OXFORD — SAD 17 administrators will recommend to the Board of Directors on Monday that it consider leasing space at a Madison Avenue building in Oxford to ease overcrowding, safety concerns and other issues at Oxford Hills Middle School in Paris.

Superintendent Rick Colpitts confirmed the recommendation late Thursday.

“The board will review and discuss the option at the board meeting,” he said.

While no further details were available Thursday, the recommendation was one of six provided through a feasibility study by Harriman Architects and Engineers in Auburn. They included adding to and renovating the middle school on Pine Street, removing portable classrooms, using alternative community-based facilities and building a school.

At a recent meeting, the Board of Directors ruled out using the former Fox Elementary School in Paris, which is leased to a private school, and renovating the portables, which now provide more than a dozen classrooms.

Colpitts has said it’s impossible to consider a new school or to renovate the school without financial assistance from the state. Those options would cost between $21 million and $23 million, he said.

Only two or three renovation/construction projects are funded each year by the state Department of Education. The Oxford Hills School District is 26th on the priority list. At this rate, money for new construction could takes years, school officials said.

Colpitts said the district will continue to apply for the renovation/new building funds, as permitted by the state.

The Operations Committee and school officials recently toured the Madison Avenue site. The building is owned by Bob Bahre and was used while the Paris Elementary School was under construction about five years ago.

More information will be presented at the Board of Directors meeting at 7 p.m. Monday, March 18, in the administration offices on Route 26 in Oxford.

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