The Governor Baxter School for the Deaf (GBSD), formerly known as the Maine School for the Deaf is a public co-educational school that serves the

deaf Deafness has varying definitions in cultural and medical contexts. In medical contexts, the meaning of deafness is hearing loss that precludes a person from understanding spoken language, an Audiology, audiological condition. In this context it ...

and

hard-of-hearing Hearing loss is a partial or total inability to hear. Hearing loss may be present at birth or acquired at any time afterwards. Hearing loss may occur in one or both ears. In children, hearing problems can affect the ability to acquire spoken l ...

in the State of Maine. It is located on Mackworth Island, an approximately

island An island (or isle) is an isolated piece of habitat that is surrounded by a dramatically different habitat, such as water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An island ...

Falmouth, Maine Falmouth is a New England town, town in Cumberland County, Maine, United States. The population was 12,444 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census. It is part of the Portland, Maine, Portland–South Portland, Maine, South Portland&ndas ...

, USA, adjacent to its border with

Portland, Maine Portland is the largest city in the U.S. state of Maine and the seat of Cumberland County. Portland's population was 68,408 in April 2020. The Greater Portland metropolitan area is home to over half a million people, the 104th-largest metropol ...

. Students who live far away may stay with host families, who provide residential services. Its program is the Maine Educational Center for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing (MECDHH).

History

In 1943, Maine's governor Percival P. Baxter deeded the island and causeway, including his summer home, to the State of Maine. In 1957, the state created the Governor Baxter School for The Deaf (formerly known as the Maine School for The Deaf) on the island. Since 2009, GBSD is now a mainstream program within the Portland Public Schools. The preschool program remains on Mackworth Island.

Programs

Students from far away may live with host families. Previously the school contracted with the Sue Wright House of Spurwink. Before then the school had its own dormitory.
In 1991 deaf people protested against a proposal by the administration of

Governor of Maine The governor of Maine is the head of government of the U.S. state of Maine. Before Maine was admitted to the Union in 1820, Maine was part of Massachusetts and the governor of Massachusetts was chief executive. The current governor of Maine is Ja ...

John McKernan to stop operations of the dormitory.
Clipping
from

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Student body

In 1991 the school had 70 students, with about 12-24 of them boarding.

History

Programs

Student body

References

Further reading