Maine district will get state funding to replace 2 aging schools

Maine School Administrative District 17 has received approval for state funding to replace Agnes Gray Elementary School in West Paris and Oxford Hills Middle School, which has campuses in Paris and Oxford.

The Lewiston Sun Journal reports that the approval means the state will provide the bulk of the funding to build the new facilities, but actual construction may be several years away.

The schools were described as old and inefficient five years ago when the district applied for state funding to replace the facilities.

Agnes Gray Elementary was built in the 1890s. Oxford Hills Middle School on Pine Street was originally a high school and was converted in the 1970s to a middle school. Because of a lack of space, the district rents a second location on Madison Avenue to house some students.

Both schools have had years of water damage and are expensive to maintain and repair.

Agnes Gray has 128 students in grades prekindergarten to six; the middle school 483 students in grades and seven and eight.

Carrie Colley, chief financial officer for the district, says “it could be five years” before actual construction. Sites must be selected and designs must be created before the state and district approve construction.