Greenville Consolidated School
How Rural Schools Are Redefining Public Education

Without question, public education changed post-pandemic. The disruption, response, and adaptation to that difficult period was profound whether one lived in a city, suburb, small town, or rural setting. Piscataquis County, the least densely populated and most heavily forested county in Maine, is among the most rural locations in the eastern United States. And Greenville, home to Union 60 and Greenville Consolidated School (GCS), is a small town in an already sparsely populated area, far from any major service center.

Yet what Greenville may lack in population or urban proximity it more than compensates for with spectacular natural beauty both locally and regionally, a charming downtown at the base of Moosehead Lake, and a committed local community which has lovingly maintained the current school facility for more than 100 years. There is a misconception that small, rural schools are resource deserts, when the reality is the opposite. And it is because of the school’s recognition of its role as a community pillar that that same community has supported its various projects in curriculum, assessment, instruction, and enrichment. So when the pandemic changed public expectations around the roles schools perform, Greenville and other small schools like it were tasked with rising to those challenges with small staffs, fluctuating budgets, and deteriorating trust in other public institutions.

GCS is in an active and ongoing adaptation to meet student and community needs, because a region with such literary, cultural, and historical importance ought not and cannot start from scratch with every educational whim. The adaptation is additive, deliberative, and reflective, and emblematic of the community’s cultures.

In response to the public’s desire for connection, the school has increased its public-facing events in the arts, the humanities, and the sciences for students at every level and ability. It has also engaged private citizens and nonprofit organizations to partner on upgrades to the athletic facilities, to offer community service events, and to augment the class curriculum in as varied of disciplines as French immersion for early elementary, financial literacy for middle level, anti-tobacco and healthy lifestyle curriculum for high school, and a robust social-emotional learning curriculum for all. Greenville’s regional neighboring school districts have taken on similar projects as well, and these districts are also able to partner together on federally funded grant projects like extended learning opportunities to facilitate middle and high school career exploration. Small, rural schools work together in a manner that is more reflexive to student need and more agile than what would be possible in other settings.

In response to demand for increased digital literacy and citizenship, Greenville has maintained a 1-to-1 technology mandate in the middle and high school grades, yet it has also taken steps to limit screen time in younger students to well below the American Academy of Pediatrics guidelines; it has implemented a bell-to-bell cellphone ban; and it has prioritized outdoor education for all students. Every cohort in the school has meaningful outdoor excursions multiple times per year, which is borne not out of a state-driven mandate but instead by the belief of the faculty and staff that a child’s connection to the outdoors is one of the soundest investments of time. Small, rural schools are able to balance the physical and the digital to a degree that is hard to match in many parts of America.

In the interest of multiple pathways for student learning, Greenville sought out new leadership advisory structures, incorporated more multicultural education and Wabanaki Studies curricula, added online learning platforms for nontraditional learners, and increased the number of honors, advanced placement, and dual enrollment possibilities for students who are approaching college and career readiness. Once again, Greenville is able to accomplish these goals only when in partnership with other organizations and school districts. The integration and flexibility of America’s small, rural school districts has the potential to redefine what a “district” is. It begs the questions, If our goal is to educate all of America’s children so that they are best equipped to live meaningful, productive lives, then what use is there for arbitrary borders which might silo off resources or programs that would benefit us all? If education is the path to self-betterment and community betterment, as I assert that it is, why would we not seek out high-leverage partnerships that will serve the best interests of all students, regardless of their background, persuasion, or learner profile?

To be sure, there are daunting challenges ahead for small, rural schools. Declining enrollments will impact overall budgets unless formulas change. Artificial intelligence will continue to challenge the philosophies of education and leadership regardless of preference. Societal unrest will find its way to quiet corners of the country in some shape or form. Yet I have an abiding faith that rural schools will be in positions to meet those needs as they come. A mantra that I developed as a school leader is, “Trust Expertise, Respect Experience, Make Space for Good Work.” As long as rural school leaders are able to work in support of some style of that mantra, positive examples like GCS will flourish for years to come.