Education

What they provide to Mainers and how they achieve it despite changing times

ProsperityME said the new funds will bolster an existing scholarship program

Several schools across Maine released students early today, as officials say the prolonged heat wave made classrooms unsafe for some students and staff.

The community college system announced Thursday that early fall enrollment is up 18% across the state. That follows a 12% increase last fall — the first in which certain Maine high school graduates could receive two free years of tuition and fees.

Jackson Green, the principal of the Sumner Learning Campus in Hancock County, wrote a letter to Maine's two U.S. senators this month to draw attention to the dire situation, noting that for the upcoming school year, 80% of his school's new teachers lack an appropriate teaching certificate.

School administrators in Lewiston are still trying to get proof of state-mandated vaccinations from hundreds of families, as the school year gets underway.

Students at two Aroostook county schools will start the year drinking bottled water, until the district can finish installing a new filtration system.

With a price tag of $126 million, principal Scott Annear says it's the biggest and most expensive high school ever built in Maine. Costs were revised upward during construction which coincided with the pandemic and after contaminants were discovered in the old building that required abatement.

The system has faced significant challenges recently, largely due to a decline in enrollment.

Classes for younger grades begin Aug. 30, and staff have until then to fill three positions for bus drivers, or risk affecting scheduling for the start and end of the school day.