ENCAMPMENT - The Wyoming Schools Facilities Commission is recommending closure of elementary schools in Medicine Bow and Elk Mountain and consolidation of the Hanna elementary into a K-12 operation to serve students from all of those towns.

A public meeting organized by Carbon County School District 2 is planned for 6:30 p.m. Wednesday in the Hanna-Elk Mountain Junior-Senior High School to discuss the state recommendation that would close the elementary schools and move all classes to Hanna.

"Our goal is to fight that, because we feel it is better for kids educationally and for safety to keep them right in their local schools," Superintendent Robert Gates said.

Should the recommendation be approved, it could be implemented as quickly as next year, he said.

The School Facilities Commission will consider the issue at a special meeting at 1 p.m. on Aug. 30 in Hanna. A tour of district facilities will precede that meeting, according to Donna Murray, assistant director of the School Facilities Commission.

MGT, an Idaho consultant hired by the commission, will be in the school district Aug. 23 and 24 in order to conduct an "educational suitability study" for the school consolidation recommendation, Murray said.

The proposed consolidation would affect about 20 students in Elk Mountain, 22 in Medicine Bow and 78 in Hanna, according to state figures. It also would require new construction or renovations to the Hannah-Elk Mountain Junior-Senior High School in order to accommodate the elementary students, Murray said.

The commission estimates the renovations would cost about $1.1 million, Gates said.

During this past school year, the district had been provided with the names of three educational consultants acceptable to the School Facilities Commission to conduct an educational facilities study and ultimately worked with Frank Lockner to develop a master facilities plan. Subsequently the district prepared and adopted a five-year plan that had been submitted to the commission for approval. The recommendations now being presented are modifications of that plan, Gates said.

Closure of the elementary schools in Elk Mountain, Medicine Bow and Hanna and development of a K-12 school in Hanna to serve the three towns and surrounding rural areas were not a part of that plan, he said.

The district in its 2005 plan proposed demolition of a portion of the Elk Mountain Elementary School, with subsequent replacement of a new building there at a cost of about $1 million. That proposal had been approved by the commission and was included, at the recommendation of Director James "Bubba" Shivler, in November 2005 as a modification to the 2005 plan submitted by the district, a press release from the district said.

Gates, however, said the extensive renovations in Elk Mountain were recommendations by School Facilities Commission staff and far exceeded in both scope and cost the proposal made by district officials. "They were going to make a bigger plan than what we thought we needed," he said.

The current recommendation to consolidate the elementary schools is based on requirements to reduce the square footage of buildings in the district, which covers the eastern portion of Carbon County including Medicine Bow, Elk Mountain, Hanna, Saratoga and Encampment.

The district in 2004 consolidated operations in Saratoga by moving the middle school into the high school, creating a 7-12 operation in the existing high school building. That led to construction of new kitchens at the high school and elementary school but disposal of the middle school buildings - most of which have been demolished, with some portions being converted into a Platte Valley Community Center. The change eliminated 45,000 square feet of school space.

As part of its most recent five-year plan, the district also had proposed to "mothball" a wing in the Medicine Bow School, which would reduce another 58,163 square feet. Junior high and high school students from the Medicine Bow and Elk Mountain areas already attend classes in Hanna at the combined Hanna-Elk Mountain school.

An executive summary of the proposal, prepared by the School Facilities Commission staff, indicates that the consolidated K-12 school in Hanna would serve about 226 students. It would significantly reduce the facilities in the district down to around 80,000 square feet from a current total of 239,985 square feet. This would "bring the District to 116 percent of capacity. This would allow the district to use (its) major maintenance funds more efficiently," the summary said.

District Business Manager Garry Goergen and Gates recognized the declining enrollment in the district, but pointed to existing and proposed energy development in the area that has the potential to significantly affect student population. Among the projects are development of the Seminoe coal-bed methane project south and west of Seminoe Reservoir, test production of coal from a new Arch Minerals mine located in the Hanna Basin between Hanna and Elk Mountain that could lead to full-scale mining, and the possibility of a coal-to-diesel production plant in the Medicine Bow area.

The greatest immediate potential for growth comes from Arch Minerals, which has "indicated that they have or are in the process of actually taking coal out of the new mine between Hanna and Elk Mountain," Goergen said. The company soon will begin hauling coal from that mine and shipping test trains to power plants to determine quality and develop a market, Goergen said, adding that company officials he has spoken with are "optimistic" about full-scale production "in the real near future."

District officials will assist with the educational suitability study Aug. 23 and 24 and then will have an opportunity to present information to the School Facilities Commission during the Aug. 30 meeting.