission and Expectation

• Chairman of this committee resigned from NAHS
• Three members of this committee resigned from NAHS

School Resources

• Two members of this committee resigned from NAHS
• One staff member on this committee has been reduced from full-time to part-time

Community Resources

• Two members of this committee resigned from NAHS

Curriculum

• Two members of this committee resigned from NAHS
• One teacher on this committee suffered the major heart attack in July

Instruction

• Chairman of this committee resigned from NAHS
• Four members of this committee resigned from NAHS

Assessment

• Two members of this committee resigned from NAHS

Leadership

• One member of this committee resigned from NAHS

Steering Committee

• Two members of this committee resigned from NAHS

A total of 22 staff members including the chairman of the Mission and Expectations Self-Study Committee and the chairman of the Instruction Self-Study Committee are no longer on these committees because they lost their positions, were transferred to another school in the district, or resigned.

The impact of these circumstances has taken a toll on our staff, students, parents, and community. As we hire new staff members to fill these vacancies, we would need to familiarize them with the accreditation process and redistribute the workload.

Like many other school districts, North Andover is experiencing a reduction in staff because of a budget shortfall. Specifically, North Andover High School has experienced the following loss of staff members:

• 4.5 full-time professional staff members
• 6 full-time paraprofessional staff members
• Loss of a full-time secretary
• Reduction of 4 secretarial positions from 12 months to 10 months

Specifically, the loss of staff has resulted in a change in our school schedule, an increase in class size, a loss of some electives, an increase in other electives, reduction in programs, and an expansion of Community Involvement from one period to two periods.

Change in school schedule:

As we attempted to schedule the school this summer, we quickly realized that the loss of staff would impact our ability to schedule students using our current school schedule. Our schedule was a 7 period day with a drop period every day thus enabling students the opportunity to elect 7 classes. However, over the past 5 years, we have had a 29% increase in enrollment and a decrease in staff. We quickly determined that we needed to change the school schedule in order to ensure that students were in 6 classes and in compliance with the 990 hours of instruction.

In the past, teachers taught 5 classes, (with the drop schedule, they did not teach 5 classes every day) had a preparation period, a duty period, and lunch. Teachers have returned to school this year and are teaching 5 classes every day compared to the previous schedule in which they taught 5 classes a day for two days and 4 classes a day for 5 days, and they have a preparation period, lunch, and no duty period. We needed to meet with representatives of the teachers’ union about the change in the schedule, and they agreed to this change with the understanding that this action is undertaken without prejudice and is not precedent setting.

Because teachers are no longer available for a duty period, we were challenged to cover the lunch duty which amounts to approximately 84 minutes per day. The Director of Guidance, the Athletic Director, and the two assistant principals are assigned the full 84 minutes for lunch every day. Guidance counselors are assigned to cover 25 minutes of lunch every day. However, we make sure that there is one guidance counselor NOT on lunch duty in case of an emergency. Department chairs are assigned to cover 59 minutes of lunch every day.

The impact of assigned lunch duty for guidance counselors and department chairs is significant. For example, the assignment of lunch duty for department chairs in addition to extra teaching caused by the schedule changes means an increase of 257 hours of responsibility for this school year (almost 6 1/2 weeks!) as compared to past years. This will significantly reduce if not eliminate any time they have to devote to curriculum writing and other departmental or school initiatives. The student caseload for department chairs, like teachers, has also increased; in some cases by as many as 30 additional students. These added responsibilities will divert their administrative energies away from the preparation for our accreditation because of time constraints.

The loss of staff and the hiring of new staff will further tax the time, energy, and resources of the department chairs. In every department there are several new teachers whom the department chairs must mentor. The momentum each department had as they used and tweaked rubrics, wrote curriculum, and embedded academic, social, and civic expectations into their curriculum has been significantly interrupted. Most of the new staff has very little knowledge about the accreditation process.

