OXFORD — The Oxford Hills School District Board of Directors unanimously approved the addition of two full-time special education teachers and a half-time special education teacher at the Rowe and Paris elementary schools and the Oxford Middle School.

These positions will be funded through the reduction of five education technician positions at the Rowe and Paris schools.

The change is necessary to meet required case management numbers, Special Education Director Tim Luft said. Luft said ratios were particularly higher than recommended standards at the higher needs special education classes.

The new positions will bring down teacher-student ratios to as low as one-to-six students in some classes.

Several parents from Harrison addressed the board about a plan to share the Harrison and Waterford elementary school.

The plan, which has been approved by the Board of Directors, is expected  to save the district about $95,000.

Jessica Haggerty, Richard Chisholm and a parent who was not identified, all from Harrison, told the board that they were concerned about the plan and the effect it would have on their children, in terms of the longer bus rides, the loss of their book buddies, academic abilities and real estate values plus other issues. Despite public hearings on the plan, they said many of the parents were unaware of it.

The move is part of the budget-cutting process that will be approved at a town meeting beginning at 7 p.m. on Thursday, June 7, in the Oxford Comprehensive High School forum and then again at a referendum question on the June 12 annual town election ballot.

In other business, the board unanimously approved Superintendent Rick Colpitts’s appointment of Alana DePerte as kindergarten-through-grade-6 librarian.

DePerte has been working in the Oxford Hills School District for 15 years and is currently the library secretary at the Oxford Hills Comprehensive High School. She earned her Bachelor’s of Science in library and information technology from the University of Maine at Augusta and her master’s of library science degree from Southern Connecticut State University.

The board also approved the purchase of assorted equipment through a Carol M. White Physical Education Program for fitness centers that was awarded last fall to the Telstar High School, Oxford Hills Comprehensive High School and the Oxford Hills Middle School. The equipment includes treadmills, ellipticals, steppers, upright bikes and more.

The Oxford Hills School District is sharing a $1.2 million federal grant over a three-year period to implement physical activity and nutrition programs for every student.

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