BANGOR – Students enrolled in Job Corps programs can now receive high school diplomas without taking public school classes.

The Penobscot Job Corps Center and Loring Job Corps Center in Limestone received certification from the state Department of Education on Thursday afternoon to operate as nontraditional limited purpose schools.

With the certification, Maine students can receive high school credit for work completed at the two Job Corps centers.

The designation is the result of a nationwide initiative undertaken two years ago. In 2000, the U.S. Department of Education and the U.S. Department of Labor entered into a memorandum of understanding designed to bring Job Corps programs into the educational continuum throughout the states.

The new designation for the centers in Bangor and Limestone is the first of its type in the nation.

Initial approval from the state came in September of last year. Approval was based on both centers having a staff with the appropriate certification, facilities that met basic school approval regulations and a curriculum aligned with Maine Learning Results.

But more importantly, strengthened ties between the Job Corps program and state education have been achieved, according to Edwin Kastuck of the Maine Department of Education.

“There’s a much greater connection with public schools in this program,” Kastuck said to an audience of more than 100 Job Corps staff members from the two centers.

Secondary schools send students through a “linkage” with a Job Corps Center. The Job Corps staff works with the sending secondary schools to identify the process for accepting student work towards graduation and the credits are issued by the sending school.

“The diversity that we have in Maine is internal – it’s in how people learn,” Kastuck said. “This offers an opportunity for students who don’t learn so well in traditional settings.”

Sylvia Moores, a 19-year-old from Calais, hopes to realize the benefits of this program.

Moores left Calais High School before she received her diploma. During the last four months, she has been working in the business program at the Penobscot Job Corps Center, and has completed her GED and received her driver’s license.

Only four credits shy of a high school diploma, Moores now has an alternative to night classes.

“I might be able to get my high school diploma [at Job Corps],” Moores said. “I don’t want to have to do night classes.”

Moores is planning to attend Thomas College in the fall to become a paralegal.

The Job Corps program has provided employment assistance to 16- to 24-year-olds since 1964. The comprehensive federal program offers an academic education, vocational training, residential living, health care and job placement assistance.

Nationally, the Job Corps program serves 70,000 new students annually.