There is no department chair for music, art, wellness, and business. An assistant principal has been the “liaison” to those departments. This is the same assistant principal who has been out since April with a fractured hip and then resigned in August. We have an interim assistant principal for this school year. In addition, we have a new music teacher who has no familiarity with accreditation, and we have two wellness teachers who have never taught health before. We have two new art teachers, one who just graduated from college and another one who taught elementary art last year.

In all, 22 people who were with us in June and who were engaged in the accreditation process are no longer on the staff.

Loss of two full-time wellness teachers:

Two years ago, the Wellness staff re-wrote their curriculum and took a holistic approach to both health and physical education. They created a required, year-long, 9th grade course called “Wellness” that combined health, physical education, and embedded 6 meetings with guidance counselors within this curriculum. This was a very successful program for our 9th graders for school year 2005-2006. Our plan was to mirror this Wellness program for 11th graders and the guidance component would focus on colleges and career planning. Unfortunately, the loss of staff resulted in reducing the Wellness course to one semester.

We needed to prioritize the Wellness course and offer it to our 11th graders first because it is a graduation requirement. Presently, we have 212 juniors enrolled in Wellness. Approximately 130 juniors were unable to fit Wellness in their schedule so they will need to take this course in their senior year. We were able to enroll 209 9th graders in Wellness but were unable to schedule the remainder (150 9th grade students) into a Wellness class. 

Loss of one full-time social studies teacher:

• 9th grade world civilization classes average 30 students per class
• 11th grade American history classes are approaching 33 students per class

Community Involvement was expanded for our seniors to 2 hours and 10 credits instead of 1 hour and 5 credits in order to enable us to offer six courses to the rest of the students at North Andover High School.

Loss of Special Education staff has resulted in an increased caseload for existing staff.

Increase in class size:

• The enrollment in our 10th grade English classes is approaching 32 students while senior English classes remain at 30+ students. For the first time, we needed to combine college preparatory English classes with our basic English classes for seniors.
• Spanish 1 averages 30 students per class
• Spanish 2 averages 34 students per class
• Spanish 3 is at 33 students per class
• Needed to combine French 4 and 5 into one class with differentiated instruction
• Advanced placement statistics is at 32 per class

Pathways Program is now at 85 students and we expect to see an increase to 100 students by the end of the first marking term. Pathways Program is a hybrid of School-to-Work and colleges and career planning.

We have significant concerns about registering new students because of the following information that describes enrollment in our science classes. Because of a loss of staff, we were unable to register new students during the summer with the exception of one day in July and one day in August. To that end, we have already registered 35 new students but are concerned about additional new registrations that will impact our ability to offer science classes to students.

• 4 seats available in college prep earth science classes
• 12 seats available in advanced college prep biology
• Over capacity by 7 students in college prep biology
• 1 seat available in college prep chemistry

We are using OSHA and science department guidelines for setting our maximum capacity for class enrollment in our science classes

Loss of electives:

• Four physical education classes including Strength and Conditioning, Group Exercise, Competitive Games, and Dance
• Russian History
• Introduction to the Human Body
• 4 semesters of Integrated Technology Concepts

Increase in electives:

• 2 Music Theory classes (semester courses)
• 2 additional sections of Personal Type (semester courses)
• 8 Graphic Design (semester courses)
• 2 International Relations (semester courses)
• 2 Current Events (semester courses)
• 10 art and clay classes
• 1 additional band class
• 1 additional chorus class
• 2 semesters of Wood Technology
• 2 semesters of Robotics

System-wide losses that impact staff at North Andover High School

• Elimination of the Special Education procedural secretary
• Elimination of the Director of Technology

Our Special Education Department Chair who is also a member of the Mission and Expectations Self-Study Committee, has had to assume at least one-third of the workload of the district-wide special education procedural secretary's responsibilities. This added responsibility will divert administrative energies away from the preparation for our accreditation because of time constraints.

