“It has identified us among the lowest-performing middle schools in the state,” Superintendent Diane Fox said. That’s based on students scores on the state ELA (English language arts) and math tests in grades 6 through 8.

Among the factors the state takes into account are chronic absenteeism, student testing broken out among subgroups and, most crucially for this district, opt-outs of state testing.

The state takes the average of the students’ ELA and math test scores, then divides it by 95 percent of the student population, according to Trish Wickwire, who is in her first year as principal of Saranac Lake Middle School.

“So if only 80 percent of our students tested, then 15 percent of our kids count as zeros,” Wickwire said. “That is one of the measures that they use.”

Diane Fox is superintendent of the Saranac Lake Central School district. (Enterprise photo)

While there are pockets of opt-outs in the state, like Long Island, Fox said Saranac Lake’s opt-out rate is substantially higher than most other districts.

“The state assumes 5 percent is a good number for opt-outs,” Wickwire said. “Our school opt-out last year was 50 percent.”

Opt-out statistics for the most recent state tests are not yet available.

Chronic absenteeism refers to any student who misses 10% or more of their planned school days. In Saranac Lake Middle School, 15.8% of students last year were chronically absent. This is above the state’s goal of 12.6%.

“The performance of the kids on a single computer-based test, as a sort of flashpoint for what their educational experience is, I don’t think is a strong measure of the opportunities the middle school provides,” Wickwire said. “The first thing I say is, you know the middle school is an excellent place for kids to learn. … The narrow focus of the criteria used for the designation focuses specifically on chronic absenteeism and state test scores.”

Tricia Wickwire is principal of Saranac Lake Middle School. (Enterprise photo)

This is the first year these designations have been handed out statewide. They are for the most part based on 2017-18 test scores.

A team from the state Department of Education will spend several days with the district later this month. They will meet with staff, administration and parents, then provide recommendations to boost performance in the coming years. The district is now in year one and will have through the 2020-21 school year to show improvement.

The state will host a community forum with parents at 4 p.m. May 30 at the middle school. Wickwire said parents who plan on attending should let the school office know at 518-891-4221 so an appropriate space can be designated.

“If parents do have concerns, I think the state has provided a great opportunity for them to have a voice in the forum, and also our doors are always open to talk and listen and learn,” Wickwire said.

Three plans are to be developed through this process over the next several years. First is a building plan for the middle school, with the goal of boosting test scores and achievement. A district plan is required to be developed, with the same goals for all grades K-12. This is likely to happen next year, Fox said. An intervention plan must be also be developed, “a way to improve student test scores,” Fox said.

“It might be some sort of a reading program, like a supplemental reading program,” Fox said. “(It) could be behavior support — anything that you could do school-wide that would strengthen your school.”

The state has given the district $60,000 this year to fund the process, which will include hiring a consultant to help develop these plans and administer a community survey. More grant money will be administered in the coming years to assist in the process.

The survey for parents and community stakeholders was emailed out Tuesday. All results are anonymous. Questions are based around rigor, relevance and relationships in the school system. To access the survey, visit www.wesurvey.org and enter the password C9SLCSD. The survey runs until May 17. (Correction: Due to a typo, the code was incorrect in an earlier version of this article.)

Statewide, 245 schools have been identified for Comprehensive Support and Improvement, and Saranac Lake is one of 106 Target Districts.

To exit CSI status, a school has to perform above the comparable performance level for two years, or perform better without slipping on academic progress, English language proficiency or chronic absenteeism.

The school could also be bumped off the list if a lot of other schools end up comparably worse in future years.

“If we did not show growth, there is the possibility that the school could have the state come in and run that particular school,” Fox said. “But that is a long way out.”

For that to happen, the school would have to qualify as a CSI district in another three-year cycle. However, it is not certain that the state would step in even if that happened.

“Their language includes words like ‘could’ and ‘would,'” Wickwire said. “So they don’t have concrete numbers and data for us in the trainings.”