EASTON, Maine — Easton’s school system continues to attract students from around central Aroostook County as parents are drawn to its high achievement and small student body.
Approximately 260 K-12 students in Easton started their 2018-2019 school year Wednesday, Aug. 15. This year, the kindergarten class is one of the biggest ever, with 20 students, said Superintendent Roger Shaw.
“That’s a large kindergarten class. We’re used to having 10 kids in our kindergarten class,” Shaw said.
Last year, Easton saw an influx of about 50 students who had previously attended the Cornerstone Christian Academy, which abruptly closed days before the start of the school year due to declining enrollments. Those students came to Easton from around central Aroostook County largely because their parents felt more comfortable with Easton’s small schools than with the larger schools in their home districts, Shaw said.
Easton’s school system also attracts students from various area communities as their parents prefer the small school culture and low-student-teacher ratio, Shaw said.
Easton receives some of the least state funding of any school district in Maine, due to its approximately $20,000 per student operational cost that is made possible by the strong tax base of the community’s two large factories. And it has a student body coming from mostly modest incomes, with more than 40 percent of students qualifying for free or reduced-price meals.
But thanks to its tax base, Easton has been able to remain a single-town school district and offer small class sizes. With high standardized test scores, a 98 percent graduation rate and consistent higher education placements, Easton has ranked as one of the top performing districts in Maine, on a par with communities such as Falmouth and Cape Elizabeth. For 2019, the education website Niche.com ranked Easton as the 22nd best school district in Maine.
“Students don’t fall through the cracks here,” Shaw said.
About 75 students in total come from other central Aroostook County communities to Easton on a tuition basis. Easton charges those students’ home districts $2,500 per student per year, which comes out to less than the state government’s per-pupil subsidy.
“It’s a win-win,” Shaw said, explaining that Easton brings in more students and revenue, while the home district keeps usually around $1,000 of the state subsidy.
“I’ve had to turn people away because some of our classes are maxed out. I’ve turned away about half a dozen this summer.”
While the town of Easton is proud of its school district, Aroostook County schools overall are doing well despite the challenges they face with declining enrollment and state funding, said Shaw, who previously worked as superintendent in Mars Hill.
Some Easton students spend part of their school day at the career and technical education centers in Presque Isle and Caribou, and Easton is also pioneering cross-district collaboration in language arts.
Easton is going into its second year sharing high school Spanish teacher Julio Morin with Ashland. Through classroom video-conferencing technology, Morin, who is based in Easton, teaches Spanish 1 and 2 classes comprised of both Easton and Ashland students. This year, the Spanish 1 classes include high schoolers in Van Buren.
Shaw said he sees opportunities for more districts to share teachers through similar remote teaching arrangements. For instance, he said, Easton could benefit from sharing classes with larger schools, such as Presque Isle High School, which offer a wider range of electives and advanced placement classes.
“The success we’ve had with Spanish, I think that can do nothing but spread,” Shaw said.
“People can see that and think, ‘We can do that too.’”
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- Paul Bonner, from front, right to left, Austin Carver and Ethan Cyr are among the students in Julio Morin’s Spanish 1 class at Easton High School in this August 2017 file photo. They are joined by five students, in background, from Ashland District School who are attending via internet video conference. (File photo/Anthony Brino)