The school district eliminated the position of Director of Technology. For the past three years, we have both the Director of Technology and an outside company to support technology in the school district. For this school year, we will only have the outside company to support technology in the district and concerns remain about the ability to support all of the technology at the high school that includes:

• 340 computers
• 260 laptops
• 85 teacher laptops
• 20 Smartboards
• IP phone system
• 2 language labs
• 15 servers
• Video surveillance system
• Wireless networks

Additional cuts

The members of the Administrative Council and the North Andover School Committee made every effort to save as many teaching positions as possible. Cuts needed to be made in other areas of the budget. Late in the spring a decision was made to cut additional money from areas in the budget other than teachers. To that end, on September 5, 2006, I was informed by central office of the following additional cuts totaling $31,000.00 to the high school budget: (See enclosure)

• $13,500.00 from the Science Department instructional equipment account
• $1,000.00 from the Focus instructional equipment account
• $10,000.00 from library book account
• $1,000.00 from the English Language Arts instructional equipment account
• $2,000.00 from the Art instructional equipment account
• $2,900.00 from the Math instructional equipment account
• $600.00 from the Social Studies instructional equipment account

Impact of the loss of $13,500.00 from the Science Department equipment account

The following memo is from the Science Department Chairperson outlining the impact of the loss of $13,500.00 from the Science Department equipment account. It is in italics so that it may be distinguished from the rest of this letter.

This memo is in reference to the impact of cutting the Science department’s entire equipment budget, in the amount of $13,500. As of this date, we have already submitted purchase orders on this account (001-2420-5052-0210-0010) totaling just over $1800. These orders were for items needed during the first quarter of the school year. I am currently holding several more orders for items that would not be needed until later in the school year (late fall/early winter), which total $2579.00 + shipping:

Physics

4 Photogate timers (4 x $369.00 = $1476.00 + shipping)

This equipment is used repeatedly throughout the year for a variety of labs, some of which are required by the College Board for AP Physics. The timers we currently have are old and are breaking down, We have only 5 that are still functional. To run a physics lab with 28 students, a minimum of 7 set-ups is needed. The teacher of this course requested the purchase of 4 new units, so we will have the 7 we need plus 2 spares, as he feels it is doubtful that all, if any, of the old units we have will last another year. Therefore, the request of 4 units was as conservative as he felt he could be. We were planning to replace them throughout the year as needed if the two spares were not enough.

AP Biology

Vertical Dual page chamber: ($199.00 + shipping)

This equipment is for electrophoresis/separation of proteins. It is a very important skill for any student who will study science in college.

VWRBrand AccuPower300: ($485.00 + shipping)

This is the power supply for the item described above.

pGLO Bacterial Transformer (2 x $65.00 = $130.00 + shipping)

Forensic DNA Fingerprinter (2 x $95.00 = $190.00 + shipping)

ELISA Immunology Explorer ($99.00 + shipping)

This equipment is needed to conduct labs that are required by the College Board. We have been notified that the College Board will be conducting audits of high schools with AP science courses to ensure that they are all completing the required labs. If an audit uncovers a problem with a school offering a course without the expected rigor and lab instruction, the school will not be allowed to call it an AP course. This means that students will not receive AP credit.

In addition to these equipment purchases, it was my intention to transfer funds from this account to cover shortfalls in two other accounts:

Due to increased enrollment in level 1 Biology and AP Biology, it was necessary to purchase books. So far I have purchased books totaling $11,275.66, which is $1875.66 over budget on this account (001-2410-5089-0210-0010).

Increased enrollment has also caused an increase in the need for instructional supplies. So far I have purchased $10,077.64, which is $77.64 over budget on this account (001-2410-5086-0210-0010). I am holding just over $700.00 worth of requests for instructional supplies that teachers said they would not need until later in the school year.

Therefore, the total amount of money I had intended to transfer from the equipment budget into other accounts is approximately $2655.00.

