Education Week - February 6, 2013 - Special Report - S14

couldn’t continue to lose students.
A majority of the community
agreed something had to be done,
and Hults had few critics when
he proposed the internationalstudent program, according
to Ed LaCourse, who’s taught
mathematics for about 15 years
at Newcomb Central.
“Skip could probably sell a lawnmower to someone in Antarctica,”
LaCourse says. “He’s a very optimistic person, and he really sold
the program well as far as all of
the positive aspects.”
It’s not uncommon for high
schools to host one or even a few
international students, but Hults
has taken that idea and done it en
masse.
In its high school grades, the
school has about 40 students; 18
are from other countries. That’s a
significant number, given that the
town has only about 200 families.
“We’ve gotten to the point where
we’re turning students away,”
Hults says.
Over the years, Hults has
learned the differences between
various types of visas, and he says
the type of visa the district now
requires enables it to receive tuition and accept host-family living
expenses.
Newcomb has earned a good
reputation among international
students, and it sells itself with
its location in the heart of a 6-

S14 |

million-acre park and its strong
academics, Hults says.
Hults also has established relationships with more than 10
agencies that help find foreign
students who want to come to his
district.

Students’ Benefits
The district requires students
to have a conversational level
of English-speaking proficiency
to ensure they can succeed. Any
lesser ability would negatively
affect the classroom experience
for local students, Hults says.
“If it weren’t benefiting our
students, I wouldn’t do this program,” Hults explains. “It truly
does benefit our students. It has
opened their eyes. It has given
them broad exposure to the
world, and for the kids who come
here, they remain a part of our
community. I think they will forever.”
International students pay
$4,500 annual tuition to attend
the school, as well as a $4,500
housing allowance to the local
families who host them. District
officials receive application
packets with photos and
information about prospective
students, and they choose whom
they want.
Hults estimates the program
will bring in about $250,000 in

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revenue this year, and that covers
its expenses while contributing
extra dollars to the district’s $3.9
million general operating budget.
Money aside, the program has
addressed what Hults describes
as a “complete and total lack of
diversity” in the school, where
most students are white and
middle-class.

Attracting Families
Sue Goodspeed, her husband,
and their two sons lived in a town
about 25 miles away, and the international-student program is
one of the reasons they’ve since
moved to Newcomb.
“It’s the best thing we could
ever have done for either of
them,” she says of her children.
She thought it would be good for
her younger son, who is adopted
from South Korea, to attend a
school with more diversity, and
the program would give both of
her children the chance to meet
students from across the world,
she says.
The family has hosted four
international students, two
of whom are living with them
now. One of the students they
previously hosted planned to
return for a Christmas visit last
year.
“It has redefined and expanded
our family,” Goodspeed says.

“I love all the ones we’ve had;
they’re like extended family.”
Hults’ effort to create the
international-student program
has earned him statewide
and national recognition. He’s
working with more than a dozen
New York and Vermont school
districts that want to replicate
Newcomb’s program, and he’s
speaking at the National School
Boards Association conference in
April.
He’s also been a key advocate
for changing a federal law that
prohibits international students
from staying in American public
high schools for more than one
year; such students are allowed
to stay in private schools as many
years as they want.
Hults has teamed up with U.S.
Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y.,
and David Little, the director of
governmental relations for the
New York State School Boards
Association, to lobby on that
issue.

Global Competition
“We’re in an era where we’re
expecting our students to be able
to compete on an international
basis, and at the same time, our
finances are minimizing their
opportunities to accomplish this
goal,” Little says. “This program
has the unique ability to address

both sides of that.”
The international-recruitment
program is not Hults’ sole innovative idea.
Hults “is unique in that he’s
not just looking to see what helps
Newcomb, but he’s got these ideas
that, if extrapolated, could help
schools throughout the United
States,” Little says.
Hults constantly thinks about
ways to keep his school afloat
and to grow the community so it
becomes “home” to more people,
he adds.
The school chief also has looked
at the possibility of building a
dormitory and recruiting urban
students to the district, Little
says. City students would have
a different experience and the
chance to, for example, compete
on every sports team if they
wanted—something that might
be harder to do in a larger school.
Hults “truly believes in the
value of this rural community
and this rural experience that his
kids get,” Little says.
LaCourse says Hults also has
developed a program that will
enable the district’s high school
students to graduate with a
two-year associate degree. That
program has helped Hults attract
nearby students to the school and
increase enrollment, according to
LaCourse.
“He’s a visionary squared.” n
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Education Week - February 6, 2013 - Special Report

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