A management consulting firm presented several building consolidation options to the Penn Hills school board Tuesday night. The firm, Education Management Group, LLC, has been studying school district operations since November. The options are for the 2008-09 school year and beyond.

The study found the district's eight buildings, on the average, are used at 50 percent capacity and that student enrollment will continue to drop during the next decade.

A public hearing is scheduled from 6:30 to 8 p.m. Monday to discuss the options in the Linton school cafeteria.

At Tuesday's meeting, Donald Boyer, a consultant with the company, presented four scenarios for building use for the next school year and four options for the longer term.

All of the proposals include closing the smallest of the six elementaries, William Penn.

Dr. Boyer recommended one scenario as the best for the 2008-09 year.

That option would keep grades 10-12 at the high school, move ninth grade from Linton Middle School to Dible Elementary and add fifth grade to Linton. All third- and fourth-graders would attend Penn-Hebron Elementary, and kindergartners through second-graders would go to Washington Elementary and one other school, Forbes or Shenandoah.

That proposal would lead to additional changes in the 2009-10 year, when ninth-graders would be added to the high school and Dible would become the second school for kindergarten through second grade.

Forbes and Shenandoah elementaries then would be closed.

Dr. Boyer noted that the recommended option for building use is contingent upon the school board voting to close the high school's vocational education program for the 2008-09 school year.

Penn Hills students may attend Forbes Road Career and Technical Center in Monroeville, a school operated by the Allegheny Intermediate Unit. Seventy Penn Hills students are enrolled there now.

Space used for vocational programs would be renovated so ninth grade could be added to the school. Several meeting attendees voiced opposition to the closing of the vocational programs.

No action will be taken on school reconfiguration or vocational programs until additional public input is obtained, said school board President Erin Vecchio.

The school board also passed a resolution to restructure school district administration. Four administrative positions were eliminated.