Daily Hampshire Gazette from Northampton, Massachusetts • 9

EEf SECTION Obtain 12 EasthamptaVfcwns B4 AmhersWouBi HaJey 13 Business 17 WEDNESDAY FEBRUARY 18 2004 EVM1Y HAMPSHIRE GAZETTE B1 Higher ed enrollment grad numbers probed tougher admission standards set by the board six years ago as a factor in decreasing undergraduate enrollment If fewer students are eligible to enroll fewer will graduate he said The rise in graduate degree programs is partially financial he said because campuses faced large cuts in state aid in recent years Graduate courses are more expensive than undergraduate and schools are allowed to use the revenue to pay for undergraduate programs generated revenue tor the college and provided a service for working Antonucd said Undergraduate enrollment at Fitchburg is on the rise this year he said Drums were at 104 percent capadty in September he said a 20 percent decline in the number of undergraduate degrees awarded the largest decrease among all state colleges while graduate degrees it awarded increased 73 percent the report said of it is the bad Tbcco said have to drop out of school and work They'll go back and take three courses instead of five In an area like Fitchburg that may be a bigger factor than The central Massachusetts region from which Fitchburg State draws 80 percent of its enrollment has one of the lowest educational attainment levels In the region 67 percent of adults have a college degree Robert Antonucd recently appointed president of Fitchburg State prints to grew and degrees Jumped 51 percent Associate degrees also fell 16 percent at fee 15 community colleges but professional certificates increased 15 percent recognising that many community college students do not enroll with die objective of obtaining an degree or of transferring to a fouryev institution the economic vitality of the commonwealth requires an increase in the number of workers with associate's degrees certificates and bachelor's the report said Another concern is that undergraduate enrollment has decreased at state colleges in geographic regions that need the programs most Fitchburg State College experienced Author credits local groups for help in telling her story of loss 'W i- 1 I i Sisters on ice But until more state residents obtain bachelor degrees Massachusetts will lose out economically according to the Massachusetts High Technology Council losing our battle for talent in technology said Cort Boulanger the vice president citing California Colorado and North Carolina as competitor states who have seen their talent pools increase Tocco said the higher education board will form task forces to examine the problems The Boston Globe first published the report's findings which show that 54 percent of all students nationally graduate within six years The Massachusetts campus rates are 41 to 45 percent Campus leaders said the state figures do not indude transfer students On the following Monday publishers bid against each other for the right to bring the book out with Scribner the winner Within the next week Smith says rights for publication in seven other countries had been assigned Joan Barberich the events coordinator for Food for Thought Books in Amherst says she admires Smith's prowess as a storyteller Though the book recounts a horrific time in the life the events are narrated with humility and simplicity was so touched by the artfulness of the way it was put together" Barberich said really feel she crafted it with an artist's Ostermiller the writing-group leader in Northampton who worked with Smith said she could tell early on as Smith shared passages of her book that the author was creating an exceptional work now and then you get someone she said of Smith was definitely in that category She's just an immensely talented woman and a hard worker put her blood sweat and tears into this book I can vouch for Ostermiller said great to hare been a part of In the coming month Smith will be speaking about her book and meeting readers in events from Boston to San Francisco She returns to the Valley See AUTHORPage B2 needs mending mentary school in Westford And then there are the old standbys like skinned knees and sore tummies The state requires just one school nurse per district which Pawelee acknowledges is an outdated standard But after districts saw state aid cut by as much as 20 percent last rear many would see slight increases under Romney's proposed $23 billion budget They can spend that money however they see fit Pawelee said About 200 of the state's 2000 school nurses were fired last year when Romney as part of $343 million in emergency cuts to balance the budget reduced the nursing grant Some were rchired but parents like Westford's Kathy Noran are worried is my son This is his said Noran whose second grader Christopher has dialtctes and visits the school nurse three times a day to have his blood-sugar level tested and for an insulin injection so many things that can go she said so critical to have really competent experienced nursea in the schools A New England Journal of Medicine report in 2002 found