BUXTON – Fast action by citizens has likely spared the historic Hollis High School, at least temporarily, from the wrecking ball.

Believing a demolition contract was on the agenda at a special meeting of the School Administrative District 6 board of directors on June 28, Jan Hill, president of the Buxton-Hollis Historical Society, and others hoping to save the school launched a flurry of calls and emails to the district.

Then, they attended the school board meeting June 28 to buy some time, asking the board to turn over the school building to an about-to-be formed nonprofit group.

“We had to put out a fire,” Hill, commenting about the close call of a looming demolition, said Friday. “That was right on the edge.”

A meeting to organize the citizens’ group will be held at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, July 7, at the Buxton-Hollis Historical Museum, 8 River Road (Route 112) in Buxton. Citizens in both Hollis and Buxton are invited to attend.

The goal of the yet unnamed group is to acquire the school, as well as a vacant one in Buxton.

Voters in both Hollis and Buxton in June narrowly rejected proposals to convert the old schools into community centers. The Hollis proposal to save its old high school lost by just 39 votes.

In Buxton, a plan for the town to lease the former Hanson School for $1 a year from the school district was defeated by a scant 10 votes. A recount failed to overturn the decision although the gap closed to nine votes.

Buxton and Hollis are two of the five towns in SAD 6. The district no longer needs either of the two former school buildings. Hill said separate letters have been written to the school district asking for each school.

Hill said the board of the historical society had met June 27 and decided in that meeting to organize a nonprofit group to establish an effort to save both schools.

“We’re moving pretty fast,” Hill said.

The day after the historical society board met, the school board discussed the Hollis High School in its meeting.

“No action was taken to demolish it,” Lawrence Miller, one of school directors representing Buxton, said Friday.

It’s unclear what the next step is for the school district. Bill Ellis, facilities manager for the district, and Rick Matthews, assistant superintendent of finance and operations, did not respond on Friday to telephone messages.

Hill said the school district needed time to determine whether it could legally turn over Hollis High School to a nonprofit group. She’s hoping to hear answers when the school directors meet in the next regular board meeting at 7 p.m. on Monday, July 18, in the library at Bonny Eagle Middle School.

A citizens’ petition placed the save-the-school measure on the June 14 ballot, and voters were also asked to appropriate $64,000 for the project. Under the plan Hollis voters rejected, Hollis High School would have been returned to the town with just the land it sits on.

The old Hollis High School, dedicated in 1942, is adjacent to an elementary school. The school district needs land around the old school for parking.

Selectmen in Hollis didn’t favor receiving the school back from the school district, and a concern arose that without land it would become a non-forming lot.

There’s “a whole myriad of issues,” Miller said.

Miller said the Hanson School in Buxton was not part of last week’s school district directors’ agenda. But, Hill said, the school district has an estimate of about $134,000 to level the Hanson School.

“They haven’t taken any action on Hanson,” Hill said.

In the campaign leading up to Election Day in each town, advocates of saving the schools said meeting space is needed for community and civic groups like scouts, teenagers and senior citizens. Proponents of saving Hollis High School previously estimated replacement cost at $1.1 million.

Susan Orfant Gillette of Buxton, who heads up Saco River Art League, became interested in saving the schools because the art league is seeking space to meet. Gillette, who narrowly lost her bid for a selectman’s seat in Buxton, said the nonprofit group is “rapidly” forming to save the Hanson and Hollis schools.

The public is encouraged to participate.

“We can use anyone who wants to get involved,” Gillette said.