The thought of closing Duquesne High School, his alma mater, "tears me apart," said Mark Nemerovsky, president of the elected board of the Duquesne City School District.

"I graduated from there. So did my mom and my grandmother," he said.

Yet he and some others on the school board are supporting state Board of Control President Shawn Farr's efforts to find another school district which will accept Duquesne's high school students on a tuition basis because the current high school, with 14 teachers and 195 students, isn't working.

"It's broke. It's been broke," Mr. Nemerovsky said. "Many people have been here to try to help us fix it. Even with their education and support, it didn't work. There just aren't enough tax dollars. When you have a situation as negative as it is, you have to take drastic action."

Mr. Nemerovsky's sentiments were echoed by other community leaders in the week since Mr. Farr revealed he was looking for a way to phase out the high school program at the Duquesne Education Center.

But some parents in the district have been protesting the move toward closing the high school in phone calls to school board members.

"Who would want to lose their district?" asked DeWayne Tucker, a member of the school board for the past 22 years.

Mr. Nemerovsky said he understood the wishes of parents who want to keep their local school and sports teams, but that the education of the students had to be the district's top priority.

Both Mr. Nemerovsky and Mr. Tucker said they expected to hear parents' reaction at last night's meeting of the Board of Control.

Mr. Farr's plan, which he says is in its "conceptual stage," calls for transferring the current eighth-grade class of about 60 pupils to another district or districts by fall, if possible, but allowing the current high school students to remain at the Duquesne Education Center. Mr. Farr has said the change might not be able to be made until the fall of 2007.

Pittsburgh Public Schools Superintendent Mark Roosevelt confirmed last week that his district was in preliminary talks with state officials about bringing Duquesne students to the city schools. Mr. Farr said he hoped to have discussions with other districts and alternative schools as well.

Since those announcements, talk about the high school's imminent closing has dominated conversations in the community, officials said.

"I'm hearing more people say it's a good idea than not," Duquesne Mayor Phil Krivacek said.

"They don't think that our children are getting the education they deserve. And a lot of people are concerned about the indebtedness that the school district has."

Though the district has been financially and academically troubled for years and shown little improvement during its years under a state Board of Control, the news of moving the high school students to another district apparently came as a surprise to the community.

"I found out about it by reading it in the newspaper," said Matthew McNemar, another member of the school board.

Mr. Tucker said it was particularly sad that the plans are being made in a year when the high school will graduate its 110th class and the football team went to the state championship. The class of 2006 has 38 members.

The size and the poor finances are the reasons Mr. Farr, with the backing of state Sen. Sean Logan, D-Monroeville, is looking to dissolve the high school program. With limited finances, low enrollment and just two math and two science teachers, it's impossible to offer the variety of courses that a public high school should provide.

One of the final nails in the coffin for the district appears to be the opening of Propel charter schools in the area. "That really hurt us," Mr. Tucker said.

Mr. Farr said 130 elementary pupils from Duquesne now attend charter schools. Of that total, 110 are in Propel schools in Homestead and McKeesport.

Mr. Tucker said he appreciated that Pittsburgh school officials would consider taking the Duquesne students, particularly in light of the fact that closer districts have refused the request in the past. But, he said, "it's going to be hard on those kids" if they are bused into Pittsburgh for high school.

"We have coaches and teachers here who identify with our kids and their problems. These kids could be lost in a big system," said Mr. Tucker, adding that he feared the dropout rate would increase.

But requests to those local districts made before the Board of Control took over in the fall of 2000 didn't net any takers, Mr. Tucker and Mr. Nemerovsky said. Those requests were made after the school board asked for a state assessment of the district, Mr. Nemerovsky said.

"They predicted that within five to seven years, we would be in dire straits," he said. The board directed the superintendent at the time, Ronald Mento, to try to hold discussions with neighboring districts about a merger. "West Mifflin refused to have a meeting," Mr. Nemerovsky said.

Other districts in the nearby Mon Valley said they were having their own share of problems and couldn't take on Duquesne's, he said.

Despite the rejections, Mr. McNemar said, he plans to ask Mr. Farr why districts close by, such as West Mifflin, are not being asked to take the Duquesne students.

Mr. Farr said the reason he had not approached West Mifflin was that what he is attempting to do now "is explore interested school districts. Ideally, those would be in close proximity, but, ultimately, you have to work with districts on a voluntary basis."