SOUTH PARIS — With a vote of 18-2, directors of Maine School Administrative District 17 voted Monday to authorize Superintendent Heather Manchester to start to officially close Waterford Memorial School.

Waterford Director Judy Green and West Paris Director Donna Marshall cast the two dissenting votes.

Manchester will apply for permanent closure of the school for lack of need under the Maine Department of Education’s procedures, as laid out according to Title 20-A MRS §4102 (3).

Closing the elementary school will affect students from grades 1-6 who live in Waterford and Harrison. Currently, children from both towns between pre-K and second grade attend Waterford Memorial School while students in grades 3-6 go to Harrison Elementary School.

Enrollment at both schools is way below building capacities. Waterford, built in 1949, holds up to 204 students but currently has 76 students attending. Harrison, built in 1987, has a capacity of 213 but currently has 107 students attending.

Once the Waterford school closes, those students will go to Harrison Elementary.

SAD 17 projects it will save close to a half-million dollars in operations and salaries by uniting Waterford and Harrison students in one building. It will also give personnel who split time between the schools more hours working with students instead of commuting.

The board voted to consolidate the two towns into Harrison Elementary on April 8 after learning SAD 17 will lose more than $1 million in state funding in the next fiscal year. Monday’s vote solidifies its intent to close Waterford Memorial for good.

No residents from either town attended the meeting to address the board on its intentions — a far cry from when, without warning, Manchester closed Agnes Gray Elementary School in West Paris because of multiple life safety concerns.

Harrison’s Select Board created the Education Options Committee last year to research costs and scenarios should the town secede from SAD 17. Townspeople called for secession after learning the district might close elementary schools in Harrison, Waterford and Norway in favor of a central school for as many as 500 students.

Harrison’s work began last June on an informal basis and transitioned to a seated committee last fall. The town is not likely to take any official action toward exiting SAD 17 until the outcome of a districtwide referendum whether to build a new consolidated school, to be held in one year.

Planning for the new school is being handled by a volunteer building committee and is following the state’s guidance for consolidation to maximize how much of its construction the state is willing to pay for.

Waterford’s government and citizens have taken no similar action to Harrison; nor has the town put up an organized fight against closing its school, as West Paris did when Agnes Gray first closed in February 2024 until this month when voters reluctantly authorized its official closure due to the excessive costs to operate it independently.

Monday night, Manchester told the school board that Waterford’s Select Board has stated it may be interested in obtaining Waterford Memorial School back from the school district, which owns the property, but she didn’t disclose any further details.

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