WATERVILLE, Maine — Maine schools have long struggled to recruit and retain teachers, especially in early elementary grades.

“I think that there absolutely is a shortage of teachers in the education field,” Dillon Clark, principal at Belgrade Central School , said.

According to the Maine Department of Education , early elementary and about a dozen other pre-K through 12 subjects are facing teacher shortages this school year.

In response, Thomas College has launched a four-year residency program through its Lunder School of Education. The Thomas Teaching Cooperative places students in Maine classrooms as paid student teachers while they complete their degrees.

“We're starting to see fewer and fewer people wanting to go into the profession, and one of those barriers is college de

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