Calais Middle/High School

Excellent school, excellent students, excellent teachers. Easily one of the best schools around.
--Submitted by a student

I have on child who is a graduate of CHS and is in college, another in CHS who is doing well, and my youngest in CMS. We are 'active' parents in which we engage the school administration and teachers. They have always worked for us, and our children have done well. As far as the comment below for community financial support, the City of Calais budget has had substantial increases over the past several years to make up for the cuts at the state level. The city has NOT cut funding, but instead has increased funding. And every school has some level of social 'peeking order' sadly. Calais schools are no different, but this is as much a parent issue as it is a school issue.
--Submitted by a parent

Not the best education. Not the best teachers. Bad attitude from staff and students share the same. Special needs mixed in w/ average students. Not much learning going on.
--Submitted by a parent

calais high school is not a very well run school. the students are restricted in such extreme levels (such as not being able to go to their lockers before school) and if granted any freedom at all, the students essentially go wild and cannot be contained. i was overall very displeased with the school and regret having to move to calais with my parents.
--Submitted by a student

I had two children attend Calais High School and knowing what I know now would have sent them to a private school. There is very much a class society at the school with not only student cliques but also student/teacher cliques. If you fit into one of these then fine if not then good luck to you........it is a good school for the few but not for the many.....financially very poorly supported by the community and while they can spend a fortune fixing up the gym for basketball many students go without textbooks or they are badly outdated.......sports are fine for the egos, but not all kids need sports but all do need a good education.......take my advice if you live here look at another option!!
--Submitted by Michael Smith, a parent

I would have to stronly disagree with the reviewer from May 2005. I am a previous student who is currently enrolled in college. I was an honor student at CHS and took three full years off from school. Even after the three year break I went into college taking college level courses and received A's. These classes which included Math were not difficult at all. Calais High School had a great staff and the college preparatory classes were exactly that. I remember certain classes that required us to keep three ring binders which taught us how to study and prepare for exams even at the college level some instructors require the same. There should be no problems entering into college from Calais High School.
--Submitted by a former student

I was a student at Calais High School and I really feel that the previous review was one-sided. Calais High School does have positive points such the range of activites and the student to teacher ratio. However, I feel that the advanced placement classes that I took were of no help to me whatsoever. Out of the four advanced placement classes I took, I was not well-prepared enough to get college credit from any of the tests. I also felt unprepared in many aspects once I came to college. In particular I took two years of Spanish and remember almost nothing even though I consistently received A's in that class. This is due to the fact that there was no homework or real memorization recquired. If Calais High School really wants to be a good school, they should learn how to actually challenge their students and prepare them for college.
--Submitted by a former student

I am a student at Calais High School. I can't imagine going to any other school. If my day isnt going good i know of at least 4 teachers I would feel comfortable going to with any problem I have. They are all also very happy to help if there is something i didnt fully understand durning class. We also have a great activities program that includes Student Council, National Honor Society, Outdoors club, Acedemic Decathalon, Math Team,Softball, Baseball, Soccer, Tennis, Golf, Wrestling,Cheerleading, cross country, and most of all basketball. When going to a basketball game I know the rest of the town is going to be there. We the winners of 5 gold balls. A very exciting activity that our award winning student council holds is winter carnival. Every class dresses for a theme and throughout the week halls and banners are decorated. It's the highlight of the year.
--Submitted by a student