Staff Writer
A new school has opened in Caribou for middle and high school students who have been unsuccessful in traditional classrooms and need more individual attention to be successful.
The Northern Maine Learning Center is located on Route 161, north of the city, in the building which once housed a metal works manufacturer.
Aroostook Republican photo/Debra Walsh
Members of the staff at the new Northern Maine Learning Center in Caribou are, from left, Dona Saucier, program coordinator and social worker, Deborah Cyr, educational technician and Patricia Allen, teacher. The new special purpose school opened earlier this fall Route 161, north of the city. The schools serves students with special needs from throughout The County.
Part of the Becket Family of Services, the school opened this fall as the first of its kind in Aroostook County. The facility has four on the teaching staff and five students.
Becket has four other schools in Maine and six other educational facilities in New Hampshire.
Becket opened a school in Aroostook County in order to allow students with significant behavior and emotional problems to stay at home to continue their education, according to Dona Saucier, the school program coordinator and social worker. In the past, students needing such services have left the area.
“There have been times when students have struggled in class,” said Saucier. “This was a way to keep our students here (in the County.)”
The current staff is composed of a certified teacher and two educational technicians, as well as Saucier. The school’s goal is to have up to 24 students, with more staff hired as needed, she said.
Saucier explained that the school works only with students designated as needing special education. Students are referred by their home districts through the “individual education plan,” which is a tool used by educators to cite the special needs and modifications needed by a student, according to Saucier.
The aim of the school is to work with students on their academics as well as their behavior and get them back with their home districts as soon as possible.
The tuition to the school is paid for by the student’s home district, Saucier explained.
The curriculum, as set up by the school, follows the Maine Learning Results and the sending school’s graduation requirements.
The staff is trained in “therapeutic crisis intervention,” which emphasizes non-physical intervention, Saucier explained. In addition, the school has a quiet room, where students who need time alone can “blow off steam” in a private setting.
While in the window-less room, the students are closely monitored, she said.
“Sometimes we encourage it’s use and students will go,” Saucier explained. ‘Other times, they’ll (students) ask to go.”
A “time-out” or quiet room may have been traumatizing for students in the past, Saucier said. However, its use in the new Learning Center is governed by a positive philosophy, she explained.
“I don’t want it to be just a room where we just throw them in and forget about them,” Saucier said.
Other amenities in the school include two separate classrooms, as well a conference room and kitchen. The school also has a store, where students can cash in “credits” they have earned for their success.
Because of the smallness, the school is able to do a few activities that students in larger settings can’t, such as visiting Limestone High School’s indoor pool. The students have visited the Presque Isle Career Center and gone on comparative shopping trips.
“These kids have not liked school for a long time and we’re trying to get them interested again,” said Saucier.
Aroostook Republican photo/Debra Walsh
Jim Desmond is an educational technician at the new Northern Maine Learning Center in Caribou.
Aroostook Republican photo/Debra Walsh
The Northern Maine Learning Center opened earlier this year in a refurbished facility on Route 161, north of the city. A total of four employees are working with five students at the center, which works with students in grades 5 through 12.
