The South Portland Board of Education pumped the brakes on a reconfiguration plan Wednesday night that would have shuffled hundreds of students throughout the district.

The plan, initially approved by the board on March 30, sparked hours of spirited public debate in recent weeks.

Board members voted 5-1 Wednesday to delay reconfiguring the district’s elementary schools until the 2027-28 school year while a steering committee comes up with a new plan. The decision also outlines priorities for the new plan and requires key details to be presented to the board by November; it does not change the closure of James O. Kaler Elementary School.

“I see reconfiguration happening in 2027 as the compromise that our city needs to move forward,” said board member Daniel Feller. “It’s truly a compromise, and I think it can bring everybody together.”

Several other board members also said they see an extension as a fair compromise.

Board Chair Rosemarie De Angelis was the sole no vote.

“I continue to believe that the time is now, and that to delay risks to increase the chance that the district will not move forward,” she said before the vote.

However, she vowed not to let her stance on the issue and position as chair hamper the renewed effort.

“For as long as I’m a board member, I will do what is expected of me: I will support the majority vote,” De Angelis said. “I will not work behind the scenes to sabotage any decision this board makes, but rather I will be committed to the voice of the majority, as democracy demands.”

The original plan would have reorganized students across the city’s remaining four elementary schools beginning next school year by placing pre-K through first-grade students at Helena H. Dyer and Dora L. Small schools and students in grades two through four at Frank I. Brown and Dr. Waldo T. Skillin schools.

Some community members who opposed the reconfiguration plan have said they want to hold on to Kaler and not disrupt so many students and staff members. Some said they felt blindsided by the board’s decision to enact the plan late last month, which would have taken effect by next school year.

Many of those in support of the plan have said they believe it is the fiscally responsible path forward and that it would address disparities across the district’s five elementary schools. The district originally estimated that reconfiguring the elementary schools would save the district $3.1 million for this year’s budget and $16.4 million over the next five years. Those estimates have since fluctuated and will be reassessed.

Those were also some of the arguments for and against the plan made over the course of 14 listening sessions that engaged about 300 participants; through an online survey that garnered over 475 respondents; and via dozens of emails, staff reported at the meeting.

“A steering committee is being formed with staff, families and community members to turn these findings into a plan,” Skillin Elementary School Principal Bethany Connolly said.

Many people called for a more transparent process that incorporates all stakeholders, school staff reported. Some have even argued that a reconfiguration plan ought to go to a referendum vote.

However, some members of the South Portland school community have pointed out that the initial plan was publicly crafted by a committee over many meetings. A few at Wednesday’s meeting said they hope the new committee puts some of that previous work to use.

Pressure has also been mounting on the board as it has been working to trim millions of dollars off the district’s proposed school budget and has faced an outcry over plans to eliminate dozens of positions. Those issues were considered as well at Wednesday’s meeting. A few members of the public also claimed there has been a lack of transparency in the board’s search for a new superintendent.

“I’m kind of sick to my stomach right now,” board member Eleni Richardson said Wednesday. “Each and every one of us is doing the best we can in a really, really impossible situation.”

Editor’s note: This story was updated on April 29 to correct information about the closure of James O. Kaler Elementary School and remove a reference to a board member’s resignation.