HARRISON — Public hearings on options for educating Harrison students have been postponed as the committee in charge reassesses its approach, shifting to a more thorough research process.

The Select Board established the Education Options Committee at the end of 2024 to explore alternatives for Harrison’s education — including joining another school district, becoming an independent school unit that pays tuition for its older students to attend other districts, or remaining with Maine School Administrative District 17 based in Paris.

Committee Chairman Mike Giuffre confirmed the cancellation of public hearings that were scheduled for March 18 and 19.

The committee was formed after the Oxford Hills School District proposed consolidating several schools, including Harrison Elementary, Waterford Memorial and Norway’s Guy E. Rowe Elementary schools, in favor of a new school serving grades prekindergarten through five.

Both the Harrison committee and the SAD 17 elementary school construction committee have been working under a strict timeline set by the Maine Department of Education, which requires a districtwide vote by November.

Recently, the DOE has granted SAD 17 a six-month extension to complete its site research, design work, and community engagement efforts.

This extension provides Harrison more time to carefully consider its options.

In some communities, including Harrison, the potential closure of small elementary schools is a highly emotional issue, making it difficult to discuss a more equitable education structure and fiscal facts that support consolidation.

Unofficially, Harrison officials began talking secession from SAD 17 last summer when they learned their elementary school could eventually close, with its prekindergarten to fifth grade students moving to a new consolidated school closer to Norway. Sixth-grade students attending a new middle school with seventh and eighth grade students in the Paris-Oxford-Norway area.

The location of a new consolidated school, and whether the eight district towns even approve building it, will have implications on Harrison’s decision. Many in Harrison wish to maintain their elementary school independence, with much of the opposition centered on long bus rides for its youngest students.

While some residents continue to suggest Harrison and Waterford, which already share consolidated elementary schools, break away to form their own district, officials and taxpayers in Waterford have taken no steps to oppose SAD 17’s school construction plans.

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