Andrea Main’s petition for a school closure vote has the signatures needed to send it on to Wiscasset selectmen to set a date, Wiscasset Town Clerk Christine Wolfe said Oct. 15.

Main turned in the petition to Wolfe at the town office Wednesday afternoon. Without a petition, the School Committee’s Sept. 15 decision to close Wiscasset Primary School after this school year would have stood, without a town-wide vote.

“I feel good, relieved,” Main said about handing in the petition after collecting about 200 signatures in recent weeks. “It was a lot of work.”

Not all the signatures were valid, but 177 were — 10 more than the required count of 167 registered Wiscasset voters, Wolfe said.

Wolfe planned to immediately notify the school committee that she had received the petition. The next step is for the selectmen to set a date for the referendum. She said she hoped for the item to get on the agenda for the selectmen’s Oct. 21 meeting.

The referendum has to be scheduled at least 45 days in advance, and there will be a public hearing prior to the vote, Wolfe said.

Main said in an interview that when she collected signatures, some signers expressed support for keeping Wiscasset Primary open; however, the main sense she got was that people want more information. Signers included parents at Wiscasset Primary and the town’s other schools, as well as people with no students in the schools.

“It was diverse,” she said.

School Committee Chairman Steve Smith said Wednesday that, while he still supports the idea of having a town vote, he also still had his concerns about a referendum that might be the lone item on the ballot since it will be held some time after November elections. That could impact turnout, he said.

“Twenty people could show up and decide it,” Smith said. The vote will also mean a month and a half delay on the committee’s planning for next year, he said. 

Main said, based on the interest she has been hearing on the issue, voter turnout could be good. And the extra time the vote takes can be used to get more information on costs and other factors to help with the town’s decision and with the committee’s planning, she said. She isn’t against a school closing, she just wants everyone to have a voice and the best information possible about all the schools, said Main, who has children in the primary school and Wiscasset Middle School.