LEWISTON — No longer faced with a daily bus ride to Portland, deaf and hard-of-hearing students are receiving instruction in Lewiston, thanks to a new partnership with the former Baxter School for the Deaf.

The Maine Educational Center for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, as Baxter is now known, is providing its own instructors and interpreters, who go to the city’s public schools every day to provide specialized instruction beyond what Lewiston’s special education staff can provide.

Just one week into the school year, the program, which aims to serve students throughout Androscoggin County, has exceeded all expectations, according to officials.

“If I could have designed the perfect program from scratch, it would have been this,” said James Cliffe, assistant director for special education for Lewiston schools.

Discussions began a couple of years ago seeking a location in Androscoggin County for the growing number of deaf and hard-of-hearing students, according to Steve Connolly, executive director of Maine Educational Center for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing. One of the goals was to reduce travel time area deaf and hard-of-hearing students from home to school.

“We know a number of students who can benefit from deaf education programs in Androscoggin County,” Connolly said. “For the last few years, we’ve been transporting students down to Portland schools. It’s a lot of time in vehicles for kids.”

He worked closely with Assistant Superintendent Karen Paquette and Cliffe to get the program running.

“I was serving last year as an assistant principal for Lewiston special education,” Cliffe said. “I was working with the center to get some support for us for students who had moved into Lewiston who needed some extensive special services. That’s how I became acquainted with the program and MECDHH. “

He credits the special education leadership team for bringing the program to Lewiston.

Approximately 600 students across the state require some form of deaf and hard-of-hearing services throughout Maine, Cliffe said. The center has teaching locations in place in Lewiston, Portland, York and Brewer. Lewiston has classes set up at Farwell Elementary School, as well as the middle school and high school.

The Lewiston school system has five students at Farwell, four at the middle school and one at the high school in the program, and the number of students participating is expected to grow as students in surrounding communities learn of it.

“It’s been a fantastic opportunity for our kids,” Connolly said. “The schools have been welcoming in enhancing the community for our kids to join.”

Students and staff have full access to each school’s resources and activities.

The center provides all teachers and staff at no cost to the host school. The teachers have a specialized degree called Teachers of the Deaf.

“They have to have a certain certification to do that job ,” Connolly said. “”We have interpreters in the schools as well as (American Sign Language) instructors, both occupational therapists and special language pathologists. A lot of services for kids. If needed, we offer functional living skills programs.”

“Students hard of hearing have pretty unique needs that require specialized instruction,” Cliffe said. “They have language needs and ASL access to all the offerings at the school. It’s a pretty robust team that needs to be on site to facilitate all the educational needs of our students.”

Lewiston school officials are excited about the program’s strong start and anticipate a bright future.

“I think we had a really awesome start,” Cliffe said. “The students arrived happy and have successfully integrated into the schools.”