OXFORD – School officials say they will continue to keep the lines of communication open between SAD 39 and SAD 17 even though any hope for a combined school system appears finished.

“We’re still interested on our part for collaborations. But it’s really out of our hands what the next step will be,” SAD 17 Superintendent Mark Eastman told the board at its last meeting.

While the board still hopes to continue the collaborative efforts – such as sharing the technical school, adult education and other initiatives that have been an earmark for the two schools for several decades – Eastman said the issue of paring up with SAD 39 permanently through an alternative organizational structure is now moot.

“There’s no wiggle room,” he said of state law, which the board hoped could be flexible enough to allow the districts’ officials time to work out a plan.

SAD 17 had hoped to develop an alternative organizational structure with SAD 39 but discovered it had to file not only the alternative organizational structure plan, but also a reorganization plan.

The problem, Eastman said, was with the opening of school and the requirements of the law. SAD 17 would be unable to meet the timeline for a November plan submission and a January vote on the new school structure.

Earlier this month, the board requested an extension of the referendum to June 30, 2009, and the plan submission to March 30, but they were turned down by Department of Education Commissioner Susan Gendron. Gendron told Eastman that as commissioner she did not have the authority to extend the deadline of the referendum date; that was a function of the Legislature.

SAD 17 officials had said a 40-plus member committee from 11 towns in the district had to be formed and discussions started before Sept. 15, the deadline for SAD 39 to decide whether it will be part of the SADs 21 and 43 merger plan that goes to a vote on Sept. 17. It was simply too short a time.