FORT KENT – While a petition drive is under way to repeal the state’s school consolidation law, school districts across the state continue to move forward with efforts to comply with the edict.

In the St. John Valley, a regional planning committee formed several months ago to develop a reorganization plan for the school systems in the area. In the coming weeks, public hearings will be held to inform the public about the committee’s progress and provide draft information of the committee’s work.

When the state Department of Education made suggestions for model regional school units as part of its school consolidation initiative, it suggested that towns in the St. John Valley join together to form Regional School Unit 1.

The proposed RSU would have approximately 2,514 students and four high schools. It extends from Allagash across the St. John Valley to Hamlin and south to Winterville.

Don Guimond, a co-chairman of the regional planning committee and town manager in Fort Kent, said in a written statement Thursday that the regional committee has met six times and discussed topics such as school system governance, school debt consolidation and personnel issues in concert with overall finances for the new regional system.

“It has been a very interesting process from the beginning and at times the committee has felt very frustrated,” he said. “We are working through the steps we need to take to submit a plan to the commissioner of education before Dec. 1. This is by no means a completed document. We hope members of the public turn out to [the meetings] to express their thoughts and discuss the work that we have done so far.”

A facilitator hired by the committee also will be present at the meetings to describe the committee’s task, talk about the contents of the draft plan, and discuss future steps.

The school consolidation law, which was passed in June, calls for restructuring the state’s current 152 school administrative systems into 80.

All school systems in the state must reorganize into larger, more efficient units or reorganize administrative structures to reduce costs. In August, school units filed notices of intent with the Education Department to start planning and negotiating with other schools to reorganize into a larger unit or file an alternative plan to reduce costs within their own unit.

Communities are being asked to consider forming RSUs of at least 2,500 students each with at least one publicly funded high school. In cases where forming a 2,500-student unit is impractical, the department will allow units of as few as 1,200 students. Island and tribal schools will not be subject to the minimum size requirement.

School officials have until Dec. 1 to file reorganization or alternative plans.

A drive to repeal the state’s school system consolidation initiative is under way by the Maine Coalition to Save Schools, and petition circulators were gathering signatures at state polling places on Election Day.

To advance their citizen initiative, backers of the repeal effort need to collect at least 55,087 valid signatures – 10 percent of the total number of votes cast for governor at the last gubernatorial election. The filing deadline for 2008 would be Jan. 28, according to the Secretary of State’s Office.

The first of the public meetings in the St. John Valley will be held at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 14, in the cafeteria at Van Buren High School.

A second public meeting will take place Monday, Nov. 19, in the cafeteria at Fort Kent Community High School.

The final hearing will be held Tuesday, Nov. 20, at the Frenchville Community Center.