PERU — About 25 people attended the first of four public informational sessions Thursday night on a proposal for Canton, Carthage, Dixfield and Peru to leave Regional School Unit 10.

Residents of those former School Administrative District 21 towns will decide Nov. 8 whether to withdraw and adopt a plan to educate their students.

The towns joined RSU 10 in 2011 under the state-mandated school consolidation law.

RSU 10 Superintendent Craig King said all four towns must agree to secede.

“It’s all or nothing,” he said.

The other district towns are Buckfield, Hartford, Sumner, Mexico, Rumford, Byron, Roxbury and Hanover. Byron is also considering leaving the district.

If residents of the four towns agree to withdraw, it would be effective July 1, 2017.

But before that, a school committee to govern the potential new district must be elected. The following would also need to be addressed:

• Allow students who have started high school in one school to finish at that school if desired;

• Transfer some RSU 10 buses, laptops, iPads and other equipment to the new district;

• Pay $45,000 to RSU 10 for moving the central administrative office from Dixfield to another site in RSU 10;

• Allow the same superintendent to lead both RSU 10 and the new district;

• Keep all bargaining units in effect until the end of the currently negotiated contract;

• Continue splitting some positions between RSU 10 and the new district, as is done now; and

• Sharing some services with RSU 10.

Kristin Collins, the attorney representing the four towns, said several more hearings must be held before November.

She also said a committee charged with reorganizing a new district will begin meeting next week. If voters agree to withdraw, a school board must be formed to govern it. That vote would likely come in December or January 2017. A superintendent would also need to be hired.

Withdrawal spokeswoman Natalie Sneller said she expected the costs to operate a new district to be about the same as the four towns pay to RSU 10.

Dates for other public informational meetings for Canton, Carthage and Peru were not set Thursday night.