Hundreds of Portland residents made it clear Tuesday that they don’t want the city’s school board to consolidate the Hall and Longfellow elementary schools into a “megaschool.”

City officials and members of the Board of Education received a petition signed by more than 560 residents who are calling on the city to replace the Hall Elementary School but not consolidate it with the Longfellow school.

The Maine Department of Education has offered to fund construction of a school to replace Hall – estimated to cost $20 million – but is asking school officials to consider the efficiencies of building a larger, consolidated school on one site.

Jessica Marino, who has three children at the Longfellow school, emailed the petition to Mayor Michael Brennan and other city officials Tuesday. She presented the petition to the school board at its workshop. Marino said it took her group, Portlanders for Neighborhood Schools, just five days to collect the signatures.

“Neighborhood schools are an essential component of sustainable, healthy, walkable communities and help to make Portland a vibrant and livable city,” the petition reads. “Smaller, walkable schools also result in better health and educational outcomes for our students. We believe strongly that our children’s educational needs will not be met in a suburban style, auto-oriented school of 700-800 students.”

The petition asks school officials “to demonstrate patience” as the state considers future funding for renovations at Longfellow and four other Portland elementary schools. Supporters have no objections to building a new Hall school, and suggest Longfellow remain on the state’s waiting list for funding assistance.

Though the city has been assured that state funds to replace the aging Hall school are certain, the state has challenged Portland to consider the benefits of consolidating the schools, after learning earlier this year that there will be fewer students in the district than expected in future years.

School board members were udpated on the city’s building options and demographic data Tuesday night by the project’s architect, Oak Point Associates.

One problem with consolidation is that there is no available land for such a large project, said board Chairwoman Sarah Thompson. She said the state suggested that the city explore two building options on city-owned land, if it chose a megaschool.

Thompson said building a consolidated school on land next to Evergreen Cemetery or on the Deering High School football field doesn’t make a lot of sense – at least to her. “I’m not sure those are our best options,” Thompson said.

She said no decisions have been made about how to proceed. A decision could be made at the board’s June 16 meeting, Thompson said.

If the city decides to build a new Hall school, voters will be asked in 2016 to approve state funding for the $20 million project.

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