BRUNSWICK — Region 10 Technical High School plans to open its doors Sept. 8 with a mix of in-class instruction and virtual learning, to align with the high schools it serves.
The vocational and technical school serves Brunswick, Regional School Unit 5 and Maine School Administrative District 75, as well as a few other small towns.
Superintendent Paul Perzanoski said Thursday that Region 10 plans to divide its 280 students into two groups. One group will be at the school Monday and Tuesday and the other on Thursday and Friday. Students will engage in remote learning the days they are not in the classroom and Wednesday will be dedicated to cleaning and checking in with students.
Perzanoski said the school will offer remote-only learning for students who need it.
As a technical program offering a hands-on education, “we felt it was important to provide opportunities for students to come to school on site,” Perzanoski said.
The school had to split its student population in half based on the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines and the Maine Department of Education framework for reopening schools, Perzanoski said. Mt. Ararat High School students in Topsham start Sept. 8 while Brunswick students don’t start until Sept. 14, and Freeport High School students start in between.
Despite an outpouring of questions from students and parents wanting to know more about Region 10’s reopening plan, it’s been a waiting game as administrators waited to see what plans the sending schools would adopt. Thursday, Perzanoski met with the superintendents of all the sending schools and is pitching a plan to his Cooperative Board on Monday.
Perzanoski said the plan includes safety protocols like face masks and social distancing, but there are still many unknowns. Freeport High School still has scheduling conflicts with Region 10. The technical school is still trying to figure out how students in the CNA program will do their clinical work or how the early childcare program will work, which normally brings in young children as part of the class.
“We’re working on how to operate that and be safe at the same time,” Perzanoski said. With a smaller school to operate, “you can be creative with it. It’s also a lot more personal.”
There are still many question marks for students like Mt. Ararat High School senior Lizzie Lamoreau, a certified nursing assistant student who expected to spend half of her school days working in the health field through Region 10’s pre-apprenticeship program.
“I’m not really sure how that works, but I did just literally apply today for a CNA position,” Lamoreau said, so she hopes she could streamline that job with the program. As to the not knowing, “It makes me a little anxious but for the most part, it’s so different every day I don’t really have any expectations right now.”
Hilary Babb took the EMT course at Region 10 last year and is taking the CNA course this year.
“I’m hesitant to see what the CNA program will have in store,” Babb said. “When in that program, you get the wonderful opportunity to go into nursing homes and work with older people and spend time with them, and that obviously can be negatively affected by this. You can’t get those high-risk patients sick.”
However, Babb said she’s confident she’ll get her clinical experience because the school itself is equipped for it and has a strong CNA instructor.
“I don’t believe it will make me any less prepared,” she said.
Perzanoski expects this plan will change again in the face of a pandemic and frequent rule changes.
“You kind of have to accept where you are and what’s going on, and change your mindset,” he said.
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