The board for Unity-based Regional School Unit 3 voted Monday night to close two of its elementary schools after next year because of the high cost to maintain their aging buildings and their small student populations.
The two schools that will be closing, starting in the 2025-2026 school year, are Morse Memorial Elementary School in Brooks and Walker Elementary School in Liberty, according to an announcement from the school board chair, Eleanor Hess.
The district decided to prioritize investing in educational programs at its other schools rather than maintaining the two elementary school buildings, both of which were built in the 1930s, Hess said.
Unlike Boothbay and Boothbay Harbor, which are attempting to renovate their aging school buildings after an effort to replace the nearly 70-year-old high school was shot down last year, RSU 3 will completely close the elementary schools in 2025.
The majority of the students at Morse Memorial and Walker Elementary will attend Mount View Elementary School in Thorndike, according to the announcement. Some may attend Monroe Elementary School in Monroe. Morse Memorial currently has 91 students, while Walker Elementary has 45.
RSU 3 serves the towns of Brooks, Freedom, Jackson, Knox, Liberty, Monroe, Montville, Thorndike, Troy, Unity and Waldo.
Hess said that Mount View will have room for the six additional classes of students while maintaining class sizes under 20 and a school population under 350.