ANDOVER — A public informational session on the possibility of withdrawing from SAD 44 is scheduled for 7 p.m. Aug. 28 at the Town Hall by the Stand Alone Committee/Save Our School Committee.

Then, three weeks later, from noon until 8 p.m. Sept. 18, residents will decide whether they want to form a withdrawal committee that would begin the process for the possible withdrawal from the school district.

Susan Merrow, an Andover selectman and active in the Stand Alone Committee, released a timeframe for the possibility and reasoning behind the effort.

According to the release, a petition circulating for several months gathered the signatures of more than 75 residents requesting a vote to withdraw from SAD 44.

The reasons for the effort are many, including the district’s vote to close the grades-K-through-5 school two years ago. The school remained open after the town agreed to pay an additional $214,000 to keep it open. The next year, the town paid $68,000 more to keep the nearly century-old school open.

SAD 44 Superintendent David Murphy said funding to keep the school open exceeded the $214,000 paid by the town. He was uncertain of the precise figure.

He said on Tuesday that the district will take no steps in response to the planned vote until the committee moves forward.

Among the many other reasons cited for taking action to try to withdraw from the district are:

The importance of having a school in town to business, tourism and way of life;

To eliminate the uncertainty each year that the school may close;

To prevent elementary school pupils from having to travel an hour or more to another district elementary school;

A chance to control the town’s school tax burden.

The Sept. 18 vote will not automatically mean withdrawal. What it will do is give residents a chance to learn what it could mean to stand alone through conducting additional research, according to the release. The current committee would be transformed into the Withdrawal Committee.

About $24,000 would also have to be raised to enable the preparation work to go forward, including negotiations with SAD 44.

If residents vote “yes” on forming the Withdrawal Committee, a second town vote several months later would be administered by the State Department of Education if mutually agreeable terms are worked out between the town of Andover and SAD 44. That vote would decide whether the town would withdraw.

Andover would then become an Alternative Organizational Structure (AOS), of which there are 15 around the state, or a Community School District. The town would have its own three-person school board, a part-time superintendent and staff to run the school.

About 34 K-5 students currently attend the school. If withdrawal is affirmed, the town would pay tuition for students in grades 6 through 12 to either go to SAD 44 or RSU 10.