PITTSFIELD – After Skowhegan Regional Vocational Center director Ray Arbour criticized SAD 53 earlier this year for what he perceived as a lack of participation by Maine Central Institute students in the center, MCI took a close look at how it was informing students about vocational education.

“After that board meeting,” Head of School Douglas Cummings said Friday, “we reassessed how our students were learning about Skowhegan’s programs.”

SRVC serves juniors and seniors in five central Maine school districts with a wide range of vocational programs – programs that Cummings calls cutting edge and superior. “Eighty of our sophomores, nearly the entire class, were exposed to a recruiting class for Skowhegan,” said Cummings.

Even then, however, numbers were low this fall for enrollment at SRVC. With approximately 200 juniors and seniors at MCI, Arbour said, 11 students make the daily trip to Skowhegan. Another 21 participate from the Pittsfield campus through a cooperative job-education program.

Although Arbour maintains that number is too low, Cummings said that the numbers have been consistent over the past five years. “We have been sending 10 to 15 students each year,” said Cummings.

“I can’t say enough good about the vocational program,” said MCI’s headmaster. “I feel strongly that Skowhegan offers a wonderful opportunity and our kids that go there do exceptionally well. They are excelling.”

SRVC offers classes in outdoor resources, digital graphic arts, information systems technology and computer science, carpentry, automotive technology, health occupations, electrical construction and food service.

Each year, SRVC students build a three-bedroom home, and they operate a gourmet restaurant three days a week. There is a two-week waiting period for vehicle repairs at the school’s auto shop.

But Cummings admitted that there was no clear answer as to why MCI’s students do not choose those opportunities, except perhaps a “perceived isolation.”

“I don’t know the precise answer,” he said. “I know that the kids that participate feel apart from the regular school population. I think it boils down to they don’t want to leave our campus. It is not that Skowhegan is bad. It is just that they don’t want to be away.”

Students who attend SRVC attend a block of either morning or afternoon classes, returning to MCI for academic classes.

He said that the students traveling to Skowhegan have two teachers dedicated to their program at MCI, which is separate from the regular, rotating schedule that standard MCI students follow.

“Because of our rotating schedule,” he said, “we have opted to hire two full-time teachers to serve these kids. They are getting a lot of attention with this one-on-one system.”

But Cummings said that he recognizes that some students still feel apart from the general student population. “This is bound to happen with any satellite program.”

Arbour is an aggressive advocate for vocational education. “Voc ed is the best kept-secret in town,” he said. It augments college preparatory classes, he said, and SRVC has 47 percent of its students going on to postsecondary education.

Arbour said SAD 53 should be more assertive in seeking out students who could benefit from SRVC’s programming.

“Even if they send no kids,” said Arbour, “SAD 53 pays their full share of the program.” Although only 11 students come to SRVC each day, Arbour said more than 100 “are eligible and could benefit from vocational education. Opportunities are being missed.”

SAD 53 Superintendent Terrence McCannell agreed. “I recognize that it can’t serve everyone. I do question, however, whether everyone that it could serve is aware of its benefits,” he said.