that diabetes is increasingly prevalent among children And severe allergic reactions from bee stings to peanuts anon the rise as well nurses report in that school has to be trained to know what to look for to administer the said Katherine O'Neill president of the Massachusetts School Nurse BOSTON CAP) Higher education officials said Tuesday theywiU investigate wfar the graduation rate at state colleges is below the nationsl average and why the wmHhw of undergraduate degrees has dropped since 1997 too earfy to pradct whether amjor problem or Board of Higher Education chairman Stephen Tacco said Less than half of the students who enroD at state colleges graduate within six years which is below the national average according to a report released Tuesday by the board The report examines performance at state and community colleges excluding the fiveanmus University of Massachusetts degrees dropped about 3 percent from' 1997 to 2003 at the nine state confgrawhflf grmhwtff Men who claim abuse by bishop seek meeting with church officials SPRINGFIELD (AF) -The lawyer representing two men who say they were molested by retiring Springfield Bishop Thomas Dupre said his clients want to meet with church officials this week to their Roderick MacLeish Jr said his clients want to protect their anonymity from the public but are willing to meet with nWMala from the Boston archdiocese and Springfield diocese "Both of my clients are prepared to make presentations to the church about what MacLeish said really want to teU their stories to church leaders There are probably details that are not known to the diocese of Spring-field that they want to have known" MacLeish said he is still working out details such as the time and place of the meeting and who will attend MacLeish said he has been speaking with lawyers from the diocese and archdiocese and is insisting that the meeting be facilitated by the archdiocese because is a fair degree of mistrust between our clients and the Springfield Mark Dupont a spokesman tar the Springfield diocese said it is appropriate for the meeting to be overseen by the archdiocese allegations we would have received would have been turned over to the archbishop for his Dupont said resignation was approved by the Vatican last week a day after The Republican newspaper in Springfield confronted the bishop with allegations that he sexually abused two boys while he was a parish priest in the 1970s Dupre checked himself into an undisclosed medical facility last week and cited health reasons for his departure He announced last year that he planned to retire before he turned 75 which is the mandatory retirement age for bishops Dupre is 70 Officials from the diocese say they have not been in touch with Dupre since the allegations surfaced Monsignor Richard Sniezyk who is filling in as the top administrator until the Vatican appoints a replacement for Dupre has said he would wait until this week before contacting Dupre Father: Search for The Associated Press The investigation into the disappearance of a Massachusetts woman last seen more than a week ago in northern New Hampshire has become stagnant the father said Ibesday 1 no new leads no new evidence" Frederick Murray said of the search for Maura Murray a 21-year-old nursing student who disappeared after a car accident in Woodsvilie NH stagnant at the moment" He blamed the lack of leads on a shortage of resources saying that though local police were working hard he wished the small department had more help so it could broaden its search are alow in coming Like the bus stations Did she leave from a local bus station? That been Investigated so I did it myself" Murray said adding that his efforts turned up nothing' "The police are good guys" he said there many of Authorltiea said Maura Murray a University of Massachusetts at Amherst nursing student from Hanson withdrew $280 from an ATM fcb and e-mailed professors saying she be in class all week because of a family problem Around 7 pm that evening she crashed her car Into a snowbank on Route 113 In New Hampshire several miles from the Vermont border Police say a witness offered help but that Murray refused and told the witness not to call police The witness who later told police Murray appeared intoxicated but uninjured at the time called authorities By LARRY PARNASS Staff Writer NORTHAMPTON In her memoir All the Alison Smith thanks three people for letting her write in their living rooms The mention coqjures up a picture of an itinerant writer applying herself to her mission even if she lacked a roof much less a room of her own The gratitude is actually directed to the two Northampton writing groups she credits with helping her shape a true story that was horrific to endure then difficult to tell For a review of Alison Ail the see Bookmarks column Page C3 Smith who lived in the Valley from 1994 until last year spent six years finding a way to explain what happened in her family and in her own life as a teenager after her beloved older brother Roy died at dawn on July 27 1984 in a head-on collision on a rain-slicked road