LEWISTON — John Jenkins’ plan to create a new charter school on the Internet is on hold.

However, the former mayor of Lewiston and Auburn said he still hopes to enroll kids in a version of the John Jenkins Leadership Academy when school begins in the fall.

“Full steam ahead,” Jenkins said Tuesday. “We’re ready to go.”

Jenkins hopes to sign a deal for a kind of school within a school to begin in September, building on the “Inspired to be Great!” program he has been presenting in area schools for years. Since it would be done on a contractual basis in existing public schools, there would be no need for creating a charter school.

Jenkins plans are bigger than that, though.

The longtime politician, athlete and motivational speaker also wants to create an Internet-based school, one that would seek a charter school designation and graduate its students.

It could begin operating as early as fall 2013.

“This is all about getting it right the first time,” Jenkins said. “We want something that’s going to last, something that the state is proud of and is willing to put its stamp of approval on.”

The process began earlier this spring when Jenkins filed a letter of intent with the Maine Charter School Commission. He never filed the application, though. Before it was due, a member of the commission suggested that he wait until it sorts out the issue of so-called “virtual schools.”

Of the nine proposed schools, two others were slated to operate online: Maine connections Academy and Maine Virtual Academy. Supporters behind those two schools filed their applications, but their projects are on hold, too, until the commissioners can make some decisions about virtual education, Jim Banks, the commission’s chairman, said.

“We just feel that we need to be more specific in our design and in the monitoring of the school,” Banks said Tuesday. “We need to get some training as to how that occurs in other states.”

None of it has dampened Jenkins’ enthusiasm.

“I was very ambitious about getting started this year,” he said. “But then again, this will make it stronger.”

Jenkins has talked about the school as mixing Internet work with one-on-one instruction and real world mentoring.

He wants to train high schooler students in business, enough that they could go into banking or real estate or insurance after they graduate. Some might earn licenses or certifications while still in school, he said.

Jenkins is working on a curriculum with professional educators that aims to follow student interests, he said. Meanwhile, he plans to get his application submitted to the state before the next deadline.

“The work is already being done,” he said.

Currently, the application process is exhaustive. The state asks everything from what kind of school lunch may be served to which classes that will be taught and how much the teachers will make. There are also intricate cash flow questions.

All are meant to demonstrate that a proposed school will be run responsibly.

Applicants for the upcoming school year include a school of art and science school at the Fiddlehead Center for the Arts in Gray, the Baxter Academy of Technology and Science in Portland and the Rural Aspirations Project in the town of Monroe, east of Waterville.