OXFORD – Residents of the Oxford Academy & Central School District will be heading back to the polls on June 23, this time to vote on a revised version of the capital project which was defeated by voters last fall.

Superintendent Randy Squier expressed confidence that the project will be successful this time around. The previously proposed project failed by a margin of 9 votes in November. Only 341 votes were cast in the referendum.

“We feel confident the ‘yes’ votes are out there; we just need to do a better job getting them to the polls,” said Squier.

This time around, the project bears a larger price tag – $11,316,216 as opposed to the $10.16 million – and it has been divided into two propositions, on which residents will vote separately.

The first proposition represents the core project, totaling $10,967,591. The scope of work consists of $6,886,238 in improvements at the Oxford Middle School – to include reconstruction of existing classrooms and facilities, renovations to the school’s library/media center, information technology improvements, and conversion of the building’s steam heating system to hot water. According to Squier, the new heating system is expected to cut the district’s energy costs by 10 percent and will also require less maintenance.

At the Primary School, $439,175 has been allocated for site work and reconstruction, to include playground improvements, air conditioning in a hand full of classrooms and installation of wireless technology.

$3,651,178 will be spent at the High School, of which $1,187,060 will be allocated to relocate the district and special programs offices, expand the school’s art room and develop a shared entrance with the Primary School. School officials have stressed this will help make the building more secure during the school day, and will not affect students at the start of the day or at dismissal. Other elements of the reconstruction include rearranging the existing agriculture and technology areas, as well as replacing some classroom walls with folding partitions to increase flexibility.

The remaining $1.46 million is slated for site work at the Primary/High School campus, including new bleachers and other improvements to the school’s athletic fields. Drainage issues will also be addressed.

“We consider our athletic fields academic space as well,” Squier said, explaining that those outdoor spaces are used by both sports and physical education classes. They are often rendered unusable by rain because of the poor drainage.

“We want to make it right,” he said.