North Stonington — In what town selectmen say is an unprecedented effort, all three of the town's major boards continued to work together Thursday night to determine how to best move forward North Stonington's school system.

Since January, members of the finance, education and selectmen boards have been meeting about once a month, addressing what might have caused two school project referendums to fail last year and what might remedy the issues.

The goal, Selectman Mark Donahue said, isn’t to get a proposal before voters in June — it’s to take time to craft a cohesive message and determine “high-level objectives.”

“It’s a working-level meeting, which is a little different than what we typically do,” Donahue said, adding that the public is welcome to watch and join the conversation.

The fourth meeting of the year, for example, focused on communication: Who should be addressed? What media should be used? And, most importantly, what’s the message going to be?

Throughout the meeting, some cautioned against focusing too strongly on school project referendum victories in Stonington and Ledyard, citing North Stonington’s differences from those towns.

Others discussed the pros and cons of developing targeted messages rather than one overarching message regarding the schools and their needs. At one point, the boards wondered whether they should solicit community members with specific public relations experience.

“I agree with (Superintendent of Schools Peter Nero) that we have to use different methods,” Selectman Bob Testa said. “But I don’t agree with splitting the message because we think, in our positions, we know what people are interested in.”

He suggested all details about the deficiencies and suggested upgrades should be readily available so voters can “make an educated decision.”

“If you try to tailor the message ... if you say seniors in the town aren’t going to care about the programs, they’re only going to care about taxes, you don’t know that,” Testa said.

The meeting, facilitated pro-bono by Connecticut Association of Boards of Education member Nick Caruso, didn’t conclude with any definitive solutions, but left it to a smaller subgroup to begin to iron out some of the details.

Prior to the conversation, Nero led boards and community members on a tour of North Stonington Elementary School, pointing out issues including a lack of storage space, a cramped nurse’s office without much privacy and an upstairs computer lab.

The latter, he said, would be problematic in the event of a fire; younger students, if they were using the lab at the time, could be “trampled” by older ones.

So far, the tri-board meetings have kept to the two-hour agenda as scheduled — something the small audience Thursday recognized and commended.

“I think there’s been a really good conversation, a really good dialogue and attempt to exchange ideas,” Donahue said. “We’re not bickering, we’re thinking constructively and trying to be open to different approaches. I think we’re making some good progress.”

He said each meeting has garnered attendance from more than half of all three boards.

“For four months in a row, that’s a pretty good commitment,” Donahue said.

The next meeting is scheduled for May 28, although the time and meeting place have not yet been determined.

l.boyle@theday.com

Twitter: @LindsayABoyle