A chart by LaVallee Brensinger Architects of Portland shows four options for configuring schools presented Monday night to Maine School Administrative District 17 directors meeting in Paris. The board voted unanimously to present Option 1 and Option 4-C at four public forums tentatively scheduled for April 29 and 30 and May 7 and 8. Supplied photo

PARIS — Directors of the Oxford Hills School District voted unanimously Monday to hold four public forums to present two options for configuring its schools: keeping them as is, or adding sixth grade to the middle school and having five elementary schools instead of eight.

At a March 28 workshop, the Maine School Administrative District 17 board heard scenarios and recommendations for elementary school construction from LaVallee Brensinger, an architectural firm in Portland. Its 32-page report can be downloaded from MSAD 17’s school construction website. It lists four options:

Option 1: Keep Oxford Hills Comprehensive High School in Paris for grades nine to 12, Oxford Hills Middle School for grades seven and eight, and an elementary school for grades prekindergarten to six in each district town, Paris, Norway, Oxford, Otisfield, Harrison, Hebron, Waterford and West Paris.

Option 2: Keep the high school for grades nine to 12, have a new middle school for grades six to eight and two centralized elementary schools for grades prekindergarten to six.

Option 3: Keep the high school for grades nine to 12, have a middle school for grades six to eight, and seven elementary schools for grades prekindergarten to six.

Option 4: Keep the high school for grades nine to 12, have a middle school for grades six to eight, and five elementary schools for grades prekindergarten to five at: A. a south location, B. a north location, or C. a central location.

Directors were asked Monday to advance Option 4-C with a south location at the forums, tentatively scheduled for April 29 and 30 and May 7 and 8.

That option would see a larger school built on the current Guy E. Rowe Elementary School site. Agnes Gray, Waterford Memorial and Harrison elementary schools would close. Students in West Paris would attend Norway or Paris schools, Waterford’s children would all be sent to Norway and Harrison’s students would be split between schools in Norway, Oxford and Otisfield. Students in each of SAD 17’s eight towns could potentially attend school in a different community.

Maine School Administrative District 17 has several construction options to consider. The most economical one would see three schools closed and students from all eight sending towns potentially attending school in other communities. Red arrows indicate consolidated students; blue arrows indicate redistributed students. Supplied photo

“What we have done is asked the administration to come up with the best education opportunities for the students in our district,” Chairman Troy Ripley of Paris said. “Bringing them into a centralized location with more resources — the teachers, the counselors, police protection and all that. It is also in line with what the architects say the state will fund with much higher probability than anything else.

“I think we need to send out this option to the community and find out what they say about it,” Ripley said. “Then we go from what the community tells us, to whether we offer other options.”

Many directors said while Option 4-C may be the most financially expedient, it has questions to consider.

The number of miles and travel times for buses calculated by LaVallee Brensinger were for the most part dismissed by directors.

For communities accustomed to having their children educated in small classroom settings, directors reasoned that sending children as young as 5 to a central school with more than 600 students from up to eight towns, including those with special needs and education plans, would be too abrupt a shift.

High school senior Michaela Holbrook, who is in her second year as student representative to the school board, said, “I came from a small school, Otisfield. That still is a foundation for me. I know if I need someone to fall back on … they are always going to be there. I feel consolidation takes that away.

“And if the bus trips are long?” she said. “We’re going to have more behaviors. We’re going to see more kids acting up and bullying other people. I feel the consolidation will bring a lot more problems than we’re thinking about.”

The board voted unanimously to present Option 4-C and include Option 1 at the recommendation of Director Donna Marshall of West Paris.