WALES — Paperwork will be filed today to close the tiny Wales Central School after the school year ends in June, Superintendent Jim Hodgkin said Wednesday.

Wales residents have 10 days to comment on the school closing. The comments will be accepted at the Town Office until Saturday, Dec. 11. They will then be forwarded to the Maine Department of Education.

On Wednesday, Hodgkin notified residents through an automated phone bank to be sure all parents got word. 

Wales Central School has three classrooms — kindergarten, first grade and second grade. It’s being closed due to a lack of need, Hodgkin said, adding that there is sufficient room to handle the Wales teachers and students at Litchfield’s Libby-Tozier School.

Closing the Wales school will save taxpayers about $208,031 a year, Hodgkin said. The savings will come from not heating or maintaining the school and from cutting two positions, a custodian and a secretary. The custodian and secretary would be laid off.

Closing a school is difficult, Hodgkin said. “No one wants to close the school.” It’s being done to save money, he said. “We had a public forum the end of October. Clearly, people in Wales aren’t in favor of closing this school.”

Wales voters were asked in a nonbinding referendum last month whether they wanted to spend $208,000 to keep the school open. Voters said they did not want to spend more to keep the school open, but the vote was close, Hodgkin said.

Will Fessenden, who was a Regional School Unit 4 director until last month, said he didn’t vote in favor of closing the Wales school, that he believes in community schools. Wales is part of RSU 4, which also comprises Litchfield and Sabattus.

“As a resident of Sabattus, I didn’t think it was appropriate for me to vote to close a school in another town,” Fessenden said. “I wouldn’t vote to close a school in my town. Schools are part of the community. It’s something that will be missed if they lose the school. It’s part of the town’s identify.”

After the public comment period ends Dec. 11, Maine Education Commissioner Angela Faherty will review Wales numbers, read the comments and decide whether the school-closing should proceed, Hodgkin said.

If Faherty says it should, a special referendum will be held in Wales, probably in February, to let the voters decide.

Like many school districts in Maine, Litchfield-Sabattus-Wales property taxpayers were faced last year with cuts in state education money. The three towns’ schools were realigned to cut costs.

Before, each town had its own K-8 schools and one high school, Oak Hill in Wales.

Now, the three towns have one school for grades six through eight, Oak Hill Middle School in Sabattus; and one school for grades three through five, Carrie Ricker School in Litchfield.

As proposed, there would be two prekindergarten through grade two schools:  Sabattus Primary and Libby-Tozier in Litchfield. The Litchfield school has room to accommodate the Wales students, Hodgkin said.

When schools were realigned last year, class sizes went from an average of 16-19 to 19-23, Hodgkin said.

If Wales Central School is closed, prekindergarten through grade two classes would be kept small, with 15-17 students per class, Hodgkin said.

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