The Maine School Administrative District 58 board of directors will not move forward with a plan to close Day Mountain Regional Middle School in Strong after members failed to reach a two-thirds majority during a vote Thursday.

Eight directors voted in favor of closing the school, which serves grades 5-8, four directors voted in opposition and one abstained, Superintendent Laura Columbia said in a phone call Friday, Oct. 17. The weighted vote, which is based on each town’s population, was 572 yes, 295 no, and 67 abstentions.

The plan would have shifted students in grades 5 and 6 to Kingfield Elementary School and Phillips Elementary School. Students in grades 7 and 8 would have been moved to Mt. Abram High School in Salem Township.

Any plan to close a school would ultimately need to be approved by district towns, Columbia added.

MSAD 58 includes the towns of Avon, Kingfield, Strong and Phillips.

Strong residents voted 124-61 on May 8 to begin the process of withdrawing from the district. Phillips voters followed with a vote of 71-64 on May 20, and Kingfield residents voted 145-34 on Sept. 16 to do the same.

On July 22, voters in Avon, the only town in the district without a school, opposed moving forward with the withdrawal process, 36-23.

Towns where voters have chosen to move forward on the 22-step withdrawal process will have to hold a final vote at the end of the process to decide on whether to officially withdraw.

Columbia said Friday that the Finance Committee would continue to meet and review options but, for now, the board would wait to see what happens with the towns considering withdrawal.

“People want us to make a decision but there are so many variables right now. No one wants to close a school,” Columbia said.

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