20-24 & #46, Bangor, ME 04401

My eldest son completed all 9 years of his elementary and middle school education at Glenburn School, finishing there in 2013. He went on to excel at John Bapst High School for two years and then to Maine School of Science and Mathematics, graduating this past year. Now he is at Emory University in Atlanta as a premedical student. I have seen great improvement in Glenburn School since he attended however, as now my two younger children are in attendance, one in 7th grade currently and one in 4th grade. When my younger son was in the 1st grade he began to display severe behavioral issues in school, and once the school administration agreed to testing for him, discovered that his IQ is extremely high, but he has anxiety and sensory integration disorders. He was immediately identified as "Gifted" instead of waiting until 3rd grade for gifted identification as is their usual policy. They realized that 5 children in his grade were very high achievers, and had been homogenizing them across three classrooms. They decided that starting in the second grade they would pool those 5 students into the same classroom so that they could work together on more advanced work. They also developed a 504 plan to help staff deal appropriately with my son's behaviors. Those behaviors have completely stopped. In the sixth grade staff agreed to allow him to explore self-paced study in mathematics, and by the end of sixth grade he had tested out of pre-algebra, completed Algebra I and finished about half of Geometry. He is now continuing self-study in math in the seventh grade. STEM classes are available to identified students 5 days per week for identified middle school students and one day per week for identified 5th graders. My youngest has been receiving art enrichment one day per week for the last 2 years as well. I've been very pleased with the level of teacher interaction and communication with myself, particularly when my children are struggling so that we as parents can work with the teachers and our children cooperatively to find effective solutions quickly.