Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the School Closure topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Parents, teachers and students urge Portland board to preserve Lincoln Middle School as consolidation is studied
Summary
Dozens of Lincoln parents, students and staff told the Portland Board of Public Education on March 10 that a proposal to consolidate middle schools would damage Lincolncommunity, disrupt student supports and shrink access to hands-on STEM and elective programs; the board opened a formal study and workshop on possible reorganization.
At a March 10 meeting at Casco Bay High School, a steady stream of Lincoln Middle School parents, teachers and students told the Portland Board of Public Education they oppose a district proposal to study consolidating the citymiddle schools from three to two campuses.
"We have a $179.9 million budget and we're talking about closing our school," said Nico Wales, a lead secretary at Lincoln, accusing district leaders of cutting bus drivers and counselors while adding central-office positions. "We're gonna lose the best and brightest ... because of decisions that are being made by the group in front of me." Wales spoke during the meeting's non-budget public comment period.
Supporters of Lincoln described a recent turnaround at the school and warned consolidation would break small learning communities and strain STEM offerings. Elva Tejada, a seventh-grade science teacher at Lincoln, told the board hands-on labs, robotics and electives cannot simply be scaled up without consequences: "In a larger setting, lab rotations are going to be reduced. Labs are gonna become demos. Kids are not gonna be learning the same way." A Lincoln sixth-grader, Eleanor, said smaller classes make students feel they belong.
Speakers emphasized specific harms they expect from a hurried consolidation: increased student transitions, larger class sizes, loss of advisory and restorative-practice continuity, and disruption to relationships that teachers and counselors have built. Several current and former Lincoln staff described the school as a "belonging-based" model with falling suspension rates and improving climate; they urged the board to preserve that work rather than scatter staff and students.
The board did not vote on a school-closing decision at the meeting. Member Opperman presented a resolution and data package directing a formal study of middle-school programming, including academic performance, student experience, staffing and building utilization; the proposal calls for targeted community engagement and a phased study with benchmarks through the summer and fall. The superintendent said the study will synthesize cohort assessment, attendance and suspension data and return recommendations for board consideration.
Board members and district staff said the study is intended to expand the evidence base before any final decisions are made. "If the study produces options, we will vet them with staff, families and students," a board member said during the workshop. The resolution's timeline calls for an initial report to the board in late summer and further community engagement should the study produce a reorganization plan.
What happens next: the board's middle-school study will continue across the spring and summer with scheduled reports back to the committee and full board; any formal plan to close or consolidate a school would require additional hearings and a separate board vote.
