School provides FCAT loophole [FL students who fail FCAT purchase a Maine high school diploma]

School provides FCAT loophole

IN COLLEGE: Suze Barthelemy, 19, left, and Stephania Fourron, 22, are among those students who turned to North Atlantic Regional High after failing the FCAT. DONNA E. NATALE PLANAS/HERALD STAFF

Dozens of county students are transferring their high school credits to an out-of-state private school, using a loophole that lets them earn a diploma without passing the state's graduation test.

BY MATTHEW I. PINZUR

mpinzur@herald.com

Two years after arriving from Port-au-Prince, Edison High student Stephania Fourron had learned enough English to pass the math portion of the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test, but failed the reading exam three times.

She could not receive a diploma, could not start college, could not study nursing -- until a community activist offered her a novel solution from 1,600 miles away.

For a $255 fee, a private school designed for home-schooled students in Lewiston, Maine, offered to accept her course credits from Edison and issue a diploma -- even though she has never attended classes there. Within weeks, Fourron was able to begin classes at Miami Dade College.

For her and at least 76 other Miami students, North Atlantic Regional High School has been a loophole to a controversial state law that denied diplomas last year to 12,500 students statewide, including 5,000 in Miami-Dade, who failed the FCAT.

The loophole is drawing ire from the state's education chief -- who acknowledges he is probably powerless to close it -- and word could spread quickly in the high-poverty areas where FCAT failure is epidemic, such as Fourron's Little Haiti neighborhood.

''I told everybody, everyone,'' Fourron said. 'They say, `I can't pass the FCAT,' and I say don't worry about that.''

Some of her friends such as Suze Barthelemy are also using their North Atlantic Regional diplomas at Miami Dade College.

''Once you don't have a high school diploma, you can't go to college; you can't reach your dreams,'' said Barthelemy, 19. ``All you can do is work, work, work.''

LIKE STANDARD DIPLOMA

At Miami Dade College, a diploma from North Atlantic Regional is treated the same as a Florida diploma, said registrar Steve Kelly.

He said North Atlantic Regional's accreditation from the National Private Schools Association likely landed it on the list of approved schools.

''It's listed as a legitimate high school,'' he said. ``There would be no questions asked at admissions.''

But a spokesman for the Maine Department of Education said the high school may be misleading students when it claims on its Internet site to ''have the authority and privilege to grant high school diplomas in the State of Maine'' and provide ``a real high school diploma -- NOT a GED, NOT a certificate of completion.''

''The state of Maine does not recognize their grades, credits, transcripts or diplomas,'' said spokesman Edwin ''Buzz'' Kastuck. ``If you're home-schooling your children, you can issue them a diploma from your kitchen table -- we look at it the same way.''

A decades-old court ruling forced Maine to acknowledge religious and independent schools that would not follow state-approved curricula or meet other standards, Kastuck said. The state maintains a list of those schools' students solely to ensure they are not classified as truants.

''It is clearly in no way equivalent to a public school diploma from the state of Maine,'' he said.

The school's husband-and-wife administrators, Steve and Carol Moitozo, said the state education department is trying to discredit a legitimate program because public-school funding drops when students attend private or home schools.

STUDENTS SCREENED

North Atlantic Regional High, Steve Moitozo said, screens students' accomplishments -- course work, standardized test scores, internship experiences and other parts of an educational portfolio -- and converts them into measurable credits. When a student has met Maine's graduation requirements -- a set number of classes in subjects such as math and English -- they receive a diploma.

Maine has no exit exam like the FCAT.

''The students in Florida earned those credits,'' Moitozo said. ``They can take them and cash them in anywhere they like.''

The North Atlantic Regional diplomas are recognized at state universities such as Florida International, but do not carry the same weight as a standard diploma, said Carmen Brown, FIU's admissions director.

Because the high school is not accredited by a state government or a specific confederation of private-school umbrella groups, Brown said students from the Maine school would need to have significantly higher grades and test scores.

Each university and college sets its own standards, but Brown said the others probably have similar expectations to those FIU sets for students from schools like North Atlantic Regional -- roughly a 3.5 grade point average and 1200 SAT score, as opposed to the 3.0 GPA and 1060 score expected for others.

''Clearly the students that are not passing the FCAT are not likely to score 1200 or even 1000 on the SAT,'' said Education Commissioner Jim Horne.

North Atlantic Regional has about 400 students in Maine, Moitozo said, most of whom attend occasional classes taught by certified teachers and designed to prepare parents to handle everything from Macbeth to mitosis.

''Our job as a high school is not to teach children; our job as a high school is to teach parents to teach their children,'' he said. ``All we need to do is set the sails and show them how to navigate, because when the parents get that, they soar.''

OUT OF STATE

But most of the schools' students never come to Lewiston.

More than 80 percent of North Atlantic's students live outside Maine, Moitozo said. The largest concentration is a group of 400 in Florida, enough to prompt the school to open an administrative office in Palm Bay and host an annual graduation ceremony in Orlando.

''We encourage them to try [the FCAT], but as a last resort they can use this route,'' said Jean-Rene Foureau, director of the Haitian Refugee Center and a teacher at Edison who helped connect the students with the Moitozos' school.

He said he had a lawyer review the arrangement and the school's accreditation papers from the National Private Schools Association.

