Ashland High School - Echoes Yearbook (Ashland, ME)

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COMMUNITY HIGH SCHOOL In 1947 the State of Maine Legisla- ture passed an act which allows two or more towns to join for the purpose of providing better educational facilities for pupils in grades seven to twelve. The original law was amended in 1949 by the 94th Legislature. Towns may accept the provisions of this bill during a regular or special town meeting. The law provides that a Board of Trustees consisting of three members from each participating town be elected. Their duties are to act as a building commit- tee as well as to handle the affairs of the district except for the election of teachers, determination of the courses of studies and other matters pertaining to the education of pupils. The Board of Trustees remains active as long as the Community School .is in operation. The above duties not handled by the Board of Trustees is taken care of by a Community School Committee, whose membership consists of not less than one or more than thre-e persons from each town, depending upon the pro- portional number of pupils attending from each participating town. The members of the Board of Trustees and the Community School Committee serve without pay except for the Treasurer of the Board of Trustees, who may re- ceive an amount not to exceed S100 per year. The Community School District is a corporation and has the power to borrow money not in excess of 596 of the total State valuation of the District. The official name of the District un- der which your high school is organized is the Ashland Community School Dis- trict. There are four participating towns, namely, Ashland, Portage, Gar- field and Nashville. This District was the second in the State to organize. There are now four Community Schools in Maine being run under the provisions of the above law. A great deal of time has been spent by the Board of Trustees in order that your High School building might com- pare favorably with other schools in towns of comparable size. All who have seen the building seem to agree that the Board of Trustees performed their duties well. Such a venture can not become reality until a majority of the persons in the participating towns are willing to ex- pend a large amount of money in the form of taxes. It is well to keep in mind that considerable sacrifice has been made by the taxpayers in order that adequate school facilities could be pro- vided. The students who attend this school must understand that a good school building does not assure one of an adequate high-school education. It is necessary, therefore, that the teach- ers and administrators make every effort to provide suitable courses of studies and present the work in an in- teresting and constructive manner. Each student in the school must realize it is still his individual responsibility to put forth every effort possible in his several studies. The old adage that one gets out of an activity about what he puts into it, holds true in school work as in other phases of life. We who participated in the building of your high school, sincerely hope you will make good use of your building, take proper care of it and secure for yourselves an adequate high school ediu- cation in order that you may in future years become citizens who are a credit to your town, community, state, nation and world. SUPT. BUFORD GRANT

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EDITORIALS Thanks to the people of our school district and our school officials we now have a modern Community High School Building. It is only due to their con- stant cooperation and effort that we now have such a fine- school. What is required for an acceptable secondary school? Perhaps it would be well to consider some requirements thought necessary by the Department of Education in Augusta, Maine. They are as follows: 1. The school must offer at least three COUFSGS. 2. The principal must hold a princi- pal's c-ertificate and devote at least fifty per cent of his time to super- vision. 3. Every teacher is certified and each teaches in a curriculum for which he is adequately prepared. 4. Every student has a complete physi- cal examination and there is a planned physical education pro- gram in which every student par- ticipates. 5. A counselor has two or more planned interviews with each stu- dent every year. 6. Instruction in music is offered for not less than eighty minutes per week. 7. Instruction in art or crafts is offered for not less than eighty minutes per wc-ek. 8. The student activity program is well balanced with activity in at least three areas, such as music, dramatics, athletics and student government. 9. An appropriate audio-visual pro- gram shall be in force. Audio-visual aids consist of maps, recordings, movies, pictures and other illustra- tive material. 10. The school has suitable laboratories, libraries, classrooms, and other facilities and equipment. These requirements were mentioned by Mr. Ladd in his dedicatory speech as a goal for us to attain in the years to come. The most essential of these we can now have. Our building is adequate for all the activities that are necessary for a well rounded education. Sports, dra- matics and recreation all play an im- portant part in the education of each student. Our principal and teachers are all certified and well prepared for their work. Our goal now should be to have an adequate guidance counselor to help each student prepare himself for a work in which he shows aptitude. Music, too, plays an important part in our lives and should be considered a part of our school curriculum. Appre- ciation of good music leads one on to desire the better things of life. Art or crafts, while perhaps not so important as the foregoing items, still play an important role both in school and in the years to come. Educators agree that the brain re- tains less of what is studied from books than what is actually seen, as by screen or by other audio-visual aids. In the army soldiers in training were not issued a book of rules and instructions but were provided with movies describ- ing their work for the day. Thus, it can readily be seen that audio-visual aids should play a large part in the educa- tion of every student. While it is not practical to hitch our wagon to a star our goal should in- clude these ten points and any new ideas which prove of value so that our school will always be progressive.

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DEDICATION OF NEW COMMUNITY HIGH SCHOOL On March 10, 1950 the new Com- munity High School was formally dedi- cated by Harland A. Ladd, Commis- sioner of Education. Ralph Clifford, chairman of the Board of Trustees, was master of cere- monies and introduced the trustees of the district :. Guy Kirk and Clyde Craig of Ashland, Frank Morris, Ervin Bols- tridge, and Wilfred Atkins, Alfred Hawksley, Clifton Howe, and Ralph Tilley of Garfield, Edgar Searway and James McAlpine of Nashville. Mary Carter a third trustee was absent. He then introduced Mr. Jackson, architect for N. W. Downing of Presque Isle who designed the building. He next intro- duced Mr. Buford Grant, Superintend- ent and presented him with symbolical key to the town. Mr. Ladd gave a thought provoking talk on the requirements of the secon- dary school. He extended his sincere congratulations to us as a community and as a district on the completion of a fine building in which to educate our youth. The invocation was given by Rev. Wilfred Albert, pastor of the St. Marks Parish. Benediction was pronounced by Rev. Herbert Balcolm, Congregational pastor of the Aroostook Larger Parish. Refreshments were served after the ceremony in the Home Economics room to nearly five hundred guests.