Many in the community were (and many still continue to be!) caught off guard by these decisions.

2023-2024: Elementary Boundaries and Configurations Steering Committee (BCSC) 

A Reconfiguration (or ""Grade-level configuration changes") impact study was a proposed action by the Elementary Boundaries and Configurations Steering Committee in their February 12, 2024 Board Presentation (Slide 29):

"The Board should identify a consultant to complete an impact study of potential grade-level configuration changes on our schools (including needed resources, traffic implications, etc.)"

FY27 Budget Planning Process

February 9: Proposal Request
The BCSC-recommended study never happened, but the district resurfaced the prospect of reconfiguration during the FY27 Budget Planning process. During the February 9, 2026 School Board meeting the Board voted to "request the Superintendent to produce a formal proposal related to the benefits and impact of the elementary school reconfiguration to be presented and discussed at the Budget Workshop I on March 2, 2026."

March 2: District Proposal

In response to the Board's February 9 request, the district shared:

• a presentation making their case for a school closure and reconfiguration, with a ranked list of their recommended options (Slide 33)

• a spreadsheet detailing the various school closure and reconfiguration scenarios

March 30: Board Approval

The Boarded voted:

• to close Kaler Elementary

• to reconfigure the remaining 4 elementary schools as Dyer & Small (PreK – Grade 1) and Brown & Skillin (Grades 2-4)

Make your voice heard!

With such a tight timeline for planning and implementation, it's critical that community members speak up now. The SPSD is soliciting feeback, questions and input from the community on Reconfiguration via several channels between April 7-16: 

Online Survey (Online Survey with Interpretation services)

Meetings for Staff

• Kaler: April 7, 7:45 am

• Skillin: April 8, 7:45 am

• Online - Open for All Staff: April 8, 3:45 pm (Link)

• Dyer: April 9, 7:45 am

• Brown: April 13, 7:45 am

• Small: April 14, 7:45 am

Meetings for Families

• Skillin: April 8, 6-7 pm

• Kaler: April 9, 6-7 pm

• Online: April 13, 9:30-10:30 am (Link)

• SPHS: April 13, 4:45-5:45 (Board meeting to follow at 6pm)

• Brown: April 14, 6-7 pm

• Dyer: April 15, 6-7 pm

• Small: April 16, 6-7 pm

Purpose

This website is intended to:

• help inform South Portland, ME community members of issues related to the South Portland School District's (SPSD) FY27 Budget Planning, AND

• advocate for both equity and neighborhood schools, AND

• surface opportunities for engagement and action.

Motivation

This website and related efforts were motivated by the March 30, 2026 school board approval of both a) the closure of Kaler Elementary School, and b) a full elementary school reconfiguration ahead of school opening THIS fall (2026), which caught many community members offguard.

On stakeholder alignment

The closure of Kaler Elementary and reconfiguration are complex issues with a diverse set of stakeholders and widely variable impact between subgroups (eg, elementary parents, Kaler elementary parents, teachers, staff, taxpayers, etc). Given this reality we do not expect or believe everybody will align on every issue, but we want to make the issues and corresponding opportunites to engage readily available.

Status & Feedback

This website is new as of April 2026 and is expected to evolve rapidly. If you have questions, comments, or concerns please reach out at sopoforward@gmail.com!