He also negotiated the price down from the school's typical $360 fee.

''Somebody's trying to turn a buck on families who probably don't know any better,'' Horne said. ``It just smells fishy.''

A spokeswoman for Gov. Jeb Bush, whose A+ Education plan included the FCAT graduation requirement, said the state provides ample opportunities for students to earn diplomas, even after the senior year.

''We have alternatives that can assist students that have language barriers -- immersion classes, special reading classes,'' said press secretary Alia Faraj.

Despite Bush's and Horne's opposition, the practice is likely to grow, at least for now, as Foureau and his first group of graduates spread the word.

''This isn't anything we're going to take out advertising to tell people about,'' Moitozo said, ``although that might be a good idea.''

Horne said Miami Dade College and other community colleges should carefully consider which diplomas they accept.

''To simply waive the rules through a back-door channel is not serving the students well,'' Horne said.

``It's going to create a false sense of accomplishment.''

Not only that, but how exactly is she going to be able to reghister for classes in a FL community college? Because if I'm not mistaken, FL community colleges have pretty strict entrance exams for students whose native language is not English. And, students have to first pass a reading and writing test, in English, before the college will allow that student to register for classes. Otherwise, the student has to take no credit remedial English courses until the student can pass the test.

Consequently, I think there is more to this story than what the FL community college admissions guy is saying here.

Also, community colleges in FL have actually had a very good reputation, nationwide, because of the high graduation rate and ability of these grads to find suitable employment. I would be very surprised if someone in the FL community college system did not raise a stink about this.

And while I hate to disagree with the lovely Freeper, Summer, outside of FL everyone knows that FL schools (at all levels) are a joke. No student with any academic standing in another state is beating down the door to attend FSU, U of F, or U of Miami. Why would they...when they can get into a school with an academic reputation? That's also why this state has strong scholarship arrangements - as long as you go to a FL college/U. It's an attempt to keep the brighter students in the state after high school. However, there isn't much evidence to suggest that is working.

Evidence of the poor education is the fact that FL has one of the lowest worker productivity rates in the country. And while knowledge industries may be attracted to a better tax environment here, they aren't racing to get here because of the poor quality labor force.

And a little first-hand experience in buying FL good and/or services would tell you that the average FL school output (worker) is usually unable to do anything right the first time.

Who's doing who a favor here?

If you can't graduate high school, intellectually, how can he/she handly the next level.

But in some of today's colleges, that same will happen and he/she'll graduate there too, without much of anything between the ears.

Diplomas are becoming as worthless as the blank paper they're printed on!

everyone knows that FL schools (at all levels) are a joke

annie, I hate to disagree with you, but you are wrong here. In fact, Scripps is moving to FL because of many factors, including the work force. And, FL K-12 schools are leading the nation in improved reading scores. FL is serious about education, and under Gov Bush, a lot has in fact changed, for the better.

You got it. That's just happening a bit faster in some places than others.

Think about it, I doubt that most public school teachers could pass the FCAT. It's the blind leading blind. While 30 years ago everyone snickered about majoring in P.E., now the campus joke is an education or journalism major. That's were the average to poor college students end up. We are, therefore, feeding the already bad system with more bad.

My son is enrolled full time in one of Florida's "community colleges", however, this particular community college is now a 4 year state institution.

Anywhoo, he had to take the College Placement Test in order to get into the program he's in, which is a dual enrollment program open to high school kids (he's 15).

If you're entering the way he did, you have to have a test score sufficient to enroll in College Algebra, Comp I, and a reading score that allows you entrance into the other courses such as sciences and history courses, etc.

If you alread have a diploma, you still have to take the College Placement Test, but there are remedial courses that are offered. They won't count as college credit, but they are offered and can be counted as an elective.

My question would be, if the diploma came from Maine, would this person pay "out of state" fees per credit hour, or credit hour fees for residents.

The dual enrollment program my son is using allows free tuition for the years the student would be in high school, as long as their schedule doesn't exceed 15 hours per term.

He's a great governor, summer, but our government schools are a failure. Improvements in reading scores were desperately needed, but not where they need to be. And Scripps is going to be transferring many of their knowledge workers. They are also moving into an area where the transplants are more numerous.

I know this is an area where the governor is doing his level best with a miserable system. My criticisms aren't about him. It's taken years to get to this point - and the libs and unions have had years to bring it to this point. Jeb is having to swimming upstream.

''Once you don't have a high school diploma, you can't go to college; you can't reach your dreams,'' said Barthelemy, 19. ``All you can do is work, work, work.''

That's funny. The only way to reach one's dreams IS to 'work, work, work.'

I am very concerned with your tone,and slamming of every aspect of Florida Education. Who peed in your cheerios today? I have been a Florida resident since 1968,and Have seen a helluva lot of improvement.Why are you condemming the whole state because of problem areas? Not all of us live in Dade,Broward,and P.B Counties.I was one of the 537 in 2000. I was educated in New York State,and because of political correctness,and affirmative action,etc, I would not give you two cents for that diploma today in NY. My elementary school in Central NY was rated the 40th best in the nation during the 50's and 60's,past tense now. Remember whatever you say(type) in the written word is deemed and felt to be much stronger than spoken in person. I have friends that are school board members,teachers,and even a superintendent of an entire county system,and you are saying they are all worthless because they are in the State of Florida.

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