With the costs of maintaining three buildings in a district of 504 students, with both declining enrollment and deficit spending in the past two years, the Glenville-Emmons school district has decided it must close the Emmons Middle School or the Glenville Elementary School.

Superintendent Todd Chessmore and Midwest Management Resources, a St. Paul-based consulting firm, have made recommendations to close the Glenville Elementary school. But now the matter is in the hands of the school board, which is expected to make a decision next Monday.

There is a great deal to consider. Technical issues aside, comments from students as well as crowd members have shown that the issue over which school to close has a great deal to do with the relationship between the two communities.

If Emmons Middle School closes, the town will have no school buildings. Glenville already has the district’s high school, so if the Glenville Elementary closes, each of the district’s two major towns will be left with one school.

Therefore, the decision rests not solely on the quality of the facility, but in the role that facility plays in the community of the district, according to a Midwest Management Resources (MMR) consultant hired to study the situation.

That may swing some opinions in favor of closing the Glenville school, even though estimates show it would be less expensive to close the Emmons school and move those students to Glenville.

MMR found that the 38,200 square foot, 37-year-old Glenville Elementary School building has the benefits of being centrally located, having level floors and a dividable gym, good space for classroom integration, classrooms that are close to state guidelines, and the facility is &uot;in the best condition of the three district schools.&uot;

Drawbacks are that the gym floor isn’t level, the ventilation isn’t good and the roof has experienced leakage and water damage has resulted.

The 81-year-old Emmons Middle School was commended for its facility maintenance, the flexibility for use of the first floor as an educational space, a newer, &uot;nicely sized&uot; gym, well-lit corridors and a facade that promotes community pride.

But there are negatives as well. The classrooms are smaller than state standards, the two-story building is in conflict with many codes &045; mostly those dealing with handicapped accessibility &045; and energy efficiency problems.

All of the district’s buildings need improvements. The buildings all have handicapped-accessibility compliance issues. Both have ventilation problems. All need renovations.

Midwest Management estimated the cost of closing the Glenville building and updating and adding onto the Emmons building at $6,290,600.

They estimated the cost of closing the Emmons building and renovating and expanding the building in Glenville at $5,174,800.

These recommendations were followed by the idea of using the closed building as a community center or a revenue producing, economic development asset for the district.

In the end, the group strongly recommended closing the Glenville Elementary School to keep the two towns as integral parts of the district as well as to use the larger space of the two.

Their recommendation continued on to the ultimate closure of all the buildings in the district and the construction of a new K-12 building at a neutral site in the district. The whole plan would take a bond referendum and, they wrote, should happen within two years of the closure of the Glenville Elementary School.

Chessmore’s recommendation, presented Monday, involved closing the Glenville Elementary School as well. But he said he wasn’t sure it was the right time to plan to build a new building.

A group of nine students from the high school’s leadership course, who have been examining the issue as well, have also come to the conclusion that closing the Glenville Elementary School is the best idea.

The decision will be the board’s. But there will be help. Chessmore is conducting a survey of all parents in the district.

&uot;We are calling and asking (which school district) parents would send their students to in the situation of either closing,&uot; he said.

Any way the board goes, there is going to be a backlash, according to most of the citizens who spoke at Monday night’s school board meeting in Emmons.

Bernice Mattson, of Emmons, addressed the crowd near the end of the meeting.

&uot;We’re supposed to be G-E together,&uot; she said. &uot;It’s awful to argue about who’s town is better than who’s. A lot of people are forgetting that this is about the kids.&uot;