Much work would need to be done to add grades seven and eight to Wiscasset High School, officials said.

That work would involve everything from moving science labs, to deciding if ninth grade should stay part of the high school model, or be grouped with the seventh and eighth grades.

It all came up April 16, as the Wiscasset School Committee, Principal Deb Taylor, Interim Superintendent Wayne Dorr, and Regional School Unit 12's Transportation and Maintenance Director John Merry toured the school. Dorr arranged the tour to show committee members why he believes the school is not ready for any immediate move of seventh and eighth grades from Wiscasset Middle School.

The committee is building a three-school budget for the town's first school year outside the district, but members have also discussed consolidation, possibly by year two. Member Sharon Nichols recently announced she's resigning because she cannot support a three-school budget. She has maintained that consolidation can and should happen in year one, for the benefit of taxpayers and students.

One of the most discussed options for consolidation has been to shut down the middle school, sending its younger students to Wiscasset Primary School and its older ones to the high school.

If seventh and eighth moved in, the best place so far appears to be the back wing, according to Taylor. That area has its own entrance, exit and bathroom.

Taylor said she has heard again and again from the community that, if the middle school students come, they should be segregated from the high schoolers.

She and Dorr agreed segregation would be the way to go, since those age groups are at different stages, developmentally.

The ninth graders might be better grouped with seventh and eighth graders, Dorr said.

“There are large differences between a 13-year-old and a 15-year-old,” he said.

During the tour, Merry pointed out safety showers and other parts of the wing's science labs; those same features would have to be installed where the labs move, he said.

In an email to the committee, Dorr describes other potential issues, among them moving special education classes and moving the server for the school’s technology; and working out schedules for the library, cafeteria and gym.

The gym currently has no down time, Taylor told tour-goers; so adding grades would mean either giving students less time in it than they have had, or using the gym as two separate spaces, she said.

Committee Chairman Glen Craig suggested both groups of grades could also use the gym before school, if one group started its school day a half-hour later than the other.

“That would have busing implications, although some research supports starting older kids later in the day,” Taylor said.

Taylor is just months away from leaving her principal's job for a new job with the district. If and when more grades come to Wiscasset High, Taylor said she would hope it's done in a way that meets all students' needs, but doesn't make the younger students feel like they are guests in someone else's school.