Whatever path Wiscasset takes to cut its excess school space, Wiscasset Middle School Principal Bruce Scally and Wiscasset Primary School Principal Mona Schlein said Nov. 13, their staff members will stand behind those decisions and make the changes work.

However, as Scally and Schlein led tours of the two schools for nearly three hours Thursday, Schlein pointed out concerns she would have for the primary school’s younger students moving to the middle school.

Scally raised no concerns about the primary school’s suitability for middle school students. He acknowledged that the middle school would need parking and playground changes, but told tour-goers that either building would work as the one to stay open.

The Wiscasset School Committee voted Sept. 15 to close the primary school next year. Talks have centered on moving the school’s students to the middle school and either keeping grades five through eight there also or moving grades seven and eight to Wiscasset High School.

On Dec. 9, voters will approve or reject the primary school’s closure. Rejection could result in the committee then deciding to close the middle school, the committee’s chairman Steve Smith has said.

The tours offered the public a firsthand look at the schools ahead of next month’s vote. The turnout of about two dozen people, including parents, children and school staff was not disappointing, Schlein said.

“Not at all, even if there were only two people, it was just an invitation.”

Some people may not have been able to come, while others may have already decided how they will vote, she said.

Among concerns Schlein cited on the tours was a slope outside one of the middle school’s fire exits. “Can you see how many people would be rolling down that hill? Oh, my goodness,” she said.

The exit is one of the school’s lesser used ones, Scally said.

Schlein also predicted that the youngest students or those with special needs would easily find hiding places on the playground unless it is redesigned.

The playground would be redone, possibly into two playgrounds by age group, Scally said. He also addressed an issue that has emerged, over the prospect of younger students taking the stairs to get to the cafeteria at the middle school. He has seen children as young as 2 and 3 years negotiate steeper stairs than those, he said.

“I don’t believe the stairs are truly an issue,” he told tour-goers. “If it does become an emotionally charged issue, maybe lunch can be brought upstairs for the younger students.”

Some rooms’ uses could also change to best serve classes’ needs, Scally said.

“None of this is set in stone. If there’s a better way to use the facility, that’s what we intend to do.”

On the primary school tour that followed, Schlein said some of the school’s best aspects might be lost in a move to the middle school. Among those is the easy access to Morris Farm, next door. Classes walk over a short path to get there; at the middle school, they would have to take a bus, which would takes time and money, she said.

The school’s kindergarten space, a set of large rooms linked by a sunken area for activities, would be the hardest space to lose because she didn’t know how it could be replicated at the middle school, Schlein said.

One of the event’s youngest participants, Owen Allen, 3, expressed enthusiasm at the sound of a train when the group paused in the middle school’s rear parking area, next to the Sheepscot River.

“I hear a train and I see a playground,” he told Scally.

Allen’s siblings attend Wiscasset Primary. In a brief interview, their mother Natalie Allen said she would like to see the town consider putting kindergarten through eighth grade at Wiscasset High School and moving the high school grades to the middle school.

Also taking the tours was Donna Barnes, who has taught in Wiscasset schools for 41 years and currently teaches art at both the primary and middle schools. While in the primary school’s art room, she told the group that closing that school would require change for the students least equipped, developmentally, for change.

“For me it’s emotional challenges that I’m concerned about ... That’s where I want people to start thinking,” Barnes said.

Schlein and Scally then reiterated that their staffs will work to make the best settings possible for students, wherever they attend school next year. 

“We’ll stand behind whatever decisions there are,” Schlein said.

“Whatever happens, we’re going to make it work,” Scally said.