Islesboro Central School

Current Enrollment 69  Students: K-5: 21   Students, 6-8: 10,  Students, 9-12: 38    Magnet:  18

Faculty size: 14

Class of 2025 size:  10 Seniors

About Islesboro Central School

Islesboro Central School is a K-12 school serving the picturesque island of Islesboro, Maine. Islesboro is located in Penobscot Bay, 3 miles from the mainland, and is accessible by Department of Transportation ferry or private boat only. The ferry runs seven or eight times daily between the hours of 7:30 AM and 5:00 PM. The island has a year round population of roughly 600 residents, and the population triples in the summer months. The school’s student population consists of two groups, island residents and magnet day students. Currently, 18 Magnet students, 5th through 12th grade, pay tuition and commute daily joining 51 island students to form the Islesboro Central School community. Approximately half of the staff also commute daily across the bay.

Despite the fact that it can be cost-prohibitive to sustain a K-12 school on an un-bridged island, the town of Islesboro continues to support Islesboro Central School as an integral part of the community. Evidence of this can be found throughout the school’s history including the massive renovation and addition completed in 2010.

Additional information is available on our website.  Our School Board meeting minutes are also available there.

Educational Philosophy

Islesboro Central School utilizes a Pathways program. The program is frameworked within a philosophy that offers student’s voice and choice and broadens the traditional education model to include individualized, experiential, inquiry-based learning guided by standards. The Pathways program is fully implemented from grades 9-12 with the intent of including lower grades being phased in over the next few years.

ICS pride themselves in practicing a holistic approach which identifies the needs of each student, provides programs of study and creates a student centered dialogue; ICS believes the results of which are equal to or better than the best public schools in the State of Maine. The greatest predictor of educational success is student engagement, where choices turn into preferences and preferences evolve into the passionate pursuit of meaningful interests; ICS believes a student engaged in active choices that translate into post-high school work, the trades, or higher education is a force to be reckoned with. 

Graduation Requirements:

4 credits of  English, 3 credits of Social Studies, 3 credits of Math, 3 credits of  Science, 1 credit of PE, 1 credit of Health, 1 credit of Portfolio. 25 credits total required for graduation.

Honors:

As of the 2015-16 academic year it was recognized that due to small class size and individualization of programming, many teachers are no longer offering a weighted honors version of their course, and instead are teaching all students at a rigorous, college preparatory level. When a course is denoted as Honors level, that indicates that the student has opted to go beyond the curriculum offered by the teacher and demonstrate mastery at a deeper level than required.

AP, Dual Enrollment and Art of Problem Solving Courses:

AP Courses were offered for the first time during the 2016-17 academic year in Environmental Science, US History and English Literature  and Composition. AP courses continue to be offered, generally every-other year, based on student need and interest.  AP Environmental Science was approved for Dual Enrollment credit for Juniors and Seniors through the University of Maine at Fort Kent during the 2106-2017 academic year. AoPS is a very rigorous, advanced mathematics curriculum geared towards exceptional learners. Our students enroll in AoPS courses when their academic needs can not be met within our curriculum, sometimes as a replacement for a course at ICS and sometimes to augment our instruction.

MCST:

Career and Technological Education Center- vocational/technology curriculum designed to foster knowledge and skills necessary to directly access career placement or community colleges. Students attend Region 8 in Rockland and commute daily. Juniors and Seniors in our Horticulture Program also receive dual enrollment credit through Kennebec Valley Community College in Agriculture and Sustainability Studies.

Individualized:

Alternative educational program that facilitates individualized learning plans toward achievement of graduation requirements and postsecondary goals. This can be modified course-work for students who excel and need alternative educational opportunities or as part of a student Pathways Plan.

Credit Awarding:

Credit is awarded by semester for full and half year courses. GPA is reported as unweighted, and if a student has enrolled in early-college courses, honors or AP courses, a weighted GPA is also reported.  High School credit is awarded for world language and high school math courses taken in middle school.

Recent College Acceptances:

Belmont University, Bentley University, Barnard College, Brandeis University, Bowdoin College, Cornell University, Dartmouth College, George Washington University, Harvard University, Husson University, Mt. Holyoke College, Middlebury College, Northeastern University, Northwestern University, Roger Williams University, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Simmons College, Smith College, Thomas College, Tufts University, Unity College, University of Chicago, University of Maine, University of Southern Maine, University of Maine Machias, Villanova University, Yale.