Fairhaven lifts cap on new Acushnet students at high school
FAIRHAVEN — The tight limit on the number of Acushnet students who can attend Fairhaven High School is about to be a thing of the past.
The School Committee voted unanimously Wednesday night to lift the 25-student cap — no more than 25 Acushnet freshmen could be enrolled in a given year — from the current contract and accept all Acushnet students who wish to attend Fairhaven High until it reaches 97 percent capacity.
Acushnet doesn't have its own high school.
"We will not exceed the 97 percent capacity (in the coming school year). We're not at that point right now," said Superintendent Robert N. Baldwin. "We're opening the doors further to work with Acushnet."
For the contract changes to take effect, the Acushnet School Committee also has to approve them.
Dr. Baldwin and Acushnet Superintendent Stephen Donovan have negotiated and agreed to the changes, which would also expand the current contract to five years instead of the current three.
About 35 Acushnet freshmen are expected to attend Fairhaven High this fall, Dr. Baldwin said. This spring, 19 Acushnet students are expected to graduate from Fairhaven High School, he said.
Last year, about 100 Acushnet students were attending Fairhaven High.
Lifting the cap on the number of Acushnet students who can attend Fairhaven High will bring additional revenue into the tightly run system. Current tuition is about $8,000 per student, Dr. Baldwin said.
Fairhaven school officials instituted the 25-student cap in 2004 when the high school was on the cusp of reaching 97 percent of its 750-student capacity.
Initially, Fairhaven officials put Acushnet officials on notice that they may not accept any new freshmen that year. The threat sent Acushnet officials scrambling to place their students in other area high schools.
Fairhaven officials later set the 25-student cap, alleviating part of the problem. However, because the number of Acushnet students wishing to attend Fairhaven surpassed 25, officials had to hold a lottery to pick those students.
In 2005, Fairhaven school officials wound up accepting 50 Acushnet students, partially lifting the cap. Last year only 17 Acushnet students showed interest in attending Fairhaven as the system recovered from a deep financial crisis and administrative turmoil.
The new changes eliminate the cap system, reverting to the old system in place before 2004.
"We want to open our doors so the students of Acushnet have the benefits of our district. We want them to access those opportunities," Dr. Baldwin said.
Contact Joao Ferreira
at jferreira@s-t.com
