Lynn principals focus on positive progress reports

LYNN-With difficult budget negotiations bringing uncertainty in many areas surrounding the 2008-2009 school year, the School Committee took some time out Wednesday to focus on the positive progression of two city schools.At the request of Superintendent Nicholas Kostan, the committee heard progress reports from first-year Pickering Middle School Principal Robert Murphy, along with administrators from Classical High School’s Freshmen Academy on North Common Street.Murphy took over for former principal Patricia Barton in July 2007, vowing to improve academics and discipline at the school, communicate better with parents and hold students to higher standards.Speaking Wednesday, Murphy said he has been able to accomplish his goals thus far, but he does not want the students and staff to become complacent with the progress they have made.”We can never be satisfied, there is always room for improvement,” he said. “We have been able to, and will keep raising the bar. We have received a tremendous amount of support from our staff. We have made great strides, but we are always trying to improve what we are succeeding at”Murphy has improved morale among both students and his staff, by working to bring programs to the school that students enjoy, and meeting regularly with his staff so they have a forum to discuss areas that they would like to improve at the school.”We have held a number of meetings in both small and large group settings,” he said. “I look forward to building on our positive energy and make sure every member of our faculty and student body knows that I am committed to extending that positive energy.”Success is great, but greatness comes when the bar is raised every day of every month of every year.”It has been six months since freshmen at Classical High School were forced out of the building on O’Callaghan Way due to structural concerns, forming the Classical Freshmen Academy in the Fecteau-Leary Building on North Common St.Classical Principal Warren White invited several faculty members, including Acting Principal Judith Taylor, to speak before the School Committee, where they outlined a successful program that has students feeling unified and enthusiastic about learning.”At the beginning of this year, if somebody had asked how I thought this would have worked, I think I would have questioned them,” said social studies teacher Mark Courier. “But what I have seen among the freshmen is a cohesiveness that has occurred since we been (in the new building). It is like a good peer pressure, students at lower levels are performing because the students around them are performing too.”Taylor said being independent from the rest of the high school has its challenges, but has created a positive atmosphere at the Freshmen Academy, where students have become leaders and bonded with fellow classmates and teachers.”It has worked. I almost want to knock on wood in case something happens, but it has worked,” said Taylor. “There is a cohesiveness, not just among the students, but among the students and faculty. Twenty-five percent of dropouts happen in the freshmen year, and we are no where near that number.”Students recently filmed a “Life at the Academy” video that they bring to show eighth graders how successful the school has become, and ease concerns that an academy would somehow provide a lesser learning experience than a “normal” high school.”With all of the problems we have had at the main school, to establish a 9th grade program with such success is a credit to all of the teachers and administrators involved,” said Kostan.