The Wiscasset School Board voted 5-0 to move Wiscasset seventh- and eighth-graders to Wiscasset High School next school year during a brief special meeting in the Wiscasset Middle School cafeteria Thursday, Nov. 20.
The board reached consensus to make the move at a workshop Monday, Nov. 17. However, the board did not take a vote because members were not sure if the move required the authorization of the school board, or if it was within the authority of the superintendent.
Through research by interim Superintendent Lyford Beverage, it was determined the move did require the vote of the school board. According to Maine law, school boards “shall determine which students attend each school, classify them and transfer them from school to school where more than one school is maintained at the same time.”
With the seventh- and eighth-graders moving to the high school, if the voters approve closing Wiscasset Primary School in the Dec. 9 referendum, the students at the primary school will move to the middle school, making it a K to 6 school. If the voters say no to closing the primary school, the next choice for the town will be whether to close the middle school.
According to the school board, regardless of how the vote turns out, the seventh- and eighth-graders will be at the high school next September to begin their school year.
