Summary:
The city of Caribou, Maine is home to two schools: Caribou Community School, an elementary school, and Caribou High School. Both schools serve diverse student populations, with over 12% of students identifying as non-white. However, the schools have faced significant challenges in recent years, including declining state-wide rankings, high chronic absenteeism rates, and large populations of economically disadvantaged students.
Caribou Community School has seen its state-wide ranking drop from 105th out of 210 Maine elementary schools in 2021-2022 to 230th out of 290 in 2022-2023, and has a concerning chronic absenteeism rate of 28.0%. Meanwhile, Caribou High School has experienced an even more dramatic decline, dropping from 26th out of 82 Maine high schools in 2020-2021 to 93rd out of 123 in 2022-2023, and has an alarmingly high chronic absenteeism rate of 40.4%.
Both schools serve large populations of economically disadvantaged students, with free/reduced lunch rates of 49.2% at Caribou Community School and 51.06% at Caribou High School. This suggests that the schools may need to implement targeted strategies and support programs to address the unique challenges faced by their student populations. Overall, the data highlights the need for Regional School Unit 39 to prioritize improving academic performance, attendance, and support for economically disadvantaged students across both Caribou schools.
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