OXFORD — School officials have narrowed the options for alternative housing of Oxford Hills Middle School students.

Nick DiConzo, chairman of the Operations Committee, told fellow Oxford Hills School District directors Monday that the on-site portables will not be rebuilt and the former Fox School in Paris will not be used for classrooms.

The Operations Committee voted last week unanimously to remove those options. Instead, administrators are looking at using of the former Madison Avenue School in Oxford. The school was used by SAD 17 several years ago while the Paris Elementary School was being built. It is owned by Bob Bahre.

A feasibility study by Harriman Architects in Auburn has looked at alternatives, including adding to and renovating the school, removing portables and using alternative facilities, and building a middle school, to resolve overcrowding and safety issues.

The seven portables were installed about 25 years ago. Rot and other issues have forced the closure of at least one classroom in one of the units. There are also security concerns for the students and staff who go between the portable classrooms and the main school building.

“We don’t want to spend any more on the portables,” DiConzo said.

The Fox School is leased by a private Christian academy.

The cost of replacing the portables is about $1 million for a lease/purchase agreement for all seven, or between $105,000 and $350,000 in local money for renovating them.

Half of the six options detailed in the Harriman report were for new construction or major renovation. New building and/or renovating costs are running between $21 and $23 million and there is no state financial assistance in sight for the near future, say school officials.

The state Department of Education’s priority list for funding major construction projects has the Oxford Hills School District as No. 26. Only two or three projects are funded each year and money for new construction could takes years, school officials said.

The state accepts applications for major construction project money every three years. Superintendent Rick Colpitts has said the district will continue to reapply as permitted by the state.

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