Samuel Stanley, a third-grader at Hawthorne Elementary, had a question Tuesday night, in the school auditorium crowded with parents, school staff and neighborhood residents.

So he made his way to the front of the room, near the Lincoln Board of Education members sitting at a long table, and spoke into the microphone.

“Why do you want to close Hawthorne?”

 Samuel was among well over 120 people who crammed into the unairconditioned auditorium to let the school board know what they think of a proposal to close the elementary school at the end of the school year.

Samuel’s feelings echoed nearly everyone who took the microphone. He doesn’t like the idea. At all.

“I think it’s a really good school,” he said. “I would be separated from a lot of my friends and I do not want that to happen.”

The meeting was punctuated by applause after many of the speakers questioned the board’s reasons for considering closing the school.

A school board subcommittee has proposed closing Hawthorne as part of two proposals for redrawing school boundaries districtwide, an effort spurred by voter passage of a $250 million bond issue last year.

The proposals recommend numerous changes, particularly in the outlying areas of Lincoln where new schools are being built. But the most controversial suggestions are to close Hawthorne, 300 S. 48th St., and Dawes Middle School, 5130 Colfax Ave.

Suzanne Borovich, the parent of an Eastridge student, said the effects of closing Hawthorne go beyond Hawthorne.

Eastridge and Randolph schools would be more crowded and people who transfer to those schools for day care or other reasons might be unable to do so anymore.

“You’re not just affecting one school, you’re upsetting the whole darn apple cart,” she said.

 Several neighborhood residents said they didn’t think the census information accurately represented the housing situation in the neighborhood.

Larry Frisch said many of the older families whose children are grown will be moving, and families looking for affordable housing will move in. The location is perfect for working families and day care is available, he said.

“We’ve seen a steady march of young people moving to the suburbs,” he said. “But … I think they’ll be drawn back to this neighborhood by economics and the American dream of home ownership.”

Chip Stanley, another parent and neighborhood resident, said supporters would go door to door to get more accurate information for the district about how many young families are in the area.

Erik Hubl, a neighborhood resident, said when supporters distributed fliers to all the homes in the attendance area they counted 30 for sale.

“This school is symbolic of the heart of the neighborhood,” he said.”

District officials said about half of Hawthorne’s 250 students are English Language Learners bused to Hawthorne, many from the Hartley area. LPS would open an ELL site at Hartley if Hawthorne closes.

Fahima Nashir, who is from Afghanistan and whose daughter is in the ELL program, said her older daughter attended a different ELL site and she much prefers Hawthorne.

“It’s terrible,” she said before the meeting. “This is the only school that I have seen that they are so friendly.”

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