
Carl Woock, left, an attorney with Steve Smith Trial Lawyers representing the town of West Paris, speaks Friday during a joint selectmen’s meeting between West Paris and Paris about the closure of Agnes Gray Elementary School in West Paris. Also pictured from left are Kristin Collins of Preti Flaherty and Paris Town Manager Natalie Andrews. Nicole Carter/Advertiser Democrat
PARIS — Selectmen for Paris and West Paris voted unanimously Friday to authorize their legal team to sue Maine School Administrative District 17 over the closing of Agnes Gray Elementary School.
The Select Board votes came during a meeting and forum at the Paris Fire Station following presentations from attorneys Carl Woock of Augusta firm Steve Smith Trial Lawyers and Kristin Collins of Preti Flaherty of Portland.
Woock represents West Paris and Collins represents Paris.
Both lawyers contend that SAD 17 violated Maine law when Superintendent Heather Manchester closed Agnes Gray Elementary School in West Paris last February due to unsafe conditions, which were outlined in an inspection report prepared by Portland firm LaVallee Brensinger Architects.
“We have grave concerns,” Woock told about 80 people in attendance, “about the lack of appropriate process to this point and lack of public participation that’s required by Maine statutes.
“I don’t really want to get into the specifics of Maine statutes or how and when the school closed. But there is a process that allows people to have a say about what happens to schools in their community. This has the appearance of being a backdoor closure of Agnes Gray, with other people deciding what is best for the children of West Paris.”

Agnes Gray Elementary School in West Paris was closed last winter based on this report prepared by Portland architects LaVallee Brensinger, which showed numerous safety failures. The towns of West Paris and Paris are suing the Oxford Hills school district as a result. LaVallee Brensinger Architects
“I think it’s significant that independently from Carl’s firm, I looked into the issue and came to the exact same conclusion,” Collins said, addressing residents. “Which is that the school should not be closed today because the school board did not go through the appropriate process under state law …. It is not sufficient to close the school by order of superintendent and it is also not sufficient to close the school by failing to fund it in the budget.
“The (Paris Select Board) is concerned with transparency, the lack of transparency in this process and the precedent that it sets that the superintendent could make a huge, sweeping decision and leave the people out of it.”
With the attorneys’ opening comments wrapped up, for the next 90 minutes several residents by turn provided their perspective on the issues West Paris is facing with its closed school, as well as the impact to Paris families after most of Agnes Gray’s students transferred to Paris Elementary School.
A number of people said they felt Agnes Gray maintenance has been neglected for years as a means to also close three other district schools in favor of eventually building a larger consolidated elementary school.
Maine Department of Education placed Agnes Gray, along with Oxford Hills Middle School, on the state’s priority list for replacement in September 2022.
That assertion, shared by many who spoke at Friday’s meeting, fails to consider that all the district’s building maintenance was significantly cut going back 15 years to the Great Recession when spending and staffing were slashed in Oxford Hills.
Among the requirements for SAD 17 to receive state funding for school construction is a districtwide assessment of all the schools’ conditions. Hebron Station and Paris Elementary school received “A” ratings, Oxford Elementary School a B, Otisfield Community School a C+, Waterford Memorial and Guy E. Rowe Elementary schools Cs, and Harrison Elementary School a D+.
After reviewing the assessments, the Maine DOE advised SAD 17 to search for solutions for its four lowest-rated schools, West Paris, Waterford, Harrison and Rowe; look into building a new school in a central location that utilizes existing infrastructure; and develop a plan that utilizes all existing spaces within each elementary school.
If the DOE ultimately decides the district must consolidate schools to qualify for construction funding, it will be up to taxpayers to decide whether to comply and receive financial support, or build a new school in West Paris without any state assistance.
The estimated cost to replace Agnes Gray is $25 million and would serve about 100 pre-K through fifth grade students. To build a consolidated elementary school would be about twice that and serve about 450 students.
The DOE has declined to say whether it would provide financial assistance to replace a community school but it has not done so going back 20 years or more, when Hebron Station School was built in the early 2000s.
Some of the most vocal critics of SAD 17 administration and school board were former members of the board of directors who all served within the last 10 or more years, including Robert Jewell and Scott Buffington of Paris, Kathy LaPlante of Harrison, Nick DiConzo of West Paris and Natalie Andrews of West Paris, who was SAD 17’s board chairwoman from June 2021 until December 2022 and is currently town manager for Paris.
Current Board Chair Troy Ripley of Paris spoke at length as well. He said Superintendent Manchester has consulted with the school district’s legal firm, Drummond Woodsum, to make sure her decisions followed Maine statute.
“I reviewed the decision of the attorney with respect to … the closure of Agnes Gray back in February,” Woock answered. “I disagree with his statutory analysis.”
Collins said she expects the cost of litigation to run about $5,000 for the two towns, “if we can get to a quick resolution, which I think we can. Especially with the fact that I am not the only attorney. We have two minds working together and the towns are sharing the cost.”
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