Aroostook school for people with disabilities opens major expansion

For more than 66 years, the Central Aroostook Association has operated its Opportunity Training Center — a private K-12 special purpose school — out of a 10,000-square-foot building in Presque Isle.

The space was “pretty cramped,” as one educator put it.

But as the school year began Wednesday, the roughly 28 students in its middle-high school program stepped through the doors of a new facility the association bought, then massively renovated this summer to expand its services.

“We’re excited to be able to provide the students a lot more space,” OTC Assistant Director Meg Plante said. “It’ll be a lot more engaging for them and I’m sure it will be much more successful for them as well.”

The 4,200-square-foot building, dubbed “OTC Next Steps,” was the former site of Kelly’s Place Learning