Next year’s class of Waldoboro sixth grade students will receive their education at Medomak Middle School, rather than Miller School, in a bid to create space at the overcrowded building.
The RSU 40 Board of Directors approved the move during its meeting on Thursday, March 20 after a motion made by board Vice Chair Julie Swindler, of Warren, led to extensive discussion.
“All of this is in an effort to create a needed instructional space at Miller School,” Swindler said.
In her proposal, Swindler also recommended moving one classroom-sized special education program to Union Elementary School. She also suggested issuing an open invite to Miller School parents and families to send their students to other elementary schools throughout the district, provided they transport their children themselves.
“It may only catch five kids, if that, but it’s some, and it’ll beef up the Friendship (Village) School as they really need to fill up their population,” Swindler said.
All measures – moving the sixth grade, the special education composite room, and issuing an invitation to Miller families to change schools – passed with strong support from the board.
While RSU 40 as a whole is experiencing a gradual decline in enrollment that is predicted to continue, the town of Waldoboro – and Miller School, which currently serves Waldoboro’s pre-K to sixth graders – is the exception to that rule, according to data presented by RSU 40 Superintendent Steve Nolan at previous board meetings.
Miller School is struggling to find room for its student population, resulting in some classes learning in converted bathrooms, hallways, and other nontraditional and suboptimal “classrooms,” according to Principal Julia Levensaler.
Meanwhile, the Friendship Village School population has shrunken from what the school was designed to hold. Some grade levels have fewer than 10 students in a single class, Principal Terry Steinbeiser said at the RSU 40 Board of Directors meeting March 3.
While moving the Miller School sixth grade to Medomak Middle School does not remedy Friendship’s low enrollment woes, it would free up space at the Miller School, Levensaler said.
Board members generally agreed.
“I think those are all really good starts,” said board member Noah Botley, of Washington. “I like the fact that there’s options.”
Medomak Middle School Principal Joshua Snyder shared an alternative perspective, saying the change would have a negative impact on operations at the middle school at least in the short term.
“It feels like there’s an implied amount of space and freedom here, but I just don’t know where that sense comes from,” Snyder said.
He said it would take a “multi-year process of trial and error” to accommodate the sixth grade class, due to changes to class structure and layout he said would be necessary to absorb the extra students.
The move could affect some teaching positions, relocating several sixth grade teachers and potentially removing other roles, Nolan said.
Board member Rachel Wilcox, of Union, asked whether there was room for a portable classroom on the middle school property. According to Facilities Manager Brian Race, such a facility could not be built without significant cost and road construction.
Swindler said she felt that the difficulty of absorbing students at the middle school was outweighed by the existing challenges at the district’s elementary schools.
“I want to recognize the sacrifices our elementary schools have had to make in recent years with space,” she said. “I think that it’s going to be difficult to make the change, but I think it’s worth it for the betterment of the district.”
Snyder expressed “solidarity” with Miller School and said he respected the decision.
The next meeting of the RSU 40 Board of Directors will be held at 7 p.m. on Thursday, April 3 at the central office, at 1070 Heald Highway in Union. For more information, go to rsu40.org or call 785-2277.
