OXFORD – Oxford Hills School District directors were told Monday night that more than 6 percent of students do not attend their hometown schools, because they’re allowed to transfer or they have special medical or educational needs.

A total of 214 of the 3,486 district students are not in their hometown schools, Special Education Director Tim Luff said.

A total of 173 of them get permission from the superintendent to transfer because they may live in unorganized territories, a parent requests a transfer, or the student is homeless.

Luff said the costs of transporting the majority of the students are borne by the parents. The cost for those who are transferred for special education or medical needs is significantly less than hiring a full-time nurse or meeting other program requirements at the student’s hometown school, he said.

Luff said there are three students who transported from their hometown because of health issues. For example, he said, a student may have uncontrolled diabetes or seizures which require a full-time nurse. In those cases, students must go to a school that has that type of support. The same is true of students requiring special education services. The students must be placed where the special educational accommodations can be provided, he said.

Although the Rowe Elementary School in Norway has a full-time nurse and full-time health secretarial help, many of the elementary schools share a full-time nurse. That necessitates a student from those schools to be transferred to another such as Rowe to get one-on-one nursing care.

The Oxford Hills Middle School and Oxford Hills Comprehensive High School have programs to meet medical and special education needs for those students.

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