A proposal to close Dawes Middle School and Hawthorne Elementary took a beating Wednesday night from nearly all those who took a turn at the microphone to speak to the Lincoln Board of Education.

About 50 people attended the meeting at North Star High School, the first of two meetings to gather public opinion on a proposal to change attendance areas districtwide.

A part of those proposals includes closing Dawes, 5130 Colfax Ave., and Hawthorne, 300 S. 48th St., both of which are small schools where many of the current students are bused in.

School board members who support the proposals also have said there are nearby schools that could absorb students from those schools.

But parents who spoke to the board said they prefer small schools and don't understand why a proposal to close schools comes on the heels of a $250 million bond issue to build additional schools in the district and add onto existing ones.

"They are smaller schools, yes, but in my mind, that's a good thing," said Michelle Strand, president of the Hawthorne PTO.

She said she likes Hawthorne not only because it is small but because of the staff and the diversity. Hawthorne is a site for English Language Learners, who are bused from other areas of the city.

Gary Waters, a parent and PTO member at Dawes, said he was assured by board member Kathy Danek that passage of the bond would not negatively affect Dawes and he urged parents to support it.

"What I see now is we're trying to build bigger middle schools," he said.

It would make more sense, Waters said, to put more kids into Dawes rather than make Mickle and Culler middle schools larger.

Danek, who was among three school board members on a subcommittee that brought the proposals forward, made it clear she does not support closing Dawes and is fighting to redraw attendance lines in a way that would retain the middle school.

A second proposal brought forward by the committee would keep Dawes open.

City Councilman Doug Emery, whose consituents live in the Dawes and Hawthorne areas, told the board he is empathetic to the difficulties elected officials face but doesn't like the idea of closing the schools.

"This smacks to me of a classic case of bait and switch," he said, referring to arguments that voters should pass a bond issue to reduce overcrowding.

"This is an idea that should have been discussed before the bond issue was passed," he said.

Although the propoals would close the schools, the district would retain the buildings and use them for other purposes. The district has suggested using them to house an alternative high school and middle school.

Bob FitzSimmons and Barb Bettin, who both served on a citizens task force that made recommendations about the bond issue and co-chaired the group that looked at middle schools, said they support the proposal to close Dawes.

FitzSimmons said the committee discussed the need to address middle school students who are at risk and creating an alternative school is a good way to do that.

Also, they said in a written statement, there is little potential for growth in that attendance area, it would be difficult to justify the cost of maintaining such a small school and maintaining special programs like band would be difficult.

But Russ Tederman said he'd attended a small town school that had no problem having a band.

And he said he's concerned that students - like his children - who attended Fredstrom Elementary and were moved to several middle schools because of overcrowding before the bond issue passed are now going to get shifted again.

"You're not being real fair to those kids who've been moved around from one area to another," he said.

Others questioned why board members would propose closing a school so close to Goodrich Middle School, which will remain very full.

Vince Murphy said he was concerned about the effect closing Dawes would have on the neighborhood and the families who live there.

"The school is a source of stability for the neighborhood," he said.

The plan would affect numerous attendance areas, particularly those in the northwest part of town where the district is building a new elementary and middle school and replacing Arnold Elementary.

Attendance lines would also be redrawn to accommodate a new elementary in south Lincoln and additions to Cavett, Maxey and Roper elementaries.

If the proposals to close the schools were adopted, Hawthorne would close after the 2007-08 school year and Dawes after the 2008-09 school year.

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