AREA — A passion for hiking – not only with fellow humans but also man’s best friend – led to the creation of the Trail Hounds’ successful safe hiking project, which landed the team the opportunity to represent Maine in the North American Open Championships for the FIRST LEGO League in May. The Trail Hounds are […]

PARIS — What ocean is New Zealand in? “The Pacific.” And with that answer Paris Elementary School fifth-grade student George Floster became the winner of the school’s geography bee. George, the son of John and Lisa Floster, is a former basketball and baseball player, who likes to study on the Internet and read. George was recently […]

By Leslie H. Dixon PARIS — An Oxford Hills Middle School aspiring writer has received recognition from the Scholastic Writing Awards. Chloe Hodgdon, an eighth-grade student from Paris, won a Silver Key Award and eight of her classmates won honorable mentions in the 2017 Scholastic Writing Awards. “This is the first time we’ve entered the […]

By Leslie H. Dixon OXFORD — Teacher Ruth Wilson plans to fill a school bus with students, some of whom, may be this country’s future engineers. Oxford Elementary School was one of 16 schools selected to receive a bus grant to help defer transportation costs to get students to the Maine Engineering Expo at the University […]

By Leslie H. Dixon PARIS — At the end of its first phase, one thing is clear. The Blue Ribbon Commission on Education was succinct. The work of the 15-member Blue Ribbon Commission, which began contentiously  in April 2016 with what was called a “secret” breakfast meeting, hosted by Gov. Paul LePage at the governor’s […]

By Leslie H. Dixon PARIS — Superintendent Rick Colpitts told the SAD 17 Board of Directors and regional state legislators that based on preliminary figures, the district could be $2.2 million over the recommended Essential Programs and Services budget in the fiscal 2018 budget. About $1.4 million of that is simply due to a shift in […]

PARIS — On a sunny day in October, 16-year-old Jasmine Roundeau found herself in full firefighting gear, high up on a ladder, smashing in a window with an axe as she simulated venting air during a fire on a second floor of a building. While there wasn’t any actual smoke or fire, there were smoke […]