By Katherine Sather

On Friday last week, room 305 at Mercer Island High School reverberated with dance music.

Inside, students gathered around a TV to watch classmates compete in a popular video game. Others munched on apple slices, read books and chatted.

It was a “celebration Friday” for teacher Ji Sider’s Bridges group, one of 73 such groups formed when Bridges became a permanent part of the curriculum this fall.

After a year-long pilot, Bridges was expanded this year to meet twice a week. The time is used for assemblies, to cover certain state-mandated curriculum such as AIDS education and to conduct business such as surveys and announcements. It also includes time for activities like “celebration Fridays.” Proponents, like Sider, say it meets the goal of building relationships among students and adults.

The program has its critics, primarily parents concerned with the use of class time and students who’ve opted not to participate. High School administrators have promised to evaluate the program in greater detail this term.

“I think its going fairly well,” said new Mercer Island High School principal John Harrison. “It’s awful early to make any determinations.”

Bridges groups include classes of 20 students from all grade levels who meet with adult advisors for roughly a half an hour on Monday and for an hour each Friday. The program is based on studies that say successful students need to have a sense of bonding and attachment to the school, said Deborah Boeck, coordinator of parent liaisons to the groups.

“People really want to connect with each other and know they have an adult that knows them and cares about them,” she said.

The groups are designed to stay together all four years of high school, adding freshmen each year as seniors graduate. The staff advisor or teacher assigned is charged with getting to know the students and counseling them on issues like getting along with peers and which classes to take. They receive a $400 stipend and some training.

“I feel like I’m really getting to know my students more than I would in a typical academic class,” said Sider.

SOME PARENTS SAY the program isn’t for everyone. But just 16 students opted out of the program this year and instead meet for a study hall.

School Board member Lisa Eggers Strauch said she and other board members have received phone calls and e-mails from parents concerned about the use of time. They’re concerned that students are leading the classes, not staff, and that the groups address emotional issues with leaders that may not be prepared to deal with these subjects.

“There are concerns that the time is not being well-spent, that the classes are being taught by students and not teachers and about the loss of instructional time,” she said.

At a recent board meeting, members were also concerned to learn that a study of advanced classes that was approved along with Bridges as part of the School Improvement Plan may be delayed. Some voiced concern about the time and resources the district has dedicated to Bridges as compared to academics.

Alison Vogel, a parent in the district, said she worries that parents and students feel pressured to like Bridges. Her daughter, who is now a college student, was uncomfortable during some sessions last year, especially during a discussion about depression that she thought her peers didn’t take seriously.

“There’s been a lot of pressure to think that Bridges is OK,” she said. “Yes, it is for some, but for some it isn’t.”

Parent Eva Zemplenyi said her daughter attended for four weeks before opting out.

“She thought it was a waste of time,” she said. “Ask some kids, and they’ll say it is a waste of time but they tolerate it because it gets them out of class, and they eat.”

OTHERS SEE BRIDGES as an opportunity for students to gain leadership skills. This year, 267 students applied to be Bridges leaders. Staff select two leaders for each group based on recommendations and an essay. Bridges activities like the Day of Respect, which brings speakers to the school to talk about diversity, can prompt discussions in the group. Student leaders are charged with leading the talks and receive training to know when to refer someone to a professional counselor.

Junior Lauren Haggerty, a leader, says she makes sure “everyone feels like a part of the group and is comfortable.”

“I wouldn’t be friends with a lot of these people without Bridges,” she said.

During discussions on topics like stress, which students requested to address this year, Haggerty’s group divides into small groups so that students don’t have to talk in front of everyone.

Freshman Kevin Keating said Bridges made his transition from junior high a bit easier.

“All the grades together can be one,” he said. “It’s fun being with all of these people and not doing work.”

Mercer Island parent Terry Pottmeyer said her teens enjoyed the program.

“They like the opportunity to be in a small group that’s not (about) academics,” she said.

PRINCIPAL JOHN Harrison said he’s already began one of the three measures that will be used to evaluate Bridges this year, including meeting with parents to listen to their thoughts.

“There were no significant concerns expressed at all,” he said.

Other tools that will evaluate the program include an a survey of students, staff and parents. The district will also re-administer the developmental assets survey, which measures student health.

Director Mary Margaret Welch said that now that it’s no longer a pilot program, students take Bridges more seriously. “It helps us to make it work,” she said. “You know it’s going to be there tomorrow, so you work harder to make sure it’s good.”