BOURBON CO., Ky (LEX NEWS) — North Middletown Elementary School has served its community since 1948, but a district recommendation could shut its doors within four years.
Supporters of keeping the school open packed a meeting Thursday evening to share facts, numbers, and testimony, building a unified plan to present at next week's Bourbon County Facilities Planning Committee meeting.
Superintendent Larry Begley said the recommendation to close the school comes down to money.
"It is the operating cost and so now you're talking hundreds of thousands of dollars each year," Begley said.
The challenge, Begley said, is paying to operate a building that serves just 115 students. If the school eventually closes, students would move to other district elementaries, where Begley said they would gain access to resources they don't currently have.
But parents like Greg Barnett say the school is more than a building.
"My wife went to school here. My kids went to school here. Most of my family went to school here," Barnett said.
Begley said the decades of community built around the school can thrive anywhere.
"I believe that that community it is made of good people, and a building and bricks and mortar does not really determine how strong a community is," Begley said.
Barnett said supporters are not backing down.
"We're gonna go at them with the fight and and and hope we can sway their way," Barnett said.
The community's effort is rooted in what the school represents to those who have grown up with it.
"The school means everything to us. It's our way of life… it's our way of being neighborly. It's been that way for as long as school's been open," Barnett said.
The Facilities Planning Committee meets again Wednesday, July 29, when community members plan to present their case. Even if a decision is made in the coming weeks, the school will remain open for the upcoming school year.