would not have been able to write that book without Smith said last week from Rochester NY as she began a national tour to promote her book published by Scribner don't feel like left In those Northampton living rooms Smith recalled she labored alongside other writers during an silence to get words onto paper Then she and others shared their results aloud Rage by page at sessions led by Carol Edelstein Robin Barber and Dori Oster-miller and in countless hours in her Crescent Street room Smith worked through 18 drafts of her memoir The and advice she received from Valley writers helped her persevere Smith said sit in a group and write she said of those meetings very unique to the While it took Smith many attempts to find the right way to tell her story her agent needed only days to find a publisher land a six-figure advance and arrange for overseas sales After sending the manuscript to publishers one Monday last February Smith's agent had offers by Wednesday plan still have to live with some tough chokes until we're on better ground financially This is one of tiwse tough choices" Department of Public Health ipokeiwoman Roseanne Pawelee to me It's now been shifted to the local districts It's too bad a shame I criticize because I know it was a matter of (budget) priorities But we're going to have to address that problem somehow We have to" Department of Public Health spokeswoman Roseanne Pawelee expressed hope that the funds will return in teture budgets 1 still have to live with some tough choices until we're on better ground she said "This is one of those tough choices" The proposed cut won't gut school nursing as most nurses are still paid by local districts But it would thin the ranks at a time when the job's requirements are expanding Today's nursea administer emergency dosea of anti-allergy medication look for warning signs of abuse and test blood sugar levels of children who have diabetes Obesity homelessness and hyperactivity all are now parts of a school nurse's vocabulary lot of pediatrics are taking place now in the schools" Thurston said In her office at the Rita Miller K-2 ele Sisters Lauren 7 and Paige Dolinsld 11 of Easthampton share a laugh while skating as part of a benefit for the Manhan Rail TYail held at the Williston Northampton William Lossone Rink in Easthampton Monday UfM-V vt V'- i GORDON DANIELS School nurses: WESTF0RD (AP) As a foil-time nurse administrator in the Westford schools one of Lee Thurston's duties was to teach parents and staff how to administer lifesaving doses of adrenaline to students suffering from allergic reactions But that changed when last state budget cuts forced Thurston to split her hours between administration and covering nursing shifts leaving no time for training Now under Gov Mitt Romney's proposed budgeL Thurston's job would be eliminated altogether along with more than 100 other nursing positions across the state as the governor seeks to close a projected $1 A billion budget delicti Romney wants to save 184 million by eliminating the Enhanced Health Services grant program Launched a tax revenue to hire school nurses in 36 districts It steadily grew to $155 million and 109 districts last year bqfore Romney lashed nearly $6 million as part of budget cuts The grant program will be eliminated altogether in July if the Democrat-con trolkrtl Legislature goes along with the Republican governor's recommendation While expressing regret over the cut administration officials point to an overall 3 percent Increase in K-12 tending in the governor's budgeL cut budgets not because they want to but because they have to state Education Commissioner David Driscoll said is a concern I '5 is daughter stagnant anyway But by the time emergency workers arrived Murray was gone Most of her belongings were left behind in the car On Ffeb Il a police dog was brought to the scene but was able to track her for only 100 yards prompting her family to conclude that ihe got a ride A police helicopter and ground search also turned up no evidence Murray said Tuesday that his daughter may have been distraught at the time in part because just two days earlier she had been involved in another accident Police described Maura Murray as and possibly Since then Maura family her boyfriend and his family have come to area to help In the search and hand posters throughout New Hampshire Maine and Vermont But Murray no longer believes his daughter is in the area adding to his frustration that the police lack the resources to do more He wants the FBI to get Involved but was told there needs to be evidence of foul play first you get evidence because you have the force enough to go out and get it" ho said you wait until you have a body to have evidence and you can call the FBI In? it possible to expand and pound a little A spokeswoman for the Haverhill Police Department which la handling the case would not comment except to say the Investigation was ongoing Murray is convinced foul play Is Involved thought authorities have yet to find evidence of IL Still ho holds out hope that perhaps aha just needed to get away A.