NORTH KINGSTOWN — The shuttered Wickford Elementary School, empty for three years, could see life again as a school or a special-education center.

On Monday, a group charged with looking at school configuration urged the School Committee to keep the school rather than give it to the town.

The group’s 14 members voted unanimously to save the school, said co-chair Terri Ohs.

The recommendation is timely. The Town Council recently gave school officials until June 30 to decide what to do with the 101-year-old edifice.

Both town and school officials say the aging structure needs a new boiler and roof.

The repairs could be made if taxpayers approve a new loan. The configuration group is recommending the School Committee propose a bond to fix the school.

The configuration group is expected to recommend a long-range plan for the district, and Ohs and others offered a status report on Monday.

But the group wanted to weigh in quickly on the Wickford School, Ohs said.

A number of factors influenced the group’s decision, Ohs said. Among them:

• The school will be needed if the district approves a full-day kindergarten.

• The district operates six elementary schools in a “paired” configuration in which four grade K-3 schools feed students into two grade 4-5 schools. More than 80 percent of the district’s elementary staff favor a return to the K-5 model.

• The school could be used for special-education programs serving southern Rhode Island.

• Nearly 200 new homes will be built by the end of fiscal 2008, most of them in the southern end of town. In addition, a plan to rebuild Crossroads, a housing complex, will add 46 single- and multi-family units to the town.

The Wickford School was built in 1907, on the site of the former Wickford Academy, which operated in the 1800s.

The School Committee voted to close Wickford after then-Schools Supt. James Halley said the move could save the district thousands of dollars.

pdavis@projo.com