By Kelly Morgan,Staff Writer

OXFORD – Oxford Elementary School students will be greeted by new Principal Alan Struck when they report for classes this morning.

Struck was hired Aug. 15 and has been preparing for the first day of school since, Superintendent Mark Eastman said Tuesday. “He’s getting pretty acclimated, and things are going very well.”

Eastman said Struck has 31 years of experience in public education, including time spent as a teacher, principal and special education administrator in Maine, Vermont and Alaska, and Germany. The committee that searched to fill former Principal Moe Kautz’s shoes was “very impressed with (Struck’s) references in all of those places,” Eastman said.

Struck most recently served as principal at the Dothan Brook School in White River Junction, Vt., overseeing about 300 students in kindergarten through grade five.

Eastman said students attending other elementary schools in the district today will see a different set of changes. Roof and other building improvements have been completed at the Mildred M. Fox School in Paris, he said. A new HVAC support system has been installed at the Harrison Elementary School, and a portable classroom has been added at Otisfield Elementary School to accommodate new enrollments.

Sidewalk and street improvements intended to make the entrance to Guy E. Rowe School in Norway have not been completed as hoped, Eastman said.

In February, the Norway Board of Selectmen approved a plan to make Marston Street one way from Main Street to Tannery Street, provide parking on the west side and a sidewalk on the east side of Marston Street, and provide sidewalks on both sides of School Street.

The plan also called for widening School Street to improve bus access to the elementary school.

Eastman said Tuesday that the new sidewalks still need to be added and some paving is needed, but the area is improved and will be usable for the first day of school. When the work is complete, he added, “That’s going to be a wonderful improvement.”

While elementary school pupils and students in grades seven and nine go back to school today, all students will return to the classroom on Thursday.

At Oxford Hills Comprehensive High School, students this year will face a policy change that prohibits the use of portable music players on school grounds, Eastman said. Use of electronic devices like cell phones already was prohibited under the Student Use of Telecommunication Devices policy, which was amended in April to include “any electrical media player or receiver,” such as an MP3 or CD player.