The Agnes Gray Elementary School on Main Street in West Paris has been boarded up for the winter. Maine School Administrative District 17 closed the 130-year-old building in February after Portland architectural firm LaVallee Brensinger listed numerous life safety and maintenance issues. Lisa McCann/Advertiser Democrat file

PARIS — The Paris Select Board will discuss with its attorney the possibility of exiting a proposed joint legal complaint against the SAD 17 school district that was previously agreed to along with the West Paris Select Board in October during its regular meeting Nov. 25.

In addition to the legal complaint, the town has also been gathering signatures on a petition to ask the school board to submit an application to the State Department of Education within a specified time for construction or renovation of a prekindergarten through sixth grade school in West Paris paid in whole or in part through state school construction funds.

At the select board’s previous meeting, SAD 17 School Board Chair Troy Ripley advised that the school board has already initiated that process and he clarified that all elementary building project information has been linked to on the Paris town website.

Town Manager Natalie Andrews acknowledged that after reviewing the documents online, the school board did submit an application to the Maine Department of Education.

“Since the school board has done what the petition was asking them, or directing them, to do, I would like direction from my board for what you would like me to do moving forward,” Andrews said.

She noted that the town has 14 hours invested in the legal complaint against the district, at $255 an hour, for a total of $3,570.

Select board member Chris Summers said that the issue about Agnes Gray closing was the “meat-and-potatoes” of the legal complaint, but there are still more issues that need to be addressed going forward, like the lack of buses completing routes in the district.

“There are a lot of people that have kids rely on that transportation so as they can have a steady work schedule. Without that, they can’t meet their obligations,” Summers said.

“I don’t disagree with anything Chris says,” Ripley said. “I don’t think pursuing a lawsuit is the way to go about it.”

Lawyers for both Paris and West Paris contended in the legal complaint that SAD 17 violated Maine law when Superintendent Heather Manchester closed Agnes Gray Elementary School in West Paris in February due to unsafe conditions, which were outlined in an inspection report prepared by Portland firm LaVallee Brensinger Architects.

The SAD 17 board of directors voted 19-1 last month against allocating up to $6 million in repairs to make the school safe.

Ripley indicated that a cost figure to repair Agnes Gray Elementary School and reopen it will be finalized by the school board and the Maine Department of Education and sent to West Paris. The town will then have the option of holding an election to ask voters if they want the town to pay for the cost of renovating Agnes Gray.

He indicated the figures should be available by Dec. 6.

Ripley also responded to concerns about Paris students being moved in order to accommodate West Paris students at Paris Elementary School.

“In this case, in order to keep Paris under capacity of 450 students, that was how they ended up going up to West Paris, and it’s well within the statute requirement,” he said.

“It’s really not the best thing for the kids,” Board Chair Scott McElravy said.

McElravy said that a major thrust behind the legal complaint was a lack of transparency from SAD 17, which now seems to be improving.

“I think the investment is a wise one,” he said.

The select board also authorized Andrews to write a letter to the SAD 17 school board outlining the board’s concerns and voted to take up the matter again at its next meeting.

The Paris Select Board will next meet at the town office at 6 p.m. Dec. 9.