High marks for innovation at Franklin High
Jun. 21—FRANKLIN — Kaylee Valliere, a sophomore at Franklin High School, had a goal in mind when she took chemistry, machine tools, and blueprint reading at Lakes Region Community College this spring.
She is renovating her family's house and orchestrating the construction in phases.
With the college courses, which provide high school credits at the same time, she has jump-started a career in architecture and interior design and ramped up her inner drive.
"It definitely helped me with my motivation," said Valliere, who expects to have completed a year of college when she graduates high school two years from now. "Seeing I was able to pass all those courses gave me confidence going forward."
Valliere is part of a trend across New Hampshire and nationwide that has seen the number of high students enrolled in early college programs jump by 10% in one year, according to Shawna Young, enrollment director at Lakes Region Community College.
At Franklin High, early college is part of an accelerated transformation. Desperate for teachers and courses that spark interest and keep students engaged, Franklin is shifting the traditional high school experience from timeworn and time-honored into something fluid, evolving and student-driven.
It's happening in a district historically strapped for manpower and money — but with a desire to do whatever it takes to help teens to succeed.
A Go Fund Me page is helping pay to upgrade the gym. Student volunteers have assembled donated fitness equipment from a college to create a training room. There's a new makerspace and an e-sports room for an afterschool club and eventually a competition team to train.
All this has happened in the past year.
Attendance is up, and disciplinary referrals are down, said Principal David Levesque. Students in focus groups say they feel heard, like partners in what is happening at at their school. Although it's too early to predict long-term results, Levesque said the graduation rate has jumped up from 83% to 89% in a single year.
On the road to learning
One element of the makeover stands out: This year, Franklin High changed its school schedule and class lengths to enable students to commute on Tuesdays and Thursday — in two vans the school purchased — to classes at Lakes Region Community College in Laconia for subjects that Franklin can't find teachers for.
According to FHS and LRCC officials, it's a win for students who can broaden and explore career, academic and life interests while accumulating high school and college credits simultaneously, often without any cost.
"The biggest takeaway is to be able to try so many things at such a young age," said Cole Johnson, a Franklin High junior who has accumulated 15 college credits so far and plans to earn 10 more by the first semester of his senior year, before he goes on to study engineering.
"I got to find out 'I like this, and don't like this.' I already know that going into college," he said.
In January, the 273-student high school acquired castoff strength training equipment from Southern New Hampshire University. Student volunteers went to Manchester to load it into 18-wheelers, then put it back together at their school.
The Golden Fitness Center (named after the school's sports teams, the Golden Tornadoes) is the most sought-after activity during free periods. Teens are clamoring for weightlifting lessons and gender-specific classes amid a schoolwide surge in desire for physical fitness.
"Right now, they're skipping classes to lift weights. We've had to put limits on the weight room because of interest," Levesque said.
Buying in, saving money
The school's first-ever makerspace was completed this spring. With laser printer-engravers, 3-D printers, and computerized color printing, design and cutting machines, it has become a hub for fabricating spirit keychains, decals and posters for Franklin's elementary, middle and high schools, and creating artful images advertising student theater productions.
The products will eventually be sold in a high school store that doubles as a pilot student business. A business and innovation class will help them start and run it.
A Go Fund Me account, started when a Franklin High graduate donated $10,000 to overhaul the school's ailing gym, has raised $15,000 since May wfor new bleachers, basketball nets and court lines so the school will be able to host basketball, volleyball and wrestling matches for the first time in 30 years. The current court boundaries are drawn with tape and swerve or wear off in places.
"Sometimes you forget that the way a school looks inside helps kids feel connected and that they belong," said Levesque, who is inspired by the student involvement he's witnessed.
"To see this much growth and excitement in the first year is exciting," said Franklin Superintendent Dan LeGallo. "We're definitely getting more buy-in from students. There's a renewed sense of pride in our high school" from the community as well.
Roughly 50 students took early college courses at Lakes Region Community College this year. Students can enroll in two courses for free, and Franklin picks up the tab for additional classes approved by the school.
Now the students, regardless of family income levels or available parent transportation, are able to design their own hybrid educations — combining online and on-site learning, apprenticeships and jobs in the community, and courses at the community college with college-level expectations and rules.
Collaborative and creative
The new approach has reduced pressure on teachers and eased the district's need to compete for staff against districts offering higher salaries. New Hampshire's public schools are bidding against each other for experienced educators in a shrinking pool, at the same time student enrollment is dropping in many districts, especially in rural areas.
When Levesque recently tried to hire staffers for Franklin High, "One math teacher would make $15,000 more at another school," he said. "A music teacher would have to take a 35% cut to come here."
For decades, the state's public high schools have allowed students to take college courses. But this is the first time that one has reconfigured its school days to enable students to attend college in person — and provided daytime transportation both ways.
This spring, after Franklin High's chemistry teacher moved out of state, 13 students were bused 20 to 25 minutes to Lakes Region for college chemistry classes.
Savaughna Slocum was the only high school junior in a college chemistry class at LRCC.
"It was nice," she said. "It felt like an environment of high school, but you had more freedom and responsibility, but still with a teacher there to help you along the way."
Next year, she hopes to take pre-calculus, anatomy and physiology, and Spanish at the college.
"Staffing shortages are forcing everyone to be more collaborative and creative, which I don't think is a bad thing," said Young, Lakes Region's enrollment chief.
The college is looking to build more courses that high school students need and seek, she said, and classes in quantitative reasoning and robotics are in the planning phase.
"Our goal is to align our curriculum with LRCC. We have 133 courses we could help pay for," Principal Levesque said. "Franklin High School doesn't want money to be the barrier that stops someone from taking something they want to pursue."
