A southern Aroostook high school consolidation could meld technical and traditional education to better prepare students for the workforce, school officials said.
Superintendents in the Hodgdon and Houlton school districts shared more on The County’s latest school consolidation proposal Tuesday with about 60 area residents at Houlton’s Temple Theatre.
Houlton Superintendent Joe Fagnant and Hodgdon Superintendent Tyler Putnam said the districts need to make changes to survive current pressures.
They answered questions following a feature-length film about a Virginia school district’s similar efforts to transform the way students learn.
As Maine schools grapple with aging facilities, rising costs, shrinking enrollment and staffing shortages, education leaders are exploring how to consolidate resources and change the way students learn to meet future needs.
“We have to start thinking long term to sustain our buildings and programs for students,” Fagnant said. “One campus to bring together our resources for 7th grade and beyond is going to be important for our two school systems.”
RSU 29 of Houlton and MSAD 70 of Hodgdon, along with the Region Two Career and Technology Center, which serves Houlton, Hodgdon, East Grand, Southern Aroostook Community and Katahdin schools and homeschoolers, are in the second phase of applying for a competitive Maine Department of Education Integrated, Consolidated 9-16 Educational Facility Grant to create a new consolidated regional school.
Officials from Presque Isle, Caribou and Fort Fairfield high schools have also submitted the first part of the Maine DOE grant for school consolidation, also citing declining enrollment, aging school buildings and the increasing cost of education.
This project allows for state funds to be put towards creating a state-of-the-art facility that offers combined career, technical, postsecondary and life skills training. It is more than a building, it is a place for future students to create pathways to careers, Fagnant said.
Part two of the application, due in October, asks educators about how they will address future workforce needs and how they will make necessary changes so students are ready for the future, he said.
“We’re looking at school in many different ways. How do we be innovative to make sure that our students are well prepared for the future?” Fagnant said prior to showing the film “Multiple Choice,” which is about a school in Winchester, Virginia. “This movie is looking at education in the future.”
Transformative education does not necessarily focus on teaching to the requirements of standardized testing, but allows students to explore, create and develop critical thinking skills, educators at the Virginia school said in the film.
In this approach to education, all students, whether college or work bound, combine career and technology classes with the more traditional English, science and math offerings. And every student can take courses in such areas as welding, construction, nursing or firefighting along with other academic offerings.
The film’s featured students said prior to this new approach to education, high school was boring to them and they counted the minutes until lunch or dismissal. Once involved in this integrated learning, they said they loved going to school because they could make decisions about what they were creating.
The film features college and workforce bound students who studied together and a future law student who took welding and construction courses, along with a future firefighter who loved reading Dante’s “Divine Comedy.”
Other students said that without the school, they would still be flipping burgers after graduation. Instead they have solid careers in construction, welding and firefighting.
Putnam and Fagnant answered community questions after the film.
“If we prepare students for jobs, where are the jobs going to come from?” one attendee asked.
“Part of the application process is to involve local businesses and make sure our students know what is available,” Putnam said. “Not necessarily to attract new business, which is a whole other mountain we need to climb in Aroostook County.”
Employers in the region are hurting for workers, Fagnant said.
“In Aroostook County, in terms of age, it has the oldest population in the state of Maine,” he said. “How are we going to fill the future? How do we fill the health care need? How do we keep people here? We have to look at this integrated model to create opportunities.”
The superintendents said they will continue to meet with the consolidation committee and the public as they prepare the Phase 2 portion of the MDE application, which is due in October.
This application is one of many being considered by the state, which will select only one project, according to Fagnant.
There’s a long way to go, he said.
“Probably the third grader that’s sitting in the classroom right now might be in that new building,” Fagnant said.
