Committee recommends leasing Madison Ave. school

OXFORD —  Moving some middle school classrooms to leased space at a building on Madison Avenue in Oxford, rather than invest in portables or renovations, is the choice preferred by the board of directors' operations committee.

During its meeting February 25, the committee voted to recommend the school board lease space in the building, reported Committee Chair Nick DiConzo at the school board meeting Monday.

"It was pretty much unanimous in the committee that we didn't want to spend any more money on portables," he told fellow board members.

Overcrowding at OHMS has been a problem for decades.

Seven portable classrooms were installed at Oxford Hills Middle School 25 years ago to ease overcrowding, but the buildings are rapidly reaching the end of their lifespans.

The district has estimated replacing the portables will cost $1 million and renovating them will be $200,000.

Another option, to renovate the Mildred Fox School in South Paris, was also "taken off the table" at the committee meeting because it was too expensive, DiConzo said.

On Tuesday, Superintendent Rick Colpitts said the district might be able to lease the building for nothing the first year, then $185,000 in consecutive years.

He expected a five-year lease, but cautioned that all figures and provisions were preliminary, as no formal agreement had been drafted and the board had not voted on the proposal. 

He expected the board to vote on the proposal in late March or early April.

In January, operations committee members, along with Colpitts and OHMS Principal Troy Eastman, toured the Madison Avenue space after reviewing options for new middle school construction provided by Harriman Architects.

The district has used the Madison Avenue building for temporary classroom space in the past.