AUBURN — School committee members expressed support Wednesday night for moving sixth-grade classes to the middle school.

While there are no formal plans to bring sixth graders to Auburn Middle School at this time, the vote allows the Facilities Advisory Committee to explore the concept.

Now, the committee is tasked with forming a Sixth Grade Inclusion Ad Hoc Committee to explore the logistical components of adding another grade to the middle school, such as transportation, food, technology and changes to extracurricular activities.

The idea stems from a facilities report completed by Harriman, the architecture and design firm hired to look at the city’s schools, future enrollment projections and other factors in order to make recommendations. Moving the sixth grade is among Harriman’s recommendations.

Adding sixth graders to the middle school offers a more age-appropriate environment, strengthens the staff-student relationship over a longer period of time, provides access to subject-specific teachers and enhances academic outcomes, the report says. In addition, a move would provide extracurricular opportunities for sixth graders and better prepare them academically for a transition into high school.

The report also recommends hiring an architect or engineer of record to manage a potential expansion and renovation at the middle school.

However, committee Chairperson Pamela Albert said there is enough room at the middle school currently to bring the roughly 250 sixth-grade students there with some reconfiguration, but without having to expand or add onto the building.

Albert agreed with most of the reasons in the report in expressing her support for the move. She feels that it is appropriate to add sixth graders to the middle school.

“Right now, I mean, kids come into the middle school one year and they’re out the next year,” she said. “And it would be an opportunity to bring sixth grade into the middle school, acclimate them to the middle school experience: a longer opportunity for teachers to build relationships and have more ongoing relationships with their students as opposed to this in-and-out experience.”

Moving sixth graders would also free up space in elementary schools, which would allow school officials to think about how they want to organize those buildings and allow them to move other plans forward.

The report also recommends closing Walton Elementary School, which prompted opposition from dozens of families and students to show up at a December 2023 meeting to oppose the idea.

An exact timeline of when sixth graders are expected to be moved to the middle school and how the building might be reconfigured was not discussed during Wednesday’s meeting.