PORTSMOUTH — Glenn Young, the resident policeman on Prudence Island, jumped at the chance to apply for the job a few years ago because it meant that he and his wife, Jennifer, could realize a way of life they had hoped to experience only in retirement, if ever.

And the one-room schoolhouse, he says, is at the heart of the island community.

Young’s 4-year-old daughter, Raya, already considers the school her own. Until the end of the school year in June, Glenn, Jennifer and Raya Young made it a habit to have lunch with the two pupils in the school, giving the teacher a break in the middle of the day.

Raya had her own place to sit at school. And she got invited to the holiday parties. The one-room environment affords a “unique chance for the older kids to look out for the younger ones,” Glenn Young said.

Young said he is thrilled with the interim solution that will keep the school open, although there is “still a lot of work” to be done by islanders to make it work.

While Young said he is disappointed that galloping costs pushed the School Department to give up direct responsibility for educating the island children, he said he is “excited and hopeful” for the future of the school.

“It’s very much like Prudence Island to take the bull by the horns,” he said.

— Gina Macris