Portland's Republican City Committee is continuing its petition drive to unseat School Committee members who recently voted to make prescription birth control available at King Middle School.

The Republicans plan to collect signatures of Portland voters at a School Committee workshop at 7 p.m. Wednesday in Room 250, Portland Arts and Technology High School, off Allen Avenue.

The Republicans need 500 sworn signatures to start the lengthy and complicated process that could lead to a recall election. They gathered 175 signatures when they launched the petition drive Monday at the Portland Club, said Nick McGee, Republican City Committee chairman.

The School Committee's 7-2 vote last week would make King the first middle school in Maine to offer a full range of contraception in grades 6 to 8, when students are 11 to 15 years old, school officials said.

The petition drive calls for the removal of School Committee members Rebecca Minnick, Robert O'Brien and Sarah Thomson. Other members who supported the King measure are ineligible for recall because they will have less than a year left in their three-year terms, are up for election on Nov. 6 or aren't seeking re-election, McGee said.

Minnick has defended her vote in the face of the recall threat. O'Brien and Thompson didn't return calls for comment on the petition drive.

McGee said the Republicans also believe Minnick, O'Brien and Thompson should be removed because the school district developed a $2 million deficit last year that must be covered by Portland taxpayers.

If the Republicans collect 500 signatures or more, the city clerk will organize a citywide, four-day petition drive to gather 3,000 voters' signatures for each elected official in question. If a citywide petition succeeds, a recall election could be held early next year.