OLD ORCHARD BEACH — Regional School Unit 23 has plans to add two modular buildings, to accommodate new programs and the relocation of an alternative education program.
The Saco Transitions Program serves high school students in Old Orchard Beach and Saco, and has been located at 80 Common St. Saco. The program currently serves mostly Old Orchard Beach students, as many students looking for a special education based high school setting attend the Bridges program at Thornton Academy. RSU 23 Special Education Director Timothy O’Connor said of the eight students who were in the program at the end of the school year, seven of them were from Old Orchard Beach. The Saco School Board agreed to hand over the program to the RSU, which serves only the town of Old Orchard Beach.
The program has been renamed TIDES, said O’Connor. Plans are in the works to relocate the program, on the grounds of Old Orchard Beach High School, in a 62 by 68 foot modular building that would have room for three classrooms as well as a kitchen and meeting area.
O’Connor said moving TIDES to the Old Orchard Beach High School campus will make the program feel more connected to the high school.
The TIDES program will be able to expand its offering to students, including vocational and foreign
language classes.
The TIDES program is open to students from outside Old Orchard Beach and Saco as well, and the RSU will receive tuition from students outside of Old Orchard Beach who attend the program. The TIDES program has one teacher, four educational technicians, and contracts out with a psychologist, said O’Connor. It can accommodate up to 25 students.
“I’m so happy to have the students back home,” said School Board Chairwoman Carol Marcotte.
Plans are also in the works to install a 52 by 27 foot modular building next to Loranger Middle School so that its an “extension of the building,” said O’Connor.
With the new pre-kindergarten program starting up in September, third grade classroom space will move from Jameson Elementary School to Loranger Middle School, leaving more space needed at the middle school, said Jameson and Loranger Principal Mike Flaherty.
The modular will have space for health classes, a speech pathologist, the academic intervention program Response to Intervention, or RTI, and restoration space for behavioral intervention. Space will be used for students who may be given an in-school suspension or may need time away from the classroom, using a teaching model rather than a punitive model, said O’Connor.
“For a small community, we have a lot of different needs,” said Flaherty. “We want all kids to be successful, and allow kids to grow and not just maintain.”
The cost for the two modular buildings is estimated to be around $220,000, said O’Connor. The proposals need to be approved by the planning board before the RSU can move forward. O’Connor said the RSU hopes to have the middle school modular in place by the beginning of the school year and the high school modular later in the fall.
— Staff Writer Liz Gotthelf can be contacted at 282-1535, ext. 325 or [email protected].
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