More than two decades ago, the prospect of a neighborhood school closing pushed Marian Price into action.

Years later, she would serve 14 years on the Lincoln Board of Education and another eight as a state senator.

But it was the Lincoln Public Schools superintendent’s recommendation in the late 1970s to close Bethany Elementary School, the school her kids had attended and a cornerstone of her neighborhood, that whet her appetite for political advocacy.

“That was probably my first act of activism,” Price said.

Newspaper files are full of the anger over closing Bethany and Havelock schools, as well as Whittier Junior High.

“It was a real uprising here in Bethany,” Price recalled. “They were really passionate about saving our school. It’s exactly what they are going through with Hawthorne and Dawes. You form a strong bond (with the school).”

As part of proposed districtwide boundary changes to accommodate new schools and additions being built with a $250 million bond issue, a board subcommittee has suggested closing Dawes Middle School and Hawthorne Elementary.

Both buildings would be used by LPS for other purposes, possibly alternative middle and high schools.

The proposals — as well as opposition to them — are not new.

Peruse the landscape of Lincoln’s education system over the past century or so and you’ll find recurring themes: Schools are closed, torn down, moved to make way for a shifting population and a growing city.

Half a century ago, before the University of Nebraska’s Bancroft Hall was full of college students, it was overrun with grade-schoolers.

Look back to the early 1900s, and there, on the corner of 26th and O streets, is an elementary school. And there, where Pershing Center stands. And Madonna Rehabilitation Hospital. And the fire department’s headquarters.

A history of Lincoln schools compiled by LPS Media Services lists more than 30 schools or LPS programs that have closed since the late 1800s.

In some cases, the district used buildings for alternative schools or special programs or even storage before selling them.

But in the past 27 years, just two schools have closed and the district has sold the buildings that were home to Whittier Junior High and Hayward Elementary.

And like recent public meetings on the proposed closing of Hawthorne and Dawes, those nearly three decades earlier drew families arguing for their schools.

Then — and now — the district cited low enrollment and the proximity of other elementary schools that could absorb students.

If anything, controversy surrounding the closings of Havelock, Bethany and Whittier were more heated. They came at a time when the post-baby boom student population dipped.

Then-Mayor Helen Boosalis weighed in, calling Bethany’s closing shortsighted. A community-based group called the Lincoln Alliance opposed closing both Havelock and Bethany.

The late Larry Price, Marian Price’s brother-in-law, was among residents who sued the school district to try to keep Bethany open. The district prevailed, and soon after the school closed, Price bought it and converted it into Cotner Center for Living.

In Havelock, more than 300 opponents crowded into the school media center.

Herb Pickard, whose kids went to Havelock Elementary just like he did, remembers worrying about what losing their school would do to the community.

“That was always one of the points we tried to make. When you take a school you also take part of the community with it,” he said.

In the end, Goodyear bought the building and turned it into a rec center, which played a big part in keeping the neighborhood vital. And having two nearby schools helped, he said.

“I guess the effect on the neighborhood wasn’t as dramatic as what we thought it might have been,” Pickard said. “As a neighborhood Havelock is still a wonderful community inside a larger one.”

Marian Price said preserving the Bethany School also was key to keeping the neighborhood healthy.

Whittier has not suffered such a positive fate, although things may finally be looking up. After it was sold to the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, it was underused and in desperate need of renovation.

Last year, UNL announced multi-million dollar plans to use the building for child care and research.

Hayward Elementary, a landmark in the North Bottoms district of Lincoln, is now condominiums.

That’s been good for the neighborhood, said Becky Schenaman.

Loss of the elementary, in the late ’60s, wasn’t so good, recalled the vice president of the North Bottoms Neighborhood Association.

At the time, many parents thought being bused to a new school — Clare McPhee — sounded good, especially since it was connected to the university.

“But it sure ruined the neighborhood,” Schenaman said. “Families with young children moved where there were better schools. I hated to see it close, even though those apartments are nice.”

Kathy Danek, a school board member representing northeast Lincoln, wasn’t part of the opposition, but she remembers how passionate people were about it.

And she doesn’t think it’s a good idea to close yet another northeast Lincoln school. Previous closings happened within a few years of a new school being built, she said.

She said she thinks moving Dawes students to Mickle and Culler would fill those schools, and keep portable classrooms at an already full Goodrich.

She wants the board to work on redrawing the boundaries to make use of all existing schools.

“If we have one portable on site at a middle school we shouldn’t be closing schools,” she said.

She’s most concerned for Dawes students, many of whom are on free or reduced lunch, who don’t have transportation to school.

“These parents got their homes so the kids could get to school,” she said “We (would make) that really difficult for a lot of families.”

Reach Margaret Reist at 473-7226 or mreist@journalstar.com.