PARIS – The highway departments of Norway, Paris and Oxford, along with SAD 17, are teaming up to build a paved walking path around the athletic fields at Oxford Hills Middle School.

The towns and the school district have agreed to each donate a highway department worker and a piece of equipment for one day to build the path this summer.

Healthy Oxford Hills, the Oxford Hills Boosters and other individuals, businesses and organizations have raised about $10,000 for the project over the past several months, according to Healthy Oxford Hills Director Joe Wyman.

Even though the path planners have received “very reasonable” quotes for materials from Pine Tree Paving of Paris and P & K Sand and Gravel of Naples, the free labor from the towns and the school district is needed to make the project possible.

The middle school students will be the primary users of the 5-foot-wide trail, but it will also be open to the public. It will be placed near the head of a public nature trail running along the Little Androscoggin River, Wyman said.

The public use of the path will likely be limited to summer and off-school hours during the school year, although it would be up to the school district to develop use guidelines, including whether bicycles or skateboards would be allowed, Wyman said.

For several years, the school’s health center nurse practitioner, Cathy Roland, has encouraged students to walk around the fields before school and during breaks as a form of exercise, Wyman said. This year gym teacher Lance Belanger submitted a grant proposal to make the grassy path safer and more comfortable, but the grant was denied.

Oxford Town Manager Mike Huston said the three towns could bring a backhoe each, along with a couple of trucks, and get the 5-foot path base dug in one day. Then gravel will be placed in the trench and compacted, and blacktop be laid over that.

Paris selectmen on Monday also endorsed the idea, calling it a good example of inter-town cooperation for the benefit of the greater community.

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