STOCKTON SPRINGS, Maine — The votes are in, bringing an end to another small town Maine school.
During an election Tuesday, residents of Searsport and Stockton Springs, the two towns in Regional School Unit 20, voted to close Stockton Springs Elementary School. The referendum passed in Searsport 65-18 and in Stockton Springs 91-28, according to district officials.
Under state law, even if one of the towns voted against the closure, the school still would have closed. Both towns would have had to reject the action for the district to be required to keep it open. The district’s school board is expected to certify the results of the vote during a meeting Wednesday night.
Earlier this year, the board unanimously voted to push forward with the school closing during a meeting inside the largely empty school.
Today, the school, which was built to house 200-300 K-5 students, is only used for the district’s pre-kindergarten program and its 36 children. Just two of school’s 10 classrooms are in use. The district has seen relatively steady enrollment in recent years, but after several towns left RSU 20 to join other districts, more space opened up in the Searsport school, allowing all the district’s K-5 students to move there.
Starting next school year, after the closure becomes official, pre-kindergarten students will be shipped to Searsport Elementary School, about 5 miles down Route 1.
District officials have said the move could save $70,000 per year and bring in additional revenue if the building is sold or leased.
The school district’s board will have to decide what to do with the building in the future. They could sell it outright or continue to hold ownership while leasing the space to another group or groups.
Some residents have said they want the town to continue to have access to the building, as Boy and Girl Scout troops and other groups use it as a meeting space.
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