It's not every day that a small island city of 1,300 with a less than robust economy beats out thousands of other communities, many of them with far more financial and human resources. In April the City of Eastport school system found out that it had made the cut from thousands of applicants down to the next round of 348 competing in the national XQ: Super School challenge.
     XQ: The Super School Project was launched in September 2015 as "an open call to rethink and redesign the American high school." Core funding comes from the board of the XQ Institute, chaired by Laurene Powell Jobs, wife of Steve Jobs, who was the co-founder and CEO of Apple. The next two rounds whittle the 348 to 50 finalists announced by mid‑July, with the final five winners announced in early August. The winning applicants will be awarded $10 million over a five-year period to implement their educational plans.
      Since February 2015, a group of Eastporters and others has been working on a proposed bi‑coastal high school called the Pacific Atlantic Community Technology School (PACTS). It would prioritize experiential learning and student‑designed curricula. Involved are learning experts from Silicon Valley, California, Shead High School administrators, teachers, students, parents and community members.
     For a community of 1,300 with an independent streak to be found in its working waterfront, strong culture of arts and a growing and active retirement base, the next four weeks will present no small task as the core PACTS group works on the next level of the application process. Involved are eight questions that require extensive research on such subjects as human capital and training, facilities and technology, implementation, assessment, finance and governance.
      Resources are always scarce, but the lean lifestyle has created a can‑do attitude that Paul Theriault, principal of the Eastport schools, knows how to use as the convener of the working group. In a prepared statement, he says, "We're not at all worried -- we have insights and resources within our learning community that many cities could never dream of. But we are energized by this incentive to think larger." He adds, "Whether or not we arrive at the winners' circle in August, Eastport schools will be better off for this intensive exercise of out‑of‑the‑box thinking about education."
      If the bi‑coastal plan is successful, Eastport high school students will be able opt into the PACTS and begin an educational journey on two widely separated and diverse campuses. Access to Silicon Valley tech resources would be available through online courses and on‑site educational visits. The same would be true of Silicon Valley students. Project‑based learning would take place in Silicon Valley and Maine, and courses would be anchored in community partnerships. In the end they would graduate from their home school, but their path to a diploma would take them through plenty of challenging and inspiring terrain.
      At a recent meeting held by the core group as it planned for the next application phase, Theriault said, "It isn't about competition, it's about transforming ourselves."
     The core group includes Eastport Principal Paul Theriault; parent, school committee member and PACTS Eastport Team Captain Jon Calame; parent Coleman Brice; teacher Catherine Lee; downtown business owner and school committee member Meg McGarvey; Island Institute Fellow Tarah Waters; and teacher Damon Weston.