Middletown Takes Closer Look At Magnet School Partnership

By CHARLES PROCTOR

Hartford Courant

June 21, 2008

- For city students with a technological or scientific bent, Thomas Edison Middle School has been a place that pledges an education a step above the norm, with a laptop for every student.

But in a year of changes for the Middletown school system, the board of education is now re-evaluating the district's seven-year partnership with the Meriden-based magnet school.

Some board members, citing relative parity between Middletown's test scores and Thomas Edison's, have questioned how much of a benefit the district reaps by paying about $672,000 annually for 120 Middletown students to attend Thomas Edison, which serves grades six through eight.

After a difficult budget season that saw the board cut $3.2 million from its spending plan, members are scrutinizing the partnership.

'Our students who go to TEMS, are they getting a good but different education that they're benefiting from?' said Jay Keiser, chairman of the board's budget committee. 'Or are they getting pretty much the same education they would get here in Middletown?'

Middletown's relationship with Thomas Edison will continue for at least the next two years. At its meeting this week, the board discussed the issue but voted to resume the debate in November when it had more information.

Board members estimated the district could save about $294,000 if it withdrew from its partnership. The figure is smaller than $672,000 because the district would still have to pay to educate at Middletown students who would have gone to Thomas Edison.

Keiser said that savings would more than cover the cost of hiring four more teachers.

Even if the district and Thomas Edison ultimately remain partners, some board members said they hoped to start reviewing the relationship on an annual basis.

'For the next couple years it will be business as usual, but we are looking at it,' said John Hennelly, the district's assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction. Hennelly said the district receives 120 to 130 applications each year for Middletown's 40 sixth-grade slots at Thomas Edison. 'We have quite a waiting list,' he said.

When Thomas Edison opened in 2001, Middletown was one of its original partner districts. The school, which is run by Area Cooperative Educational Services of North Haven, serves 758 students from Middletown, Meriden, Wallingford and District 13.

The partnership was attractive to Middletown because of its emphasis on technology and because it would alleviate some of the pressure on the district's middle school, which was inching closer to capacity.

But with Woodrow Wilson Middle School set to move into the old high school building this summer, space issues will be less of a concern, board members said. Meanwhile, busing students to Meriden is expensive and can cause foul-ups with the district's bus routes, members said.

Some board members said they felt Thomas Edison had not done an adequate job of breaking out the test scores of students from Middletown, which would help the board better gauge performance.

'There's a fair amount of frustration with that,' said Ted Raczka, the board chairman.

Ann Dombroski, the education service's assistant executive director for curriculum, said the school has broken out such data in the past but would do a better job of it in the future.

'We really haven't followed the data as closely as we could have, and I think we're now beginning to gather more pertinent data and can really give districts the necessary information,' she said.

Dombroski emphasized that Thomas Edison offered an education that went beyond test scores. For instance, the school has different science-based themes each trimester that teachers weave into their curriculum, and both teachers and students regularly put together podcasts for projects, said Principal Karen Habegger.

The campus also has a video production studio where students compile morning broadcasts, a recording studio for music and LCD projectors and electronic 'smart boards' in every classroom.

Board members pointed out Middletown was closing some of the technological gap. The new high school will also have a video production studio and LCD projectors and smart boards in every classroom.

Contact Charles Proctor at cwproctor@courant.com .

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