When Jamie Smith started working at Franklin High School three years ago, she quickly learned to steer clear of a particular staircase where students liked to congregate.
“I would walk by, and they’d either say something, or you would tell them to move, and they refused,” Smith recalled. “It was kind of an environment where I would avoid that stairwell just so that I would avoid conflict.”
It wasn’t just strained relationships with staff. Students in Franklin, a low-income city hit hard by the opioid crisis, were struggling: Test scores were low, attendance was spotty and motivation was lacking.
“When I first got here, kids had this ‘Oh, I’m from Franklin, I’m not going to do anything anyway’ attitude,” recalled Smith, the school’s climate specialist.
With Franklin’s limited financial resources, the situation may have appeared bleak to Smith, but behind the scenes, a transformation was underway.
Several years earlier, through a grant from a philanthropic organization called the Barr Foundation, the district had embarked on a wholesale reinvention, with community members traveling across the country to study the most innovative approaches to project-based learning.
On Wednesday, in recognition of the impact of that work and in a surprise to Franklin High’s 270 students and dozens of staff, the high school was named the state’s School of the Year by the organization New Hampshire Excellence in Education.
“This is a great day for Franklin; a great day for Franklin High School,” principal David Levesque said during a ceremony in the high school’s gymnasium.
It was a day that might have been hard for Levesque to imagine when he started at the high school in 2022 — several months before Smith, who followed him to Franklin from their previous school in Laconia.
Levesque and his fellow administrators and teachers have engaged in a complete overhaul of the school’s schedule and course offerings, creating perhaps the most unorthodox high school experience in the state.
Students take four 90-minute courses three days per week and two two-hour “project” blocks twice per week. Some courses last all year, while others are as short as a quarter.
The added length of the blocks allows students the flexibility to take courses across a variety of domains, including at Lakes Region Community College, Huot Career and Technical Center and Winnisquam Career Center.
At the high school, both students and teachers are encouraged to develop innovative new courses.
Senior Aubrey Boisvert, for example, worked with an English teacher to create a course focused entirely on the vampire romance series Twilight.
“I love talking about this class because I made it,” Boisvert said. “Basically, I had the idea for it, and then with the help of some of my friends, they made the curriculum for it. But it’s definitely one of my favorites, because it’s very student-led.”
The two-hour periods allow students to both watch the films and read the books, Boisvert said. Earlier this week, they wrote diary entries from the perspective of one of the main characters’ parents.
Students said the courses have given them a better sense of what they want to do after high school.
Payton Cloutier, who hopes to become an applied behavior analysis therapist, has received course credit through the school’s extended learning opportunity program to work with students with special education needs at the district’s elementary school.
“Not every day with special needs kids is the same, so being able to have the two-hour block in there — it was nice because you could see more real-world experiences,” Cloutier said.
As students have become more engaged with their coursework, attendance rates have increased — from 83% three years ago to 93% last year. Discipline referrals have dropped 40% over the same period.
“I never thought coming to school would be something I’d be fine doing, but I feel like when I actually come in this building, there’s teachers and other people around that are welcoming and supportive,” Cloutier said.
Despite low paychecks, employee retention has also improved. Ninety-five percent of the staff returned this school year, according to the application the school submitted for the award.
“We have no money. […] I think we’re the lowest paid district in New Hampshire,” Smith said. “But they’re here because they want to help these kids. And not only that — it’s just fun. We do things out of the box because we have to. And because it’s what’s right for kids.”
As this scheduling experiment nears the end of its third year and with students more engaged, the rigor of courses has begun to increase, according to Smith, who also teaches courses and handles a range of administrative duties at the school.
In several months, senior Nazlie Taban will head off to Western New England University on an academic scholarship. She plans to study law before obtaining an MBA.
Though Taban arrived at Franklin High only midway through last year, she credits the high school and its course offerings with shaping her educational and professional trajectory.
“Over the last year and a half, Franklin has completely progressed,” Taban said. “And it’s made me so much stronger and so much more disciplined in my academics, and given me more of a clear level head on what I want to do later in life.”
Editor’s note: The Concord Monitor receives grant funding from the Barr Foundation. The Monitor maintains editorial control over its journalism.
