On the training entrance, the great and dangerous will floor at a gathering Saturday morning in Pittsfield
James Cobern, math and health teacher at Pittsfield Middle High School, has a message for students and their parents in the district.
Cobern and other school officials hope residents will attend a meeting at Joy Church on Barnstead Road on Saturday from 10:30 am to 12:30 pm. There, information and explanations will update the decade-long, three-year process by which Pittsfield renews its accreditation and holds up a mirror looking for cracks that need repair.
“We want community members and children to know that they are invited to have their say on what the future of Pittsfield should look like,” said Cobern. “We want to tell the community that we are regularly re-evaluating ourselves and that we are not satisfied with what we have done before. We will follow best practices every year. “
The event is called “Vision of the Graduate Community Forum”. It’s open to anyone in Pittsfield who wants to see their city get the best bang for their buck when it comes to education. After all, a committee has already started working on numbers to decide whether to close the small high school and move students to a different public school instead.
Once Pittsfield has self-assessed, the New England Association of Secondary Schools and Colleges sends its staff to observe various teachers and make recommendations on what needs improvement.
With these two phases completed, the Pittsfield School District can consolidate its game plan and build trust in the community in the 2021-22 school year. That’s the idea behind the Saturday meeting: explain what’s getting a necessary facelift in the curriculum and listen to public posts to round the edges off.
Cobern is leading a movement to tear down the school’s sometimes unfair reputation – not enough funds, students, courses or space – and stand firm with a PR campaign telling parents that the school is proud of its recent accomplishments and is constantly trying to improve. In addition, despite the ubiquitous budget constraints and desperate financial hardship that many public schools face, all Pittsfield students have pencils.
Cobern has been with Pittsfield for eight years. He previously taught special education at Somersworth High School, which has about three times as many students as Pittsfield.
With enrollment declining in the Pittsfield district, Cobern is concerned that the school board will vote to close Pittsfield Middle High School, as discussed over the past two years.
“It took a heavy toll on everyone in school and in town,” Cobern said.
A study committee presented its results to the city at a school committee meeting last May. Numbers were cracked, profitability and feasibility checked.
The jury has not yet decided, but Cobern is not convinced that closing the school is a good idea or in the best interests of the students.
Some Pittsfield student-athletes will not form sports teams at a major school. Costs arising from caring for students with special educational needs and redesigning the receiving school to accommodate more students have not been taken into account.
“To me, the results overwhelmingly said we shouldn’t be doing this on a cost basis,” said Cobern. “It’s vague because some of the information was per student, which doesn’t include money in other areas.”
Cobern’s ace in the hole is the advances the Pittsfield School District made after School Improvement Grant funds and Nellie Mae raised morale in a cashless district whose low real estate values unfairly lowered the quality of education.
Pittsfield Listens began as a diverse, federally funded company that gave a voice to students and parents in search of a better education.
The school’s project-based and student-centered programs gave students hands-on work experience, helping them grow and mature and learn what cannot be included in a classroom. The Blueberry Express Daycare Center in the city, for example, serves as a reliable training ground.
“We are recognized by people across the country who come to see what project-based and student-centered learning is like,” said Cobern proudly.
But that funding is long gone, and now, having relied on private donations more than ever, the New England Association of Secondary Schools and Colleges wants to know the quality levels in Pittsfield.
NEASC said the school needed to improve in three areas: a stronger, clearer understanding of the skills that graduates should be equipped with; Completing a written record of the curriculum used; and “explore other funding avenues,” Cobern said.
The accreditation process ends after the changes have been reviewed. The next steps will be discussed in the session on Saturday.
“There is a discrepancy between what the school does and what the community perceives to be the value of what the school does,” Cobern said. “We want to motivate them and tell us what they want and that we want to work for you and have a positive impact on the future of your children, so help us.”
