The South Bend Schools community is responding to the latest Facilities Master Plan recommendations.
School board members first saw it last week.
The outside consulting firm's suggestions have caused waves by endorsing Clay High School to shutter.
This scenario would save the district $1.3 million annually.
The meeting planned for an hour and a half wrapped up in about 40 minutes.
Many of the speakers, who were limited to 3 minutes, spoke out against closing Clay High School.
Shutting down Clay High School was on the list of possible scenarios from the very beginning, in an effort to combat declining enrollment.
Now that the idea has been recommended to the school board by consulting firm HPM, many of the Clay parents who showed up voiced their opposition.
"By choosing Option B you disrupt the lives of an entire community, and that is what you went with. This is not okay. The clay community feels like we have been neglected for quite some time and this is the nail in the coffin,” said Jennifer Fox, Clay High School Parent.
The consulting firm also recommended closing Warren Elementary School before the 2024-2025 school year.
If Clay closes, its fine arts program would move to Riley High School, despite Adams High School being closer.
That's because Adams is at capacity.
"What the school board needs to do is redistrict. It's insane to me the students living north of Cleveland Road on Grape Road, some as far up as Auten road, are in the Adams district when Clay is much closer," said Connie Benson, Clay High School teacher.
Benson's point touches on the want for more neighborhood schools.
The district is trying to address it in the master plan by improving feeder patterns.
"Some of the more straightforward parts of the proposal really get at trying to change the feeder system... the more difficult decisions, as you know, come up with whether or not we should close a school," said Stuart Greene, South Bend Schools Board Member District 5.
Greene also says the board has to weigh the idea of making Clay International Academy grades K through 8, something he says doesn't have many models to copy.
The board also needs to keep up with the changing "education landscape" as Greene worries about the new charter school opening downtown.
"The new CTE center, you know, is there a tradeoff there? You know, we're setting aside referendum money for a CTE center-- is that in the best interest?" said Greene.
People will have one more chance on April 12 to share their thoughts on the recommendations.
The board is scheduled to make a vote a few days later on April 17th.