An Arundel boatbuilding school’s future remains unclear after it announced this week that it is no longer exploring a partnership with a Massachusetts maritime college.

The Landing School of Boatbuilding & Design announced its closure in May but soon informed students and staff that it had reached a memorandum of understanding with the Northeast Maritime Institute to explore efforts to preserve the school.

That potential deal is now off, The Landing School said in a news release Monday afternoon, after the board of trustees deemed it “not viable.”

With that partnership off the table, The Landing School will not offer courses for the 2026-27 school year and is now exploring what comes next after nearly 50 years of preparing students for careers in the marine industry.

John Caron, president of The Landing School, said school leaders’ priority is now supporting the school community through the next steps.

“We understand that this has been a difficult and confusing sequence of events for our students, faculty, staff and community,” Caron said in the news release. “In exploring an acquisition, the Board of Trustees felt a responsibility to pursue every reasonable effort to find a path forward.”

Officials from The Landing School did not respond to emails and a phone call requesting further details.

The school says deposits will be refunded in full, and reimbursement requests for certain expenses will be considered on a case-by-case basis. Students will also be offered help pursuing other education opportunities.

Officials from the Northeast Maritime Institute, located in Fairhaven, Massachusetts, said Tuesday they were surprised and disappointed by the Landing School’s announcement.

The college said in a written statement that no acquisition had been finalized, and that the decision to end any possibility of classes in the 2026-27 school year was made solely by the Landing School’s board of trustees.

“NMI pursued the proposed transaction in good faith and with the sincere belief that The Landing School could be repositioned for another 50 years of service to students and the marine industry,” read a statement from the school.

NMI President Eric Dawicki said he had not heard about the end of the potential partnership between the two schools prior to the Landing School’s announcement.

“We believed deeply in the school, its people, and its potential,” Dawicki said in a written statement. “We are profoundly disappointed that we will not have the opportunity to implement the pathway we developed or work alongside the dedicated administration, faculty, and staff of The Landing School.”

Dawicki said in an interview Tuesday that NMI would be open to offering Landing School students a seat “in two seconds,” but that the school hasn’t reached out to them regarding any current students wishing to transfer their enrollment. NMI also only offers a nautical science program, different from the opportunities offered at The Landing School, which included boatbuilding and marine systems courses.

He said he’s not sure what made The Landing School board vote against what would have been a merger of the schools, adding that NMI believed it would be able to save The Landing School’s legacy.

The Landing School, which opened in 1978, cited declining enrollment and financial woes in its May announcement that the school was closing.