UPDATE from 6pm 3/26 Newscast
ASHLAND, Ky. (WSAZ) -- Hatcher Elementary School is scheduled to close next fall.

Students will be attending the remaining five schools in the district. Linda Feuer has three children who attend Hatcher.

"I think stability is important, and these kids are from the same socioeconomic level," she says. "Some of their parents went to Hatcher."

The Ashland Independent Schools’ Local Planning Committee met Thursday night and voted to finalize a four-year plan for the district’s buildings. Hatcher has been considered transitional since 2003.

School district officials say a number of factors went into the decision to close Hatcher like declining enrollment and cuts in state funding. Principal David Greene had to break the news to faculty and parents.

"We are a small school, and I hate to deliver the bad news, especially when you know everybody," he said.

The average annual per student cost at Hatcher is $9,000. That’s $4,000 more than Oakview Elementary.

"I know the economics is important, but the benefit of the students needs to outweigh that,” Feuer said.

The Hatcher building will be used for administrative offices and pre-kindergarten classes. The state department of education will have to approve the closing, then there will be a public hearing at 5:30 p.m. April 13, at Verity Middle School.

According to the Ashland newspaper, the Ashland Independent Schools’ Local Planning Committee has recommended that Crabbe remain open, but Hatcher Elementary close.

Last month, the committee voted to recommend that Crabbe close and the building turned into a preschool, as well the new home for the school system’s administrative offices.

But during a public meeting earlier this month, there was much opposition to the plan to close Crabbe.

According to the paper, the plan now goes to the state Department of Education.

It they sign off on the plan, a public hearing will take place on April 13.

The Ashland Board of Education would then have to vote on the closing. That could happen at the board’s April 19 meeting.

Parents, teaches, and others turned out for a meeting to discuss a proposal that would close the school.

A committee with the Ashland Independent School District wants to convert the school into a central office and preschool.

A final decision was not made Thursday night.

The Ashland Independent School District first mentioned this as a restructuring plan at a meeting Friday night. Members of the board are discussing taking elementary students out of Crabbe Elementary -- and put their central office and a head start program in.

That means current students at Crabbe would be taken out, split up and placed in one of the districts five other elementary schools.

At a meeting Monday night, protesters with signs marched from Crabbe Elementary to the School District's office. They weren't just walking for their health, they were exercising their rights.

"I'm a little concerned about the fact that they want to move my son from a district where I moved specifically -- so he could go to Crabbe," Kimberly Colburn said.

Colburn's son is a fourth grader at Crabbe. Colburn says she is a very active parent at the school, her sister teaches there -- and they are both Crabbe alumni.

Director of Student Services, Lisa Henson, says folks should keep in mind this idea is a "point of discussion."

"We're going through a planning process. It doesn't mean anything's wrong," she said. "It's just a process we're going through to make sure we're doing right... to make sure we're doing the very best thing, being responsible with tax payer's dollars."

Henson said every four years the board has a meeting and talks about ways they can restructure to be more efficient, and the Crabbe change may be a result of this one.

About 200 protesters tried to attend Monday night's meeting, but only 49 people -- including members of the board -- were allowed in.

Even though there were empty seats in the meeting room, attendants were kept at a guarded door. Board members say it was because of a capacity issue. Folks lined the hallways, taking turns sitting in on the meeting. They were not allowed to voice their opinion.

Parents also say, they don't think they were given enough notice of this meeting.

"We found out Friday -- and the meeting was today! This is Monday!" gasped Colburn.

More than leaving the actual school, Robert Gross is concerned with the mental state of his kids. Both of his daughters go to Crabbe, one is in special needs classes and Gross says routine is what she needs.

"Most of these kids have been going to school with the same people their whole lives, you're going to send them into school where they don't know people, they have to start all over again," Gross said. "That's just not right."

The board is required to give at least seven days notice before they hold a public meeting.

March 4th, they will hold a meeting where the public can voice their concerns. The board decided to table the issue until that time.