WEST PARIS — One week after being informed it could not include the public during a walkthrough at Agnes Gray Elementary School, the West Paris Select Board has scheduled an emergency meeting Thursday evening.

“We are holding the meeting right at the school, starting at 5 p.m.,” West Paris Town Manager Joy Downing told the Advertiser Democrat. “The school district has told us we can go into the building, but we can’t allow more than five or six residents in with us at a time.”

With a public hearing scheduled on Agnes Gray’s future scheduled for 6-7 p.m. Monday at Oxford Hills Comprehensive High School’s meeting room The Forum in Paris, West Paris officials have insisted taxpayers be able to inspect the building ahead of a May 14 referendum on its future.

The referendum question asks residents if they wish the town to fund operating the school independent of the district.

“To accommodate West Paris voters, we will go through the building as many times as we have to, until everyone who wants to see it gets the chance,” Downing explained. “Code Officer Kingston Brown and Fire Chief Mike Henderson will attend as well.”

Downing had originally scheduled a walkthrough for last Thursday but that morning received a call from Central Office informing her the building had been broken into and canceled it.

By statute, any gathering of a quorum of elected municipal leaders is considered a public meeting, open to members of the public. The West Paris Select Board is legally bound to make a walk-through at the school open to public participation.

Downing told 30 or so attendees of April 24’s Select Board meeting the reason she was given was because the fire extinguishers were used and stolen.

Downing had offered the town would provide its own fire extinguishers during the time they occupied the building and bring a representative of the West Paris Fire Department to oversee.

She said she was then told the reason they could not enter was because Oxford County Sheriff’s Office’s Sgt. Matt McDonald said the building had to remain clear during the investigation. Downing spoke with Sgt. McDonald directly and was told there would be no issue on OSCO’s part if selectmen went inside.

After another call to Maine School Administrative District Finance Director Carrie Colley, Downing relayed during last week’s meeting that the chairman of SAD 17’s school board, Troy Ripley, said the public could not enter because there was damage to the stairs.

But according to what Downing had learned from OSCO, she said the only result of the break-in was one fire extinguisher being discharged and others stolen.

During an April 24 interview with the Advertiser Democrat Ripley said SAD 17’s concerns came after West Paris posted on social media an invitation for the general public to enter the school as part of its selectmen’s meeting.

The cancellation was about “the ability to have a meeting in a building that has been deemed not safe,” Ripley said. “Their fire chief and code enforcement officer agreed with the assessment of the architectural and engineering firm that concluded the building had deficiencies.”

Agnes Gray was inspected by Lavalle Brensinger Architects around August of 2023. In the company’s districtwide study of all SAD 17’s elementary schools the building was graded with an F, not only for lack of maintenance and outdated systems but also for lack of egress and other safety requirements that the 130-year-old building was grandfathered for.

On February 6 of last year, citing the conditions and safety risks outlined in the report and with the support of SAD 17’s school board, Superintendent Heather Manchester closed the building to instruction.

Last October the school board instructed Manchester to apply to the Maine Department of Education to formally and permanently close Agnes Gray, due to lack of need.

But neither SAD 17, as the property owner, nor the town of West Paris has taken any procedural steps to condemn the building.

As part of the SAD 17’s filing to close Agnes, West Paris’ tax payers must be given the option to operate the school independent of the district.

SAD 17 has projected the operational cost to keep the school open exceeds $1 million annually.

The cost to carry out long-deferred maintenance and bring Agnes Gray into compliance with modern building codes ranges from $4 to $6 million.

A referendum asking West Paris taxpayers whether to keep the school open at the town’s expense will be held May 14 at Town Office at 25 Kingsbury Street.