Maine has second highest pre-school expulsion rate in country

Maine Public Broadcasting - New research shows that in Maine, nearly a quarter of childcare centers have expelled a child in the past year.

Research shows that Maine has the second-highest preschool expulsion rate in the country.

Rita Furlow is the senior policy analyst for the Maine Children’s Alliance. In 2015, her group and the Maine Children’s Growth Council began studying the issue. They surveyed childcares and preschools and found that nearly a quarter of Maine’s center-based providers had to expel a student within the past year.

But Furlow says there is a solution: early childhood mental health consultations.

“Even though we were looking at various topics, that issue just seemed to keep rising to the top in terms of the research and what would be more effective,” she says.