OXFORD – Superintendent Mark Eastman said a plan to use developmentally disabled adults as monitors on elementary school buses raised too many issues to be viable.

“There were too many questions, too many issues, too many concerns,” said Eastman after a meeting of school officials and plan proponents. Although bus monitors have been discussed before, budget constraints restricted their hiring.

The latest plan was proposed by the mother of a first-grade Oxford student who said she was inappropriately touched by a second-grade student through her clothes. The touching happened, she said, during what was described as a “tickling game” during a 10-minute ride from the Oxford Elementary School to a bus stop on Skeetfield Road in March.

Deborah Walo of Oxford, the student’s mother, said earlier this month that the plan included using one or two adults with developmental disabilities from the Norway-based Progress Center and a center staff member on as many elementary school buses as possible through the end of the school year. The non-profit center, which has been in operation for more than 30 years, works with clients who are developmentally disabled, a broad term that describes anything from autism to mental retardation.

Salaries would be the responsibility of the Progress Center, Walo said last month.

Although well-meaning, Eastman said, “Everyone felt it would create more problems that it would solve.” School directors and SAD 17 transportation people met with Walo and Progress Center Executive Director Deb Anthony to discuss the plan on Tuesday.

Neither Walo, who said she hoped to expand the program statewide, nor Anthony could be reached for comment Wednesday.

Eastman said the transportation and school representatives had concerns about liability and training, and it would require “a lot more discussion” before they could move forward in any capacity with the idea.

“I don’t anticipate that particular program going forward without a lot more work and study,” he said.

Eastman said there does not appear to be a viable bus monitor pilot program to move forward with.

“It was a good discussion. The intent was well-meaning, right, but I don’t anticipate any pilot program this year,” he said.