By Barbara Scott
Staff Writer
The first day of school always creates a big change for students. For some it’s a new school, for others, new classmates, new teachers, new methods of learning and for all higher expectations. For those attending the Caribou Middle School, all of these ring true but there is one other change.
The original entrance to the Caribou Middle School (Caribou High School, established in 1926) on the west side of the building on Glenn Street is once again the school’s main entrance, after being closed off since the mid-1970s.
The west entrance of the building (built in 1926) which faces Glenn Street is once again considered the “main entrance.” Throughout the summer custodial staff members worked tearing apart the interior walls of what has been office space and removed the floor, revealing once again the original steps and doors that lead to/from the main floor of the school.
Susan White, CMS principal, stated that while the construction was in process, the question of how long it had been since that entrance had been closed off created quite a bit of conversation. White said she was a student on the first day of school in 1981 at CMS. “I remember it because that was the day we had the flood and I know the entrance wasn’t in use while I was here. In fact the offices were right where they have been since I’ve been on staff here for the past 10 years.”
Aroostook Republican photo/Barb Scott
The main entrance to the Caribou Middle School, located facing Glenn Street is once again in service for students, staff and visitors.
Other staff members said they remembered the entrance being used in the early 1970s while another remembered it was closed off between 1975-77.
“When they tore out the wall of my office,” said White, “they found layers upon layers of cardboard, used as insulation. The doors are the original doors that were closed off and they are in good shape and the steps inside leading up to the main floor are also original, they’ve just been repainted, etc.”
Entering the newly opened “main entrance” one finds the walls, bright, and freshly painted and a wide stairway with new railings. On the left side of the stairwell, is a window to the main office which allows staff/administrative staff to see students and visitors coming and going from the school.
White said that the “main entrance” is now where parents will drop off their children and where they will enter the school. The north entrance (facing Teague Park) will continue to be used for buses dropping off/ picking up students but once school is in session for the day the north entrance will be locked with all students, staff and visitors using the Glenn St. entrance.
White also commented that the decorative arch over the hallway at the newly reopened entrance is the original.
Aroostook Republican photo/Barb Scott
The original doors of what was, until the 1970s, the main entrance to the Caribou Middle School (the former high school building) were found to be in good shape during construction work this summer, as custodial staff members re-opened the stairway to the Glenn St. side of the school.
