LIMESTONE, Maine — Limestone Community School is looking into options for returning high school classes to the town’s school building — perhaps as soon as this fall — for the first time in more than three years.
The school posted a notice on its website on April 23 that indicated it was creating a plan for returning high school classes to the town’s school building this fall. It outlined five positions it hoped to fill, including a guidance counselor and high school teachers for social studies, English, math and science.
“We are looking for innovative and creative people who would be excited to work with small student/teacher ratios and provide the best possible education in a small-school setting,” the post read. “This will be a unique opportunity to build a school from the ground up, in an existing first-class facility.”
Superintendent William Dobbins said Friday afternoon this is one of many options the administration is looking into and that there have been no formal decisions to bring high school education back to Limestone as of May 1.
The RSU 39 Board of Education, which at the time included Limestone as well as Caribou and Stockholm, voted in early April 2017 to move Limestone’s 9-12 students to Caribou and to discontinue high school education at the Limestone Community School.
RSU 39 officials said the decision was not easy, but that after countless hours of going over the budget it was their only choice. That year, the district’s budget was short $1.4 million, and RSU 39 estimated that the move would save $600,000 in addition to making them eligible for more state funding via ED 279, which prioritizes higher student-to-teacher ratios.
Shortly after RSU 39 made this decision, many in the town of Limestone said that RSU 39, which has a board with a majority of Caribou residents, may decide to close Limestone Community School entirely, and began circulating a petition to withdraw from the district and fund the school themselves.
The petition received overwhelming support, and in November 2018 the town voted to begin the lengthy withdrawal process.
In August 2019, the school officially reopened with PreK-eight classes and newly appointed Principal Ben Lothrop said the withdrawal had not resulted in a noticeable difference in school programming.
