The Bangor School Department is tabling a decision on where to put Fairmount School students until the end of the month due to complaints from the public.
The postponement, announced in an email to families early morning Wednesday, comes after the department announced Friday it was moving forward with a plan to relocate all fourth-graders to Mary Snow School, move fifth- and sixth-graders to the James F. Doughty School and send seventh- and eighth-graders to the William S. Cohen School.
The School Committee was set to vote on that plan Wednesday night. The vote has now been pushed back until May 28, Robinson said.
That decision was made after “hearing from the public and wanting to continue to look for alternative options,” School Committee Chair Timothy Surrette said, which could include looking more deeply into potential leasing options in the city or getting new ideas from the community that hadn’t previously been considered.
Fairmount, one of two schools in the district for fourth- and fifth-graders, is set to temporarily close next year after asbestos was unexpectedly found in the ceiling. The closure has accelerated existing discussions around reorganizing the city’s schools and maintaining aging buildings amid a funding backlog.
The department plans to reevaluate options for next year, which “includes taking a closer look at options that may have initially appeared challenging,” Superintendent Marie Robinson said in Wednesday’s email.
The plan to reorganize fourth- through eighth-graders was by far the least expensive of the five options initially considered for next year, but only the third most popular in a survey of families.
“Your voices have been clearly heard. We are deeply grateful for the thoughtful feedback, questions, and ideas that families have shared in recent days,” Robinson said.
The department plans to hold public listening sessions on May 18, from 5 to 6 p.m. at Doughty and 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. at Cohen.