SACO — More than 200 Thornton Academy students and community members stood on the sidewalk in front of the school on Wednesday afternoon protesting the recent elimination of eight staff positions.

Students sang chants such as “Hey, Hey, Ho, Ho, Budget cuts have cut to go,” and held signs. Motorists passing by on Route 1 honked their horns.

Thornton Academy is a private school serving students in sixth through twelfth grades. The school has private-pay student, but also has publicly funded students from Saco, Dayton and Arundel through contracts with the municipalities.

Last week, the school announced it was laying of one part-time instructor and seven non-teaching staff.

School officials said the cuts were made in light of reduced high school public enrollment – 86 students since 2017. The current maximum allowable tuition rate for Thornton Academy can charge to educated publicly funded students is about $11,100, according to information from the Maine Department of Education.

Thornton Academy administrators have not disclosed what positions have been eliminated.

Thornton Academy Board of Trustees President Eric Purvis said in a letter to the school community on Tuesday that in addition, six staff took advantage of early retirement packages and only two of these positions will be filled.

Thornton Academy Communications Director Katie Beane said on Monday that 504 of the 506 courses offered at Thornton will remain after the discontinuation of two STEM electives. She said all arts, athletics and other programs will remain intact.

Purvis said he thought that the cuts were made thoughtfully and to minimize the impact on students and teachers.

He said the school needed to take steps in ensuring the school would be a vibrant and important part of the community for years to come.

“I appreciate that there are differences in opinion on how school resources should be used and if positions should be eliminated, which positions those should be. I have read the comments on social media and understand that this is an emotional issue,” wrote Purvis.

Thornton Senior Delaney Ziegman organized Wednesday’s demonstration and said that she was pleased by the turnout.

“Just the honks alone show people care,” she said.

Ziegman said she and other students want more discussion with faculty regarding the recent cuts because they love Thornton and care about the school community.

“We want to know more about the situation. There’s a lot of gray area,” she said.

Thornton Senior Jesse Adler stood holding a sandwich sign that read,” Bring back our staff.”

“Our student body stands together on what it thinks is right,” he said.

Adler said he thinks the administration did not realize the impact that non-teaching staff had on the students.

Ziegman, who is involved in the school’s theater productions, said one of the people laid off was auditorium manager Doug Stebbins, a person who is integral to the school’s performing arts program.

Suzanne Edwards, a parent of two students who graduated from and another who is currently attending Thornton, said she was there because she wanted to support the students and she was angered by the cuts.

Edwards said students don’t always feel comfortable approaching a teacher with a problem, and sometimes its a non-teaching staff who students choose to talk to and she said that she was concerned that eliminating the positions was not helping to create an emotionally safe environment for students.

Staff Writer Liz Gotthelf can be reached at 780-9015 or by email at [email protected].