North Haven Island is approximately nine miles long by three miles at its widest point. The population of 380 year-round residents swells to more than 1200 at the height of the summer season. The island is served by a Maine State ferry out of Rockland, Maine. There are three ferry runs a day. The seventeen car, 250 passenger ferry, Capt. Neil Burgess, takes about 1 hour to make the crossing between North Haven and Rockland.
The economy of the island is based largely on the summer resident and boating populations. Boat building and maintenance, the building trades, caretaking and lobster fishing are the principal means of employment. Other service businesses, some summer shops and restaurants, and the school account for other full and part-time employment.
The school has a total of 27 full and part-time employees, including fourteen full-time teachers. Nine teachers hold Master's Degrees. As well, there are four part-time teaching positions, including a vocational program instructor.. The district is administered by a part-time superintendent and a full-time principal. There is a five person Board of Directors of MSAD #7, elected annually at Town Meeting for 1-3 year terms. The annual operating budget for SY 2005-6 is approximately $1.4 million.
The main school building was constructed in 1973. While originally an open architecture concept school, it has undergone extensive renovation and most classroom areas are now self-contained. The building is handicapped-accessible. The school building includes the central and administrative offices, a library, elementary and high school classrooms, a science lab, darkroom, greenhouse, Learning Center, guidance office, and ITV network facilities. The Middle School, and art and music classrooms, are in a 28 x 74 portable classroom adjacent to the main school building. Behind the school is a vocational program workshop, an ITV classroom building, the elementary playground, and a small playing field for recess and phys ed. The school gym is located at the Town-owned Community Building downtown, one and a half miles from the school campus. A 50 passenger handicapped-accessible school bus, a smaller 20 passenger minibus, and a student-designed and modified electric VW van provide for the school's transportation needs.
North Haven Community School’s educational philosophy is founded on experiential learning. It offers a full elementary, middle and high school curriculum, including special education, and an applied technology vocational program. Music, computer technology, physical education, art, photography, drama, guidance, and foreign language are provided by teachers in those specialty areas. There is a privately-funded Arts and Enrichment program that augments and enriches the core curriculum with instruction, assemblies, residencies, workshops and performances by a variety of artists, speakers, craftspeople and performers at school and at Waterman’s Community Center, with a 136 seat theater, downtown.
There are 175 student days (and 180 teacher days) on the 2005-2006 school calendar. The school day runs from 8:00 a.m. until 3:05 p.m. on Monday through Thursday, and 8:00 a.m. to 12 noon on Friday (to accommodate student and teacher needs for medical appointments, athletic team trips and weekend travel).
A minimum total of 23 credits is required for graduation from NHCS. Starting in grade 9, students must earn 4 credits of English, 3 each in Math, Science, and Social Studies (including 1 in U. S. History in grades 11-12), 2 in a foreign language,, 2 in Physical Education, and 1 each in Fine Arts,, Computer Literacy, and Independent (Knowledge Fair) Project. Students may acquire a maximum of 2 credits for community service work. Starting with the Class of 2008, students must successfully meet State of Maine Learning Results Diploma Standards and successfully present their four-year Student Portfolio to the MSAD #7 Review Board. The school uses a variety of alternative means of assessment including portfolios, projects, presentations and performances.
While letter and numerical grades are not used in the elementary school (up to grade 6), letter grades are used in grades 7-12, and are entered on students' high school transcripts. A letter grade of A is the equivalent of 90-100; B, of 80-89; C, of 70-79; and D, of 65-69. No credit ("NC") is recorded for work below D (below 65). A narrative assessment, with reference to Maine’s Learning Results Standards and the school’s Expectations for Student Learning, is included for each course on a student’s trimester Progress Report, and on mid-term reports. An Honor Roll is announced for each trimester, and yearly. "High Honors" recognizes students who receive all A's in their full-credit courses. "Honors" is awarded to students who have received all A's and B's in their full-credit courses.
Class groupings are heterogeneous; generally, consecutive classes are grouped together. A self-contained Middle School was established in 1994 for students in grades 7 and 8. The average combined class is about 10 students. There is a half-day kindergarten and a four day, 4 hour pre-k program held at Waterman’s Community Center.. About fifteen percent of NHCS students are special needs children. Most are mainstreamed in their regular classrooms, and receive special education services provided by a full-time special education coordinator/teacher and a reading specialist.
Annually, the entire high school plans and participates in a week-long integrated curriculum fall field study expedition. The middle school alternates between a fall expedition to Baxter State Park and trip to Washington, DC in the spring. As well, the school provides some co-curricular and extra-curricular activities. There is a school band and chorus. The students publish a school yearbook, The Pilot, annually. There are drama programs for grades K-12, and several major productions annually. Several electives are offered to high school students each trimester, including art, photography, cytology, computer applications, college writing, and community service. There is a full offering of sports teams, some combined with Vinalhaven, our neighboring island’s school. In the fall, the combined schools field teams in golf, cross-country and soccer. In the winter, the North Haven boys and girls "Hawk" squads represent NHCS in Class D West basketball competition. Tennis is offered in the spring. The rowing team participates in New England Youth Rowing Association events throughout the school year, and was the New England champion in 2002. The school participates in a number of student program,s, including the Tour de Sol, Kieve's Leadership Decision Institute,, H.O.B.Y., nd Beyond High School, a locally developed high school Health curriculum with Vinalhaven. The teaching staff has been actively involved in the Island Institute's Island Schools Program for many years.
NHCS has been designated a “Consistently High Performing School” by the Maine Department of Education in 2003 and 2004 based on MEA Reading scores and has been the recipient of several Maine Department of Education Innovative Education Grants for curriculum development and school restructuring. The school was the subject of Tom Gjelten's, Schooling in Isolated Communities. Its drama program was featured on CBS Sunday Morning in the summer of 1998. Islands, a student and community created musical, was performed at the New Victory Theater in New York City in 2001, and shown on Maine and National Public Television. The school’s drama students won the 1998 State Drama Festival in Division II, and its girls cross country and basketball teams have qualified recently for post season competitions.
NHCS has had a zero drop-out rate, and 100% graduation rate, for over twenty years, and daily attendance averages about 93%. In the past fifteen years, of the 81 students who have graduated from NHCS, approx. 82% have gone on to post secondary education. Twenty one are currently enrolled in a 4 year college or university, including Bowdoin College, Colby, and the University of Maine System. North Haven Community School graduates have earned degrees from both in-and out-of-state institutions, such as Bowdoin, Brown University, Northeastern and Colorado College.
