Telstar High School

Telstar High School operates as a minimally staffed four-year high school in Bethel, Maine, overseen by RSU 44/MSAD 44. Current enrollment sits at 179 students spanning grades 9 through 12. That puts it 60% smaller than the typical public school in Maine, which averages around 448 students.

RSU 44/MSAD 44 runs 4 schools in total, collectively educating 664 students. Telstar High School is one of those campuses.

Looking at the student body, Telstar High School reports that nearly all students (92%) are White; the rest comes out to 6% multiracial. That composition is broadly in line with Oxford County as a whole.

Looking at school resources, Staff filings list 16 full-time-equivalent teachers, which works out to roughly 11.3:1 students per teacher. The state averages about 11.9:1, putting this campus right in line with peers. About 57% of enrolled students meet the income threshold for free or reduced-price lunch, often used as a Title I proxy.

Zooming out to the county, the surrounding county (Oxford County) logs that median household earnings sit near $60,173, roughly 24% of adults have completed at least a four-year degree, and roughly 9% of residents live below the federal poverty line. Telstar High School is one of 33 public schools in Oxford County (combined enrollment of about 7,913 students).

Telstar Middle School is the nearest neighboring public school, about 0.0 miles from this campus. Counting just inside five miles, 2 other public schools cluster around Telstar High School.

Geographically, the school is in an outlying area.

Five-year trend. Over the past 7-year window, the student count declined 10%: 199 students in 2018 compared to 179 in 2025. The White share of enrollment declined from 96% to 92% over that span. Class-load math has tightened: from 12.7:1 in 2018 to 11.3:1 in 2025.

Within the allk12 community for this school, recent activity here tends to focus on enrollment questions, classroom assignments, and PTA news. Parents, students, alumni, and staff are welcome to weigh in.