I am requesting the return of $7034.00 to the Science Department’s budget:

• $1800.00 to cover equipment purchases already made
• $2579.00 to purchase equipment that needs to be purchased by late fall
• $2655.00 to cover overdrawn accounts

I am confident that the North Andover School Committee will address this situation. However, it will ultimately mean that there will be another area in the district that will now have less money in some account.

Loss of the Advisory Program

This is the second year in a row that we are unable to maintain our volunteer Advisory Program. For the first three years of this program, teachers had been relieved of “duties” in order to facilitate our Advisory Program. With the consistent loss of the staff and the increase in enrollment over the past few years as well as the change in the school schedule this year, we have been unable to maintain this program.

Loss of the In-School Suspension Program

For the past three years, we have been offering an In-School Suspension Program. Initially, we ran this program every day. With the loss of staff and the increase in enrollment, we needed to reduce our In-School Suspension Program last year to every other day. This year, because of the change in the school schedule, we are unable to maintain this program.

User fees

There has been an increase in our athletic user fees this year. There has been a $50.00 increase for a single sport athlete; a $100.00 increase for a multiple-sport athlete; and a $150.00 increase for boys ice hockey athletes. Last year, there was a flat fee of $250.00 per student-athlete.

Despite the setbacks with the budget shortfall and the loss of staff, there are some remarkable initiatives in place at North Andover High School. Among the initiatives that we are most proud of are our parent volunteers in the Guidance Department (PICC), summer work on our rubrics, mission statement, and math curriculum.

Parent volunteers in the Guidance Department (PICC) (See enclosure)

For the second year in a row, our parent volunteers, PICC, have launched new initiatives in our Guidance Department. Among the important initiatives that will have a positive impact on our students are:

• 85 college representatives scheduled to visit North Andover High School including Stanford, George Washington University, and Wesleyan
• 6 coffee talks scheduled whereby parents will be discussing/sharing information about the college process
• Posted lists of college open houses and college fairs
• College visit to Boston University on October 25, 2006—students, faculty, parents
• Additional college visits planned for Northeastern University, Suffolk University, UMASS Amherst, Northern Essex Community College
• College Application Workshops
  • Common application
  • Essay workshop
  • Application checklist
• June 2007, All senior College Alumni Seminar
• 2 rooms in guidance for colleges and career planning
• Career Day: 120 different careers represented
• March 2007, college bound junior night

Summer Work

This past summer, a volunteer group of faculty members met and revised our rubrics on writing and reading. In addition, volunteers generated two new rubrics to measure our social/civic expectations: respectful, caring citizens and responsible, self-disciplined learners. (See enclosure)

In an effort to graphically organize our Mission Statement, a group of volunteers met and articulated our Mission Statement using the Scarlet Knight as an acronym. (See enclosure)

Members of the Math Department met for four days in August to continue using the Backwards Design in writing curriculum, aligning curriculum to the standards and supporting the academic expectations. Our Systems Manager, in conjunction with the Chairman of the Social Studies Department, designed the template they used earlier in the school year.

In summary, we are requesting a one-year extension of the accreditation because of the aforementioned conditions that prevent us from engaging in the self-study process. In addition, we have articulated the impact that the lost of both district and high school staff has had on the education of the student at North Andover High School.

Sincerely,

Susan M. Nicholson, Principal, the School-Based Management Team, and the Co-Chairs of the Steering Committee
Assistant Principal Gregg Gilligan
Interim Assistant Principal William Boutilier
Diane Bassett, Math Department Chairperson
Barry Humphreys, Social Studies Department Chair
Paul Gregoire, English Department Chair
Nicole Canniff, Science Department Chair
Artha Gerland, Foreign Language Department Chair
Steve Nugent, Director of Guidance
Leigh Ann Carbone, Co-Chair, Special Education Department
Robert Strom, Co-Chair, Special Education Department
Kelly Driscoll, Co-Chair, Steering Committee
Mary Julie Gregoire, Co-Chair Steering Committee

Enclosures