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Fourth and fifth grade students from Bangor’s Fairmount School will move to a wing of the high school next year when their building closes for repairs.
The Bangor School Committee voted unanimously Thursday night to approve the proposal to create a “school within a school” at Bangor High School.
The decision follows a month of debate over where to move Fairmount students and staff after asbestos was found in their building, and two weeks after the school department scrapped an earlier plan to reorganize several grade levels due to community pushback.
Several parents spoke in favor of the plan during public comment, saying they found it to be the least disruptive option, although some also raised concerns about the lack of clarity around how long Fairmount will be closed.
“I want to thank you for listening to the community, for slowing down the process,” parent Josh Bridges told the School Committee and Superintendent Marie Robinson. But he added, “It’s difficult for me to evaluate short-term decisions like you’re making tonight when the long-term vision is still very unclear.”
Contractor Scott Dunbar told the department that repairing Fairmount could cost around $5.6 million and take 12 to 18 months, school administrators reported at a workshop last week.
“We do need to pivot very quickly towards plans for the fall of 2027,” School Committee member Benjamin Speed said Thursday.
The school department aims to have more information about what Fairmount repairs would look like by August, according to Robinson. The department also plans to offer open houses in the high school’s A wing around that time so families can see the space, she added.
Fairmount students and staff will be placed in the lower A wing of the high school next year, which will displace some high school classes to other parts of the building and force some teachers to share classrooms, school administrators said last week. Fairmount students will have their own building entrance, bathrooms and buses.
A Fairmount teacher, Marcy Soucy, was also recognized at Thursday’s meeting as the Penobscot County teacher of the year. Soucy addressed the upcoming Fairmount relocation in her remarks at the meeting.
“As our community navigates this difficult transition surrounding the temporary closure of Fairmount, what remains constant is the people, the students, the families who trust us with their children and the educators who continue to show up with compassion, commitment, and love even during uncertain times,” she said.
She added, “No matter what door students walk through next year, they will be greeted with open arms and a loving heart, because that is the Bangor way.”
