A Message from Principal Sarah Vickers

Built on the farmland once owned by a former local teacher, the Downeast School has served Bangor’s elementary school children since 1980. In that year, the school department purchased the former Dow Air Force Base (1941-1968) community center and converted it to a school building– currently housing the largest PreK-3 student population in Bangor.

The Downeast School is one of five Bangor elementary (PreK-3) schools and one of three that serve the West Side of the city. Downeast students combine with those from 14th Street School and Vine Street School in their transition to grades 4 and 5 at the Fairmount School before moving on to the James F. Doughty School.

Like all Bangor schools, the Downeast School staff is committed to the mission of Academic Excellence for All Students.  This commitment begins with literacy; the Downeast staff has fully embraced the Maine Literacy Partnership instructional and professional development model, engaging in ongoing professional development as a results-driven team of literacy teachers at all grade levels. Classroom teachers and interventionists take great concern for the learning of individual students, providing a range of supports and tracking their progress over time. The school is proud to note that in 2010 and 2011, Downeast students achieved above the reading targets set by No Child Left Behind.

Complementing this literacy priority is a sequential mathematics instructional and support program that has yielded consistently high student achievement. Students also experience coordinated instruction in science and social studies, culminating with grade 3 common units and assessments in those content areas.  Rounding out the school experience are five years of instruction in physical education, music, and art that coordinate with the learning content and themes whenever possible.