PARIS — Residents in Maine School Administrative District 17 towns will be asked to weigh in tonight on the design concept for the proposed new Oxford Hills Middle School.

The straw poll will be held at 5:30 p.m. in the OHMS gymnasium, where the building committee and Auburn architectural firm Harriman will present the design concept to the public.

The district’s board directors voted Monday to endorse the design concept. The school is planned for the same site of the current one on Pine Street in Paris.

District towns are Harrison, Hebron, Norway, Otisfield, Oxford, Paris, Waterford and West Paris.

The total proposed cost for the building is $90.8 million, with 97%, or $88.1 million, to be paid by the Maine Department of Education.

The cost of adding amenities not eligible for state subsidy is $2.7 million. Those include building a gymnasium large enough to accommodate full bleachers on facing walls. Under Maine DOE guidelines, the space allocation and cost allowance for middle school gyms is less than what is allowed for high schools.

The other amenity is to construct outdoor stadium-style student seating in an outdoor atrium dedicated to experiential education, another cost that would need to be covered by local share.

Following the straw poll, Oxford Hills voters will be asked to authorize SAD 17 to apply to the state of Maine to finance a new school in a three-question referendum on Election Day, Nov. 4. The referendum will ask if voters wish to have $88.1 million financed by Maine DOE; to approve building a larger gymnasium using local share; and to approve building seating in an outdoor learning atrium.

“I am extremely pleased by the building committee’s commitment to designing a school that maximizes the amount paid by state subsidy,” said board Chairman Troy Ripley, of Paris, noting that for a similar project in another Maine school district taxpayers ended up funding about $39 million from local share.

“Each question of the referendum is stand-alone. If voters approve a state-funded school construction project but do not opt for a larger gym, the project would proceed based on what the state will pay for.”

The goals established by SAD 17’s board of directors for a new middle school prioritize academic excellence; educating 6th-8th grades in one building; equity of facilities, programming, safety and resources; minimize non-instructional/operating costs, providing families with universal pre-kindergarten and pre-pre-kindergarten education; maximizing career and technical education; community support; and transportation.

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