HALLOWELL — Living in central Maine will be an adjustment for California Central Valley native Virgel Hammonds.

The new Regional School Unit 2 superintendent will have to acclimate himself to snow and ice, and his fluency in Spanish probably won’t be much in demand.

But at work, Hammonds will face many familiar challenges as he guides RSU 2 in its implementation of standards-based education, an approach he introduced to his previous school district, Lindsay Unified School District in Lindsay, Calif.

Hammonds, 33, was Lindsay High School principal for four years, and the district will expand standards-based education to grades K-8 this year.

Hammonds visited RSU 2 last year as a consultant for the Re-Inventing Schools Coalition, the Alaska-based group that trained Maine educators in standards-based education.

This is not Hammonds’ first time living in New England. He met his wife, Amy, a nurse, at the University of Massachusetts at Lowell and taught at private schools in Massachusetts and New Hampshire before they moved back to his hometown of Visalia, Calif. They live in West Gardiner with their daughter, 2-year-old Maya.

Hammonds started as superintendent July 1, with an annual salary of $102,000.

The Kennebec Journal sat down with Hammonds this week to talk about his plans for RSU 2.

Q. What are some of the lessons you learned from implementing standards-based education in Lindsay?

A. We had to clarify some things on scoring and rubrics and get some clarification on “What does ‘proficiency’ mean? What does ‘advanced’ mean?'” And really clearly define those things. I know that RSU 2’s been working in a cohort with six other school districts in Maine to define those standards, define those rubrics, define those scoring scales. … Well, now those pieces are in place. …

Some of the other questions that parents had were “Well, what do colleges think of performance-based structures?” … My first year of implementation two years ago, I spent the summer calling every University of California school and every California State University school, along with every private school our students listed they may be applying to. … What they requested, as they do with international schools, is that we clearly identify what those scores mean. A big difference with us is that we were able to actually send them the standards and able send them what we’re measuring our kids by. Whereas everyone else is saying an A is 90 to100, a B is 80 to 89. But it’s not clearly defined what that means — 80 to 89 percent of what? So with the measurement topics we can clearly define what proficiency is because it’s in the standard.

Q. Has that sort of information been communicated to colleges in our area?

A. When I came here initially as an RISC member, I challenged the counselors to do that. … They heard similar results from their admissions directors: “Ok, just clearly define for me what a proficient score is.” I haven’t heard of any hiccups in terms of admissions with it yet. But we could still do a better job of communicating and articulating what our scores mean on our transcripts both to parents and to universities.

Q. Once you clarified those things, did parents buy into the program?

A. Yeah. We had about 20 percent proficient on our state tests, which is awful. … (Parents said), “If you’re telling me that requiring and expecting proficiency on every standard before they move on is going to prepare them for the workforce, is going to prepare them for college, then I’m all for it.” They were very supportive, and over the last two years we’ve seen dramatic gains on our state tests.

Q. There have been complaints here about the district’s communication with parents. How would you address those?

A. Let me tell you about one. This morning it’s up and running, the Kids First Facebook page. So if folks want to keep updated about what’s going on across the RSU and in our communities and in our schools, they can check the Kids First Facebook page, and I’ll post things as I hear from them. If folks have questions they can also post things on there, and I’ll try to respond to them as soon as possible.

But what I’ve found is that a big part of the success at Lindsay High School is that we went to the parents. We went to homes, we sought out information, we went seeking questions and looking for answers as well. Once I get my feet firmly planted here, in the next couple of months I’m going to ask folks if they’re willing to host me in their communities. I want to go to neighborhoods, I want to have neighborhood chats. I’d love to have “coffee with the superintendent” chats. Or — it’s hotter here than I thought — perhaps some iced tea with the superintendent, in whatever community.

Q. Do you think the RSU would be harmed if one or more towns left?

A. I’m always concerned about losing a community, but my biggest concern is the kids. I firmly believe that performance-based structures prepare our kids for the real world. … So in terms of the success of the RSU, am I worried about that? Of course I am. But my biggest worry is the kids and what kind of education are we giving them. …

I’m hoping that a lot of communication that will be had in the next few months, and a lot of the town meetings that I’ll have with folks, or neighborhood meetings that I have, will help ease some of the concerns and the frustrations and open up those lines of communication. And like what happened in Lindsay, the solutions that made us successful were because of our staff and because of the parents and because of the kids. My role as leader is just to facilitate that.

Q. What are some things you think are going right in RSU 2?

A. Great leadership, committed staff. I’ve had a lot of staff come in and introduce themselves and say, “I really love this about my school. I’d really love to implement these kinds of things.” … And the kids are amazing. In talking to the kids about my experiences in Lindsay, they were very honest about their experiences. I went primarily to the high schools. They were very honest about their experiences at the high schools, very honest about what they feel needs to be remedied, but they also were gloating about the great things at the schools as well.

Q. What did kids say they want to see changed?

A. Oh, you’re probing. I shouldn’t have said anything (laughs). Um, the kids were saying they’d love to have more choice in how they learn. That’s what they were talking about, more than anything. I really wish we’d find a way to engage whatever they’re learning with whatever hobby they may have. … It’s still algebra. We still have to do English, we still have to do social studies. But how do we engage kids (so) that they want to learn it? So they don’t come home and they just answer “Fine” when a parent asks, “How did school go today?” But they say, “Oh my gosh, I learned how I can jump farther on my snowmobile because if I figure out the speed and the angle of the ramp and how long the ramp is, I know I can make it.” Or whatever hobby it is that they’re engaged in, if they can apply what they’re learning in class, it just makes them want to return to school tomorrow, and that’s what we want, (for) kids to want to come to school.

Susan McMillan — 621-5645

smcmillan@mainetoday.com

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