WALES — A sign outside Wales Central School reads, “Home of the Eagles. WCS concert Thursday, Dec. 9, 1 and 6:30 p.m.”

As the school day ended, two Wales School Department buses pulled up. Students climbed on for their ride home.

Wednesday seemed like a typical day, but these days aren't typical for the community.

In a few months, townspeople will be asked in a referendum whether they want to close the school and send students to Litchfield or keep it open and pay $208,000 more in property taxes per year.

Residents have until Saturday to comment at the Wales Town Office.

Shannon Pinard, who was picking up her 5-year-old, said she'll vote no. She wants the school to stay open.

“I went to school here," she said. "I've lived in Wales all my life. I wanted my kids to go to this school.” The school closing would be a huge loss to the community, she said. “We are a very close-knit town, Wales is. Everybody knows everybody. It's not like that when you go to Litchfield or Sabattus.”

Like other districts in Maine faced with shrinking enrollment and less money, Regional School Unit 4 (Sabattus, Wales and Litchfield) consolidated last year.

Each town had its own K-8 school. Now, the Wales K-8 school only holds grades K-2. Grades 3-5 attend Carrie Ricker School in Litchfield; grades 6-8 go to Oak Hill Middle School in Sabattus.

Recently, the RSU 4 Board of Directors voted to close the Wales school at the end of this school year.

“I think it's absurd,” said parent Sheri Bennett. “I just don't think there's any real need for it.” The school is too large for the remaining three grades, Bennett said.

Wales Central School, renovated in 1996, appears to be in good shape. It has a security system that allows staff to monitor who comes in, windows that let in lots of light, two floors complete with a full kitchen, cafeteria, gym, resource rooms, a library, a music room and five empty classrooms. The school's population of 60 pupils includes one kindergarten class, one first grade and one second grade.

Parent Peter Faucher called the board's vote “not as thought-out as it should have been. Some of the buildings they decided to keep open are in worse shape than this one.” Some people moved to Wales because of the school, he said. “It is small. It has a good student-teacher ratio.

Wales Selectman Paul Burgess, 69, attended the school as one of the original class. His siblings went there. “I put all my kids through there," he said. "I do not want to see it close. Every town should have a school in it.”

Burgess said he hated to see the town send its middle school students to Oak Hill Middle School in Sabattus.

“I understand it's an economic thing,” he said. "It will probably give the kids a better chance when they get to high school.”

It's different with younger children, he said.

“It's sad to truck our little children a long ways from home," he said. "They need to stay near home.”

Parent Kimberly O'Connell is leading a group working to keep the school open. The group has a Facebook page, “Vote to Save Wales Central School.”

Her husband, David O'Connell, said Wednesday he understands one school may have to close, but he had doubts about whether Wales Central is the right one, saying it may be in better physical shape than the Litchfield school.

“I'm hoping people on the board were being unbiased” when deciding which school should close, he said. Because of population, Wales is allowed two board members; Sabattus has four; and Litchfield, three.

“We're always outvoted,” O'Connell said.

He questioned the projected savings of $208,000 a year if the school is closed.

The district would save money by closing the school, but Wales residents wouldn't get a tax break, he said. The school would become the property of the town, which would have to maintain the building or sell it.

The two-level school, with its cafeteria and gym, is too big for most uses in Wales, which has a population of about 1,300, he said.

“Who's looking for a school to buy?”

bwashuk@sunjournal.com