HARPSWELL — Supporters of a marine-themed charter school are eyeing the former West Harpswell School building as a possible home for the venture.

The “Harpswell Coastal Academy” (HCA) group has not yet settled on a location, but conversations about using the former West Harpswell School building for the project began last week with the town’s Board of Selectmen.

Town Administrator Kristi Eiane said the charter school group’s input is now being factored into the town’s long-range options to put the vacant 17,000-square-foot school building back into use.

School Administrative District 75 closed West Harpswell School in June 2011 as part of a plan to consolidate elementary education in town at the school now called Harpswell Community School.

For now, Eiane said, town officials are concerned with the short-term maintenance and management of the West Harpswell School building, but will factor the charter school option into a slate of other possible plans that were considered at the annual town meeting this past March.

In a timeline presented to town officials, the charter school would look to open in the fall of 2013.

To meet that timeline, the school plans to seek a charter through SAD 75, or through a state commission overseeing the chartering process, by September of this year.

Last year, a new state law made Maine the 41st state in the country to allow the formation of charter schools, which combine elements of a private and public school.

In line with that law, charter schools would follow state and federal education standards and receive public funds, but the curriculum and hiring practices could be more flexible than public schools.

Joe Grady, a spokesman for the HCA, said that his group has held one meeting with officials from SAD 75 about the school. Grady described that meeting as “cordial and informative.”

Following the proposed timeline, lease negotiations would begin with the town after the school seeks its charter this fall.

By the fall of 2013, the school would look to have 40 to 80 students in the classroom wing and cafeteria area of the 17,000-square-foot school and then expand to 80 to 160 students in the following school year, which could require use of the entire building.

Between now and next year’s annual town meeting, Eiane said, the Board of Selectmen has decided to keep the building available for town events, community nonprofit group use, residents and other groups through an application process.

The building currently hosts the Ash Point Community Center and library, which holds approximately 1,500 books that were a part of the former school library.

When the town returns to discussions of the building’s long-term use, Eiane said the charter school’s proposed plans will be a part of the discussion.

The school aims to provide experiential learning alongside a standard curriculum in English, math, science, social studies and the arts that “will view those subjects through the lens of Maine’s heritage as a community linked to the ocean,” according to the group’s website at www.harpswellcharterschool.wordpress.com.

dfishell@timesrecord.com