The latest local news, weather and high school sports from the Heartland

MYSTIC, IA -- Tuesday evening, the Centerville School District Board held another open forum at Mystic Elementary School.

Mystic and Cincinnati Elementary schools are facing being closed by the Centerville School District in conjunction with budget cuts. However, this is not making a lot of people happy.

More than 50 teachers and concerned parents showed up to make their voices heard.

“My child will not succeed if she is in a classroom of 28 students,” said one concerned mother.

If these 2 schools were to close, its students would attend a school in Centerville.  The classroom size would increase to upwards of 28 kids.

Teachers expressed that they cannot give the special attention each child needs when they have so many students. They hope that the school board can find other ways to cut back on the budget without having to close the 2 schools.

“If you could look at those non-educational positions and eliminate some of those positions that aren't for teaching and aren't educational, you could use those teachers you retain to back-fill those positions. Shift those duties a little bit. It's going to be a sacrifice for everyone, but if you can minimize the impact in losing educators and losing trained and qualified people, you need to look at that and shift duties as well,” offered another concerned parent.

The members of the school board said they would consider all the comments made when they make their decision.