Classical freshman academy may continue after construction

LYNN – When construction at Classical High School forced the relocation of ninth-grade students to a freshman academy on North Common Street there were concerns among School Department leaders the displacement of students in their first year of high school may make the transition from eighth-grade more difficult.Now seven months into the two-year experiment the program has become so successful that Classical Principal Warren White is flirting with the idea of keeping a similar program intact in the fall of 2009 when ninth-graders return to the main building on O’Callaghan Way.Although it is just an idea at this point, White says creating a freshman academy within the main building could help solve a problem that high school educators have been dealing with for years; how to ease the awkward transition from eighth- to ninth-grade.”There has been a trend over the last 10 or 12 years of trying to figure out how you transition eighth-graders into high school,” he said. “There are a lot of different theories, and a freshman academy is definitely one of those theories.”White said he and his staff had hoped to explore ways to help make the transition easier years ago, but the stress of the building’s foundation and construction problems, along with its quest to achieve accreditation slowed that process.When word came down that ninth-grade students would have to be removed from the building when repairs to its foundation began, White saw it as an opportunity to explore the possibilities of a freshman academy and began assembling staff members he believed could help make the situation a positive.”When there was an opportunity for us to come up with a freshman academy at another site we wanted to get faculty that was really involved in the transition,” he said. “It really has worked out very well. One of the first signs that it was really coming together was at the freshman football game versus English over at Manning Field. If you have ever been to a freshman football game you are lucky to see 10 parents in the crowd, but they had the bleachers set up and there was a whole big group of freshmen students doing cheers and all of that.As freshmen on North Common Street begin to come into their own this spring, White has spoken with Superintendent Nicholas Kostan about the success of the program, and believes he may have found a solution that will give ninth-graders an opportunity to adjust to high school beyond next year.”We have talked about kind of developing a school within a school when the students come back there, because the ninth-grade academy has really worked very well. It has just been beyond our expectations,” Kostan said. “When everybody gets back to the main building, we would take a piece of that building and relegate it to ninth-grade students.”While the success has been a positive experience for the school, White says it is important for him to see all of his students in one building and then decide how to go about continuing the freshman academy program, noting that it would not keep the same form once everyone is together.The current program has a temporary vice principal, former guidance councilor Judith White, in charge of the students, but White says any program within the school would not have its own leader.One possibility would be to re-assign guidance councilors so each one is in charge of one grade, so that freshman students will have the same councilor through all four years, and that person can concentrate on the specific needs of that class rather than worry about what to do with seniors who are looking to graduate and freshmen looking to choose classes at the same time.Even with construction on schedule, White says it is much too early to anticipate anything that will happen in 2009, but the idea of a freshman academy remaining at Classical is a real possibility.