April Willson and her family moved from the Bethel Park School District to Castle Shannon a few years ago, largely due to Myrtle Elementary School. Now Myrtle, along with Aiken and Dormont elementary schools, could face huge changes or possibly closure.

Mrs. Willson was among roughly 50 parents at the Keystone Oaks school board meeting Thursday where a study by Kimball Architecture was released that found that district schools are underused and classes are not as full as they could be.

The firm was hired a year ago to conduct studies of community demographics and building use.

Based on its demographic projections, current and projected student counts, cost/value calculations and other factors, Kimball offered 17 recommendations, most involving the elementary schools.

The suggestions include making no changes, closing all three elementary schools and consolidating them into a new complex, and using each elementary school for specific grades.

Superintendent William Urbanek stressed that no decision has been made and that concern over closing schools would be "premature." In addition to the three elementary schools, the district has a middle school and high school.

The study examined closing each elementary school and the resulting need for additional space at the remaining schools. It also posed the possibilities of creating elementary schools that house kindergarten through fourth grade and all-day kindergarten.

Dr. Urbanek said the school board was "leaning strongly" toward full-time kindergarten.

The district faces a significant decline in enrollment over the next five to 10 years, according to demographic projections by the Pennsylvania Department of Education and Shelby Stewman, a professor at Carnegie Mellon University who was commissioned by Keystone Oaks.

Dr. Stewman predicts the district will lose roughly 256 students within 10 years. The state education department estimates a loss of about 447 students in the next decade. Current enrollment is 2,231 in the five schools.

According to Dr. Urbanek, about 80 percent of the residents in Castle Shannon, Dormont and Green Tree do not have any children in the school district.

The school board, which received a partially completed version of the study in June, has not set a time frame to make any decisions.

"This is very important. The board wants to take our time on this ... and do all the research," board President Marian Randazzo said.

After a decision is made, it will be implemented within 18 to 24 months, officials said.

Chief among concerns voiced by speakers at the meeting was the possibility of mixing fifth-graders with middle school students in the same building, potential class sizes and falling property values if an elementary school should close.

Mrs. Willson, who spoke at the meeting, said afterward, "If they close an elementary school, what's going to happen to their tax base income when people with young families are reluctant to move into an area when there's no elementary school there?" She has two children at Myrtle Elementary School.

Nicole Randall, of Castle Shannon, also has two children at Myrtle.

"I think our children are too young to be mixing into that population and the grown-up things going on," she said, referring to the option of placing fifth-graders with middle school students.

The district's 2008-09 budget anticipated revenues of $33.9 million and anticipated expenditures of $35.7 million. Rather than increase real estate taxes, the school board approved taking the needed $1.81 million from the district's fund balance.

As a cost-saving measure, Keystone Oaks closed the elementary buildings for most of the summer. It was the fourth year the district did so. During summer 2008, about $84,000 in energy costs was saved, according to the district newsletter.

Recommendations and demographic specifics from the study are available at www.kosd.org.