Michelle Whitney, second from right, and other parents attended the Selectmen's meeting to discuss an information session on Cheshire School set for Wednesday.

CHESHIRE, Mass. — The community is coming together on Wednesday night to brainstorm reuses for Cheshire School — and ideas to resurrect it.

The information session will be held at 6:30 p.m. at the school.

The Adams-Cheshire Regional School Committee's vote two weeks to close Cheshire in favor of C.T. Plunkett School in Adams has angered and frustrated this small town. The vote was 4-3, with all four Adams representatives voting to close Cheshire. Many residents feel that a decision critical to their community was taken out of their hands.

"Why are we jumping into this and rolling over?" asked parent Michelle Whitney, one of those who had been pushing for a town meeting to take up the matter, at Tuesday's meeting of the Selectmen. "I think that we should all show support but I think it should be our town officials that stand tall and lead us."

The Selectmen assured Whitney and several others who attended Tuesday's meeting that all three board members would be in attendance on Wednesday and would moderate the forum. Superintendent of Schools Robert Putnam will also attend.

"It's basically going to be an open meeting so that everybody can ask whatever they want, suggest whatever they want," said Selectwoman Carol Francesconi. "Eventually, we'll have a school-use committee formed but that will have to be when we know where we're going and what we're really doing."

Town officials are bracing for the obligations that will fall on the town once it takes possession of the 60-year-old building on July 1 and parents and others are saying they will "do everything they can" to keep it open.

"You're talking about school use, the use of the building but we're looking at trying to save the school," said Jeremy McLain. "Maybe a committee separately for that, looking at different options."

Several figures have been thrown around related to keeping the school open. It's been estimated that it would cost Cheshire between $250,000 to $500,000 to operate the school on its own above and beyond what it's assessed by the school district. But it was also noted that calculations for fiscal 2018 put the cost for keeping the school operating for one year at an extra $162,000 above the $2.3 million the town already pays. However, spending by Cheshire also affects spending by Adams so it's not clear how this would work.

Pulling out of the regional district to create a separate elementary school district would be onerous, and require Adams to vote in favor.

"People have to realize our hands are tied," said Chairman Paul Astorino.

Town Administrator Mark Webber said he'd met with Putnam on Tuesday morning to go over some points on the process of taking possession of the school.

First, the school district is required to notify the town by certified letter at least 90 days before the official closure of the school, which should take place on July 1, the beginning of the new fiscal year.

But what's "loosey-goosey," said Webber, is the leasing agreement and what condition the building will be returned. Typically, a building is returned in the condition it was received, but the thin lease does not lay out those details.

"There's no provision, no discussion on how they will leave it," he said. "That kind of threw me."

The town will have to discuss with the school district how the building will be vacated and what will be removed. At the same time, the regional school district may be interested in leasing the suite of offices it currently occupies. Webber said he was told it would cost about $20,000 just for central office to move out.

"The district would prefer to stay where they are," he said. "It can be pretty well segregated ... they've got their own electrical and heating."

The school also houses a child-care program and a summer program that would also have to be dealt with, and there's a debt obligation on the boiler system until 2023 that may have to be hashed out.

Plus, the town will have to add a line item for fiscal 2018 to cover the costs associated with maintaining the building, such as heat and electrical, security, insurance and general maintenance.

Selectman Robert Ciskowski said he'd parsed out an estimate of the cost burden that he would have ready for Wednesday's meeting. The town would also have to get in and change the locks, he said, to secure the building because it's unknown how many keys might be floating around.

"There's so many nuts and bolts about closing the building," he said. "We're in uncharted waters here."