A new proposal that would keep Dawes Middle School open for at least a few years surfaced at Tuesday’s Lincoln Board of Education meeting.

But first, there were impassioned pleas and reasoned arguments from those who don’t want to see Dawes and Hawthorne Elementary School close as part of districtwide attendance area changes.

“Has this board become so distant from those it represents that you have no idea what we want or need?” asked Karen Lamb, a parent of a Dawes student and an opponent of recommendations for districtwide attendance area changes that would close the middle school and Hawthorne Elementary.

Hawthorne parents presented figures they say show that schools surrounding Hawthorne will be near or at capacity if their school closes with no room for growth.

And they presented a slide show – after lengthy discussion by board members about whether showing pictures of Hawthorne students at the public meeting was a liability risk – showing Hawthorne’s diversity and figures illustrating how the school has seen dramatic improvement in minority students’ test scores.

“We’ve not only bridged the (achievement) gap, we’ve raised the bar,” said Hawthorne parent Chip Stanley.

And then, when public testimony was finished, board member Keith Prettyman floated yet another idea.

He suggested keeping Dawes open during renovation of Goodrich Middle School, a proposal that would depend on the cost of other bond construction projects.

Goodrich’s renovation is not part of the projects earmarked as part of the $250 million bond, but it is the first school on a part of the 10-year facilities plan to be tackled if there’s any savings from the bond projects.

But Prettyman said it appears the district would likely have the savings to start Goodrich construction when the new Schoo Middle School is finished and ready to open in fall 2009.

If that happens, he said, he thinks Dawes should remain open during the construction period, allowing existing Dawes students to remain there and moving Goodrich students there while their school is being renovated.

That would allow the board and the district to track growth and student attendance patterns for several years. It also would save the district money by expediting Goodrich renovations. And it would give more time for the possible transition of Dawes students.

“I don’t want anyone to think that this is a long-term solution,” Prettyman said.

But it does preserve the board’s flexibility during a significant transition period with a new school opening in the area, he said. Schoo is being built in Fallbrook, a new area in far northwest Lincoln.

Tuesday’s meeting was board members’ first opportunity to publicly discuss the planning committee’s final recommendations for redrawing attendance areas districtwide. The board was expected to vote at the Oct. 23 meeting, and it was unclear late Tuesday whether Prettyman’s proposal would delay that.

The recommendations would redraw attendance areas districtwide, particularly in outlying areas where the $250 million bond issue will build three new schools and add major additions to several existing schools.

But the most controversial proposals would close Hawthorne and Dawes attendance areas and use the buildings for other purposes.

District officials have said existing schools could easily absorb the students without overcrowding and there’s no room for the attendance areas to grow in those core areas.

Although the district is growing, supporters of the plan say, it’s not growing where all the district’s schools are located.

Several board members said they liked the idea of keeping Dawes open during Goodrich construction and would like staff to prepare facts and figures on the concept.

Board member Kathy Danek — a vocal opponent of closing both schools and the one member of the planning committee who voted against advancing the proposals that would do so —– said she helped come up with the idea of keeping Dawes open during the Goodrich renovation.

But she urged board members not to close either school and said she could never vote to close Dawes, which is in her northeast district.

“I have a chip on my shoulder,” she said. “It’s called northeast Lincoln.”

Closing Dawes disenfranchises a portion of the city and she questioned whether the proposals were a way to contain the pain and disruption of changing boundaries to pockets of the city, rather than redrawing lines that would affect students districtwide.

Board member Richard Meginnis said he wanted to make sure the public understood that Prettyman’s proposal would not mean changing the 10-year facility plan upon which the bond proposal is based.

Board member Barb Baier urged her fellow board members and the public to consider that using the two schools for other purposes, like alternative high schools, would better serve the entire district. She and other board members said they were concerned about the uncertainty Prettyman’s proposal would cause for Dawes students.

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