Public School Boarding Program for International Students

Montpelier High School is a top-notch school. We’re consistently ranked among the top 10 schools in the state. We have a tiny drop out rate and frankly, it’s a great place to work! But like many Vermont schools we are facing a dip in enrollment, which has implications for our future budgets. In a time when the state formula may be shifting, it would be great to have more students in our school.

To address this issue some public schools in Maine and New York have started boarding programs in which international students stay only one year. Montpelier High School is ideally positioned to start such a boarding program. Vermont College of Fine Arts has excess dorm space, a cafeteria that already serves three meals a day, and most importantly, they’re enthusiastic about partnering with us. The big pieces of this puzzle are coming together, but there are many details to work out yet.

Through my Rowland Fellowship I, and a team of stakeholders, will put together the logistical, legal, financial, recruitment, and hospitality details of starting a public boarding program. I hope to collect best practices from successful boarding programs, and document our program in such a way that it could serve as a model for other schools. Montpelier stands to substantially benefit financially and culturally from this program, and it may be a solution for other Vermont schools as well.