Maine’s State Board of Education approved a new kind of regional high school this week that would merge three existing schools and also bring in vocational programs, business training and higher education into one facility in northern Aroostook County.
Frenchville Superintendent Lisa Bernier says the school would offer new resources to a region that has been losing students.
“With declining enrollment, it’s harder and hard to offer quality programming. So this new, regional high school is going to offer so much more,” she says.
Described as a grade "9-16" facility, it would be the first of its kind in Maine. Officials say many hurdles still remain in the process, including deciding where the new school will be located.
The project would be fully funded by the state. It’s part of a broader “regionalization” initiative from the Department of Education to encourage districts to merge services.
