Usually, the pounding of a gavel brings a public meeting to order. But during last Thursday night's raucous Sto-Rox school board meeting, it provided little more than a backbeat to the chorus of shouting.

The voices raised in anger belonged to parents and board members shouting at each other and over each other on the matter of closing the Foster Kindergarten Center in Stowe.

"This has spiraled out of control," school director Lenora Karpa said in frustration as directors around her traded sharp words.

More than 40 residents attended the meeting in the Sto-Rox High School cafeteria, many of them upset at rumors that board members had already decided to close the school and move the kindergarten children to the elementary school in Kennedy, several miles away. Petitions bearing the signatures of more than 200 residents opposed to the closing were submitted.

Board President Kevin Kochirka, however, assured those present that no decision had been made. The only thing board members had done, he said, was give administrators the green light to weigh the educational and financial pros and cons of closing the center.

The report on the matter will be presented to the board -- and the public -- June 4.

"The administration asked if the board was open to it," Mr. Kochirka said. "If the board isn't open to it, there wouldn't be any point into looking into the matter."

"This was not done hastily, not done underhandedly," Ms. Karpa said in response to accusations from the audience. "We have options for the Foster Center building, but no decision has been made. I would like to hear the presentation June 4 and then decide."

Member Edward Maritz, however, said the board seemed to be rushing to solve a problem that didn't exist and made a motion to keep the center open for the 2008-09 school year, while the matter is thoroughly researched and discussed in a series of public meetings.

"I would like to look at data," he said. "What's driving this? We're not at critical mass. We don't have a violence problem, we don't have an asbestos problem, we don't have a crowding problem. This is a solution in search of a problem."

Mr. Maritz said he was concerned that the June 4 meeting is a committee meeting, meaning he will have to wait until the next regular board meeting to make a motion to keep the center open.

But the board, in a 7-2 vote, tabled his motion until the next regular meeting, rendering it moot.

"You have an opportunity to do this right, but you don't want to do this with these people here," Mr. Maritz angrily said as the meeting deteriorated into a shouting match. "There's an absence of leadership in this district, and it starts with the superintendent."

Mr. Kochirka, whose attempts to keep order met with limited success, said his mind is open to all options regarding the center.

"We just passed a budget without an increase in the tax rate for the fifth year in a row," he said after the meeting. "I'm willing to look at all our options for keeping it that way."