ARUNDEL – In an unexpected reversal, the trustees of The Landing School of Boat Building & Design announced Wednesday that steps are being taken to ensure the school can remain open. Last week, the announcement that the school would close immediately shocked and saddened many Mainers, for whom the school’s international reputation and success in training and placing boat builders in jobs up and down the coast and beyond was a source of pride.

In a conversation yesterday with David Millet, treasurer of the board of directors at The Landing School, he explained that the memorandum of understanding (MOU) signed with Northeast Maritime Institute – College of Maritime Science (NMI) came about very quickly.

“They saw last week’s press release and wanted to help. They came up to visit Friday and by Saturday we had drafted an MOU, which gives us a 30-day time period to do due diligence. They just wanted to save the school.”

He added that NMI, domiciled in Massachusetts, is a for-profit with a small non-profit arm and The Landing School is a non-profit. He said, “Both sets of lawyers assure us this can be worked out. We will be working with the accreditation agency, the U.S. Department of Education, the veterans administration {Department of Veterans Affairs} and Maine and Massachusetts on the project.” But Millet feels confident in the process. “The MOU includes language that allows us to extend the 30 days if we are making good progress,” he said.

Millet also gave background on The Landing School’s financial difficulties, saying, “The demand for technical skills in boatyards and boatbuilding today is so high that they are doing training in-house, they are hiring before they train. Our enrollment has dropped 50% in the past few years. Enrollment was at 60-70 students and now is down to below 30.” He added that they had been unable to reach their philanthropic goals in recent years.

Asked about students who had already enrolled for the fall, Millet explained that they received Wednesday’s updated press release and will get further information as the process moves along.

While NMI is primarily an online education facility, their College of Maritime Science offers a two-year hands-on comprehensive professional licensing program. Millet added that The Landing School’s design program is the only one of its kind in the world, and NMI is committed to keeping The Landing School open here in Arundel.

Millet said that both parties know that speed is of the essence, and his final message to the community is to, “Save the school.”

About The Landing School of Boatbuilding & Design
The Landing School of Boatbuilding & Design opened in 1978, started by John and Linda Burgess and Cricket Tupper. Its mission is to prepare skilled boatbuilders, designers, and technicians for meaningful careers in the marine industry. In the 80s and 90s, huge numbers of the community would show up and celebrate Boat School launchings at Reid’s Boatyard in Kennebunkport.  Some of those events have been the subject of paintings by well-known artist Jack Gable.