Mayor James J. Fiorentini > Press Release

April 1, 2009
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Mayor Fiorentini “thrilled” with High School Accreditation Report

At last Thursday night’s meeting of the Haverhill School Committee; a preliminary copy of the new accreditation report for Haverhill High school was released. (The final copy is due out in two weeks.)

The new accreditation report, in sharp contrast to reports done in 1988 and 1998, consistently praised the high school for academic progress and for the number of building improvements.

Mayor James J. Fiorentini today said that he was “thrilled” with the new accreditation report done for Haverhill High School. The Mayor said he was confident that this report would be sufficient to have the high school removed from accreditation probation. The school has been on accreditation probation for the past ten (10) years, largely because of building deficiencies.

Twenty years ago, the high school accreditation report repeatedly criticized repairs that needed to be made in the building. Ten years ago, the high school accreditation report placed Haverhill High School on accreditation probation because of a large list of building deficiencies and because of academic deficiencies.

By stunning contrast, this report praises the high school for great academic achievements including record improvements in MCAS scores, the Classical High School, the new science labs, new computers and a $27M high school renovation program.

Mayor Fiorentini called this, “A milestone achievement for our community that shows the tremendous progress we have made in education over the past few years.”

“For the past several years, our community has united. Despite our financial difficulties, we have made a determined effort to improve our high school and make it, truly, the flagship school of our community. We started by a $27M high school improvement project to provide new doors, new science labs, new heating and ventilation systems and other improvements to the school.

“The City, through the great leadership of Superintendent Buchanan, also made a determined effort to improve academic progress at the high school. A new Classical Academy was formed to teach ancient Greek and ancient Latin. The Classical Academy makes Haverhill High School Boston Latin North, where our students can receive a top flight, prep-school education for free.

“A determined effort was made to improve MCAS scores. A year ago, Haverhill had the greatest improvement in MCAS scores in over a decade.

“Improvements to Haverhill High School come at a time when NEASC, the accrediting agency, has placed other cities on probation and has repeatedly criticized academic progress of other communities that are far wealthier than Haverhill.

“Every citizen in the City should be proud of the tremendous academic progress we have made at Haverhill High School.

“While this report is great news, I am nowhere near satisfied. We must continue to make education our number one top priority. We have come a long way but we still have a long way to go and we should not rest on our laurels.”

Appendix A

Excerpts from the reports in 1988, 1998 and 2008

What a difference!

1988:
Recommendations/Findings re: Accreditation for Haverhill High School

Establish a FIVE year Facilities Planning Report to correct maintenance/repair problems with high school’s physical plant

• Curriculum: greater need for articulation among different subject areas
• Include a specific class for pregnant and parenting students
• Need standardized testing for 8th grade level students for more accurate leveling in freshman students in Mathematics. Develop better coordination between middle and high schools
• Review, update and implement the Social Studies curriculum
• Institute a series of in service presentation for staff members
• Develop means for better communication/interaction between Faculty/Guidance/Administration for Student Services, installation of computers in Guidance offices to free counselors for students
• Evaluate Library and AV personnel in terms of future goals, upgrade present school Library
• Prioritize greater visibility of the Principal in classrooms and corridors of High School
• Establish/implement a formal city wide Community Relations program, secure increased community awareness and involvement in committees, advisory groups, financial support for the school

1998
Recommendations/Findings re: Accreditation for Haverhill High School

Implement program in improve financial funding for maintenance and upgrading of high school’s physical plant, increase community involvement in these programs
Establish control of the budget by building administrators to improve physical plant

• Improve clarity of student academic expectations in school’s statement of purpose
• Improve effective collaboration between Faculty & Administration re: curriculum planning and integration
• Increase number(s) of nursing, maintenance, clerical maintenance staff @ high school
• Need to include faculty in decision making process
• Need to address tolerance diversity issues within student body
• Alter the high turn over of building administrators @ high school site

2008
Accreditation for Haverhill High School

• Commendation for significant improvement to HHS physical plant, grounds, new science facilities, infusion of new technology into physical plant.
• High school recently revised its mission statement, school has taken most of the steps towards becoming a mission driven school
• Established set of targeted achievements that flesh out the academic expectations for students
• School wide learning expectations are integrated in many courses, written curriculum has been greatly improved school wide
• Great strides have been made in area of assessment for the school
• Reasonable class size has been maintained in the school
• Access to all areas in curricula are open to all students
• Outstanding overall quality of school’s Advanced Placement program, and the large number of Advanced Placement courses available
• Offering of six (6) different modern and classical Language programs
• Implementation of vertical teams in English, Mathematics and Science
• Outstanding efforts on part of Professional Staff in implementing curriculum school wide
• Need to provide more content specific professional development