This year, The Community School is preparing to graduate its largest class in our 38 year history.  In May and June, we will graduate 24 students from our Passages and Residential programs. This success comes on the heels of two straight years of 100% graduation rates, as well as in ensuring students have developed post-graduation plans.  Last year, 96% of our students were offered employment immediately upon graduation, and 42% were accepted at their college of choice. 

As our programs continue to grow, we have also been exploring a new opportunity that will allow us to further expand our programs in southern regions of the state.  In December of 2010 we signed a Letter of Intent with Opportunity Farm for Boys and Girls, in New Gloucester, ME, to explore a merger of the two organizations.  Upon successful completion of the merger process, The Community School will implement its nine-month Residential Program, and its Passages Program for teen parents, in New Gloucester, while continuing to operate both our Camden campus, and our satellite Passages Program in Washington County.

The State of Maine, like others, has a significant number of dropouts a year—students who have not found success in traditional school settings.  Conservative estimates place the national drop-out rate at over 20%; many believe rates in Maine, and elsewhere, are considerably higher.  Thus, we are extremely excited about the prospect of reaching more students than ever before, and helping them to reach their graduation goals.

Our focus on individualized, strengths based education; our focus on relational education and social justice, and our fully integrated curriculum and use of restorative justice practices- are keeping The Community School on the cutting edge of alternative education and helping to increase high school graduation rates in Maine. 

Throughout this merger process, we have had the privilege working with an outstanding group of people who are invested in and committed to ensuring the best possible outcomes for Maine youth.  We are slated to complete the merger this summer, and to begin operating our programs at Opportunity Farm this fall.  Our new entity, The Community Schools at Opportunity Farm and Camden, will continue to provide the excellent academic, life and parenting skills education that have made us so successful over the past 38 years.

We will continue to keep you informed of our growth, and of the merger process, through direct mail, press releases, and our web-site.  This is an exciting time for The Community School, and we look forward to sharing our success with you. 

Warmly,

Dot

Dorothy Foote, Ph.D.

I do not believe kids stay in school because they are in love with long division.  They stay in school because someone shows them that they care. This is the heart of relational education. The students at the Community School are engaged with life and learning in response to healthy relationships with people who care.

Our Teachers and Residential Overnight Counselors are continually listening for the relationship they are forming with the student. This close ‘give and take’ helps the student unlock their natural strengths and gifts.

Individualized learning plans provide a platform for a student to create and re-create learning for themselves, with the guidance of a caring adult.  It is crucial that the learning pleases the student- not just the teacher– which in turn fuels ownership and personal responsibility.

The uniqueness each student brings to the learning experience is celebrated and acknowledged – which encourages learning  - because students learn best when they are cared for and respected. At the Community School, we know that the process of relational learning itself is the product.

Over 35 years ago, in a very grassroots and authentic way, Emanuel and Dora set out to prove that meaningful relationships have the ultimate power to change lives.

The school has grown and shifted in many ways over these years – however this statement has never been more important as we launch our updated website and honor the ironies of modern life. We are witnessing great potential for connection through technology – and at the same time yearning for greater human connection, whether through friends, family, partnerships, community resources, or in reducing the distance between ‘us and them’ globally. Eman and Dora knew this was the greatest need.

The underpinning of the school is that all of life is a classroom and that students will thrive in this classroom – if they are held by people who care. The staff and Board of the Community School remain deeply committed to the work of the school – and to the sage wisdom of our founders. -DF