Problems of motivation, communication at HVRHS

KENT — Housatonic Valley Regional High School Principal Matt Harnett attended the meeting of the Kent Board of Education on Dec. 6, and offered some insights into why there has been such a high failure rate at the high school recently. Harnett joined the school at the beginning of the 2011 school year, replacing Gretchen Foster, who had resigned abruptly in late August 2010. The school was under the care of interim principal Herbert Tedford in the 2010 school year. Normally, Jonathan Moore updates the Kent board on what’s happening at the regional Board of Education; he is Kent’s representative to that board. But for the Dec. 6 meeting, Moore invited Harnett to speak, and to share information on the high rate of failure. Board of Education (BOE) Vice Chairman Allan Priaulx said, “We received a report that in grade nine, 28 percent of students flunked at least one course; by their sophomore year, 41 percent failed at least one class. What is Housatonic doing about this?”Harnett said it’s to some degree a problem of triangulation.“The school is in one corner, the students in another and the parents in the third corner. We have to make a more concerted effort to work with these different parts.“I can sit here and make up the best plan for any student, I can show any student how to become valedictorian, but if the student doesn’t put forth the effort, putting time and energy into that plan, it will not work. I can not make a student read, I can not make a student write. I can tell them what they have to do, but if they don’t follow through, we have to readjust and reconfigure what we are doing.”Harnett said, for example, four students flunked physical education because they would not change their clothes to participate. If students are not prepared for class, in proper gym clothing, they cannot participate and so they failed.He also noted that the high school schedules conferences with parents about students who are failing a class. “As an example, in the senior class, 50 percent of the parents did not attend the conferences.”There are many positives at the high school, he said, including the many different options in academics and extracurriculars that are available. “At Housatonic we give students a lot of different paths to reach their goals,” he said, adding that “while 23 credits are required to graduate from Housatonic, most students graduate with 26.”Another positive is the small class sizes.“The average class size at Housatonic is 16 to 17 students, which I think is ideal.”